Highlights

• Mark Clattenburg, Nottingham Forest's new referee analyst, will advise on in-game decisions and help improve the club's relationship with officiating bodies.
• Barcelona also hired a referee analyst in the past, suggesting the trend of clubs seeking such expertise is not unprecedented.
• Gary Neville has criticised Forest's move and it remains to be seen if the position will become popular in English football.

The thing about modern football is that everyone is obsessed with referees. In a way, this has always been the case but with the introduction of VAR, the focus on officials has only intensified.

As a former Premier League referee – overseeing 291 games in the English top flight between 2004 and 2017 – Mark Clattenburg will have a better understanding of all the ins and outs of professional refereeing than most. This may explain why Nottingham Forest have hired him to work as their referee analyst.

But what does that even mean? GIVEMESPORT has all the information for you below.

GIVEMESPORT Key Statistic: Mark Clattenburg is the first referee analyst in Premier League history.

What a Referee Analyst Does

Barcelona have employed one before

While he may be the first referee analyst in the Premier League, others have held the role before with teams from abroad. For instance, between 2016 and 2018, Barcelona paid payments to a company of Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, who was then the vice-president of a refereeing committee of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF).

Amid investigations of these payments, Barca said they “hired the services of an external consultant” that supplied “technical reports related to professional refereeing”, calling it “a common practice among professional football clubs”. They added that the consultant also provided, in video format, reports about youth players from other Spanish clubs.

In terms of what Clattenburg will be expected to do specifically for Nottingham Forest, Sky Sports report that he will be available for advice if manager Nuno Espirito Santo or any of his coaching staff want to consult the 48-year-old on specific issues. On top of that, he will advise the club's board, and act as an "expert conduit" between Forest and the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), should there be any refereeing issues.

Perhaps most importantly, he will be on hand to help those in power at the City Ground – such as owner Evangelos Marinakis – better interpret decisions that have gone against the team, and then advise them on whether or not they have a legitimate grievance.

What Clattenburg has Said About his Role

'I will help in the understanding of how and why certain decisions are made'

The retired official – who also currently works as the lead referee in the 2024 BBC revival of TV show Gladiators – outlined why he took on the position in a column for the Daily Mail. He explained:

"It is not unusual for clubs in other countries to use refereeing consultants, though the Premier League has never embraced this idea to my knowledge. Until now, that is, because I’ll be working with Forest under the title of ‘match and performance analyst’.

"I will help in the understanding of how and why certain decisions are made, prepare pre-match packs on the officiating teams taking charge of their fixtures, and one of my other main aims will be improving the relationship between the club and the PGMOL."

He went on to name seven "controversial" calls that have gone against Forest this season. First, he referenced the free-kick scored against them by Ivan Toney, when the Brentford striker moved the ball away from the referee’s foam. Then he spoke of the "harsh red" card for Joe Worrall and then the penalty awarded for an apparent foul by Danilo against Manchester United.

On top of that, he claimed Willy Boly should not have been handed a second yellow against Bournemouth, and that Taiwo Awoniyi deserved an "obvious penalty" was tripped by Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dubravka. Finally, he spoke of Neco Williams who should have got a penalty against West Ham when Maxwel Cornet stood on his foot.

He concluded: "Considering how much work goes into preparing for Premier League matches, it only makes sense that clubs add to their planning and performance by ensuring they have a good understanding of how the rules are being interpreted by our referees – both on the field and in the VAR hub – because we all know that one decision can be difference between winning and losing."

What people Have said About the Role

Gary Neville unimpressed

Former Manchester United defender and now popular pundit Gary Neville was pretty firm with his stance on the idea of referees and clubs working together in such a manner. He even went as far as to say that Forest's decision to appoint Clattenburg as a referee analyst was taking things "a step too far". On Sky Sports, he said:

"Every team will whinge when they get a bad decision, we used to do whinge all the time. But what is Mark Clattenburg doing? I’ve worked with Mark. What are you doing? You’re being employed to go and tell a football club how referees are making mistakes or what mistakes they’re making. I mean, it's plainly obvious. A fan in the crowd could go and tell you exactly what a referee is thinking."

Clattenburg later defended his new position, hitting back at Neville as he said to The Times: "I am disappointed that Gary Neville has come out with what he said. His employer, Sky Sports, employs ex-referees to help fans and viewers understand the Laws of the Game, and Nottingham Forest are just doing the same."

All in all, it evidently isn't an idea everyone is on board with, but it will certainly be interesting to see if referee analysts become a common appointment at more Premier League clubs.

Nottingham Forest Unhappy with Referees in 2023/24

'Our patience has been tested multiple times'

Clattenburg's employers were left particularly unimpressed with the officials - headed by referee Anthony Taylor - in charge of their 2-0 loss against Everton for three separate controversial VAR calls. On X (formerly Twitter), the Tricky Trees insisted they would now consider their options after PGMOL refused to change the VAR official, who is supposedly known to be a supporter of Luton Town.

Forest are, as things stand, flirting with relegation - just one point ahead of the aforementioned Londoners - and the club were understandably aggrieved that a fan of the Hatters would be in charge of making crucial, game-defining decisions. And after the game, one of which three decisions went against their favour, the club are not best pleased with the standard of officiating in the Premier League.

"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."