Talk about kicking a dog when it's down. No, I'm not talking about the officials, I'm talking about the fans. Or, more specifically, those social media fans who describe the club they "support" as "embarrassing", "a shit show", "cry babies", "hated by the whole world of football", "a clusterf*** of a club", and so on. They have every right to their opinions, of course, but those opinions are based on little more than raised blood pressure and the self indulgent urge to make louder and more sneeringly vicious comments than the next man.
I'd rather put my trust in Neco Williams. When Neco says "three clear and blatant penalties not given ... it's happening every week ... I don't know why ..." he speaks with the heartfelt sincerity of an honest, hardworking servant of Forest, not the jaundiced dishonesty of pundits or administrators or opposition managers or disgruntled fans.
The circumstantial evidence against PGMOL is building. Referees and VAR have made too many mistakes in Forest matches for these mistakes to be considered coincidental. Either by accident or design these mistakes continue to cheat Forest out of points. The question now is not what is happening but why. Perhaps the PGMOL mob are serially incompetent. Perhaps they don't like the way Forest challenge their integrity. Perhaps they see Forest as easy meat, or a subversive foreign influence, or some kind of loudmouthed upstart which needs to be put in its place. One thing is for sure - PGMOL will never admit to prejudice, even unintended. In fact we can guarantee that from now on they will be even more unsympathetic to Forest's cause. "Who do they think they are?" they'll say. "Just wait - we'll show 'em."
Which brings us to the point about Forest's performance against Everton. A common view was that, notwithstanding the dreadful officiating which has dogged them for too long now, Forest didn't play well enough.
Now consider changing "notwithstanding" to "because of". Because of the dreadful officiating which has dogged them for too long now, Forest didn't play well enough. This sounds just as reasonable an explanation as any that the "we are shit" brigade could muster. Imagine taking the field carrying the suspicion that you are about to be mugged by the officials. Then it happens. Three times. How can you perform with an effective degree of confidence and composure under those circumstances?
Anyway, the club reacts by issuing a statement:
"Three extremely poor decisions - three penalties not given - which we simply cannot accept. We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game but they didn't change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times. NFFC will now consider its options."
This is completely wrong, of course. What it should have written was "No complaints. Oddly enough, we actually enjoy being kicked in the teeth by our betters. Long may it continue."
That'd be telling them.
We're not down yet. Often I wonder whether PGMOL and its part sponsors the EPL and some of our miserable supporters wish we were, but we're not.
I sincerely hope we continue to be bloody minded troublemakers till they bury us. It would appear that we have nothing to lose.
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