POLL: Who's Been Worse: Cotterill or McClaren?

The poll is on the right... Just choose whose tenure as manager has been the more of a disaster..

More Transfer Rumour Updates

Yeah I said this would be weekly, I pretty much knew that'd be wrong, and that the rumours would come thick and fast. Thanks to those who have "tipped" m off with some, a lot was utter tosh of course but amongst it is some stuff that looks remotely believable.

Ins

Alex John Baptiste

Local lad Baptiste playing for Blackpool has been linked this week, with it mainly being IF we get rid of Morgan. Baptiste from Ollerton in Nottinghamshire is believed to be a Forest fan. He spent a long while at Mansfield Town. "Bap" has just been out for 3 weeks, so I’m not sure if this rumour was simply started by someone noticing he wasn’t playing and piecing together information from there, but it has a certain amount of possible truth to it.

Rob Earnshaw

Not going to happen, but people persists in linking him with a return. The fact we couldn’t afford to pay his wages before, and now with tighter restrictions and him having a better paid contract now than what we'd offer pretty much rounds this point off.



Outs

Chris Gunter,

Instead of West Brom, Fulham is the new rumoured home for him, although contrary to some reports it wasn't Martin Jol who signed for Spurs as he had left a few months previous. Gunter is likely to fetch around £2million.

Ishmael Miller

Only been here a short while, but already being linked with a departure to Middlesbrough, who don’t mind overspending on wages for strikers, they've been doing that since the 90's anyway (ahh Ravanelli, Boksic, Boyd, McDonald,

Wes Morgan

Wes is refusing to sign a new deal apparently so the club may be open to offers to bring in some kind of fee. Seems ludicrous when we have no centre halves and Wes would probably be happy to stay till June to help the club. Plus can you really see Wes in any other teams shirt?

Cunningham here until the end of the season

Greg Cunningham has extended his loan at Forest until the end of the season.

His loan spell was due to expire after Saturday's game against Cardiff.

This is obviously great news for our wafer thin defence - although I'll admit I don't rate him.

Cotterill knows best though.

Follow me on twitter @benando_torres

Gunter to be the First to Go?

Reports today suggest Chris Gunter is likely to be the first Forest player to head for the exit in January.

Interest is believed to be high among some lower tier Premier League clubs, with Norwich already having two bids rejected - the latest of which was £1.5m.

Forest are believed to be holding out for £2.5m, which makes sense considering we forked out £1.75m for him in June 2009 - times may be hard but we're not mugs.

Admittedly, It will be very sad to see him leave.

Gunter has been pivotal in recent seasons and we've all seen him blossom into a great player. We're a worse team without him, regardless of Maloney being able to step in.

We have to face it, Chris is at an important time in his career.

As a Welsh International, he'll know himself he should be in or at least competing to be in the Premier League - unfortunately we can not provide the latter anymore. It's the only way he'll achieve his full potential and the sooner he gets there, the sooner he'll be able establish himself at that level.

We can't really stand in his way.

And with times as they are at Forest, £2.5m is an astronomic amount in building our team. We could easily extend contracts and/or add new players to the squad.

It's just frustrating our players with the most value are in defence - the area with the lowest resource.

If he leaves, there will no doubt be some frustration aimed at the board as per.

Sadly, when you're a struggling side, no one wants your crap just your best.

Follow me on twitter @benando_torres

Can't Score, Won't Score.

2 days ago we lost to Peterborough. If we were still playing now, I bet we would still be losing to Peterborough. And that makes 6 games without scoring, which is pitiful in anyone’s language.

The fact we had a lionshare of possession created more opportunities and generally looked better, all save for in front of goal is one thing. The fact without possession of the ball we are clueless is another. The stats show 50-50% share of the ball. A lot of Peterborough’s time was spent passing the ball round the back once ahead content that we'd probably be incapable of breaking them down.

And shock horror, but an Ex Forest player popped up with the goal, and another, a striker no less, put in a good showing (George Boyd and Emile Sinclair respectively)It's not just rubbing salt into wounds, but open up new wounds to pour industrial strength salt into.

There were good efforts by Forest, McCleary and McGugan forcing the keeper to make saves before the Posh scored. That said, these were saves you'd expect any keeper of any calibre to save with a fair amount of comfort.

It wasn't really a surprise to see Peterborough lead, or to see Forest floundering to the usual type of changes we make to bring on fresh legs to do no more than they replaced. The team lacks leadership on the field. No-one is urging them on in the way that Paul McKenna the formally much maligned McKenna used.

Too many players go missing and the structure, though a classical shape just seems wrong, players are not doing what they should. McGugan is static and waiting for the ball rather than looking for It., Majewski looks lost and goes missing for huge periods of time. Our main creative outlet for two home games has been Garath McCleary running at wingers. McCleary will try all day but his crossing is not always the best.

Up front, they often seem remote. At times not getting into the box. When they do have a chance to that is. Much of the time the ball being tossed up to the strikers to merely is brought back towards our net again when a hoof fails.

Where we went wrong on Saturday was Moussi not being able to play centre back. He did well considering, but he had a lapse of concentration, couldn't run back toward goal as well as look about him where danger was and before we knew it, Boyd had time to curl what was a lovely strike home. Moussi, as I say did try, but he just looses concentration too much, as do half the rest. Greening on too many occasions left a ball too short, Cunningham at times looks confused as to what to do, Reid when he comes in knows what he wants to do, but is too unfit to do it half the time.

All in all, it's almost there. Almost isn't good enough. Every position seems to be running at 50% of where it was last year in terms of ability, yet most players are the same as took us to the brink of the Premiership.

I saw the first few signs around me of people being very disgruntled with Cotterill too. His post match interview were he sounded as perplexed as anyone and had no answers won't have helped either.


I had this discussion at work the other day before the Xmas break. Of the team that was doing badly, the majority were players who played in the glory games, against West Brom, against Derby. How long ago those days now seem.

Harewood to sign?

Interesting news breaking this evening saying Marlon Harewood is due to make a return to Forest until the end of the season.

Steve Cotterill has turned to Harewood in the hope he can roll back the years, and get us a few goals - something we have lacked badly in recent weeks.

Now all Forest fan knows what Marlon is capable of and he requires no introduction. Whether it proves to be an inspired move is another matter, especially since the return of Andy Reid has hardly been a success.

The most interesting thing for me is where the funds have come from to fund Harewood?

If you listened to Radio Nottingham post match yesterday, you would have heard Robin Chipperfield say an unknown source is funding the extension of Greg Cunningham's loan.

I'd like to dream a new investor is just around the corner, but let's not jump the gun just yet - questions for another article.

As for Harewood, good luck to him if it materialises.

Follow me on twitter @benando_torres

The Youth of Forest

So its officially official - we're going to be in this relegation scrap for the rest of the season.

Ideas are waning and everything we try seems to come to no avail.

In November, Cotterill promised he'd give youth a chance. He went on to roll off a list of now established players he's given debuts to in the past - Gary Cahill being one, ex-Reds Nathan Tyson and Kris Commons being others.

Some fans have clung onto this in the feint hope we have a young hero in our academy about to step up and steer us away from trouble.

We can dream, but the optimism is understandable especially with highly rated talents like Patrick Bamford and Jamaal Lascelles - the latter may be turning out for Arsenal reserves this time next month though.

Gone are the days of throwing money at our problems. If we can't buy or loan without having to sell first, the only other way we can add to our squad is with the undiscovered quantities in the youth team.

