You can take a good thing for granted can't you? Rewind 12 months at the City Ground and Steve McClaren had already made his first few noises about not being able to bring in the players he wanted to re-shape the squad. Expensive players had arrived in the shape of Ishmael Miller, Matt Derbyshire and Jonathan Greening but it was clear that the brolly wielding supremo wanted and expected more.
The embarrassing and slightly baffling non-signing of Wesley Verhoek and long and unsuccessful courtship of Wayne Routledge had just transpired and it was clear (with the benefit of hindsight of course) that all was not hunky dory with the new managerial regime.
Rewind 24 months and a certain wee Scot was busy 'recommending and advising' til the cows came home to our much-maligned and probably only half understood transfer acquisitions panel. We got the now Team GB left back Ryan Bertrand on loan but Billy was grumbling about not building on the previous season's so-near-yet-so-far play-off bid and again a lack of new faces was proving troubling.
On that evidence it's a minor miracle that the Al-Hasawi/O'Driscoll regime has conjured up seven signings, seemingly with the minimum of fuss, in a shortened post-takeover summer. On the face of it we've got no expensive donkeys and don't appear to have been ripped off either. It doesn't feel quite right does it?!
To be fair the sensible spree was born out of absolute necessity. With Garath McCleary, Joel Lynch, Luke Chambers, Paul Anderson, Chris Gunter joining last season's loan rangers out of the exit door (added to January's survival funding sale of stalwart Wes Morgan) it was beginning to look like we might be fielding the Robin Hood mascot at centre half.
Something about O'Driscoll just oozes calm though and he's dug up three Daniels - Ayala, Harding and Collins - as well as Greg Halford to begin to forge a decent looking back line. Halford may feature in midfield, with Brendan Moloney getting a deserved chance to step up leaving Jamal Lascelles and a seemingly Sheep bound Kieron Freeman as back up as things stand. All four signings have a decent pedigree, have played at this level, are a good age and have the ability to play O'Driscoll's brand of football. SOD certainly seems to be owed considerable praise for tempting a reportedly reluctant Daniel Ayala to make the switch back to the Championship from Norwich in a season long loan. The Liverpool schooled Spaniard seems to be very well thought of so it's something of a coup to get his services.
If the defence does gel it will be some achievement. It does at least appear as though Lynch, Chambers and Gunter have been adequately replaced. Big Wes still leaves big boots to fill when it comes to the physical, ugly stuff - hopefully Collins has got the sizeable feet required to do just that. SOD is no mug and will be all-too-aware that defenders who are good on the ball are fine but there are plenty of wars to be won against robust forward lines in the weeks and months to come. The physical test of Championship football alone would suggest the squad is at least one defender short of being fit for a 46-game campaign.
Adlene Guedioura's capture has perhaps caught the eye most, mainly for the way he lit up our relegation fight when borrowed from Wolves last season. I'm itching to see what he can do given more time - if he, Reid and McGugan can spark off each other we may be in for some mouthwatering play in the middle.
He's joined in the midfield by free transfer Simon Gillett. His capture was reportedly a close shave but should add some cutting edge and was definitely the best Oman (Al-Hasawi) could get. Ok, that was poor and predictable but it's out of my system now I promise! In all seriousness I've always liked the look of Simon at Doncaster. He's got a classy touch and good eye for a pass and I'm sure the likes of Reid, Guedioura, McGugan and Majewski will relish playing with someone like him. I'll be interested to see how SOD deploys him, Moussi and the the soon-to-return Cohen but I do think he adds a little something else that might make all the difference in a tight midfield battle.
The seventh signing saw Simon Cox check in from West Brom. SOD will be hoping that the 25-year-old can show the freescoring pedigree from his Swindon Town days after what must have been a frustrating time on the sidelines with the Baggies - playing odd games and mostly in midfield when given a chance. Anyone who has seen some of the goals he put away for the Robins will have witnessed he has an eye for a goal and I'm excited to see if he can be a foil for the hardworking Blackstock.
So seven up... but is it enough? Perhaps the greatest loss to the squad was a player who has yet to be replaced in Garath McCleary. Garath finally fulfilled his considerable potential last season and there's no denying in my mind that we'd have been a League One club again had it not been for his dazzling displays under Steve Cotterill. You can't begrudge Garath a go at the Premier League but his departure, coupled with that of Paul Anderson (who always flattered to deceive for me) leaves only Andy Reid who can play in a wide midfield berth. It's yet to be seen if triallist Franck Moussa will be snapped up (presumably to the annoyance of commentators who would be tongue-tied by a Moussa-Moussi one-two) but the winger's position is undoubtedly a missing piece of the jigsaw ahead of the first league fixture this weekend. I worry that without a bit of pace on the flanks we might become easy to 'crowd out', especially at home.
So another defender or two and at least one winger needed? Like I said at the start it's easy to take this signings business for granted!
Not since Billy's first summer have we seen so many new signings check in on Trentside - and several of his were loanees coming back for a permanent spell. Aided by the fact that many of his new faces were not new to the club, the fiery Glaswegian added Paul McKenna and some forward firepower and conjured up a brilliant third place. With a new back four to bed in and some pieces of the jigsaw still to find it'd be a big ask for SOD to replicate that feat. In fact, defensively in particular, I think we should expect a very slow start (well we always get one anyway don't we??) as SOD not only searches for his favoured starting eleven but also looks to impose his own style on the club.
The canny little tactical tinker with Greg Halford on Monday against Fleetwood is a good sign that he's starting to find ways to win with what he has already. We'll need a bit more of that, another player or two and some luck as we head into the league fixtures. It's difficult to know what to expect from this Forest side this season. It'll be fun to find out just what they are made of though...roll on Saturday.
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
Wednesday, 25 July 2012
An icon? Sod that, I'm happy with Sean
The Al Hasawi family have only put one foot wrong so far.
After finally finalising their purchase of the club the Kuwaiti trio have arrived amid a blaze of optimism and, in a nice gesture, swiftly renamed the academy after their predecessor Nigel Doughty.
They've also, rightly in my view, got rid of Steve Cotterill, appointed Sean O'Driscoll, improved communications with fans and helped seal the deals of former loan ranger Adlene Guedioura and solid and experienced defender Danny Collins.
It's just a shame then, that they slipped the word 'iconic' into their press conference when describing their manager-of-choice.
Maybe that was partly a mistranslation/misunderstanding and, to be fair, it was followed up by saying that the family wanted someone who knew the league well.
But, like it or not, the word was latched onto by journalists and fans and set the Twitter rumour mill into meltdown. Could it be Harry? Hoddle? Sven?!
Inevitably, then, the word has been seized upon with relish by rivals since Sean O'Driscoll became the surprise choice to succeed Steve Cotterill, just months since he left the club following a short-term stint as a coach for the successful survival battle.
Yes, Sean O'Driscoll is not an icon but I think he's a great choice. In fact the thought of a big name boss worried me a little. Schteve McClaren did not work as a high profile appointment last season - he needed too much money and to change too much to be able to work properly here. When the changes didn't happen fast enough for him he packed up his brolly and left (albeit waiving a payoff to his great credit).
