Month by Month 2010/11 Season Review: March

March could and should have been a big month for the Reds. It was for the wrong reasons a pivotal month. We went from automatic promotion contenders to playoff also rans.


The month started out with a draw away at Middlebrough in a game we would have looked to win. Scott McDonald gave Boro a second half lead. It was a close in finish after the ball came to several players. Forest would then struggle to a point. After having a good penalty shout turned down we equalised in the 92nd minute with a typically scuffed Adebola goal, which although never a goal of the season contender, would still be delightful conclusion to a scrappy game.They all count as they say, and although not a vintage performance it was still grabbing something out of a game we looked like losing.


If that draw felt bad then the next game was worse. The unbeaten home run that had lasted so long, was shattered by Hull. Only a 1-0 defeat but it was a spirit crushing loss. We were beatable at home!!!! What was becoming apparent is without Moussi or McKenna the team simply didn't function. The remaining midfielders couldn't fill the deep lying role and a consequence we were frankly struggling. Hull's goal was a little fortuitous. A long ball deflected and span to Fryatt who finished smartly into the bottom corner. We had no reply, and lost. A rare sensation.

And a poor week was ended with a defeat away at Sheffield United against the team who eventually got relegated. This really wasn't aresulttn expected and to look at this set of three fixtures before hand they all looked bankers for a victory. Instead we came out of a set of matches I had down as 7 points minimum with but 1. Not good enough and form was deserting us at the wrong time of the season again. An all too familiar feeling. A real game of two halves, Forest had taken the lead in the first through Adebola, who was in inspired format the time. After Bogdanovich missed a penalty it looked like Forest were back to winning ways. However, we collapsed in the second period. Vokes and Lowton scored for the Blades, and that second goal had such a feeling of the inevitable about it.


At least in the next home game against Doncaster we didn't lose, and stopped a potentially horrible run. We didn't win either though. A dross 0-0 game which we should have when McCleary messed up a gilt edged chance. The ball had come to him plumb in front of goal around 12 yards out, but due to low confidence rather than taking it first time, he took a touch, and admittedly a bad touch, he took it backwards and his shot was easily blocked.The strikers all looked out of confidence and form, and he team disjointed as a whole. A match we really should have won and we limped to a draw. Promotion was sliding away, our form more in line with relegation form than promotion. The fans were getting angry. City Ground was not a happy place to be.

The final game of the month of March was an away defeat to Swansea, one of our main rivals. What with out terrible form not many fans expected much anyway. Went duly went behind. Sinclair skipping through a very static defence and scoring what looked a great goal, but was more to do with the Forest defence playing statues than Sinclair's ability. The second came from debutant Borini. He looped one over Camp and the Swans already looked home and hosed. We hit back through Kris Boyd scoring his first goal late in the first half, but it looked no more than a consolation. Sinclair and Dyer ripped us to shreds all match and carried on in the second half resulting in Borini's second goal. We again hit back in stoppage time through Anderson and then right at the death we hit the post,it would have been daylight robbery had we took a point. We were so much worse it was laughable and yet we were 1 inch off equalling Swansea. Cohen's in-swinging cross flicked off Anderson and the post. It was a lesson and warning about the playoffs, as we would lose to Swansea, but we were at this time looking unlike we would even make that.

We ended March winless, and low on confidence. Automatic promotion hopes were shattered and the playoffs were slipping out of our grasp. April would be a vital month.

Exclusive Footage of Arthur and Doughty Meeting

Exclusive footage of a meeting between Chief Executive Mark Arthur and Nigel Doughty.

Stuttgart v Forest - LIVE

yes we are streaming it

Month by Month 2010/11 Season Review: February

As we hurtle towards the new season we continue our look back and round up of last season by moving onto February

January had been a wonderful month for the Reds. We had set ourselves up as promotion contenders,and had added a signing or two which was a rarity for Forest. We had a left back, also a rarity, with the arrival of Konchesky coming in on deadline day.

The next day he was in the team as Forest went to Coventry and won. It hadn't been easy, we went behind to a Marlon King goal, a scrappy goal at that. But Forest showed a strong resolve to come from behind and beat the Sky Blues. McGugan scored our first with a goal that Westwood in the Coventry goal really should have done better with, as it dipped and swerved right in front of him. Then came a very bitter-sweet moment in the Forest season. Moussi chased somewhat of a lost cause, Coventry stopping as they thought the ball was out, and as he crossed the ball he injured himself. Earnshaw scored the goal,but Moussi's night was over, and he would be out fora while,which would disrupt our season a lot.


