Mark Clattenburg says Jon Moss shouldn’t have been appointed Nottingham Forest fixture

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Mark Clattenburg has suggested that Nottingham Forest have every right to be disgruntled at the appointment of Jon Moss to Sunday’s play-off final.

The Yorkshire-based official lives next door to Huddersfield in Leeds and will retire from on-field refereeing after Sunday.

He has been given the green light to referee the game; despite refereeing just one Championship fixture during 2021/22.

Two weeks ago Steven Gerrard said he was glad that Moss was retiring. The experienced official made several errors during Aston Villa’s 2-1 defeat to Liverpool.

Clattenburg is a former FIFA official and at his peak, he was arguably one of the best referees in world football.

He has expressed some doubts about Moss. As a result, he feels that he can perhaps count himself very lucky to have been appointed to the game.

Clattenburg told the Daily Mail: “It’s an odd one for two reasons.

“The first, when I was retiring from refereeing, I was told I couldn’t oversee a game with anything riding on it because the PGMOL couldn’t risk sentimentality clouding my mind.

“The second is the 51-year-old lives in Leeds. With his Yorkshire ties, I’m not sure it’s the wisest move to have him referee a match of this magnitude involving Huddersfield. Especially given Forest’s gripes with refereeing of late.

“I’m not sure the refereeing body have helped themselves or their official here.”

Forest have been appointed Moss and they must take care of business

The Reds won’t be too focused on who will take charge of Sunday’s game and they will instead worry about executing a meticulous game plan.

Forest fans were up in arms recently that Keith Stroud was appointed to referee a game away at Fulham. The Reds won that game 1-0 and the referee had no bearing on the clash at all.

Now, it’s down to business for Forest. When a man who knows refereeing like Clattenburg expresses his concerns, however, it does seem like a foolish decision from the powers that be.

The Reds can’t do anything to impact that call though. All Steve Cooper can do now is get his team ready and be prepared to leave everything on the Wembley turf this weekend.