Harry was always a ridiculous suggestion that helped fill the coffers of a few bookies and briefly get the attention of national journos eager for morsels of football news.
Hoddle? He had all the hallmarks of McClaren+1year, especially having been away from the English game for a while. He had also flattered to deceive at Wolves when last in charge of a club of this level.
The rest? Well Gordon Strachan was abysmal at Middlesbrough and Sven Goran Eriksson? As a circus ringmaster maybe.
Some of those names may have satisfied the expectation of a big name but none were as suited to actually doing a good job as Sean O'Driscoll.
He's smart, sensible, has good experience of this level, can spot a talented player and sets a good tone for the new ownership. The last thing we want to do now is throw silly money around on an ego trip. The clear model to follow is that of Norwich, Swansea, Southampton and Reading. All of those clubs assembled good squads under the tutelage of good, progressive managers. 'SOD' is an appointment in the mould of Lambert, Rodgers, Adkins, McDermott in my book.
Another positive from having SOD in charge is that he knows the players that are left. That will be vital in 'hitting the ground running' after a curtailed pre-season. It should also help him know the strengths and weaknesses of the playing staff and hep with what will have to be a bit of a dash in the transfer market.
O'Driscoll can, in time, bring stylish football to the City Ground if his work with Doncaster Rovers is anything to go by. His teams regularly mesmerised Colin Calderwood's Forest and for a while held an 'Indian sign' over us. If he can replicate that sort of football on Trentside the fans will be prepared to give him bags of time, just as they did when Paul Hart's young side burst on to the scene. He's also someone that is fully fluent in the modern word of football tactics and, like Billy, understands the need to be smart to win at this level. A straight up, no fuss 442 doesn't really work any more and SOD knows that.
So far so good then. But there's an awful lot still left to do. Danny Collins is a good addition, but will need to be joined by another three players in our now non-existent defence. Lascelles, Moloney and Freeman all have potential and one of them may well be able to make the step up to first team football. But not all together, and probably not any as a first choice just yet.
There's no doubt that knitting together a defence from scratch will be tough. As will developing the side and squad as a whole. For that SOD will need time. With that in mind I don't think we should all be expecting too much this season. The Al Hasawis said they were setting a goal of a top ten finish. That seems difficult but, given good signings, realistic. Of course many will want promotion right away, but that's a huge ask from the position the squad is in at the moment.
It'll be fascinating to see who SOD can add to his squad, how they are knitted together with the key members left and which, if any of the outcasts (Derbyshire, Miller, Greening, McGoldrick) can be brought back into the fold.
The Black Country born boss laughed off the icon tag at today's press conference and I loved his line that 'all the icons I know are dead'. If he can juggle the challenges in front of him and, in time, take the club back to the promised land of the Premier League then I've a feeling he'll be hearing that icon word once again...
After finally finalising their purchase of the club the Kuwaiti trio have arrived amid a blaze of optimism and, in a nice gesture, swiftly renamed the academy after their predecessor Nigel Doughty.
They've also, rightly in my view, got rid of Steve Cotterill, appointed Sean O'Driscoll, improved communications with fans and helped seal the deals of former loan ranger Adlene Guedioura and solid and experienced defender Danny Collins.
It's just a shame then, that they slipped the word 'iconic' into their press conference when describing their manager-of-choice.
Maybe that was partly a mistranslation/misunderstanding and, to be fair, it was followed up by saying that the family wanted someone who knew the league well.
But, like it or not, the word was latched onto by journalists and fans and set the Twitter rumour mill into meltdown. Could it be Harry? Hoddle? Sven?!
Inevitably, then, the word has been seized upon with relish by rivals since Sean O'Driscoll became the surprise choice to succeed Steve Cotterill, just months since he left the club following a short-term stint as a coach for the successful survival battle.
Yes, Sean O'Driscoll is not an icon but I think he's a great choice. In fact the thought of a big name boss worried me a little. Schteve McClaren did not work as a high profile appointment last season - he needed too much money and to change too much to be able to work properly here. When the changes didn't happen fast enough for him he packed up his brolly and left (albeit waiving a payoff to his great credit).
Harry was always a ridiculous suggestion that helped fill the coffers of a few bookies and briefly get the attention of national journos eager for morsels of football news.
Hoddle? He had all the hallmarks of McClaren+1year, especially having been away from the English game for a while. He had also flattered to deceive at Wolves when last in charge of a club of this level.
The rest? Well Gordon Strachan was abysmal at Middlesbrough and Sven Goran Eriksson? As a circus ringmaster maybe.
Some of those names may have satisfied the expectation of a big name but none were as suited to actually doing a good job as Sean O'Driscoll.
He's smart, sensible, has good experience of this level, can spot a talented player and sets a good tone for the new ownership. The last thing we want to do now is throw silly money around on an ego trip. The clear model to follow is that of Norwich, Swansea, Southampton and Reading. All of those clubs assembled good squads under the tutelage of good, progressive managers. 'SOD' is an appointment in the mould of Lambert, Rodgers, Adkins, McDermott in my book.
Another positive from having SOD in charge is that he knows the players that are left. That will be vital in 'hitting the ground running' after a curtailed pre-season. It should also help him know the strengths and weaknesses of the playing staff and hep with what will have to be a bit of a dash in the transfer market.
O'Driscoll can, in time, bring stylish football to the City Ground if his work with Doncaster Rovers is anything to go by. His teams regularly mesmerised Colin Calderwood's Forest and for a while held an 'Indian sign' over us. If he can replicate that sort of football on Trentside the fans will be prepared to give him bags of time, just as they did when Paul Hart's young side burst on to the scene. He's also someone that is fully fluent in the modern word of football tactics and, like Billy, understands the need to be smart to win at this level. A straight up, no fuss 442 doesn't really work any more and SOD knows that.
So far so good then. But there's an awful lot still left to do. Danny Collins is a good addition, but will need to be joined by another three players in our now non-existent defence. Lascelles, Moloney and Freeman all have potential and one of them may well be able to make the step up to first team football. But not all together, and probably not any as a first choice just yet.
There's no doubt that knitting together a defence from scratch will be tough. As will developing the side and squad as a whole. For that SOD will need time. With that in mind I don't think we should all be expecting too much this season. The Al Hasawis said they were setting a goal of a top ten finish. That seems difficult but, given good signings, realistic. Of course many will want promotion right away, but that's a huge ask from the position the squad is in at the moment.
It'll be fascinating to see who SOD can add to his squad, how they are knitted together with the key members left and which, if any of the outcasts (Derbyshire, Miller, Greening, McGoldrick) can be brought back into the fold.
The Black Country born boss laughed off the icon tag at today's press conference and I loved his line that 'all the icons I know are dead'. If he can juggle the challenges in front of him and, in time, take the club back to the promised land of the Premier League then I've a feeling he'll be hearing that icon word once again...