I'm undecided if youth is the answer at this stage but if they're good enough, they're old enough.

For Karlton Watson and Neil Byrne, Cotterill has seen enough with them both being released last Friday.

Some fans hit twitter to express their fury - why I don't know. Maybe they just wanted a retweet from one of them, when in reality they couldn't give a toss.

The truth is, neither we're identified by Cotterill in November as players who would get a chance. The writings were probably on the wall.

A small group of fans also took up the common rant about our track record of releasing kids before they're ready.

Apart from Bastians, Wright Phillips, Lawrence and Sinclair, none of the players we've released in many years have come close to the level we play at now. Look at Nialle Rodney.

Every side makes mistakes, it's football - Blackburn turned down the opportunity to sign a young Zidane before he went to Juventus.

What you need to realise with the likes of Watson and Byrne, is if they're only good enough for the conference, do you want them in a Championship sides first XI trying to keep us up? I certainly don't.

You wouldn't go and buy two average players from Mansfield after all.

When the remaining youth get their chance remains to be seen.

If this horrendous run of form continues though, I think their chance wil come sooner than any of us anticipate.

Follow me on twitter @benando_torres

Weekly Forest Transfer Rumours Update

As we career towards the transfer window I thought it'd be good to catch up on some of the crackpot rumours doing the rounds on the net, before looking at the more sensible rumours

Ins


One rumour has linked Kevin Phillips, the veteran striker playing for Blackpool. Phillips is on a one year deal at Blackpool, half way through. Phillips has had a great record and the rumour suggested that Cotterill see's him as the perfect foil for Blackstock. He would also largely be cheap.
Personally I simply can't see it happening. You never do know in football.


Kris Boyd has recently been released by Eskişehirspor in Turkey. Therefore he is of course free. That save for of course for his sizeable wage demands. He was on £40k in Turkey and even if he took a fraction of that we'd be unable to afford such wages, especially in these austere times.

Chris Riggott has also been linked in a valiant attempt to link us with any central defender who happens to be not nailed down, the player just released from Derby is on a free and looking for a deal. He has been linked on a couple of forums, and although it on papers looks good because he had a track record of top football, his career is blighted by injury, and frankly there’s a reason Derby released him.



Outs


Luke Chambers being linked left right and centre. He has a contract expiring, and the club may well seek to cash in on him whilst we can and avoid a Kelvin Wilson situation. Ironically therefore Celtic is one of the clubs being linked with him. I can’t see him going to a club like them, but I could see someone like West Brom being linked.

Chris Gunter and West Brom is a rumour I see also. But I think this is more of a case of people looking at players who could get a good fee and would have moderately high wages.


Matt Derbyshire, undoubtedly one of the bigger earners Paul Taylor referenced when saying new players not performing are on high wages. There are a number of Championship clubs being connected with him, and even a slightly odd rumour linking Blackburn with a move for a player they once had.


More rumours as they appears in the next few days.

As I say though, these are just rumours and may or may not hold very little truth.

Surprise Surprise

I read with great glee earlier about Nathan Tyson apologising about his injury plagued Derby season so far.

The wonder is he felt the need to do so. Anyone with any knowledge of Tyson would have known before he signed for Derby that he is frankly injury plagued. He wasn't nicknamed around where I sit as Mr Glass for nothing.

So for him to feel the need to say sorry is amusing. ON the other hand I can’t recall him ever doing so for Forest. Let’s face it, 5 games in a row was a good run for Tyson. However even for Tyson this run of injuries has been a bad one with him only making two performances for that lot down the A52.

Tyson said

""It's not just been a nightmare, it's been embarrassing. You join a new club and you want to impress and show what you can do, I'm so eager to achieve something here and be a success at this club and to have that taken away for me has been very hard."

Frankly I think anyone signing him with his injury record took such a risk that you have to wonder why?. I always liked Tyson; he always tried, and gave his all, so you can't bad mouth. This is more laughing at Derby taking on such a sick note and paying him to do bugger all.

Furthermore, considering he was the man on the December page of the 2011 calendar for Forest, it's almost perfect timing.

5 Games Without a Goal

The 0-0 against Bristol City may have at the end of the day ended our losing run; however it now stretches to 5 games now we haven’t scored. 450 minutes. 7 and a half hours. That’s quite a record in its own right.

Now of course in that time there have been some baffling saves, and goal line clearences, but they happen all the time. The truth is we are completely misfiring in front of goal and that is beginning to get extremely costly.

Obviously Dexter Blackstock is somewhat above blame, he’s barely played in the run and has been out for a year. Miller got injured during the run. Tudgay remains goalless, and Findley only played half the run. The midfield hasnt weighed in with goals, and so far this season, save for Lynch’s strike v Ipswich the defence has barely contributed goal wise, which after the exploits in previous seasons of Chambers goal scoring runs adds up.

1 or 2 goals here or there in this run would have given us at least 4 extra points. That'd see us a few places further up the table (Around the same stage as Derby) Not that scoring in any of those goals would have resulted in points, it’s a churlish argument, but the fact remains, we need goals. Goals win games. And therefore points. And we need that quickly.

So what we need is a goal scorer. Tudgay has never really been prolific. Miller has been frustrating with injuries. Derbyshire has barely had a run and scored goals before, but when he has played he has looked so lightweight.

So do we need yet another striker? It’s the one position we don’t have dearth of players. It's just the ones we do have arent firing. So it’s easy to suggest shipping a couple out to bring some more in. I've argued before about taking a Premiership youngster on loan to give them a no pressure go. We aren’t in a position to snap up a lower youngster, we can’t pay much in fee's to bring anyone in. One of two people I know suggested Patrick Bamford from the youngsters has been fairly consistent scoring there, but I’m not sure trying someone completely untried at professional level would work.

But is it a case of not the right service to score the goals. You can have the best strikers in the world but with no service it’s not going to result in much. McCleary looked creative against Palace, but in other games there was not a lot of production in the midfield to make chances for strikers to prove themselves. We no longer have an Earnshaw esque striker who creates something out of nothing at times, so we need that service from midfield. Cohen’s delivery may be missing there and his drive and determination. We don't have a box to box midfielder right now. McGugan and Majewski don; drive into the box enough. So I'd argue he is a huge miss in the build up of goals as his runs distracted defenders from the attacker.

It is extremly frustrating and need remedying. If there was an easy answer, we'd be scoring. If it was easy we'd all be managers. Let’s just hope Cotterill gets them firing.

No Bids

Recently I saw a few posts here and there on Twitter or Facebook from people bemoaning the lack of news coming from the club. Basically concerning once again that people the need for the board to be constantly telling us every facet of what is going on.

For quite a while I have constantly seen the anti Doughty brigade claiming that that when we cite that the man has saved us from going out of business that someone else would sweep in run us and save us from the big bad man Doughty, the evidence is now suggesting the exact opposite.

There has been no offer and no interest in taking us on, as most of us thought. The fact that some clubs have been taken over by foreign groups who splash the cash many fans wants the same thing. This short term vision as I have said very often is dangerous. Look at Portsmouth for evidence of that.

Coupled with the news as we discussed that there is no cash to spend, and then the usual gang have started vaguely perked up. Any chance to moan and all that. There was an amusing thread on LTLF that mocked this whole lets protest against something but we aren’t sure what mob. Cotterill has a hard January coming up. I hope he wins over the doubters who are starting to pipe up.