Four days later it was the turn of Watford to come to the City Ground and attempt to end or amazing unbeaten run at home.They would of course fail. Forest winning 1-0 against the Hornets. An early Tudgay goal fired the Reds up to a temporary second spot in the league, even more strengthening our belief that this was our season to finally regain a place in the top flight. Cohen's centre from the left found Earnshaw, who prodded the ball onto Tudgay, to finish into the bottom left hand corner of Scott Loaches goal. The game promised more goals which it didn't deliver, but we didn't mind one iota.

A bit of a gap till the next game, which was a battle of heavyweights. QPR hosted the Reds in a game televised on Sky. QPR took the lead through Black, before things looked a lot worse for the Reds, Majewski with a terrible tackle on Tarabt, and getting himself sent off. It really did look curtains for the Reds at this juncture. However McGoldrick would see us right, deflecting in a goal that had he not been there would not have gone in. Forest were level. And that's how it would remain in a largely forgettable second half. A commendable point all things considered. One that had most Forest fans delighted. Having gone to both Cardiff and QPR and come away with something from both games we could fear nobody now.

3 days later it would begin to go wrong. On a horrible pitch Scunthorpe would beat us at Glanfrd Park and the first seeds of doubt were sown. Most at the time put this result down as being a blip. But it ended up being so much more. We lost to a single Chris Dagnall goal in the first half. However the match report we wrote at the time seemed to be one of the most psychic I ever wrote.

Whether this is a mere wobble, or the beginnings of a full on derailment of the promotion train will become apparent over the next weeks. Needless to say quick recovery on Saturday is needed.

We had to bounce back as predicted, and bounce back we did. Cardiff came to the City Ground we gleefully completed the double over the Welsh side.This had us convinced Scunthorpe was just one of the games. Morgan gave Forest a first half lead through a header from a McGugan corner. Cardiff would level with a debatable penalty netted by Whittingham of all people. But of course Earnshaw would have the last say against his former (and now current ) club. Scoring from close range from Anderson's centre. It was a creditable win against a very good side and should have been more when at the death Tyson went clear and tried to score rather than squaring for what would have been an easy third. No matter we thought. We are up to second, beating one of our biggest rivals and things ar locking good. Aren't they?


Well yes and No. The next game would be one that encompassed our season. The Preston game is arguably where everything started to go wrong. Preston were team that we should really have thrashed. Struggling, low on confidence and with Phil Brown managing them. Alas,not to be, and in dramatic circumstances. Preston scored first through Nicholson. And so the first half ended with us behind with a capacity crowd in City Ground following another cheap offer. Many of these fair weathers booed the team. Seemingly incredulous that we should fail on the one match they bother to turn up a season. Konchesky equalised 10 mins into the second half before injuring himself and going off. Then the drama started. 90 mins, and Cohen took an in swinging free kick that evaded everyone and dropped into the corner to put Forest into the lead. So late on!! Surely a win. Well Forest, no. We went to sleep and allowed Preston to go up the other end in the 96th minute and equalised, which saw Phil Brown and co invade Forests technical zone.

So a sucker punch.But again, hopefully just a blip. The next game was a 0-0 away draw with Millwall which was more a relief than anything else. Easily a game we could have lost, we still got something out of it and looked good again for moving on into the last portions of the season.

However, Moussi's injury and the fact it left us short in midfield would be a starting point to the rot. Preston showed us we need that enforcer in there to kill a game. And it would cost us. At the time it felt like one of those game that had a grave portent of what was to come, and by and large it would.

Transfer Policy Myth

Mr Geo Challenge once again takes on the controversial issues. In this piece he attempts to explode the myth about our transfer policy


On the transfer page I suggested a view that, despite what many of our fans think, Forest's transfer policy isn't really as shoddy as everyone makes out. I intend to show that Forest do actually spend alot of money in the circumstances.

What circumstances do I refer to? If you look at the wider picture of transfer spending in this country, it's clear to anyone with a brain that fees are spiralling out of control. Just about every club in the country are millions and millions of pounds in debt, and many are gambling with their future in the hope of spending their way to success and security - especially at our level. Do any of you want Forest to gamble? Money spent does not equal success.