Sunday, 1 July 2012
Kuwait and see
Nothing has happened yet. I feel the need to start this post with the obvious since it is easy to get carried away. Many people have (we're the new Man City, we're going to get Benitez etc) but I'm clinging to the words 'due diligence' and reminding myself that that doesn't mean 'all done and dusted'. I suppose it's only natural to dream about what could be, especially while we're at the start of that traditional period of unbounded footballing optimism that is pre-season. And the alternative? If the takeover deal falls through? Well, that's a great big black box labelled 'unknown' that no-one dare open.
I've spent most of the footballing summer convinced that the question of our ownership would rumble on and on, probably into the next season itself (Forest never do do things the easy way do they?). Friday's announcement that the Doughty estate is in an 'exclusive negotiation period' with the Kuwaiti Al-Hasawi family at least brought hope that my cynicism may be misplaced. Perhaps more significant were the highly positive noises from the family themselves - hinting that this was a deal that could and should go through.
Even if that is the case there are a great many unanswered questions left hanging as the club's most pivotal summer for some time continues (suddenly those weeks when we were moaning about no left back seem pretty small in comparison).
On the face of it, why would a foreign investor want to take on ownership of Nottingham Forest? Let's leave the Garibaldi Red-tinted specs to one side for a moment. We're a Championship club at the moment with a squad in desperate need of rebuilding, with two seasons of promotion challenges brought to an abrupt halt by a nervy relegation scrap that was won thanks to a patched up side boosted by now-returned loan rangers. We have a lovely ground on the banks of the Trent, but it needs a bit of a spruce up. It's unlikely ownership of our club will make anyone a penny of money and, in our current position, it's unlikely it will do much to broaden anyones business image as much as, say, purchasing a top Premier League club might.
However (and trying to not to put those specs back on) this is a club that, unlike many others, buyers could get 100% ownership of given our current situation. It has a 'brand' and history (yes, I know we live in the past etc but it is a selling point) and with sensible management could mount a charge to get to the promised land of the Premier League. In that respect I suppose it might be a cheap, albeit long-term, way to get yourself a top flight club. I'm sure that's how it has been marketed but, like it or not, the motives of any new owner, unlike the previous incumbent, are open to question.
And what about the arrival of great pots of money at the end of the rainbow? It's the obsession with cash that concerns me a little. Splashing it about hasn't catapulted Leicester to promotion as quickly as many thought. Yes money helps but you can't 'just' buy your way out of this division. The very best players won't want to play Championship football so it's unlikely that anyone will suddenly accumulate a Premier League team and steamroller all comers. Meanwhile Swansea, Norwich, Southampton and Reading have gone up in style, playing attractive football and spending less than we have in recent seasons. They should be the inspiration for any team at this level.
The key, it seems, to promotion is to find a canny manager and provide him with sufficient time, trust and yes money to build a squad that can cope with the rigours of football in the Championship.
That should mean, perhaps harshly, that Steve Cotterill would not be the right man to remain in charge should rich owners come to the club. Cotterill did, it has to be said, galvanise a club on its knees after the disastrous and ill-conceived 'Steve McClaren experiment'. He finally transformed Garath McCleary into the mercurial talent I had long-hoped he could be and expertly used the loan market, injecting the talents of Adlene Guedioura, George Elokobi etc into a disjointed band of dejected looking Tricky Trees.
Why not Cotterill for the future then? Well, I remain to be convinced that he has the tactical nous at Championship level. At Forest and Portsmouth he has avoided the dreaded drop with sides and clubs that really ought to do so but at Burnley never seemed to have the flair to take a team up to the Premier League. He's level-headed and doesn't duck a fight but can he build a side, unearth talent from the lower leagues and play imaginative winning football in a tight, ruthless league? I can't see it myself. A future Cotterill regime would also be without his talisman McCleary, tactical chief Sean O'Driscoll (suspected by many to be the architect of our away-day renaissance) and the afore-mentioned loan stars. It seems, to me, to be all set for a new broom and one suited to someone with qualities that are not on Cotterill's CV.
Assuming that we do suddenly get some Kuwaiti cash (and that dreaded box of uncertainty goes untouched), the managerial role must then be the first priority. Goodness knows who that should be but let's hope that Darren Ferguson, linked to the role this weekend, is not on the shortlist.
Coupled with a new arrival in the hotseat must be a sensible approach to squad building. Let's use Lee Camp, Chris Gunter, Joel Lynch, Guy Moussi, Andy Reid, Lewis McGugan, Radi Majewski, Chris Cohen, Dexter Blackstock, Marcus Tudgay, Brendan Moloney, Kieron Freeman, Paul Smith, Karl Darlow and Jamaal Lascelles as the starting point for a squad and go out and buy players we need to complement them. We can also look at which of the McClaren flops could be brought 'in from the cold' into that group. There's an awful lot missing from the squad above, but it's undoubtedly a starting point. Why replace what you already have? Leicester seemed to spend all their time signing too many central midfielders and blowing £5m-plus on players like Matt Mills when they already had solid centre backs like Jack Hobbs on the books. Heaven knows how much they forked out getting Nigel Pearson back too.
It'd be nice to think we can blood through some younger players and pick up some bargains from the lower leagues. Surely there's a player in the academy or League Two who could fill our hexed left back berth? Young and up-and-coming talent should be available and carries less risk than, say, spending £1.2 million and 10k plus in wages on a striker that doesn't perform (not that I'm thinking of anyone specifically of course). Maybe if we had money we could risk losing cash Miller-style but short-termism really doesn't seem to work and certainly wouldn't do us any favours if the owners decided to up sticks Portsmouth style and leave an unaffordable bill to pick up.
The future of the club is undoubtedly at a crossroads. Of course, should the Al-Hasawi family take over and invest money into the club we shouldn't 'look a gift horse in the mouth' and bemoan it. The money will be much needed to secure the future of the club and finding a buyer full stop is surely vital. But big bucks aren't the be all and end all. We can only hope that the new owners will be sensible guardians and that the desire to go on an fantasy football-esque spending binge is resisted.
On the field and off the field we need to be clever to achieve anything. The first clever move needs to come from Seymour Pierce to find good owners. But that would only be the first step. We're a long way off just needing a left back after all, and who'd have thought we'd be nostalgic for those days?! Still, typical Forest fan, living in the past...
I've spent most of the footballing summer convinced that the question of our ownership would rumble on and on, probably into the next season itself (Forest never do do things the easy way do they?). Friday's announcement that the Doughty estate is in an 'exclusive negotiation period' with the Kuwaiti Al-Hasawi family at least brought hope that my cynicism may be misplaced. Perhaps more significant were the highly positive noises from the family themselves - hinting that this was a deal that could and should go through.
Even if that is the case there are a great many unanswered questions left hanging as the club's most pivotal summer for some time continues (suddenly those weeks when we were moaning about no left back seem pretty small in comparison).