On Radio Nottingham they had the quotes from John Pelling, whereby they said indeed we have to free up wages to spend. And with Paul Taylors tweet today where he suggested many of the new players are on higher wages than the players who have been here for a while (and were successful) and they want parity, which you’d argue is fair enough, if it wasn't for the fact we can’t afford it. The likes of Derbyshire appear to taking up a portion of cash. And as has been suggested elsewhere maybe we should look to cheaper players lower down than signing Premier League Credential players.

So now the news is out that there are no offers, and no knight in shining armour is coming to invest billions in us, like many would claim would happen. Again, bravo to those who cited this as a good excuse to hound Doughty out. Especially when we have to sell before we can buy.

The Gloom Deepens

When it comes to Forest I am a mostly optimistic person. I live in hope that we will ultimately turn it all round. The current run of results is trying my patience.

To be fair that result against Palace was hardly deserved, but as with a team playing badly and winning look good for promotion, a team playing well and losing is an equally ominous sign.

It wasn't a huge shock to see Palace score, but in truth they hardly had any chances. As always defensive lapses of concentration cost the reds. That said I did fear the worst anyway when Morgan had to go off injured and Moussi took up his spot in defence to replace. Considering his completely inept performance versus Leeds, it didn't bode well.

And Moussi actually played well. I wouldn’t like to see more of him there, but it did give us a defender who can kind of pass, rather the lumped ball the other two frequently offer. The bright spark though was undoubtedly McCleary who seized his chance in the team to put himself back in with a first team shout. He looked bright, dangerous, and frequently provided the best chances, but the balls into the box never met anyone. He also had a couple of decent long range efforts too for his troubles. One I wondered why is he shooting from there but it forced a good save from the now thankfully shorter haired Speroni.

The game didn't have a great deal of clear cut chances at either end. For all our better performance we didn’t really force too many saves. Blackstock could have had a fairytale return to the City Ground, but a late header by him was straight at Speroni again.

And that’s pretty much it from my memory. Save for a Lewis McGugan free kick that everyone in the ground could have predicted would go straight into the wall. Zaha for Place showed glimpses of his much vaunted skills and talent.

All in all a frustrating game. We definitely didn’t deserve to lose. In Boxing we would have certainly won on points. But that the way of Football. Unfortunately.

The form has to turn, and quickly. But then the tactics need to change. Tudgay is not the right man for the sole striker role, but then who in our ranks are? Tudgay will never be prolific. But he is capable. Blackstock coming back will add some much needed bite to the strike force. But we badly need defensive cover. It just simply isn’t up to it right now I am afraid.

Now there might be an issue with Morgan. I haven’t seen any news yet about the scan he was meant to be undergoing today, but perhaps now young Jamal Lascelles needs to get his chance to shine.

Harewood Not the Answer

Seems almost at times with Forest that the kneejerk reaction is always looking to the past to solve today’s issue. The same names from the clubs past always got connected when the club change manager.

And now we are harking back to players from the past with the news Marlon Harewood is training with the squad. Yeah hardly cutting edge news but at the end of the news reporting on this, but I felt I had to add my views to the mix.

Marlon Harewoods arrival back at the training ground isn’t surprising. Often players returning from short spells overseas often return to train with their former club, or within a locale they lived in. The news however was leaked and the fans, desperate for some kind of talisman in what is becoming a very tough season, jumped at it.

Yes, Marlon was an integral part of what is potentially the best side this club has seen since probably 1998.Furthermore because it was a largely home-grown squad. Not for a while had a striker played with the direction and power that Harewood had, which complemented David Johnson rather well. The best strike force we had since Campbell and van Hooijdonk.

But this forgets the hugely frustrating player he could be on days. Not in the way that Moussi can be. On his day Harewood was unplayable, the lies of our current crop of frustrating players makes them unplayable in terms of we don't want them to be playing. Harewood was a wonderful focal point.

Yeah he also scored for fun that season with West Ham, scoring his big move to Villa, whereby he became a bit part player, Villa fans on the 24-7 forums mocked and vilified (no pun intended) him. He became a mocked player. And then he drifted further down the leagues before ending up at Blackpool who were trying to sign any striker in the country.

It speaks volumes he had to go and play in the Chinese second division. It is really not any standard of football. The Chinese league is known for a start for results of games being known days ahead of the match, corruption is so rife. Additionally there were 3 foreign players and then Chinese second division players. Chinese payers are hardly household names anyway, never mind second division players, not even exports. SO the standard (I contend I haven’t seen any though when I was China a couple of years back I did want to)

So if he was the answer, then why has no-one snapped him up, why did he have to go to China? I concede in interviews he did mention the money was very good. But really, I am sure he would rather have taken the same money and stayed within the country.

I would like to be proved wrong, but there is the fact we would also have to offload players to sign him due to the wage constraints. I think there are far better options out there we could look at. A young hungry Premier League youngster. Not a faded player trying to recreate former glories gone by.

The Root Cause

Thinking a lot today on why and what caused a perfectly capable promotion contender for two years to simply fall away and look a shell of that team has occupied my mind today.

And it’s far too easy to merely point fingers at the usual suspects, the lack of investment, and the appointment of McClaren etc as being why this situation has arisen. There are deeper cause and consequence too for this.



Yes extra investment would have been nice and would no doubt have seen success. Hindsight as well all know is a wonderful thing, and there is no guarantee that had we bought in extra players that they would have been successful and we would have gone up. That’s a debate we have done before to death. So let’s leave that one there.

One aspect for me was the slight breaking up of the team of the last 2-3 years. Ok we have most of the players, but the likes of McKenna and Earnshaw may be more missed than what we realise. Most of the players who left in the summer were fringe players, and coupled with Billy’s departure it did feel like somewhat change in the squad dynamic.

When players came in since the glut of signings 2 years ago, it was one player drip fed in occasionally. Such as Tudgay, the core remained the same. This season feels like too much tried to change. The whole strike force changing, Cohen got shunted round the park before his injury (and his loss is proving to be huge to the team) McKenna as that focal lynch pin in the midfield is missing as Moussi simply isn't a clever enough footballer to play that role. McGugan is in this game for McGugan alone.



I always said the team of the last 2 years were over achieving. The likes of Morgan and Chamber are not as good as what they looked at times. Same with the flanks of the team. But it does seem that somehow that Billy Davies had them on a crest of a wave, and perhaps lucky to get a group of players who for a period were united and played above themselves. I do think though that had we tried to carry on that team though that that time had simply gone. It needed a change. But a gradual one.

Only 5players came in, 5 mostly well paid players, and couple with injuries had to rely on a team that were strangers to one another. Some of the players in are also confidence players (i.e. Matt Derbyshire) and Greening has been asked to do a McKenna role I am not sure he is comfortable with.

Greening is somewhat surprising as he has a fairly good pedigree and career yet here hasn’t really shown what has made this reputation. Why this is I cannot explain. Those who simply state he is crap aren’t looking at a bigger picture. Players do not simply turn crap like that. Something must be wrong.

Moussi it seems is floundering and only Davies knew how to wield this most frustrating of weapons in our arsenal. Sublime and ridiculous within seconds, those good moments are far less frequent, and when Moussi messes up he messes up big time.

Chambers seems to have reverted to his old form. Lynch though has simply looked better than him, but Gunter, now Anderson and McCleary could be back should replace him at right back, captain or no captain.