Another consideration before I look at what money we've actually spent over the past few years:

“UEFA’s financial fair play policy is going to be coming in in two years’ time under a ‘soft rule’ before sanctions will apply in 3 years’ time. We as a club have to get ourselves ready for that.” Mark Arthur 2011

Do you want Forest to plan for the future, or do you want Forest to face up to this important rule change suddenly in two short years time?

I suggest Forest are not a big enough club to spend blindly in the current climate. Anyone who thinks we're too big to go out of business are living in cloud cuckoo land. We are operating at significant losses at he moment, only saved with the support of ND. Now, onto our transfer incomings. I know I've missed one or two, please point out this, or any other errors.

2007
Chambers - Undisclosed.
Cohen & Davies - £1,200,000
Earnshaw - £2,650,000
Wilson - £300,000
Lennon - Free.
£4,100,000 (plus whatever we paid for Luke Chambers, plus signing on fees, which I'd suggest would be substantial for high profile players such as Earnshaw, and Lennon, who to make it even higher, was on a FT. I'd speculate we spent in excess of five million on transfers that year, but don't know).

2008
G-Mac - £30,000
Moussi - £300,000
Garner £1,140,000
Cole - Free
Martin - Loan
Total - £1,470,000 (plus whatever we paid for Moussi & G-Mac, plus signing on and loan fees. Again, Cole didn't come here for peanuts, but I wouldn't even like to guess how much we paid him).

2009
Blackstock - Undisclosed "seven figure amount". For the sake of arguement, £1,000,000
Camp - £100,000
Anderson - £250,000
McGoldrick £1,000,000
McKenna - £750,000
Adebola - Free
Gunter - £1,750,000
Lynch - £200,000
Majewski - £1,000,000
Shorey - Loan
McSheffrey - Loan
Total - £6,050,000 (plus signing on fees, plus loan fees & wages, add into account I've been super cautious with Blackstock's fee. I wouldn't be surprised were out transfer spending not nearer the seven million bracket).

2010
Tudgay - £500,000
Findley - Free
Bertrand - Loan
G. Boyd - Loan
Ramsey - Loan
Total - £500,000 (plus signing on fees & loan fees/wages).

2011
Reidy - Free
Greening - Undisclosed, believed to be £600,000.
K. Boyd - Loan
Konchesky - Loan
Total - possibly £600,000 (plus signing on fees, loan fees & wages).

Total over the last 5 years:
Transfer fees - £12,740,000 on fees (conservative estimate).
Signing on fees - Dread to think, but we've had some top profile players here. Cole, Lennon & Reid would have been expensive, unless they came here for the love of Forest?
Loan fees - We've relied heavily on a series of high profile, big name loanees such as former England men Shorey, Konchesky, s well as Bertrand, Ramsey, Boyd et al. Alot of our loans have been from Premiership clubs, there would have been fees involved, as well as us paying some or all of their wages. Not cheap at all.

Analysis: Over the past 5 years we have spend an average of £2,500,000 per year on transfer fees (conservative estimate). For a top club this is a pittance. For a slightly above average second division team, I'd suggest this is quite a heavy outlay when coupled with the signing on fees, loan fees, wages of our squad and the loanees, the fact we don't sell our best players, and the recent multi-million pound re-build of our Wilford Lane training facility. Forest are clearly frugal with their money, but in times like these who can blame them? It's all very well us fans spending the money for them in our heads, but we don't have to deal with the consequences in our heads. Spending money, just like in real life, has consequences.

Michael123 inadvertently hit the crux of this issue on the transfer thread, stating "which for a club of our size when our rivals are spending so much more" when referring to our apparently small spending. The issue is twofold:

"club of our size"... we are not a big club, history has proven we are now at our true level. We don't have enough fans to propel us into Europe any more, our major successes in the past have been down to one genius manager and will never be repeated I'm afraid.

"our rivals are spending so much" because they have rich sugar daddies using them as a plaything, and when they get bored they may well drop their toy (in the $hit) and go elsewhere. We cannot hope to compete with the spending of Leicester & Cardiff et al. They are recklessly gambling with their clubs future, I'm glad Forest don't - I don't want the slightest chance of Forest going bankrupt. I go to most games - I don't want to find myself stood on a rainy tuesday evening watching a bankrupt Forest team playing Stalybidge Celtic, whilst ground sharing with Ilkeston town or some other local team. I'm glad we look after our future. Some of our fans seem to think we ought to be spending big and challenging for European honours once again - the Stalybridge Celtic scenario is far more likely.