On the face of it, why would a foreign investor want to take on ownership of Nottingham Forest? Let's leave the Garibaldi Red-tinted specs to one side for a moment. We're a Championship club at the moment with a squad in desperate need of rebuilding, with two seasons of promotion challenges brought to an abrupt halt by a nervy relegation scrap that was won thanks to a patched up side boosted by now-returned loan rangers. We have a lovely ground on the banks of the Trent, but it needs a bit of a spruce up. It's unlikely ownership of our club will make anyone a penny of money and, in our current position, it's unlikely it will do much to broaden anyones business image as much as, say, purchasing a top Premier League club might.
However (and trying to not to put those specs back on) this is a club that, unlike many others, buyers could get 100% ownership of given our current situation. It has a 'brand' and history (yes, I know we live in the past etc but it is a selling point) and with sensible management could mount a charge to get to the promised land of the Premier League. In that respect I suppose it might be a cheap, albeit long-term, way to get yourself a top flight club. I'm sure that's how it has been marketed but, like it or not, the motives of any new owner, unlike the previous incumbent, are open to question.
And what about the arrival of great pots of money at the end of the rainbow? It's the obsession with cash that concerns me a little. Splashing it about hasn't catapulted Leicester to promotion as quickly as many thought. Yes money helps but you can't 'just' buy your way out of this division. The very best players won't want to play Championship football so it's unlikely that anyone will suddenly accumulate a Premier League team and steamroller all comers. Meanwhile Swansea, Norwich, Southampton and Reading have gone up in style, playing attractive football and spending less than we have in recent seasons. They should be the inspiration for any team at this level.
The key, it seems, to promotion is to find a canny manager and provide him with sufficient time, trust and yes money to build a squad that can cope with the rigours of football in the Championship.
That should mean, perhaps harshly, that Steve Cotterill would not be the right man to remain in charge should rich owners come to the club. Cotterill did, it has to be said, galvanise a club on its knees after the disastrous and ill-conceived 'Steve McClaren experiment'. He finally transformed Garath McCleary into the mercurial talent I had long-hoped he could be and expertly used the loan market, injecting the talents of Adlene Guedioura, George Elokobi etc into a disjointed band of dejected looking Tricky Trees.
Why not Cotterill for the future then? Well, I remain to be convinced that he has the tactical nous at Championship level. At Forest and Portsmouth he has avoided the dreaded drop with sides and clubs that really ought to do so but at Burnley never seemed to have the flair to take a team up to the Premier League. He's level-headed and doesn't duck a fight but can he build a side, unearth talent from the lower leagues and play imaginative winning football in a tight, ruthless league? I can't see it myself. A future Cotterill regime would also be without his talisman McCleary, tactical chief Sean O'Driscoll (suspected by many to be the architect of our away-day renaissance) and the afore-mentioned loan stars. It seems, to me, to be all set for a new broom and one suited to someone with qualities that are not on Cotterill's CV.
Assuming that we do suddenly get some Kuwaiti cash (and that dreaded box of uncertainty goes untouched), the managerial role must then be the first priority. Goodness knows who that should be but let's hope that Darren Ferguson, linked to the role this weekend, is not on the shortlist.
Coupled with a new arrival in the hotseat must be a sensible approach to squad building. Let's use Lee Camp, Chris Gunter, Joel Lynch, Guy Moussi, Andy Reid, Lewis McGugan, Radi Majewski, Chris Cohen, Dexter Blackstock, Marcus Tudgay, Brendan Moloney, Kieron Freeman, Paul Smith, Karl Darlow and Jamaal Lascelles as the starting point for a squad and go out and buy players we need to complement them. We can also look at which of the McClaren flops could be brought 'in from the cold' into that group. There's an awful lot missing from the squad above, but it's undoubtedly a starting point. Why replace what you already have? Leicester seemed to spend all their time signing too many central midfielders and blowing £5m-plus on players like Matt Mills when they already had solid centre backs like Jack Hobbs on the books. Heaven knows how much they forked out getting Nigel Pearson back too.
It'd be nice to think we can blood through some younger players and pick up some bargains from the lower leagues. Surely there's a player in the academy or League Two who could fill our hexed left back berth? Young and up-and-coming talent should be available and carries less risk than, say, spending £1.2 million and 10k plus in wages on a striker that doesn't perform (not that I'm thinking of anyone specifically of course). Maybe if we had money we could risk losing cash Miller-style but short-termism really doesn't seem to work and certainly wouldn't do us any favours if the owners decided to up sticks Portsmouth style and leave an unaffordable bill to pick up.
The future of the club is undoubtedly at a crossroads. Of course, should the Al-Hasawi family take over and invest money into the club we shouldn't 'look a gift horse in the mouth' and bemoan it. The money will be much needed to secure the future of the club and finding a buyer full stop is surely vital. But big bucks aren't the be all and end all. We can only hope that the new owners will be sensible guardians and that the desire to go on an fantasy football-esque spending binge is resisted.
On the field and off the field we need to be clever to achieve anything. The first clever move needs to come from Seymour Pierce to find good owners. But that would only be the first step. We're a long way off just needing a left back after all, and who'd have thought we'd be nostalgic for those days?! Still, typical Forest fan, living in the past...
Friday, 24 February 2012
That winning feeling
It's a funny old game isn't it? Last weekend I went away and missed the action on Trentside. And we only went and won one!
A paranoid fan would think they won the Coventry game just to spite me. I am a paranoid fan.
I'm still to see us register a victory since November 19 and have only had Garath McCleary's goal to cheer (at a live game) since that date. I, like pretty much everyone else in the City Ground that day, was stunned into silence momentarily as the ball hit the net - 'so THIS is a goal?' I had genuinely forgotten how to celebrate. So heaven knows what a victory must have felt like for the crowd last week...
Mind you it was a pretty useful three points and brought me out in a temporary hysteria. We'd won, so cajoling people into joining me at Barnsley away in a couple of weeks seemed perfectly sensible. It probably won't feel so sensible when we're there, but you've got to live a little right? Even if that is at Oakwell.
For now, however, the attention is on our trip to St Andrews tomorrow - a game i'll be following in my usual state of panic while looking on Twitter, Final Score and online in a futile bid to find out every little scrap of information. I don't want to pay for Forest World and don't fancy my computer's chances keeping up with some dodgy foreign stream so getting increasingly angry at the painfully inept Garth Crooks and pressing refresh more times than is healthy await.
Tomorrow marks the all-important 'next game'. We'd been told for a while that if we could 'just get one goal' more would come and after that if we could 'just get one win' we might get on a roll. They're both naff cliches but there is something to be said for momentum in football and now really is the time to get some.
It sounded a pretty ugly game against a pretty ugly Coventry side last week, but style really isn't a consideration at this stage is it? Birmingham away is a tough ask but we are running out of time and nicking even a point against Chris Hughton's men would set up the chance to build a run with the aforementioned Barnsley away game and back-to-back home clashes against Doncaster and Millwall.
Since my last blog post a lot* has happened and much of it has left me more than a little unconvinced by the appointment of Steve Cotterill. There's a separate blog brewing on that shortly but, rightly or wrongly, it does seem that Frank Clark fancies him as the man to steer us to safety, so we're stuck with him.