And now Cotterill has said he will wheel and deal in January. This is a time perhaps to move out some of the players simply not clicking. I think Billy's players don't work well without him. We need Cohen to be temporarily replaced at least; the loan market would be good to look at. Surely Arsenal have a kid who could benefit from 6 months with us.

It is ironic here, I wrote at the start that changes caused this, and now I call for changes. However, this period of time seems to illustrate that change is needed. In the summer the first team players were all Billy's players, and perhaps there is a schism in the camp, and that many of those players, whose contracts are coming up no longer identify with the same team that we had before. We all know from any job there is a period of time when things click and everything feels great, and then something or some changes and it no longer feels the same. That is all I think that is happening. And it needs addressing. Maybe some people are starting to stagnate. Maybe we need a fresh flow into the squad. Hungry players. Eager to prove.

Who knows to be honest? If anyone did we wouldn’t be in this situation.

Back to Back Defeats....But Two Very Different Performances

The common consensus amongst the Forest fans I spoke to before this pair of games is that we thought we could get something out of them. Some fans speculated 4 points as being good, many would have settled for 3. One of two suggested we would lose both.

The truth is I don' think anyone expecting two defeats would have expected the abject performance of last night, maybe expecting that to occur more against Cardiff. Away at a high flying team, we only lost narrowly, with many suggesting we were unlucky to not get more from it.

What a difference a few days made. Leeds absolutely destroyed us. Whether somewhat influenced by the need to give Gary Speed a rousing good bye, or whether they really were at the races, what cannot be disguised is that barely anyone can come out of the game with their head held even remotely high. Maybe Joel Lynch, but then he was part of a defence that conceded 4, so perhaps not.

The man most around at me least singled out, including myself on twitter was Guy Moussi. Moussi had one of those games whereby he just looks useless. Directly responsible for two of the goals at least, but usually around the others, who was particularly woeful. The problem seems to be he can't play that deep role by himself. We are missing Paul McKenna big time in that role.

Lewis McGugan got a lot of flack, after being moved to his "prime" role, he simply didn't how nearly the requisite qualities to justify his reputation. McGugan tried flicks that didn’t work, seemed to think that instead of looking for the ball, that the ball should merely come to him. It was the performance of someone who simply was going through the motions.

The game was getting that bad that Andy Reid decided enough was enough and he'd go and take an early shower. Being on a booking he was lucky to have avoided a second yellow a few minutes before a challenge that was simply just late. He wasn't even close to the ball, it was just bad. And so bad you simply can't help to think that there’s no way he must have thought he'd get the ball.

Many would have missed that because half the ground emptied after Becchio netted Leeds third, of course one of the goals had to come from a header from a cross. It wouldn’t be Forest without that kind of goal. Hell that’s how Cardiff beat us. But the difference was at Cardiff many of us expected to be maybe turned over. The Leeds match we should have at least been competitive. Findley I don’t think once controlled a ball first time. Tudgay had one shot so hopelessly off target that I had to be told by two people that it was a shot and not him miss controlling. Miller when he came on was fill of drive, but he seemed so obsessed with scoring himself he ignored others. Both fullbacks were frequently beaten. Snodgrass beat Cunningham so often and outmuscled him.

I will admit the Howson goals was a great finish, but he had the space and time to compose such a finish. I am sat here trying to recall a good effort. Miller had a free header close in he put straight at the keeper, and McGoldrick had a smart shot turned round the post, but that’s about it. It was simply awful.

And if we play that again for much longer we will go down. I take solace in hoping that it was a one off. However, it could easily turn the fortunes downward. Heads drop. Morale affects us.

We need help and fast. We need new bodies. The current players are simply not up to scratch. We need a central defender who can also distribute the ball, and not aimlessly punt it. We need cover in the midfield that Moussi simply cannot do, at least not do consistently.

Worrying times ahead.

Forest Players Contract Expiry Dates

After publishing yesterdays ponderings about whether we will have to sell in January I have looked into when various contracts are are due to expire. Most of these are done via a Google search so this isn't gospel, but most of them are reported in various news channels so these should be accurate. But if you do know different do let me know via Twitter or Facebook(links onside)

There are obvious alarm bells here in this list


2012
Luke Chambers
Wes Morgan
Paul Anderson
Lewis McGugan
Joel Lynch
Garath McCleary
Brendan Moloney
George Boateng
Paul Smith

2013
Chris Cohen
Lee Camp
Dexter Blackstock
Radoslaw Majewski
Robbie Findley
David McGoldrick
Andy Reid

2014
Chris Gunter
Marcus Tudgay
Ishmael Miller
Matt Derbyshire
Jonathan Greening
Guy Moussi


Of course there are very worrying contracts that will expire. Chambers, Morgan, Lynch, McGugan and Anderson would all be losses, and as discussed should we cash in on these guys whilst we can get decent fee's? It's certainly a large issue that the club will have to address. The likes of McGugan should surely look for pay increases,which with the financial situation may not be very likely.

Will Forest Have To Sell in January?

The dour financial news that was reported by Frank Clark and with the news Nigel Doughty is no longer bank rolling the club to the degree he has had begs the question whether or not in January we may be forced to sell in order to finance any new deals.

For instance, Lewis McGugan would be a prime contender. Would it be worth selling one man to finance a move for 3-4 improvements elsewhere? It is easy to argue so. However should we continue on the upward curve we are currently on we may well start to look like promotion contenders.



So in essence the question which player should we potentially let go if the need should arise. Certainly McGugan is the one that would bring in the sizeable fee necessary. Though the likes of Camp or Gunter would also be prime candidates for topflight moves for good money.

Not that I am condoning selling any of these players. In fact far from it, but the question is what if we had to? That’s certainly part of the equation of how our season will unfurl.

There is something else to fathom in as well. There will be a number of players contracts will be up in June, whose I am not sure. However, since do have dour financial concerns, can we afford not to agree a deal to get some kind of fee rather than let a player go for free like we did for Kelvin Wilson.

The Kelvin Wilson saga is a perfect example of missed chances to make some money. The guy barely got in the squad and though they cited that he was injured, it did have the feeling of treating the player with spite for having the temerity to sign for another club.

That is not a good option for us. We need to get money in help fund potential replacements. Yes, Doughty has said he will honour all existing contracts, but similarly many of the players we have signed will not likely agree new cut price deals. So therefore should we cash in? And sell vital players?

Well we did this before and it was a catalyst for a batch of youngsters to take us to the brink of promotion. Many players like Bart-Williams and Rogers were shipped out and we had to fast track youngsters to the first team. Admittedly a golden crop of youngsters, but all the same the circumstances of the time meant necessity.

We would all like to hold on to all our best players. And with them go on and succeed. But do we cash in on success whilst potentially losing fees? We could become like Watford have been. Selling players, but bringing in players on loan and signing up and coming players. We have been blessed for awhile in that we haven't had to sell any top players.

In essence I warn fans to expect to see maybe one big departure to finance potential incomings, especially after a change of manager. Fans won't be happy but that’s the state we are in. Fans demanded Doughty out, well the reality is without him we will be a selling club, and I hope that is what you wanted? His bankrolling and keeping the club on an even keel will end, and although he is lurking in the shadows and maintaining current contracts, there will have be a sense of financial self-control and if offers come in we will have to think long and hard about whether it is best for the club in the long term.