We are running at a loss, yet still spending well over £2.5 million per year on transfers alone. How many other clubs in our position are doing this? I've not checked this out, but I don't think there are many.

Counter-arguements welcome & please point out any errors, not in it to win an argument, in it to get to the bottom of this very subjective issue. Data taken from Soccerbase & Wikipedia, and this site.
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Hasselbaink Signs as First Team Coach

In already a busy day by midday, I am having to shelve planned articles for tomorrow in favour of commenting on the news.

Sky Sports have just revealed that Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink who had been observing with the club as a a coach has in fact now signed on as First Team Coach.

A wonderfully experienced and successful striker he will be able to pass on a great deal to our strikers. I can't think of many better to act as an influence on young talent coming through too.

The Dutchman famously played for Chelsea and Leeds, as well as Middlesbrough, where we are now having a strong connection.

Seeing as he was only observing and now we have signed,can't help thinking he must have been effective. It is also good to see McClaren building up his back room team. All we need now there is an Assistant

Boateng Signs

Sky Sports,Sporting Life, and George Boateng himself on Twitter have revealed the Dutch midfielder has signed for the Reds on a one year deal.

Boateng is 35 and has been playing in Greece with Skoda Xanthi last year following Hulls relegation. However he had a high pedigree in his career with time at Coventry, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough. He moved for sizeable fees on more than one occasion.

It seems he will be signed as cover I'd assume. Many times last year we were left without cover for the deep lying midfielder, having to employ Cohen, or McGugan in the role. Now we have 3 people who play this role on the books, and at times this was the one position that cost us big time.

He may rival Greening for taking on the club captain role, although maybe not captain on the pitch, in that style that is so popular these days.

I have seen many say that he will be perfect to chuck on when holding on to a tight lead away from home. The kind of mature level head to come on and mop up the game, that we sadly missed.

Now all we need is another striker and a left back, and maybe more central defensive cover and we should be laughing.

In Greening We Trust

Click for larger version

Once again thanks to Forum member Nagash for this

Greening Official, Moussi Close to Signing

First up Jonathan Greening has officially signed today. There's a picture there of him in the kit so it must be official (as an aside, that's never really officially, remember Kevin Miller?) It looks likely he will also be installed as club captain, after signing a 3 year deal with the club. The deal is worth £600k. Reaction has been mostly positive amongst fans,thought the usual miserable folks are out asking why we are signing "has beens" and why is he on a 3 year deal (so was McKenna) These people are never happy of course.

In other good news Sky Sports say Guy Moussi is set to stay at the City Ground. All the Premier League interest he was supposedly cultivating has failed to materialise., Therefore I guess this was all agent speak trying to garner interest in Moussi. Or of course force Forests hand to up their offer. This obviously never happened, so then Derby were linked. Still Forest weren't shifted. Now he has to accept.

Oh and it looks like the Routledge deal might still be on. According to some on Twitter anyway. Not overly trustworthy, but we can hope.

Still no left backs though.


******EXCITING UPDATE*****
I've just been told on Twitter Moussi definitely signed at 18:30 today.

Greening In, Shorey Not.

The Jonathan Greening rumour is gathering pace with several trusted media sources claiming the deal is set to go through. The Nicky Shorey rumour,which isn't being pushed by media sources, but only but only be people on twitter.

Fora start Shorey played a friendly today for West Brom. In California. Not really conducive to agreeing, and signing a deal,least of all undergoing a medical.

Greening on the other hand looks very likely to complete his move. I would argue he is probably going to take the captains armband too. He has excellent pedigree. Has played a lot of his career in the top flight.

Shorey we know all about. This doesn't mean of course there won't be a deal, just not tomorrow. It may come next week or so if it does.

In other news Leicester have signed Konchesky, and are paying him £30-40k a week. Which for a team in the Championship is retarded.

Panic Stations? Not At All

There is this underlying chorus of Forest fans on various forums, facebook and twitter who would have you believe that the club is on the brink of a crisis. Scare mongering, rumour manufacturing and bad Chinese whispers has all sorts of melodramatic types deciding to write off this season already, decry the board and even in some parts make out that the manager is about to walk out.