One thing Cotterill must work out is the formula for away day success. Not just so I don't have a wasted trip to Barnsley (although I'm sure it's lovely there regardless right?) but also because nine of the remaining 15 games are on the road. We are going to have to win at least some of those to stand a chance of survival.
Having said that, we've won as many away games as home this season (4 wins in 14 away, 4 in 17 at home) and the in-form Garath McCleary should give us a useful counter attacking threat tomorrow. The mercurial McCleary coupled with the wily Andy Reid and impressive looking loanee Adlene Guedioura should give us the quality to unlock a defence. We just have to hope that the mis-firing strike force pack their shooting boots and take their chances. I'd still like to see the creative talents of Lewis McGugan and/or Radi Majewski put to good use but both seem almost irretrievably out of favour (and in Radi's case, injured).
Birmingham are pretty formidable at the moment and Chris Hughton has done a fantastically good job to regroup and revamp the relegated Blues into promotion contenders. Given the amount of games they've played you'd think they'd have to burn out eventually but they haven't shown much sign of that so far. It'd be clutching at a particularly short straw to hope their endeavours catch up with them tomorrow but, given the desperate nature of this season, I'm prepared to grasp at any small crumb of half comfort.
I last went to see the Tricky Trees at St Andrews in the ill-fated ITV Digital era. It was an early kick off on New Year's Day and fans helped clear the pitch of snow to get the game underway in front of the TV cameras. Only, according to something I read later, this was the first game to register 0 viewers because it attracted less than 1,000 people. The people who were shaking off their January 1 hangovers missed Stern John's last ever goal in the Garibaldi, I'm sure they're gutted. That game was 1-1 - and I'd certainly take that tomorrow, wouldn't you? It would at least give me some false hope that going to Barnsley is the right thing to do.
Come on You Reds
*'a lot' is barely adequate to describe the huge shock of the loss of Nigel Doughty. That's another matter for another blog mind you - I've been very slack recently!
A paranoid fan would think they won the Coventry game just to spite me. I am a paranoid fan.
I'm still to see us register a victory since November 19 and have only had Garath McCleary's goal to cheer (at a live game) since that date. I, like pretty much everyone else in the City Ground that day, was stunned into silence momentarily as the ball hit the net - 'so THIS is a goal?' I had genuinely forgotten how to celebrate. So heaven knows what a victory must have felt like for the crowd last week...
Mind you it was a pretty useful three points and brought me out in a temporary hysteria. We'd won, so cajoling people into joining me at Barnsley away in a couple of weeks seemed perfectly sensible. It probably won't feel so sensible when we're there, but you've got to live a little right? Even if that is at Oakwell.
For now, however, the attention is on our trip to St Andrews tomorrow - a game i'll be following in my usual state of panic while looking on Twitter, Final Score and online in a futile bid to find out every little scrap of information. I don't want to pay for Forest World and don't fancy my computer's chances keeping up with some dodgy foreign stream so getting increasingly angry at the painfully inept Garth Crooks and pressing refresh more times than is healthy await.
Tomorrow marks the all-important 'next game'. We'd been told for a while that if we could 'just get one goal' more would come and after that if we could 'just get one win' we might get on a roll. They're both naff cliches but there is something to be said for momentum in football and now really is the time to get some.
It sounded a pretty ugly game against a pretty ugly Coventry side last week, but style really isn't a consideration at this stage is it? Birmingham away is a tough ask but we are running out of time and nicking even a point against Chris Hughton's men would set up the chance to build a run with the aforementioned Barnsley away game and back-to-back home clashes against Doncaster and Millwall.
Since my last blog post a lot* has happened and much of it has left me more than a little unconvinced by the appointment of Steve Cotterill. There's a separate blog brewing on that shortly but, rightly or wrongly, it does seem that Frank Clark fancies him as the man to steer us to safety, so we're stuck with him.
One thing Cotterill must work out is the formula for away day success. Not just so I don't have a wasted trip to Barnsley (although I'm sure it's lovely there regardless right?) but also because nine of the remaining 15 games are on the road. We are going to have to win at least some of those to stand a chance of survival.
Having said that, we've won as many away games as home this season (4 wins in 14 away, 4 in 17 at home) and the in-form Garath McCleary should give us a useful counter attacking threat tomorrow. The mercurial McCleary coupled with the wily Andy Reid and impressive looking loanee Adlene Guedioura should give us the quality to unlock a defence. We just have to hope that the mis-firing strike force pack their shooting boots and take their chances. I'd still like to see the creative talents of Lewis McGugan and/or Radi Majewski put to good use but both seem almost irretrievably out of favour (and in Radi's case, injured).
Birmingham are pretty formidable at the moment and Chris Hughton has done a fantastically good job to regroup and revamp the relegated Blues into promotion contenders. Given the amount of games they've played you'd think they'd have to burn out eventually but they haven't shown much sign of that so far. It'd be clutching at a particularly short straw to hope their endeavours catch up with them tomorrow but, given the desperate nature of this season, I'm prepared to grasp at any small crumb of half comfort.
I last went to see the Tricky Trees at St Andrews in the ill-fated ITV Digital era. It was an early kick off on New Year's Day and fans helped clear the pitch of snow to get the game underway in front of the TV cameras. Only, according to something I read later, this was the first game to register 0 viewers because it attracted less than 1,000 people. The people who were shaking off their January 1 hangovers missed Stern John's last ever goal in the Garibaldi, I'm sure they're gutted. That game was 1-1 - and I'd certainly take that tomorrow, wouldn't you? It would at least give me some false hope that going to Barnsley is the right thing to do.
Come on You Reds
*'a lot' is barely adequate to describe the huge shock of the loss of Nigel Doughty. That's another matter for another blog mind you - I've been very slack recently!
Monday, 17 October 2011
Goodbye Steve.....hello Steve
Forest don't like making it easy for us fans do they? Especially not for the occasional blogger wanting to put pen to paper (well, fingers to keys) about the latest happenings on Trentside.
With events moving faster than Usain Bolt I've had to ditch the following blog ideas in the same way Alan Partridge had his TV show ideas cast aide (Monkey Tennis and Cooking In Prison would have been great...).
I had wanted to discuss:
*what went wrong against the dirty stinking Sheep and why that was a bad omen for Schteve (lack of team spirit in case you're interested)
*why the Carling Cup should be scrapped
*why the Watford win was at last a step in the right direction but a predictably pitiful spectacle for the television cameras (seriously, who picked that??)
*why the Burnley defeat had a touch of the Megson about it
*why it was no surprise McClaren walked after the Birmingham farce
*my fears for the post-Doughty era
*thoughts on who should be the new manager (Sean O'Driscoll would've been a great choice for me...)
But alas all of those topics were superseded by the freshest 'big talking point' by the time I bothered to write this. Yes, it's the growing anger at those God-awful socks and the theory that it is their influence that has turned us into relegation contenders....
Actually, only joking, of course the main focus at the City Ground (although the socks must go!) is the arrival of Steve Cotterill into the hotseat.
I have to say I found the news of his appointment underwhelming. He's never really struck me as a master manager - more of a 'number two done good' at Burnley and Pompey and although he's been steadying the sinking Portsmouth ship he never really showed me a spark of inspiration that made me think he was worth chasing. Especially when cash was tight.