That Ridiculous Banner

Right, for a start I am going to state that I find this kind of stunt fairly embarrassing for any team to pulling off. But if you are going to do this, do it well


There are other reasons to mock this of course. For one the banner itself which was admittedly more visible than the picture suggests was amateurish at best. Grammatically a mess and looking like it was pieced together from two other banners, Or that they pilfered a Remembrance Day banner from somewhere (I refer to the Never Forgotten bit) and you get something that made Forest fans chuckle, more than the anger it could have curried.

Furthermore, two months later? Hardly a fresh wound your reopening is it? The manager and Chairman have both changed in that time, our form has picked up and Derby's has slumped. They couldn't really have timed it worse. Had it been the next game or two, then yes, it would have been an extra dig, more painful. Now it just seems desperate.

Finally, it isn’t even original. It’s been done before, Blackburn, Blackpool, QPR have all done similar stunts recently. And at £2000 you really have to laugh. Football may well be important to us, but to splash that amount of cash, hard earned cash in a recession on a banner to try and rile fans at a game that you aren't at to see the reaction? Yeah I don’t think MasterCard's new advert will be quoting this as priceless.

Bravo Derby, for completely messing up a golden opportunity. Worst Team in history, and now worst banner in history.

Forest Last Gasp Comeback

At that point we had a team that withered and died in games (except against Leicester and we can frankly still thank Schmeichel for that) Now we have a team that does not want to lose. And will keep going. And then grab three points in injury time.

Ipswich had a team with a number of high paid players who have had success higher up the leagues. Chopra, Bowyer and Bullard are all well-known names, and with Stockdale (a keeper around the England squad) Jay Emmanuel Thomas (who was highly regarded at Arsenal) they aren’t short of players who look dangerous.

I just read a blog entry of an Ipswich site where they have suggested that these players are mere mercenaries and do not care, but Ipswich for periods looked handy. What they do probably lack is a certain amount of togetherness and spirit, as they bought in a large number of players.

That said, a number of our players are recent import, Greening, Reid, Cunningham all involved yesterday. But the core has been together for awhile and that breeds a certain amount of unity in the dressing room.

And that unity it seems to ebb and flow. Under Cotterill we have grasped it again, and use to go till the end. Under McClaren it seems that unity had the payers all against the manager, and they didn’t want to play for him, and that shows.

None of the goals yesterday were exactly classics. It was header central by and large, save for Findleys close range stab. Classically for Forest headers from set pieces were what we conceded. It sees to have been the same for all eternity. We never look comfortable.

But up the other end we grabbed headers too, and the points. Tudgay's winner seems a little lucky with how the ricochet landed exactly for him to no d home, but Lynch’s was a good strong header (and I for one am glad to see the lad started to get the plaudits he deserves.)

I’ll move on to the embarrassing banner later in another article, but of course Derby flew what can be described as an embarrassment over the City Ground for further entertainment.

All in all very good for the Feds to comeback. At 2-1 down I was more than a little concerned. But that’s because of the earlier start of the season when we would rollover. Now we don’t and it should breed confidence. Under Cotterill I doubt we would blow that lead against Derby. The players seem re-motiviated.

Onwards and upwards. Points wise we are as close to the playoffs as relegation. A good Decemeber and Christmas might even see us up in the playoff mix.

The Future of Football and Forest

Now this seems somewhat maybe a broad and sweeping subject to tackle for a mere Forest blog, but it’s been a quiet period with the international week, and it’s been an interesting day possibly in the future of football.

With Sandro Rosell the Barcelona President has spoke on a subject that could have huge long term ramifications for the future for our fair club.

He spoke about how basically he would like to move closer to a European Super League and how the top divisions should move down to 16 team leagues, and basically how it have a larger Champions League, with weekend games.

Basically the target is that rather than every so often games between the huge European super powers of football, we should instead see those far more regularly.

Now on the one hand I am not surprised, nor do I care overly too much on the outside, we as a club are so far removed from that world of football that they can frankly do whatever they want. We won’t get there anymore and if greed so drives them into eventually killing the game, so be it. These games get a lot of attention due to the rarity of them. And so maybe people in China, Brazil and other emerging markets want them more? Do these new fans really have to change what the old hardened fans of old want to see? Well the bank manager certainly thinks so.

For one, the fact that Manchester United v Barcelona or suchlike holds a vast interest when it’s on is because it is that, a rarity. They want to dilute and pollute market more than ever.

But the fact that if this happened, it would by a stroke be much harder to get in the Premier League, it would become more a closed club, and would likely see a step closer to abandoning relegation.

This would see the rung beneath that become like the minor leagues in US sport. Which almost sounds a disaster and no way forward, but a great many clubs forge a decent history that way. Problem is those clubs have never had the highs that a club like ours has had. Now I usually am one to rally against us always harking on about the past, but for this I think it points to how such a move would be a disaster. Most realists know we will never be atop club again. I would still like to retain a league whereby we can dream of making it to the topflight, and with that is always the chance of a few good years, but even that is something UEFA would gladly take away from us, and that as a former double European Cup winner would be tragic.

Unfortunately those people running our sport from the very highest (yes, Mr Blatter) are driven not by the love of the game, the romance the passion, the fans, but purely by profit. By axing out how much every one of them can squeeze every penny from the game.

No doubt with us all being football fans as well as merely Forest fans it will mean higher costs in terms of Sky Deals, and other knocks ons whereby they try and squeeze more out of us more than ever.

So although it is still all conjecture, the decisions made by presidents and chairmen of the biggest clubs in other world football might one day put us in a situation whereby we are forever stuck in a second or third tier of the game, unable to escape.

Latest Transfer Rumours

Ok so as we near the reopening of the January transfer window, and as Cotterill has had an excellent opportunity to survey his squad, the transfer rumours are starting to creep out the wood work again.


And unsurprisingly, those start at the club Cotterill recently departed. And even more unsurprisingly they start with Liam Lawrence. Lawrence is of course a local; he was born in Retford, and as a youngster was on the Forest books. I have heard in the past, though I have nothing to corroborate this, is that he was always resentful to Forest for this, and as a consequence doesn't like the club. As I Say, I do not know if this is true. He however would not be cheap, and for that I raise severe question marks over this potential deal. It just feels like lazy journalism

Equally is the vague rumour connecting Erik Huseklepp, a Cotterill signing for Portsmouth in the summer. That alone suggests to me it is unlikely, as does the fact Pompey paid a princely £1.5mill for him, and Forest recently announced we do not have much cash.


Chris Martin, not the one in Coldplay, but the Norwich striker has also been linked, and with a host of other Championship clubs too. Maybe more likely, but we don’t exactly have a dearth of strikers at the club (what with Blackstock impending return) Palace look to be the front runners to sign him on loan. Martin has a checkered past, being barred from many bars in Suffolk after a fight in a pub in Beccles.

There are strong rumours suggesting that George Boateng will be let go in January. These have appeared on numerous sites, and may have credence with that Boateng really was a McClaren man in the Forest camp.

Finally, there are very non-committal rumours about there having to be departures in January to fund any arrivals. The names mentioned are unsurprisingly Lewis McGugan and Lee Camp. It remains to be seen how much truth there is in this.

Progress Report

In the first real look at this season progress there is a huge amount to get in, and no real conclusions. Just thought I'd get that out there first. Basically I say that because we are very much a work in progress and it's still hard to tell if we will explode up the league, or merely meander around the lower half.

I think we all agree that those first initial fears of relegation we had with McClaren are somewhat starting to evaporate. Though a number of bad results would result in us slumping back, and although we are on better form, it's easy to suggest we are two or defeats in a row away from crisis again.