It is all laughable.

I know what people will say "oh but look at the money Leicester are spending!!" Oh but I have noticed, they are OVER spending in my minds eye. Spending too much money on players. Oh it might work and I'll kind of be proven wrong, but look at that sentence again. Might. Not a big word, but has big connotations. You see Leicester are potentially mortgaging the future of the club on this campaign. Yeah they have deep pockets over there now, but only as long as those pockets are full. If they don't go up, that's £x million spent that won't be made back. And that can only go on for so long.

I agree with the masses I would like more signings. But not so much when it's for the sake of it, or when we have to spend double the market value, just because other clubs know Leicester, or one of the other big spenders (I assume will be West Ham, Birmingham etc) are sniffing round. Of course Bristol City will demand double what Maynard is worth, I can't blame them, but equally I don't want the club to spend for the sake of spending. There are other players out there in the world. It just might take time finding,negotiating, finalising these deals

Routledge is a fine example of what keeps happening. He knows we want him, but he also knows that other clubs will probably want him, so he bides his time to see what offers are on the table. It's financial sense, and something we would all do. If he goes to a club paying more, people will brand him a money grabber unfairly, because, as I say,everyone of us would do exactly the same.

There's talk of protests, this makes me laugh. What really do they expect to achieve? They think Mark Arthur and Nigel Doughty will be cowering under their desk, scrambling to get on the phone, to make signings to appease an angry pitch-fork wielding mob? Of course not, And said mob will contain the usual crowd of people who just want to shout about anything. I saw people talk of doing it when the Open Day is on, Yeah lets expose young kids to that kind of vitriol. Morons. Pathetic morons.

There is this whole idea that the club "owe us answers" I'm not sure why people think this. You weren't held at gun point to buy that season ticket,they didn't force you to buy one. I too have spent a large cash of meagre savings on a season ticket.But I am not angrily tweeting the official Forest twitter account,(which by the way is frankly stupid, as if the powers that be even read that,it's just some poor guy updating that and facebook, not someone who matters in the grand scheme)There was no binding contract when you bought a season ticket saying we will tell you everything you need to know. I see Free Forest have reared their heads again. A campaign based on dodgy maths manipulated to prove a false point.

The truth is, yes deals are taking slower than we would hope. But the season starts in August,not July, there is more than enough time to bring in the right people. We don't need to go and hurl cash here. The general public seem to want to hurl blame at someone, and the board is always a very easy target. Why are we focusing on assistant managers when we should be on players? Well assistants are often as vital. Look at Chelsea when Wilkins left, Man Utd after Kidd left were a little flustered for a few years. A good assistant is worth three players. Hell look at the history of our club. Clough and Taylor, need I say more?

It is almost as if people think they are deliberately trying to run the club down. That Mark Arthur and Nigel Doughty have a mission in life to ruin all of our days by not doing as we request. Of course they want success, but they also want to see the club survive. They also want to get value for money, because if we did splash the cash and it all flopped, those same fans demanding money be spent,would then turn around and the board were idiots for spending too much. It's a no win situation.Damned if you, damned if you don't

I can't help thinking this all stems from the Evening Posts drawn out raison d'etre of creating anger and distrust to sell papers. Again they lead with something similar alluding to distrust and discord. This isn't based on inherent truths,but more the fact they need to sell papers. A News of the World-esque sting no, but it is all designed to get you to spend money on that paper. Or go on the site to get advertising revenue.

As a popular poster says. Keep Calm And Carry On

Will he or won’t he? Guy Moussi

Hopefully this week we’ll finally see the Guy Moussi saga tied up one way or another.

After all the previous rumours of Everton, Wigan and Stoke wanting him, it seems the only runners left in the race are us and Derby.

From a Forest perspective, we know it’s all in Moussi’s hands – with the offer of a new deal on the table and McClaren flying out to France to win him over. It seemed he’d pretty much stop here.

Yet early last week, news broke in the Daily Mirror that Derby wanted to sign the ‘Moose’. At the time the story seemed utterly ridiculous – maybe even a white lie from his agent to get more money from us.

Yet as the week has progressed, it looks as if his next move maybe the same as the one Nathan Tyson made.

And with Nigel Clough keen to find a holding player for his squad – as well as a replacement for Robbie Savage - it seems he is diverting his attentions to Moussi after missing out on Lee Bowyer.