Still, Frank Clark (sadly minus tash) is back and has picked him. (Or is it that Mark Arthur picked him but wanted it to be announced by someone Forest fans trust?) I'm certainly prepared to give him a go and Notts County fans do talk highly of him. Although most of them are over 75 and say they're struggling with a wheelbarrow that no longer has its wheel (really ought to fix that chaps...).
There's no denying that Steve II has an awful lot of work to do. On Saturday I sat through the latest worryingly inept display by the not-so-Tricky Trees this season. Maybe the boys in red thought they had to match the soulless emptiness of the Ricoh Arena with a dire display that lacked any passion or spirit.
I felt we started the game relatively brightly and McGugan and Tudgay in particular looked lively but sadly their team mates faded around them and I saw little to suggest Gunter, Hill, Chambers, Greening, Derbyshire and Miller were doing much to impress the onlooking Cotterill. As time wore on we showed less and less quality on the ball and, of course, conceded an obvious headed goal from a deep cross - the goal against of choice for Forest away days. It's so predictable you don't know whether to laugh or cry.
I can't help thinking that the selection isn't helping at the moment. We had no wide midfielders on the pitch on Saturday - with Rob Kelly instead asking a reluctant Derbyshire and Miller to take striker-cum-winger roles that they seemed neither capable or interested in fulfilling. Steve needs to keep it as basic as possible to start with in my opinion. Not necessarily an 'old school' 442 but 'more round pegs in round holes' as Billy would say.
Ah Billy. I can't help but feel nostalgic for the ankle biting little Scot. He transformed us from a naive bunch of hard working individuals into a streetwise Championship outfit and fostered an 'us against the world' mentality that bred a real togetherness and tenacity that reflected the team's fiery boss. That's not the only way to create a strong morale I'm sure but Steve II needs to find his own way to knit together a dressing room of egos and undoubted individual talent into a team. Perhaps the club spotted something in his armoury that suggested he's the man to do just that? Lets hope so.
Since the start of the season McClaren and the players have talked after each game of 'putting poor performances behind us', 'starting the season from now', 'learning from our mistakes' and 'working hard to fix things'. Sadly this has proved to be all talk. They're the right words but they need to be meant and ring true before we move out of this slump.
No-one leaving the Ricoh on Saturday can be in any doubt that, as things stand, we are in for another relegation battle. We lost tamely to a very poor home side and weren't even close to the levels of organisation, effort and determination needed to compete at this level.
Steve McClaren's big failure seemed, to me at least, to be that he lost heart when he realised that the job wasn't going to pan out the way he hoped. He wanted wingers to play 'his way' and stellar signings to build on the framework of a decent side. When that didn't happen he struggled to fathom a 'plan B' and quickly went into a downward spiral of chopping and changing personnel and tactics and struggling to motivate the squad he was left to work with.
You'd hope that Cotterill will be fully aware of the task in hand and used to working on a shoestring. I'm sure the fans will back him (we're not as bad as some like to make out) and we all need to lower our expectations a little and give him the time he deserves.
We've had few false dawns already this season - here's to the Steve Cotterill era not being another...
Friday, 19 August 2011
Battle of the bosses is an important early test
Tomorrow's tasty looking Trentside derby has sparked a great deal of interest as a clash of ex national team managers Sven and Steve - but while the meeting of the ex England men on the sidelines makes a nice line for the journos, the on the field action could be an important early indication of the promotion chances of both outfits.
I'm massively looking forward to 3pm tomorrow, it's the first game I've been able to make this season, although I did turn up to the Lincoln friendly (more than some of our players I'm afraid....).
Reports suggest so far it's been pretty desperate stuff as Steve and his new-look squad adapt to the rigours of Championship football. While Barnsley, Millwall and Donny may look inviting features for the McClaren regime, it must be said that those three all have pretty settled sides, and it's the teams with momentum and settled squads (the Sheep got their signings in early and had a pre season together, therefore they've clicked sooner than most) that start best.
A scrappy sounding 1-0 at injury hit Rovers (where we normally struggle) got the 'first win' monkey well and truly off our backs and will hopefully allow us to find our feet against the Foxes.
Free-spending Sven arrives under pressure after two home defeats, and his £10m team hasn't quite gelled yet. After all that cash the Swede must deliver success to the 'King Shower Stadium (think that is the name....) and fast. To my mind he really ought to have gatecrashed the top 6 last time around. Not many teams can bring in a Premier League goalscorer on 50k a week on loan in January, and the signing of Yakubu, coupled with many more top flight loans, should have been enough for a play-off push. They faded and he had the excuse of being new and saving them from the drop to help to escape too much flak. With a full pre season and permanent signings aplenty he no longer has any excuses.
For what it's worth I think West Ham will win the league. Big Sam should get them into shape and any squad with Green, Nolan, Parker, Noble, Carew and Cole in should be too strong for this division (similar to Newcastle of two seasons ago). Leicester join a long list of potential rivals who must aim to match the Hammers.
His former England apprentice, and new Reds boss, will undoubtedly be out to show we deserve to be on the list of contenders. Since my last blog we've replaced McKenna with Jonathan 'Jesus' Greening, Nathan Tyson with (effectively anyway) Andy Reid, bought in George Boateng, got Moussi on another contract and snapped up Matt Derbyshire and Ishmael Miller to replace outgoing strikers Dele Adebola and Rob Earnshaw.
You'd have to say that, like for like, the new boys do look stronger on paper and, with time, that will hopefully show on the field. We still, however, have a gaping hole at left back (a huge bugbear) and probably lack a little pace to compliment the guile of Reid, McGugan and Majewski. It's a shame that Steve's 'rabbit from the hat' (in the shape of Wesley Verhoek), didn't pay off and it seems we may be forced to turn to the loan market, especially if McClaren's favoured 4-3-3 is to work in the long term. As we've seen before loans can be pretty hit and miss (for every Nicky Shorey there's a Michael Stewart and Lee Martin around the corner!) but hopefully McClaren and co can call in a favour before the window shuts.
Steve must know though that a win tomorrow could be pretty symbolic. It's early days yet but quick points ease the pressure and winning games like this do wonders for building all important momentum. Two years ago a scrappy 1-0 away win at Plymouth, with the goal scored by Chris Gunter, started a memorable run of form for Billy Davies' Trees, but it was a victory against Newcastle at the City Ground that really seemed to convince the crowd and players alike that we were good enough to challenge. The arrival of title contenders, whatever form they may be in, is the chance to get a 'Newcastle moment'.
With West Ham, in form Southampton and then the dirty Sheep on the horizon a feelgood factor would certainly be welcome. If that helps pile the misery on our neighbours from up the A46 then that would be even better wouldn't it? It's the first big game of the season already, I can't wait...
I'm massively looking forward to 3pm tomorrow, it's the first game I've been able to make this season, although I did turn up to the Lincoln friendly (more than some of our players I'm afraid....).
