Nottingham Forest fans have pilloried the Football Association for their reported reaction to Morgan Gibbs-White's post-match comments on Saturday.
The midfielder is set to be investigated by the FA for his criticism of the officiating during the Reds’ 2-2 draw with Brentford, according to The Telegraph. He claimed the team were "cheated" out of a win.
Gibbs-White put the Reds 1-0 up at the City Ground. Brentford were then awarded a penalty on the stroke of half-time when goalkeeper Dean Henderson was adjudged to have fouled Yoane Wissa.
READ MORE: Nottingham Forest man could face FA action after Brentford controversy
SEE ALSO: Cooper explains referee 'conversation' as Forest rue controversial decisions
The decision was made after a review by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), with replays showing a slight bit of contact between the players. The ruling came in the same game where Forest had three penalty appeals of their own waved away.
Following the full-time whistle, Gibbs-White did not hold back in his thoughts on some of the decisions made by the referee and VAR. "I think we deserved three points," he told the BBC.
"We got cheated out of three points. It was two errors that cost us. We gave the ball away for their penalty and lost the ball again for the second goal. We battered them, really.
"We got cheated out of it. I looked at the penalty back and don't have a clue what the referee has seen. We came in at half-time angry, but we had to use that emotion to get back into the game.”
Those comments could land Gibbs-White with an FA charge if they are investigated. The governing body are already looking into a pre-match confrontation between a member of Forest’s ground staff and the Brentford squad.
Forest supporters reacted to the news with anger, with many saying that the player should be free to criticise referees and the VAR. A smaller number were more willing to cut the referee more slack, pointing out that Forest were lucky not to have a penalty awarded against them in last season's Championship play-off final.
Here is what some of the Reds faithful had to say on our Facebook page:
Andrew Haywood: He knows he was clearly fouled in the box and should have had a penalty, as well as some penalty shouts for Dennis and Yates. MGW then sees a penalty go for Brentford when there's barely any contact? The young lad feels cheated and so did all the Forest supporters and management, yet these decisions go unchecked with no come back on the refs. Having said that I wasn't complaining when Huddersfield weren't given a penalty at Wembley and they had two good shouts. May be what goes around comes around, OR even better scrap VAR for these dodgy penalty claims.
Martin Norton: He was right to speak out. VAR is a joke and should be scrapped. It adds nothing to the game. All four penalty shouts from Saturday shouldn’t have been given. Pretty much all 4 were exaggerated dives.
Ash Johnson: He’s speaking the truth, we was robbed off at least 3 penalties, yet Wissa goes down under minimum contact and VAR called for a penalty, he shouldn’t be fined or banned for speaking the truth.
Scott Markham: The guy spoke his opinion! He’s entitled to have one. Petty protection for these pathetic officials!
David Barnes: All evidence shows MGW to be correct.
Paul Dixon: De Bruyne had minimal contact and threw himself to the ground and got a penalty awarded to him... MGW gets full contact on back of the ankles and gets nothing... surprise surprise. Nothing goes your way at the bottom of the table.
Dave Smith: If the FA don’t want honest player and manager comments/opinions then they should ban them from talking to the media and the club should only comment through a spin doctor.
Adam Stoppard: So we can criticise players, managers, club staff, pundits, fans and anybody else involved with the game, but ya can't say a word about referees and officials?
Pam Wood: Why penalise the player for a bad referee?
George Richards: He shouldn't be punished for telling the truth.
Simon Lomax: I can accept good and bad referees.. we all make mistakes, as long as they are consistent in how they apply the laws to both sides.
Nick Green: Whatever he thought of the decisions he was naive to use the term cheated.
Ivan Bass: Swings and roundabouts. We had our luck in the playoff final. Move on.
What do you think? Drop us a comment!
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