By the Friday, some of the Derby fans were saying that their representatives were in Rennes to give him a medical and a £12k a week contract - £4k more than the one it's believed Forest offered him.

For me if Moussi wanted to stop, he would have already re-signed for us – his current contract ran out 11 days ago after all. He could well be holding us to ransom though.

If he does choose to go, I am one of few that won’t be worried because there are so many better options than him out there.

In my eyes, Moussi has only been good for us for a good 5 months out of his 3 years at the club.

A lot of the time, I’ve seen him as a total liability in the centre with his abysmal passing ability that sees any good he does then cause greater danger – if he kept doing that in the Premiership against Fabregas and the like, you wouldn’t get the ball back.

He’s also relatively injury prone – as soon as he starts to look like the real deal, he breaks down - of course that's not his fault.

My theory on Moussi is never popular with our fans due to him being a cult figure.

I’m not totally negative on Moussi, don't get me wrong. In the December and January of last season; the guy was a class above the rest of the team – before then breaking down again. If Moussi can consistently play for us like that then I’d agree it’d be a massive loss.

Fact is he doesn’t and he won’t.

Whatever route Moussi chooses, you’d hope the dust will be settled by this time next week.

If Moussi does choose Derby as the club for him, you’d feel that it’s maybe a case of what Earnie said upon leaving the club - too little, too late.

What's your view? Tell us on facebook, on twitter or tweet the writer of this article directly here.

Luke Chambers for Captain?

That's what you have voted for. Following Paul McKenna's departure we had a poll for who you wanted to see as new captain, and you have voted Luke Chambers.

He took 42% of the vote,with Lee Camp second with 21% and Wes Morgan third with 15%.

Chambers captained Northampton briefly there before signing for Forest and last season mentioned he would welcome the captaincy, and who is to argue after the season he had.

Transfer Rumours Galore!!

OK,well there is a lot of unhappy people on Facebook.Some frankly laughable over reactions to one player who scored a handful of goals leaving. Anyway, to raise the spirits here are the latest transfer rumours


Bolo Zenden
Available for a free after Sunderland released him, Zenden would be the experienced head McClaren has been mentioning we need. Zenden is 34, and has played fr PSV, Barcelona, Chelsea,Liverpool, Marseilles and a spell at Boro before moving to Sunderland. During his younger years he was a winger, but in his later career and his pace slows he will now drop deeper.


Wayne Routledge
This has really started moving today after being a very vague rumour before. Apparently we have now made a move official.This would be helped by Routledge being very good friends with Dexter Blackstock. He's the type of attacking winger we would welcome, he's certainly better than Anderson. He has had spells with Crystal Palace, Spurs,Aston Villa and QPR as well as Newcastle. Someone on Wikipedia reckons heis off to Grenoble as they edited his page as such.


David Jones
Available for a free after his Wolves deal expired he has been heavily lined today also. A central midfielder who cam through the ranks at Manchester United before spells at Derby and Wolves with loans at Preston and NEC Nijmeijen. He has England u-21 cas but is eligible for Wales.

Sipihwe Tshabalala
Oh here we go again.The infamous Tsahaba deal which only ever gets reported by his fantastically named agent Jazzman Mahlakgane. Reports in South Africa are gain linking him with us,with quotes from his camp.Again it seems like someone desperately trying to curry more interest by keeping his name in the press.


Jack Cork
Son of Alan Cork,one of he last great beard wearers in football. He is a versatile midfielder on Chelsea's books. He has had loans at a large number of clubs, and looks unlikely to break into Chelsea's team. He would however work very well for us.Southampton have had an offer accepted though so we would have to move very quickly.

Earnie Signing For Cardiff

A report this evening on WalesOnline is claiming Robert Earnshaw is about to sign for his original club Cardiff, where he is till regarded as a cult hero.

It will be a shame to loose Earnie to a promotion rival, but on the flip side, he wasn't at his best this season. I don't doubt however that he will still be able to do a sterling job for Forest, or for that matter Cardiff, IF this rumour which has yet to be verified (and a few tweets from Cardiff fans suggest this isn't the first time this source has jumped the gun on reporting a "story" before without it occurring)is true.

Lets be clear, if Cardiff have offered him more money than Forest have, then at his stage of his career with a young family, who are we to criticise, anyone of us would switch job doing the same thing for a better salary. The other matter is, Earnie was a very high earner at Forest, and if those wages are loosened off the wage bill, we might be able to use that money elsewhere on a player who may well be more reliable.