Reports suggest so far it's been pretty desperate stuff as Steve and his new-look squad adapt to the rigours of Championship football. While Barnsley, Millwall and Donny may look inviting features for the McClaren regime, it must be said that those three all have pretty settled sides, and it's the teams with momentum and settled squads (the Sheep got their signings in early and had a pre season together, therefore they've clicked sooner than most) that start best.
A scrappy sounding 1-0 at injury hit Rovers (where we normally struggle) got the 'first win' monkey well and truly off our backs and will hopefully allow us to find our feet against the Foxes.
Free-spending Sven arrives under pressure after two home defeats, and his £10m team hasn't quite gelled yet. After all that cash the Swede must deliver success to the 'King Shower Stadium (think that is the name....) and fast. To my mind he really ought to have gatecrashed the top 6 last time around. Not many teams can bring in a Premier League goalscorer on 50k a week on loan in January, and the signing of Yakubu, coupled with many more top flight loans, should have been enough for a play-off push. They faded and he had the excuse of being new and saving them from the drop to help to escape too much flak. With a full pre season and permanent signings aplenty he no longer has any excuses.
For what it's worth I think West Ham will win the league. Big Sam should get them into shape and any squad with Green, Nolan, Parker, Noble, Carew and Cole in should be too strong for this division (similar to Newcastle of two seasons ago). Leicester join a long list of potential rivals who must aim to match the Hammers.
His former England apprentice, and new Reds boss, will undoubtedly be out to show we deserve to be on the list of contenders. Since my last blog we've replaced McKenna with Jonathan 'Jesus' Greening, Nathan Tyson with (effectively anyway) Andy Reid, bought in George Boateng, got Moussi on another contract and snapped up Matt Derbyshire and Ishmael Miller to replace outgoing strikers Dele Adebola and Rob Earnshaw.
You'd have to say that, like for like, the new boys do look stronger on paper and, with time, that will hopefully show on the field. We still, however, have a gaping hole at left back (a huge bugbear) and probably lack a little pace to compliment the guile of Reid, McGugan and Majewski. It's a shame that Steve's 'rabbit from the hat' (in the shape of Wesley Verhoek), didn't pay off and it seems we may be forced to turn to the loan market, especially if McClaren's favoured 4-3-3 is to work in the long term. As we've seen before loans can be pretty hit and miss (for every Nicky Shorey there's a Michael Stewart and Lee Martin around the corner!) but hopefully McClaren and co can call in a favour before the window shuts.
Steve must know though that a win tomorrow could be pretty symbolic. It's early days yet but quick points ease the pressure and winning games like this do wonders for building all important momentum. Two years ago a scrappy 1-0 away win at Plymouth, with the goal scored by Chris Gunter, started a memorable run of form for Billy Davies' Trees, but it was a victory against Newcastle at the City Ground that really seemed to convince the crowd and players alike that we were good enough to challenge. The arrival of title contenders, whatever form they may be in, is the chance to get a 'Newcastle moment'.
With West Ham, in form Southampton and then the dirty Sheep on the horizon a feelgood factor would certainly be welcome. If that helps pile the misery on our neighbours from up the A46 then that would be even better wouldn't it? It's the first big game of the season already, I can't wait...
Monday, 11 July 2011
New era needs new approach
After a summer of biting my tongue I'm back on the blog again and it's a familiar theme at Forest at the moment isn't it? We're in a transfer window and we're not really signing anyone... Shouldn't be surprised really should we? In fact I'm sure I've posted on this before - I could just copy and paste. We've still not even got a left back.
It's a pretty important summer on Trentside. The board took the decision to remove Billy Davies from the helm and install Steve McClaren and I shouldn't really let this moment pass by remarking on the excellent job the fiery Scot did at the City Ground.
Under Colin Calderwood we came up from League One and played some pretty football, but lacked nous and bite and were bullied into the relegation positions. Billy made us much more streetwise and built the framework for a top six side/squad and for that we should be eternally grateful. His home record was nothing short of astounding and the football we played at times was very good, especially in his first full season.
I feared when he arrived that Billy was the type of character that would find it all too easy to fall out with anyone and everyone he came into contact with. To an extent that was true, but not until he'd galvanised the club and made it back into a Championship outfit.
I liked Billy. He was cheeky, aggressive (you can't be a shrinking violet in this league), canny and passionate. Perhaps he sometimes didn't affect games enough with substitutions (there were often three used and not often enough a game changing outcome from that) and perhaps he was too confrontational in his attitude to signings. Still, I'm grateful for the job he did here and several games (West Brom away, Newc at home, Leicester at home from last season and Derby at home this year in particular) will live a long while in the memory.
He's replaced with Steve McClaren, a manager who has almost as much baggage as this club. The thing is while people from afar just associate us with the European Cups, Brian Clough and nothing else, people also somewhat unfairly only focus on Steve's England reign and dodgy Dutch accent.
The fact is I reckon any English born manager you'd care to name would struggle in the national hotseat. Yeah McClaren didn't cover himself in glory but you reckon Allardyce, Redknapp, Pulis for example would do better? I'm not saying he's necessarily better than those three, simply that I don't think they'd have done much better. It' too easy to blame a hapless manager for England's woes at a national level but then again that's another blog.
When it comes to our new gaffer we should focus on his successful stint as assistant manager of 'them', Man Utd and as boss at Middlesbrough and Fc Twente. He went to Wolfsburg at the wrong time - just after they surprisingly won the title.
People in the game seem able to look beyond the "Wally with the Brolly" headlines and reckon he's a good coach and manager. He should be a good capture at this level.
The club has been decisive and bold by making his appointment, but they must follow that up with similar intent in the transfer market.
From the squad that went into the run-in last time around we're short of Kelvin Wilson (who was, albeit, mysteriously injured), Nathan Tyson, Robert Earnshaw, Paul McKenna, Dele Adebola, Julian Bennett and loanees Paul Konchesky and Kris Boyd. Other than Earnshaw (who struggled with injury last season) I can't say as though I'm particularly gutted at any of those going but the fact remains that we're now donw to the bare bones when it comes to squad numbers. The still-trying-to-be-positive side of me suggests that the decks have been cleared and wage bill freed for some good McClaren signings, the cynic says we've left ourselves an awful lot to do to plug the gaps.
Th sole capture so far has, at least, been encouraging. I always loved watching Andy Reid play for us, he was absolutely superb in the Paul Hart play-off side and, when I've seen him, hasn't exactly disgraced himself in the division above. If we've replaced Tyson with Reid then surely that's an improvement? He's also a free transfer so an absolute bargain.
The question now is who/what next? There were lots of positive noises when McClaren first came, but last week that gave way to the first signs of frustration.
As far as I'm aware he still hasn't been able to get his backroom team in place (the Calderwood saga rumbles on) and seems acutely aware of the need to get at least a couple more in place before we begin playing pre-season friendlies.
There have been lots of names flying around the internet rumour mill, and some of those are exactly the sort of quality you'd hope McClaren can attract. The trouble is if we follow the blueprint of previous summers and allow Wayne Routledge, Nicky Maynard and Nicky Shorey to be the new Darren Pratley, Peter Whittingham and, well, Nicky Shorey, then we're stuffed.
