Nottingham Forest first-team coach Steven Reid has been fined and given a two-game touchline ban for repeatedly calling referee Paul Tierney the C word after his side’s defeat to Liverpool.
Nottingham Forest have also been fined £75,000 for failing to ensure “its players and/or technical area occupants conducted themselves in an orderly fashion and consequently that they had acted improperly”.
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March’s Premier League fixture had ended in angry scenes after Liverpool scored a 99th-minute winner to secure a 1-0 victory. Forest had been left aggrieved after a drop ball had been incorrectly awarded to Liverpool minutes before their winning goal was scored.
Reid was dismissed after the final whistle for his comments towards Tierney. The written reasons from the Independent Regulatory Commission released by the Football Association’s (FA) state this was for calling Tierney a “c***”. Reid admitted to this first charge.
He then continued to use this same language towards the 43-year-old referee as he and his team of officials left the pitch.
Tierney alleged Reid said: “I worked with you f***ing lot every f***ing week last season. It’s the same every f***ing week you c***.”
Reid denied this, but the commission upheld the second charge on the balance of probabilities, given the consistent evidence provided by the match officials and the thorough post-match notes provided by Tierney.
Reid has been fined £5,000 and handed an extended two-game touchline ban.
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His behaviour was deemed to be in breach of FA Rule E3.1, which states: “A Participant shall at all times act in the best interests of the game and shall not act in any manner which is improper or brings the game into disrepute or use any one, or a combination of violent conduct, serious foul play, threatening, abusive, indecent or insulting words or behaviour.”
Nottingham Forest admitted to their charge, and their fine represents the club’s eighth sanction for a breach of rule E20, which relates to participant conduct, since September 2018. The commission noted the “serious repetitive breaches” from the club.
“The club is directed to the Participant Charter and advised to take greater responsibility for the behaviour of its players,” the commission wrote.
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Forest’s frustrations stemmed from a 97th-minute decision where a drop ball was awarded to Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher after Tierney stopped play to allow treatment to defender Ibrahima Konate, who appeared to have sustained a possible head injury.
Forest winger Callum Hudson-Odoi had been in possession on the edge of the Liverpool box when play was stopped. The laws of the game state Tierney should have instead returned the ball to Forest.
This prompted a furious response from the Forest bench and emotions ran even higher when Liverpool subsequently scored in the 99th minute.
Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis was stood on the touchline as the final whistle blew and followed the match officials into the tunnel.
Mark Clattenburg, the former FIFA and Premier League referee who was appointed by Forest as a match and performance analyst in February, then addressed the media to explain the club’s frustrations with the decision.
In the material provided to the commission, Forest and Reid had argued the situation was “unique and emotionally charged” following Tierney’s error that impacted the result. The commission stated it understood the context but this did not justify the misconduct.
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(Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