As said Earnie last year often flattered to deceive. Me and my mate I sit with often joke that half the time Earnshaw is so desperate to get the goal, that his play may not before the benefit for the team. The other thing is that his goalscoring wasn't amazing this year. Which obviously is vital.

That said,the club have obviously tried hard to keep him,and the fans will be mostly disappointed to lose him. He is well liked by everyone, and is aavery experienced head to have in the dressing room,which is what McClaren has decided is paramount.

But it might just be that Earnie has decided that this episode of his career is finished,and a new chapter is available. He may have seen the reception Bellamy got on his return,and think she would love that adulation. This is all conjecture of course.
If he does go back,the fans, the club, the city and his love for all three will be mentioned. I'd just hope we wouldn't boo him on any return.

Bennett Joins Owls

I'm sure you all have read this news elsewhere by now(I don't profess to be a news site, more commenting on the news with my own view anyway) but Julian Bennett has left Forest.

Despite the previous news that he had a gentleman's agreement to a new deal if no-one offered a contract being in place,this has not been needed to be invoked following his move to Sheffield Wednesday to be reunited with footballing genius(sic)Gary Megson.

It was of course Megson who signed him for Forest in the first place,and it seems Megson still believes that Bennett is the man for him,despite his horrendous injury which saw him miss most of 2009.

It's probably the right move, Bennett is not the quality required at Championship level,and his heart and determination can help paper over the cracks in his game in League One. Wednesday are probably good fit, Bennett won't need to move, it's still local,it's a big club,and he knows the man in charge.

I may have been a critic of him at times,but I wish him well for the future.I will miss timing how long it takes him to be booked in any given game for a mental rash challenge.

Calderwood Decision Nigh

It finally seems from a number of sources I am reading that we will finally get to know either way if Calderwood is going to be returning as our assistant or if heis heading to Birmingham.

According to the Daily Record,they seem to think he is going to choose Birmingham as his port of call. A general consensus amongst all the writers and fans comments is that everyone expects Calderwood to be gone very shortly either way. Many are very glad about this.

It appears from the media north of the border who tried to probe Calderwood on his future post match after a friendly Berwick is that he wants to leave. His heart isn't in the job, He refused to discuss his future,issuing a demand to not be asked questions about it.

There was an appeal from ex Forest player, Matt Thornhill,now at Hibs for Calderwood to stay,and his comment was that they all think he will. This is just player talk of course. They rarely accept anything is wrong.


What is interesting is some other reports mention that they think Calderwood actually favours moving to Forest, yet Birmingham are closer to agreeing a desirable compensation package to Hibs.

Month by Month 2010/11 Season Review: January

January began with Forest looking good and optimistic for the months ahead. Surely we would strengthen in the transfer window,and that excited us too. Just playing games again would be nice after a December ravaged by the snow,in which we played but twice.

We started out with a home banker against Barnsley. The form we were in we surely couldn't fail to win. Well,2-2 was the result in a very frustrating game for Forest fans. Barnsley went two up. In part due to enforced changes. Ryan Bertrands impressive loan period had ended, and Cohen was filling in at left back. On their second goal he was showed up. Hill had put them ahead when he just through the defence, Ex Red Gray had scored the second with a header after a cross from Cohens mentioned error.
Forest made changes and gota break when Gunter was fouled bursting into the area,initially given as a free kick,the resulting penalty was dispatched by McGugan. The second came from Tyson,poking in after a scramble. A great,this match was not,but it was notable for Adebola coming on and changing the match. We were finally seeing what the big man was all about.

The next match was an away win at Ipswich. Lynch came in for Cohen in a no brainer. The goal was an own goal by Delaney.We had almost taken the lead accidentally, when McGoldrick in passing the ball back to Ipswich in a sporting gesture, McGoldrick hit the ball so sweetly that it beat the keeper and came off the bar,enraging Roy Keane,and forcing Billy Davies to apologise. Right at the end Leadbitter got himself sent off for Ipswich in a two footed lunge on Anderson.

And then it was onto the FA Cup away at Preston. To be fair the FA Cup would probably seen as a distraction to both teams, scrapping at either ends of the table. But a good cup run is a good morale booster. We went behind to a Darren Carter gal in the first half, equalised through Paul Anderson early in the second,before a late winner from Chambers put us into the Forth Round, where we drew West Ham, also away.