From a business point of view I can see the point of our transfer panel. We don't want a manager to go crazy and waste big money on players that really aren't worth it. We want the club to make investments into good players that will flourish for years to come ala Lee Camp, Chris Gunter, Dexter Blackstock etc. But doesn't there come a point where you have to take a punt? Maybe say someone is your number one target and make sure you get them. Even if you then have to look at loans and frees for non-priority positions (Norwich and Swansea used the loan market much better than we did last year). If you appoint someone of McClaren's ability he really needs to tools at his disposal to forge a successful side. Why be decisive about a manager but not his playing staff?
I know it's easy for me to say this. It's not my money that could be wasted. But the implied mistrust of the panel fostered resentment under Davies and that cannot be allowed to take hold again. With teams in the Championship spending more on managers and players than ever it has become a super competitive market. The advantage we have over West Ham and Birmingham is that we have a settled spine that should, hopefully stay together. Leicester may be distorting the market a little with their blank chequebook but that just means we'll have to be cleverer and pick our targets wisely. The simple fact is we have to spend to just stand still, that's the way the league is now.
Much has been made of our failure to start well in the last few seasons. It's not really a surprise given the fact that two summers ago we had a lot of players to gel together and last summer we were still waiting for the missing pieces to the puzzle. Unless we give Steve some new faces soon we'll have exactly the same thing again.
I'm refusing to get too gloomy just yet. I've surprised myself at how happy I am at the McClaren appointment and Reid's return is fantastic. Once again we're in a position with Forest where we have the opportunity to build something really exciting. Too many time sin the past we've thrown those chances away. I'm desperate for it not to happen again...
It's a pretty important summer on Trentside. The board took the decision to remove Billy Davies from the helm and install Steve McClaren and I shouldn't really let this moment pass by remarking on the excellent job the fiery Scot did at the City Ground.
Under Colin Calderwood we came up from League One and played some pretty football, but lacked nous and bite and were bullied into the relegation positions. Billy made us much more streetwise and built the framework for a top six side/squad and for that we should be eternally grateful. His home record was nothing short of astounding and the football we played at times was very good, especially in his first full season.
I feared when he arrived that Billy was the type of character that would find it all too easy to fall out with anyone and everyone he came into contact with. To an extent that was true, but not until he'd galvanised the club and made it back into a Championship outfit.
I liked Billy. He was cheeky, aggressive (you can't be a shrinking violet in this league), canny and passionate. Perhaps he sometimes didn't affect games enough with substitutions (there were often three used and not often enough a game changing outcome from that) and perhaps he was too confrontational in his attitude to signings. Still, I'm grateful for the job he did here and several games (West Brom away, Newc at home, Leicester at home from last season and Derby at home this year in particular) will live a long while in the memory.
He's replaced with Steve McClaren, a manager who has almost as much baggage as this club. The thing is while people from afar just associate us with the European Cups, Brian Clough and nothing else, people also somewhat unfairly only focus on Steve's England reign and dodgy Dutch accent.
The fact is I reckon any English born manager you'd care to name would struggle in the national hotseat. Yeah McClaren didn't cover himself in glory but you reckon Allardyce, Redknapp, Pulis for example would do better? I'm not saying he's necessarily better than those three, simply that I don't think they'd have done much better. It' too easy to blame a hapless manager for England's woes at a national level but then again that's another blog.
When it comes to our new gaffer we should focus on his successful stint as assistant manager of 'them', Man Utd and as boss at Middlesbrough and Fc Twente. He went to Wolfsburg at the wrong time - just after they surprisingly won the title.
People in the game seem able to look beyond the "Wally with the Brolly" headlines and reckon he's a good coach and manager. He should be a good capture at this level.
The club has been decisive and bold by making his appointment, but they must follow that up with similar intent in the transfer market.
From the squad that went into the run-in last time around we're short of Kelvin Wilson (who was, albeit, mysteriously injured), Nathan Tyson, Robert Earnshaw, Paul McKenna, Dele Adebola, Julian Bennett and loanees Paul Konchesky and Kris Boyd. Other than Earnshaw (who struggled with injury last season) I can't say as though I'm particularly gutted at any of those going but the fact remains that we're now donw to the bare bones when it comes to squad numbers. The still-trying-to-be-positive side of me suggests that the decks have been cleared and wage bill freed for some good McClaren signings, the cynic says we've left ourselves an awful lot to do to plug the gaps.
Th sole capture so far has, at least, been encouraging. I always loved watching Andy Reid play for us, he was absolutely superb in the Paul Hart play-off side and, when I've seen him, hasn't exactly disgraced himself in the division above. If we've replaced Tyson with Reid then surely that's an improvement? He's also a free transfer so an absolute bargain.
The question now is who/what next? There were lots of positive noises when McClaren first came, but last week that gave way to the first signs of frustration.
As far as I'm aware he still hasn't been able to get his backroom team in place (the Calderwood saga rumbles on) and seems acutely aware of the need to get at least a couple more in place before we begin playing pre-season friendlies.
There have been lots of names flying around the internet rumour mill, and some of those are exactly the sort of quality you'd hope McClaren can attract. The trouble is if we follow the blueprint of previous summers and allow Wayne Routledge, Nicky Maynard and Nicky Shorey to be the new Darren Pratley, Peter Whittingham and, well, Nicky Shorey, then we're stuffed.
From a business point of view I can see the point of our transfer panel. We don't want a manager to go crazy and waste big money on players that really aren't worth it. We want the club to make investments into good players that will flourish for years to come ala Lee Camp, Chris Gunter, Dexter Blackstock etc. But doesn't there come a point where you have to take a punt? Maybe say someone is your number one target and make sure you get them. Even if you then have to look at loans and frees for non-priority positions (Norwich and Swansea used the loan market much better than we did last year). If you appoint someone of McClaren's ability he really needs to tools at his disposal to forge a successful side. Why be decisive about a manager but not his playing staff?
I know it's easy for me to say this. It's not my money that could be wasted. But the implied mistrust of the panel fostered resentment under Davies and that cannot be allowed to take hold again. With teams in the Championship spending more on managers and players than ever it has become a super competitive market. The advantage we have over West Ham and Birmingham is that we have a settled spine that should, hopefully stay together. Leicester may be distorting the market a little with their blank chequebook but that just means we'll have to be cleverer and pick our targets wisely. The simple fact is we have to spend to just stand still, that's the way the league is now.
Much has been made of our failure to start well in the last few seasons. It's not really a surprise given the fact that two summers ago we had a lot of players to gel together and last summer we were still waiting for the missing pieces to the puzzle. Unless we give Steve some new faces soon we'll have exactly the same thing again.
I'm refusing to get too gloomy just yet. I've surprised myself at how happy I am at the McClaren appointment and Reid's return is fantastic. Once again we're in a position with Forest where we have the opportunity to build something really exciting. Too many time sin the past we've thrown those chances away. I'm desperate for it not to happen again...
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