However, the swagger and belief seems to back in a number of the more flair players, and with Anderson and Blackstock approaching fitness (although in Dexter's case that will still be a long way off)

Any team might have somewhat struggled without the likes of Cohen, Blackstock and Anderson, and with capable reserve Garath McCleary also missing, there has been real no natural width to the team. It's easy to see why we chased Verhoek, even if ultimately that failed.

The damage McClaren could have done seems to have been nipped in the bud. I admit I for one would have given him more time, but the resurgence shown in the period since his departure really underlines how wrong I was. He really must have lost the dressing room.

If we went behind under McClaren, we really looked lost, the players seemed de-motivated, and under Cotterill that does seem different. Even though Portsmouth tonked us, we played well and could and should have gotten more out of a game that the score line defied, but then when you star chasing a game at 2 down you leave yourself open to that.


Joel Lynch for me this season has been a real revelation. I always thought he looked talented, and he had a lot of hype about him before he came here (I certainly signed him a few times on Football Manager) Especially in his preferred centre back role, it seems like Chambers that he looked capable in his full back slot, but at centre back he looks accomplished. I thought we might see Lascelles come through more, but with Lynch now blossoming there that is more unlikely.

Up front we do seem to have a number of options that we may have lacked. Miller is the big direct threat, who is powerful and quick; Findley is the nippy striker to use late on, Tudgay the aerial threat, and Derbyshire the man for finishing, although they aren't quite firing as a unit yet. Blackstock will be the one to come in and change this. Miller and Blackstock might see a more aerial threat, both handy in the air, and both good finishers. Derbyshire has disappointed for me a little. I always liked him at Blackburn.

Midfield wise, it’s hard to tell, under McClaren it looked clueless, and we still once again have issues surrounding Moussi's consistency. McGugan is again looking his confident self and Majewski has at times impressed me under Cotterill. Under McClaren this was all somewhat staid and dull in midfield. Boateng had a role as an enforcer, yet he doesn't have mobility to get around. Greening I so want to do well, and I think the crowd need to give him a little slack. I think he is seen as the face of McClaren signings (despite rumours being he was signed before Stcheve came in.)

And then there is the board. Where are we going? Well it is unclear still just what Doughty will put in, but it seems he has decided that enough is enough, and that he has staked all he can and should in this venture. Every gambler should have a limit, Doughty may have reached his. Whether this was something he was mulling over anyway, and decided by the protests or whether it really was unrelated, maybe he'll, and he did it because of the opposition to him solely. I know he said it’s down to McClarens appointment, but I think it is in part to alleviating pressure.


McClaren was very much a mistake and that I know now. We went for a flashy name when we should have for a man who knows this division.Many will say we shouldn't have got rid of Billy, but the problem there was that Billy had burned all of his bridges. As well as that, it seems he had tried his hardest to forge away out the club, as he had every where else he went. He still hasn't got a job now despite his great record. McClaren really had no idea what to do when it went wrong. It seems like his Wolfsburg period. Taking over a club that had done well, and being unable to replicate that. Wrong club,at wrong time.

Frank Clarks reign is still very much a long work in progress. The fans are onside. Let’s see how it goes

All in all I have hopes we can reached the playoff promised land again. Here's to seeing if we can.

One Step Back After Steps Forward

Well after all the euphoria of the hard fought win on Tuesday, Forest fans were bought back to earth with a bump with what looks in result as a thrashing by Portsmouth, 3-0 at Fratton Park,that no doubt will have hurt Steve Cotterill as much if not more than Forest fans.

The scoreline of course doesn't always tell the full story,and had chances fallen differently we might have seen more out of this game , like the late points we have snatched against Pompey before.

Steve summed it best post match when he said "How on earth did we lose 3-0? We've dominated and lost 3-0. I'm lost for words." Although maybe not fully accurate the truth is that we were not 3 goals worse.

But how many times have we seen Forest do the same? These games exist, remember Doncaster in League One walking all over us and losing 4-1? Jonathan Forte was majestic that day, yet they got thumped, well it looked like they did. History remembers the result not the performance.

Also an irony is that one of Cotterill's last signings got both goals. Erik Huseklepp netted two goals to help defeat the Reds. Dave Kitson in between netted in between for Portsmouth.

Forests bright points came from a great effort by Findley that was very well saved. Morgan too went close when it was still a one goal arrears.

To believe the BBC highlights it all looked Pompey, but it just seems lazy editing.

The truth is Forest are a changed team under Cotterill. Confidence appears to be back. The game against Reading for instance, under McClaren we'd have lost our way and probably lot it.

Interesting comments have surfaced this week about players being frozen out, like Marcus Tudgay,told he had no future and then dragged in to play. It hardly inspires a player to play well when he knows the manager doesn't rate him, and maybe this was half the problem. Players really not being focused on anything because McClaren frankly wanted to replace them come what may after proving themselves before.

I've said it once, I'll say it again, I bore all the hall marks of Roy Hodgeson at Liverpool.

Calderwood Sacked

Considering how vociferously they held on to him over the summer when both ourselves and Birmingham were linked with the Scotsman, it's somewhat surprising and a little amusing to see Hibernian sack Calderwood.

The past few months have seen a great many changes between where we could have been and where we are now, and Calderwood wasn't able to be part of McClarens revolution.

It does occur to me what with eh back room staff all staying on that he could well have ended up taking charge of the Reds again when Steve was got rid of. That would have been a great irony really.

The flip side of this is of course that Billy Davies is a very high profile Scottish manager out of work and therefore has been linked now with this job. This is hardly surprising news.

Whats also sort of fascination,going back to Calderwood is that Hibs essentially passed up around £250,000 or whatever we offered in compensation, only to then sack a manager that was highly unpopular there anyway. In researching what Hibs fans thought of him, all I saw was Hearts fan completely mocking at how he had led Hibs to be a laughing stock, with Thornehill and Agogo as two of his signings, neither of them doing anything much beyond League One, and with Agogo essentially sitting the last two years out by playing in two bob leagues for two bob teams.

On the other hand I always wished Calderwood the best. Some fans just never warmed to him, and the guy was genuine and a nice bloke to boot, but it might be seen that he is not a capable Number One and might just be a capable assistant

Forest Rise to Beat Royals After Hull Slip

I have been fairly busy these past few days and have barely had a chance to be able to collect my thoughts, let alone put them down on page, so for that I am sorry and only now I can begin to talk about two very dour games. This should be easy, because there isn't that much to talk about.

The Hull game could have gone either way to be honest. Both teams not exactly playing at their best. Hull had a game plan to strangle the game and that they did. The chances were few are far between.

Hull of course ended our unbeaten run last season, and with two members of that squad on their bench in Adebola and McKenna it was possibly unsurprising that it was them that ended Cotterills admittedly short but pleasurable unbeaten start to Forest managership.

When of course those two came off the bench for the second half the fear is that either will score. In fact McKenna would set up the goal for Hull, after a particular unpleasurable bout of head tennis he nodded through for McLean to score for Hull, not long someone near me said that how rubbish he is compared to how he was at Peterborough, thanks for jinxing it.

That came after our best effort of the game which was a medium range left footed Majewski drive which the keeper saved. Probably our best effort of the game.

All in all not a classic but I have seen far worse games.

Which leads neatly on to Tuesdays night events, which really push that mantle of worst game ever close (which goes to Forest v Stoke on New Year’s Day a few years ago) it just had a feel of the both sides, both fans and even the officials not really being arsed to try. It would explain the ref’s inability to punish Reading for taking so long over throw ins early on.

