The policy around declared allegiances of Premier League referees has been made public after Nottingham Forest complained about the appointment of a VAR last season.
Forest had criticised the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) for ignoring their concerns that Stuart Attwell, a Luton Town supporter, was named as the video referee for their controversial 2-0 loss at Everton in April.
All three clubs were involved in the relegation battle, and Forest felt Attwell's allegiance created a conflict of interest.
Forest had seen three potential claims for a penalty waved away by referee Anthony Taylor, with Attwell supporting those decisions, leading to the club venting their frustrations on social media and revealing that Attwell is a fan of Luton.
"Three extremely poor decisions -- three penalties not given -- which we simply cannot accept," the club wrote on X. "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."
The Football Association charged Forest with improper conduct by implying bias and or/questioning the integrity of a match official. Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo was on Thursday fined £40,000 and handed a one-game touchline ban by the FA for his comments in the aftermath of the match, while defender Neco Williams has been fined £24,000.
Howard Webb, PGMOL's chief refereeing officer, said the process behind assessing any possible conflict of interest will be set out in detail.
It initially appeared that the full list of allegiances for all officials was to be published, but that turned out to be a miscommunication and it refers only to the protocol.
"When referees put in allegiance forms they're asked to declare any specific interests in advance of the season, and as the season goes on should any of those things change," Webb said. "That's going to be made public so you can see what that [the protocol] looks like, what those declarations of interests are.
"We review each of those, and then make a judgment if we feel there is a conflict. If you've got any personal connections to people who work for clubs as well, we'll make an evaluation of all of those.
"If there is a conflict of interest that will be recorded and taken into account on the appointments."
Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg was acting as a consultant for Forest last season and resigned after he too was charged by the FA over the contents of newspaper column about the Everton game.
Clattenburg claimed PGMOL had refused to listen to his concerns over the appointment of Attwell when he raised them before the game.
"We were obviously disappointed with some of the things that came out of that at the time," Webb added. "But we'll continue having those engagements, helping people understand our role and the way we do things, and the rationale for decisions.
"Ex-referees can play a part, I think, in helping players understand the laws of the game better as well. And if that's the way that kind of role works, then great. We'll see if it's replicated elsewhere."
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