Nuno makes referees plea amid 'heated moments' admission following Nottingham Forest ban
Nottingham Forest head coach Nuno Espirito Santo feels there needs to be more dialogue with officials during games following his sanction from the Football Association.
The Reds have been in hot water with the FA lately and have been the subject of three fines within the last week, including Nuno’s three-game touchline ban and £55,000 punishment following an incident against Brighton and Hove Albion in September. The Portuguese will therefore be absent from the touchline for Crystal Palace’s visit to the City Ground on Monday (8pm kick-off), as well as fixtures against Leicester City and West Ham United.
Nuno believes there was more understanding with officials, as well as better communication between all parties, in previous years. He has reiterated his stance that referees should be more understanding about the emotions involved in matches.
“The feeling in the club is we want to believe that everything is equal to everybody and the mindset is to accept the sanction,” he said. “We are not the police. Dialogue inside a very emotional game that is football, there is a lot of tension, there is a good principle; I’m not old but I’ve been around some years ago and there was a lot of dialogue before.
“During the competition and heated moments there was dialogue and this is lacking a little bit, the part of the referees, the understanding of the players and managers. I understood before there was more dialogue.”
Forest have had an extended break with the Monday fixture but it also means Leicester will have two more days rest before the two sides meet on Friday evening. Nuno has no complaints about the scheduling, however.
He added: “We are having the national break and playing on the Monday so we have more of an advantage. But then have two days less than our next opponent, three days is more than enough to recover and the players to manage.”
Nuno will not be the only notable Forest absentee on Monday. Morgan Gibbs-White and James Ward-Prowse are also suspended for the game, while owner Evangelos Marinakis has been hit with a five-match stadium ban - albeit the club have lodged an appeal against the Greek’s sanction.
In terms of the other fines recently meted out, Gibbs-White was handed a one-match suspension and fined £20,000 following his red card against Brighton. Forest were fined £750,000 for the social media post they uploaded after defeat at Everton last season, although the club have said they will appeal.