Nottingham Forest defender Steve Cook has clarified comments from the Reds' victory parade about loving the video assistant referee after their lack of involvement during the Championship play-off final.
Opponents Huddersfield Town felt hard done by not to be awarded at least one penalty for incidents inside the 18-year box during the second half at Wembley Stadium. Forest ran out 1-0 winners, in the end, courtesy of an own goal from Chelsea loanee Levi Colwill.
That set up Monday's victory parade, during which Cook alluded to the incidents and the officiating team. “We’ll thank (referee) Jon Moss today - what a ******* guy! We love VAR! Up the Tricky Trees," Cook told the crowd of supporters gathered in Nottingham city centre.
READ: Steve Cook has fans in raptures with VAR comment at Nottingham Forest celebration
READ: Huddersfield fans rage at Steve Cook comments and send Nottingham Forest warning
After these comments were picked up on social media, Cook has moved to explain the remarks amid a suggestion that the comment about VAR could come back to bite him. "I’ve been in a team relegated because goal line technology was not turned on," Cook tweeted in reply.
"The love for VAR comes and goes. If there was no VAR in the final there still wouldn’t of been a pen.
"This time my team were on the right side of a few decisions. Enjoy your summer. I will."
Cook is alluding to the 2019/20 season while at Bournemouth when they were relegated after finishing a single point behind Aston Villa who profited from Sheffield United having a goal ruled out during a match between the two due to both VAR and goal-line technology failing to rule the ball had in fact crossed the line. Hawk-Eye issued an apology after the incident after the match, saying all seven cameras focused on the goal area had been “occluded” and that it was the first time in over 9,000 matches that its cameras had been obstructed to such an extent that the technology could not detect that a goal had been scored.
Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg revealed earlier this week that they do 'not blame' Jon Moss for not awarding either penalty. The ex-official also stopped short of blaming the video assistant referee Paul Tierney.
