Nottingham Forest are making 'fools of themselves' with their statement criticising the officials against Everton, Ian Ladyman has claimed on It's All Kicking Off.

Forest were engulfed in controversy at the weekend when the club's official X account shared a post slamming the officiating in their 2-0 defeat on Sunday.

'Three extremely poor decisions - three penalties not given - which we simply cannot accept,' the post read. 'We warned the PGMOL that the VAR [Stuart Attwell] 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.'

It was not the first time officials have been publicly questioned by clubs or club officials this season, with Liverpool and Arsenal also issuing words towards referees.

'Sorry, it's dangerous,' Ladyman said of the statement.

Nottingham Forest shared a bizarre statement criticising the officiating against Everton following their defeat

'It is dangerous and it was dangerous when Liverpool did it in October. It was dangerous when Mikel Arteta then did it a few weeks later and it's dangerous now.

'What this has done is stripped Forest bare of any sympathy that they may have had on the back of three decisions which did look pretty ropey.

'We're talking about a great football club, a club with a great history, a club whose history has been littered with some of the greatest characters our game has ever seen, now making a fool of themselves. 

'If I was a Forest fan this morning, instead of waking up thinking, "Blimey, we were robbed yesterday", I'd be waking up feeling embarrassed by what my own football club is playing at.

'It kind of looked as though they'd all been kind of briefed on it. I'm not saying that they had, I don't know, but it felt as if they'd all been kind of briefed to sing this same dismal, self-pitying song.'

Chris Sutton, meanwhile, agreed with his co-host, and questioned the motive behind Mark Clattenburg's decision to defend his side in a column with Mail Sport.

Former Premier League official Clattenburg is employed as a referee analyst by Forest - the only in the Premier League - and criticised the referees working on the game.

'I actually think he's done his reputation some harm. I really, really do. I don't get where he's going with that,' Sutton began.

'And some of the stuff which he said yesterday, that the last part of his statement... "referees do not make mistakes deliberately, but this was mind boggling to watch why [Stuart] Attwell did not send Taylor to his screen only he will know". That is loaded.

'He needs to come out and address that. I feel for sure [VAR official for the game] Stuart Attwell in this situation. Flip it, how would Mark Clattenburg as an official, feel if somebody questioned his professional integrity?'

He added: 'The first line in the statement was that they told the PGMOL about Stuart Attwell being a Luton fan. Are they actually not concentrating on what really matters? If you're sidetracked by a VAR official, then heaven help you as a football club.'