Miller had of course mad way through injury for Findley to make a start, I hoped to see more use of his supposed pace, but I have yet to really see him outpace any defender in the way that Tyson and Darcheville used to.

This game as said was largely horrendous, with bad passing, especially from Moussi being a key component of both teams abject performance. We did have the ball in the net early through Tudgay, which was disallowed for offside, and McAnuff had a dipping cross that hit the bar, and that was largely that, with the crowd fairly disgruntled but no unhappy enough to boo at half time.

The second half saw Reid replace Majewski and it created new options, for one the ability of someone to cross which had been missing. Tudgay had one shot on target from range in the second half of note, and not else much else sticks out till Tudgay scored. McGugan fed Chambers, who crossed for Tudgay to take it down swivel and finish.

Reading at the death, and let’s remember that Reading and at the death are phrases that nearly haunted us last season when they came back and nicked a game last season in that particularly ropey run in early spring when our playoff hopes looked to be imploding) Hunt had a close range header which Camp parried well away from goal to maintain our win. Three wins in four is a commendable record regardless for any manager, but when we were so poor before it speaks volumes for the way Cotterill has silenced early critics.

All in all two forgettable games, but progress is visible for all to see.

Back to Back Wins Illustrate McClarens Shortcomings

Following Saturdays defeat of Blackpool Forest have already equalled what we achieved under Steve McLaren in his tenure. Steve Cotterill has taken just two games to do as such. A 100% record is all we can ask for as fans.

Seeing as Cotterill was a somewhat maligned appointment, this is obviously wonderful news. The win on Saturday was a hard fought victory. It wasn't a smash and grab by any means. But we did make a lot of hard work. Thomas Ince for instance at times made or defence look like they were playing statues.

This was of course by the time we were looking good anyway. The first goal was a familiar gal in the past, but hasn't been of late. A headed goal from a corner, which used to be Chambers domain for netting, but Big Wes stepped up. Tudgay had gone close and Chambers also with a header had chances. Blackpool of course had their own, it wasn't one way as I said.

Their goal didn't have that inevitable feel that usually happened under McClaren. But it was the defence standing off. Allowing Kevin Phillips a chance to get some space is naive. He is a natural goalscorer. And we gave him all the speed he wanted. He duly showed us why thats bad. A low drive into the corner.

But when Majewski scored the winner it did feel a little against the run of play. A throw in that dropped to the Pole who volleyed home. I still think Matt Gilks should have done better in Blackpool's goal. No matter, I don't mind when it comes to Forest nicking a goal.

As said Blackpool had chances and maybe should have equalised. I think that would have been fair. As said though, for what we have been through, I don't care one iota or have any sympathy. Especially as Blackpool had a 4 wins in a row record against us.

So the fact that with the very same players that McClaren had (in fact less as Hill had returned to QPR) Cotterill has been able to carve a double wins, with a similar formation. The differences are the defence looks like it now has a clue,the players don;t look completely unmotivated, and they seem to want to play for the new Steve rather then the Old Steve.So had McClaren lost the dressing room, well that much is apparent. I supported the man but admit I was wrong. The fact Cotterill has done so much more in 2 games than McClaren did in his 10 speaks volumes.

It has been said that, I think it was on Football Weekly's podcast that going for the big showy name doesn't work at this level.you go for the grafter,the budget worker. Look at Leicester, Sven has as good track record as anyone, and he didn't get this division right.

All in all, things look good for Forest again. Confidence is back.

No More Money

We had all suspected that the news that came earlier this week about there being no more money to spend at the club. The rumour had been around for a while. Coupled with Doughty resigning his position as chairman it seems that he has reached his watershed of fees he is willing to invest in the club.

I saw an interesting analogy over on LTLF forum the other day, that basically your career gambler will have a maximum amount he will go to before cutting his losses. It seems Doughty has reached that point too. £70 million appears to have reached a zenith where he has decreed no more.

And with that was the pre match news that the club although not directly up for sale, Doughty would be willing to listen to a good offer, from someone he would see fit as moving the club forward. He has appointed Seymour Pierce to assist in this.

That to me rules out foreign investors. The legacy of these in English football is that outside of the very top clubs they largely are merely investment opportunities, a chance to invest in a club to be promoted to sell off. That they aren't really acting in the clubs interests. The Dispatches program summed it up. Thats also ruling out the vaguely illegal activities some of these may well be up to, like happened with Carson Yeung at Birmingham, or indeed the insanity that occurred a few hundred yards away over the Trent at Notts County.

But now we have nothing. What now? Well the first question might happen very soon. QPR are talking about recalling Clint Hill, what would we replace him with? Lynch is the only real choice, perhaps Gunter. But it leaves us so so short in other places. With no young left back banging on the door,it leaves us bare.

The reality is that we will have to become a selling club. We haven't had to do this for a long time. If we had to sell the likes of McGugan, or Camp to bring in some cash, and fund maybe 2 or 3 other players. Doughty has said he will honour all existing contracts. There are some key contracts up for renewal next summer. Would it be best to cash in on these players whilst we can, like in the dark days post Platt after ITV Digitals implosion.

One asks whether the protesters who wanted Doughty out and got their way are now happy. They will no doubt point out that this is exactly the kind of thing that they wanted to show up, that Doughty needs to be replaced. Well that isn't our decision as fans so is largely a useless debate. What we can do, is debate the facts of whether his tenure was any good. Doughty pulling out may or may not be a good thing. Many have suggested he held us back with bad appointments and failing to invest at the right time. Hindsight is a wonderful thing of course and can always make the fool look wise.

The reality is that now we cannot cover the losses the club makes. Many of the anti Doughty brigade suggest the club must be run badly to have such losses. But hang on, save for selling players regularly or forcing up ticket prices, which would both be unpopular decisions what other income streams could we really have to make the money back? it's a ridiculous argument. Do you want quality players to get us up, or do you want cheap rubbish players. Your damned if you do and damned if you don't at times.

We will have to look for youngsters on loan from the Premier League,for free transfers from around the world, and to sell any player who shows enough about them to sell off. That might see Arsenal sniff around Jamal Lascelles again. McGugan I am sure will attract attention again, and to be honest maybe he will want to go.

Post Middlesbrough Podcast

The podcast recorded after the Middlesbrough game is now available for you to listen to.

It is embedded below ready to play

Forest 24-7 Post Middlesbrough Podcast by Forest24-7

What a Difference

To be honest I was worried approaching today's game. A manager who has had a mixed reception upon his appointment, in a team playing badly. Coupled with the fact I had been led to believe Cotterill was a long ball merchant, I thought this could be ugly. I wasn't against Cotterill, more just that those who were would immediately have ammunition

But on the other hand, Middlesbrough always seems to be bad and poor whenever I see them. And that they were. On one hand because they didn't seem at the races today, but also that we didn't allow them to be in the game.

Make no mistake this was a Forest team who looked assured and dangerous whenever moving forward. Defensively we looked secure. The midfield too didn't let to side down and McGugan and Majewski looked majestic. Camp...Well he didn't have much to do, especially in the first 45 minutes.

We had a straight 4-4-2, with Chambers at right back and Gunter on the right wing, Majewski was on the left, with everyone else in their normal positions.



Our first goal was beautiful. A team goal sweeping forward, with Gunter squaring it for Tudgay to net. Many had questioned Tudgays selection. Like many players tonight he showed why he was chosen. Not just for his goal but his all round performance.