The next win was a fairly important one in how the season went. In a game I personally missed by going on a Ski holiday I was delighted to be receiving the text updates that I got. Kanu had put Pompey ahead, despite being probably 50 years old. We would remain behind till the 87th minute when Sonko put past his own keeper to bring us level. That would have been a good result considering,but only Tdgay to net in the depths of injury time to give us a vital win. One that really underlined the fact that Forest really didn't know when they were beaten. We were on terrific form and looking a match for anyone in the division.



This strength of belief and strong morale was only merely improved in the following game. Against Derby. Considering we had never won away Pride Park,a run Derby fans loved to remind us of, and the fact these games are always dangerous anyway,made the slender victory all the sweeter. A single goal by ex Ram Robbie Earnshaw was enough to hand us the three points.Add to the equation the hilarious reactions of Robbie Savage when being subbed off, and Moxeys hilarious late red card it was a perfect day for fans of Forest.

Another day another win for Forest in the final league game of January saw us beat Bristol City.It meant we were undefeated in the league for all of January,and in fact December too. The previous defeat being in November against Leicester. Confidence was oozing from the side. We won with yet another Luke Chambers headed goal at set piece, a Chris Cohen delivery. Forest were on the edge of automatic promotion. Games in hand from the winter snap. And were now about to play the Premier League team West Ham in the FA Cup.

We went behind early to Obinna who at first looked offside, though Gunter had actually been playing him on. Adebola would equalise for the Reds before McGoldrick put us ahead with aheader from less than a yard. Right before half time Obinna equalised with a fluke goal. They then won in the second half with a penalty after Lynch committed afoul.

So all in all, a good month, We had held our own against a Premier League team, and gone unbeaten all month and risen way up the league. All in all a wonderful month. We even made a signing. Robbie Findley the American striker signing in time.

Andy Reid Agrees Terms

In more news that everybody knew already,Andy Reid has agreed terms on a 2 year deal with Forest, subject to a medical, and this fact has brought all the japesters on twitter.

Jokes such as he'll only pass the medical if he puts the KFC bucket down, or christ I hope they don't make it too excessive, have seen him become a top trending topic, along with jokes such as Hooters have now shelved their all you can eat wings deal.

I for one applaud the deal. I have seen some people on facebook(i know,i know, never the bastion of intelligence) suggesting this is a terrible deal...Well how is a free transfer for a player playing in the Premier League a bad deal for a Championship club? I think some people are genuinely only expecting "stellar" signings.

Lets also not forget we had a deal to bring him in on loan last season set up till Mr Davies quashed the move, not wanting the Irish left sided midfielder back at Forest. Well no sooner has he gone, then we bring him back into the fold.

This is a player who has has had a number of big money moves,taking him from here with Michael Dawson to Spurs, from there to Charlton,where he captained the Addicks,to Sunderland and on to Blackpool with a loan at Sheffield United, where nobody in the world was going to succeed.

He has played 286 league games in his career, scoring 35 goals,with 48 assists.

McKenna Officially Gone

Well it was drawn out and we all knew it was coming. In fact yesterday we speculated this would happen today or at least early next week,but McKenna has now officially joined Dele Adebola at Hull.

Since the end of the season there have been noises about McKenna moving on,first to Preston before the Hull rumours. Forest have let McKenna move for free, with a season left on his contract.

I for one think it's a shame to see the back of Paul,but perhaps it is best all round. He was very much Billy's Lieutenant on the pitch,and without Davies here, maybe it's time for him to move on.

Often much maligned for reasons that have always confused me, I think he was always an easy man to dislike as he was never the most attacking player. He did the simple things though that many people don't understand. Always looking to pass the ball simply rather and makes pace than do a McGugan and take an entire team on.

I think the highlight for McKenna may have been his pile-driver against his former club Preston,although he may not agree, he certainly didn't celebrate the goal.

It was becoming obvious during the last few months though that his legs weren't up to the task in the way they once might have been though. Which is a shame,and he was a great leader on the pitch.

It now means we will be looking at a new club captain,and I for one am putting myself firmly in the Luke Chambers camp.

Anyway, thanks Paul, you've been a magnificent servant in those 2 years,and a great captain,good luck at Hull