🚨EXCLUSIVE :Refs’ chief to miss potentially tricky meeting with Nottingham Forest and angry Premier League clubs

Nottingham Forest have been denied the chance to consider Howard Webb over refereeing standards in the Premier League after it was said the head of the elite player’s office will miss a crucial meeting in London on Thursday.

   Webb was expected to break the refereeing news at the first Premier League AGM of the new season, but it has since been confirmed that he will not turn up.

   A number of top-flight clubs – including Forest and close rivals Leicester City – are unhappy with what they claim were wrongdoing by officials in the opening weeks of the season and planned to challenge Webb at the meeting over refereeing standards.

   Forest were at the center of several VAR controversies last season, the most serious of which came in their defeat to Everton when they questioned the integrity of VAR official Stuart Attwell and faced allegations of misconduct.

   Their last meeting with the officials was in Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Brighton, when head coach Nuno Espirito Santo was shown a red card following Morgan Gibbs-White’s second yellow card.    Brighton coach Fabian Hurzeler was also sent off and all three have now been charged with misconduct by the FA.

   Leicester manager Steve Cooper, the former Forest manager, blamed “terrible human error” for Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta being ruled offside when he scored against the Foxes on September 14.

   The most high-profile incidents occurred during Sunday’s draw between Manchester City and Arsenal at the Etihad (2:2).    City claimed referee Michael Oliver made a mistake in Arsenal’s opening equaliser, while the Gunners were furious at Leandro Trossard’s red card.

   But it now appears that Webb, the head referee of PGMOL (The Professional Game Match Officials Ltd), will not be attending the meeting.    Instead, clubs are expected to be informed by Tony Scholes, the Premier League’s director of football.    Webb doesn’t attend every meeting.

   According to the Times, former Stoke City chief executive Scholes is also a board member of PGMOL.    He adds: “Scholes can expect questions about the officiating, as well as the timetable for the introduction of the semi-automatic offside system, which will arrive this autumn.”

   Webb has yet to directly address the latest incident in the woods.    Despite this, the PGMOL claims that the officials got most of the decisions in dispute correctly, while reminding clubs that the performance of referees is constantly reviewed by an independent panel to ensure greater accountability.