Miller for me, although sometimes selfish, always looked hungry. And further more looked dangerous. McGugan was back to where he was last year, even shooting from long range with free kicks. Majewski's little close footwork looked assured.

Gunter chosen as a right winger was a good choice there. His natural attacking instinct was used well, and he covered his full back well. At times Majewski didn't with Hill, but that is a very very minor gripe. The whole team had their mojo back.

Middlesbrough offered nothing at all in the first half. They started the second a little better, with a free kick that resulted in a close header at the back post. That was their best chance.

We finished the match off in a very good period, where Miller, Majewski and McGugan often got forward and looked lethal. McGugan netted with a usual goal, jinking on the edge of the area, before finishing into the corner with his usual aplomb. No more than we deserved.

I hoped we might kick on to get 3 or 4. But then I am greedy. A first home win will definitely suffice. Miller did seem to go off with some kind of strain later on. Can't be too bad as he was on the pitch with the players at the end rather than getting treatment.

My main moan today was the poor treatment Greening got when coming on, jeering your own players introduction, and then ironically cheering and clapping every pass he makes is neither big or clever. It's ridiculous.

All in all a day to restore faith in the Forest team. Long may it continue.

The Social Networking Ban

Steve Cotterill has put a ban on the Forest players using social networking sites, banning them around £1000 a word if they do tweet, or post on Facebook.

On the one hand this at least will ruin any fake player accounts that do exist. This is a blessing as some of these are frankly embarrassing seeing people pretend to be players. And only really a couple of our players are prolific tweeters, and Dexter really has nothing better to do anyway.

Some have suggested its a reaction to Ishmael Miller outburst, it's not Cotterill did the same with Pompey.

I am torn as to if its serves much purpose. At the end of the day as long as they tweet in their own personal time I have no problems. Even if it is a player in melt down at the fans of the club. On the other hand it will avoid any silly misunderstandings, because lets face it, most of them aren't the brightest.

You also lose maybe a close connection with the fans that exists. Many of us follow the 6-7 players we do have on there. It's nice to see what the players say at times and their thanks for when things go well. To deny this link I think takes something away.

However, many other teams have similar bans, and lets be frank, most of what they have to say is rather bland and pointless. At the end of the day most people tweeting players or pretending to be them are attention seeking morons anyway, so that's not going to be missed.

At least the fake Facebook profiles have all stopped pretending to be their respective players. And it should finish of anyone elses ideas of making any more of these embarrassments.

Cotterill Takes Charge

Steve Cotterill had his customary introductory press conference today, flanked by new chairman Frank Clark. The usual array of questions with the frankly usual array of answers took place, these press conferences really are rather pointless all told. Everyone asks what are your plans and the new incumbent mentions getting the club back to its best, make a remark about how Clough was the greatest and move on to more cagey answers about more direct particulars.

I'm not saying all of this has no point, sometimes it's just nice to hear how they say things will be or mention previous errors, but we've heard practically exactly the same from Kinnear, Megson et al before. Well I say Kinnear, he was of course the man trying to distance the clubs past, which so backfired that every manager now is clearly told express the clubs past as a bonus.

I do admit this would not have been my first choice as manager. I am hoping to be proved wrong. And as I read more and saw somethings fans had said from other clubs that I am filled with a little more hope. Most of them seem to be somewhat complimentary. Cheltenham fans of course are the most complementary. He did take them from obscurity to the league

County fans by and large seem to be, though many are also seemingly quite bitter that he dumped them. Portsmouth fans also seem complimentary, They recognise the hard job he inherited and the work he did in rejuvenating a tea at a lower ebb than probably thought possible before.

Going back to the press conference though, Frank Clark did say something that was attention grabbing. There is no money. We all suspected this, it's been confirmed. But then this is the current world we live in. So to tighten the purse strings is vital. Many fans won't like it, but then, unless they happen to win Euro Millions its a rather pointless argument.

Cotterill will also ban players using Facebook and Twitter. Apparently he does this at all clubs and this isn't just a reaction to Ishmael Millers angry tweets at the weekend. Somewhat misguided, but then frustration often gets the better, and I for one applaud his passion if nothing else.

We start yet another new era at Forest. Let's see how this one goes.

Incidentally,it's also interesting there's people kicking off already about a new manager. Before he's even really took his first training session. Laughable. Laughable.

Forest .. A Few Concerns

Matt Waterfield returns for his second article for Forest 24-7.

I wrote my first article on 17 June, although I didn’t intend it to be my last I’m shocked that here on Friday 14 October, a mere 4 months later things have changed so much.

I guess I’ll start by highlighting some points from my last post... I said I believed us to be a top 6-10 club who had been playing above our station under Billy Davies, well I still believe that, we’ve just found ourselves playing well below ourselves under Mr McClaren. It just shows what good motivation and team morale can do.

I questioned if Mr McClaren would be able to adapt to the division, he certainly didn’t seem able to manage our defence. We all know we’ve gone from one of the best to the worst in ten games. Other than the obvious Left Back issue (which he and the board denied was a priority close season), messrs Morgan, Chambers and Camp look like different people.

Hmmm, then to the signings, this is what I said in June... “[Signing players] to suit the manager rather than suit the situation. Paying too much for players who struggle to motivate themselves against ʻlower clubsʼ. Successful teams in the
division can play football, but theyʼre almost always built on solid (big/strong/decent pace) players”. For this read Greening, Boateng, and Reid. I hoped McClaren would create a greater pull for potential signings, and I was conscious we kept moving in the right direction. I can honestly say I never imagined we take this many backward steps in such a short time.

There are plenty of topics and discussion on what has happened and where it has all gone wrong, so I’m not going to get too involved in that. The forest fans however seemed spit between half wanting McClaren’s head and half wanting the boards. Although I’ve questioned some of the boards decisions and actions, it was Mr Doughty’s money and down to him to do with it as he saw fit. If he believes it costs too much to pay a players wages for a loan, transfer or whatever than that is his prerogative. I very much doubt the fans calling for his head would stump the percentage of their income like he has, let alone the countless lost millions.

There too were voices defending Mr McClaren, I’m sure he was sold different product to what he received, but he saw how the club was ran previously so he shouldn’t have been so naive to think he would get a blank cheque book. There’s
been a lot of talk about ambition too, I want to make a special point about this. As I am lead to believe the wage bill for this year is higher than last year. We may have less players but they cost more. And it didn’t seem to me the cheque book was closed, just that it had it’s limitations and valuation on players. If Mr McClaren correlated ambition to money he had his share. Maybe a definite pre-agreed budget would saved such hassle?

And now for the baying mob, it has got what it wanted and Mr Doughty has stepped down, I think we will see the club have to cut it’s cloth according. For me the mob was like a spoilt child, having a tantrum in the shop wanting Mummy to spend money on that shiny new toy, now Mummy has gone, who’s going to cook tea? Although he still intends to back the club I think budgets will be set and we will have to live much more within our means. The signing of Steve Cotterill for me is the first sign of this.

And so for a final plea, already the social networking sites are awash with disdain toward the new manager. Please everyone, give him a chance. Stop leaving in Forest cuckoo land. Managers like Martin O’Neil and Jose Mourinho were never likely. Lets get behind Steve Cotterill, give the team some backing, help stabilise the ship, finish in mid-table and try to build for FFP and the playoffs next season.

Follow me on twitter @matto_w

Matto_Out