Forest Around the World - USA

In celebration of the impact of our latest American import Robbie Findley a new episode in this series of looking at our various connections with those countries.


John Harkes
Signed on loan in the last Premier League relegation season by Ron Atkinson,in a glut of other loan signings. Atkinson of course had managed him at Wednesday and shipped him back over from the States where he was playing with D.C. United. He only played three games, most notably the 8-1 defeat against Manchester United. He left to rejoin MLS with New England Revolution.
Harkes is somewhat of a legend in the States, the first American to play in the Premier League,and a mainstay of their midfield for much of the 90's. He also unfortunately played for a while for that mob down the A52. He now works as a commentator.


Ben Olsen
We have already done a big feature of Ben Olsen before, a loan signing in the David Platt era that would arguably have gone on to be signed up full time by the club had he not badly broken his ankle. Olsen was a winger who was greatly impressing before that injury. That and subsequent injuries somewhat slowed his game down so that he had to move more infield in later years. He played the rest of his career before and after Forest for D.C. United,and I know from American posters on the forum here at 24-7 that he was very well regarded by all.
A club legend he is now coach of D.C United. He played 18 times for Forest scoring twice.


Stern John
Although Trinidadian, we signed him from MLS club Columbus Crew, also in the David Platt era. Signed for £1.5 mill he took time to settle at the club. When he finally did start firing, the club were in such a poor financial position that we simply had to cut our losses and sell him for a pittance £100k) because he was about to trigger a clause which would have seen us shelling out £250k which we could not afford. John became a journeyman striker,taking in loss than 8 other clubs in around the Championship. We is now back playing in Trinidad and Tobago for Northern Stars.


Ian Woan
Woan in his later days of his career after he left Swindon (his next club after Forest) played in MLS and the A League. Being married to an American made his signature easier then most imports. HE barely played for Columbus Crew and Miami Fusion before spending 2 years with the fantastically named Syracuse Saltydogs,who now appear to be defunct. He is now assistant to Sean Dyche at Watford,after a spell as Assistant at Portsmouth.


Brad Friedel
What could have been really. We had a deal to sign a young Brad Friedel up during Brian Cloughs last season. However he was denied a work permit, and had to return to the States. He has of course later spent most of his career playing at the very top level of English football, after spells in Turkey and back in the MLS. He has played for Liverpool, Aston Villa, Blackburn and now of course Tottenham.


Robert Rosario
Yes, one of the most maligned Forest play rs ever had aspellin the US, after the injury that ended his Forest career forced him to look for Amateur tearoleshe ended up playing for two A League teams in Carolina Dynamo and Charleston Battery (where he had an appalling scoring record.) Rosario will always be remembered for scoring goal of the season for Norwich.


Junior Agogo
In his early career Agogo sent a few years in the MLS for Chicago Fire, Colorado Rapids and San Jose Earthquakes. He had an OK record in MLS, which saw him move back to England with QPR, before ending up at Bristol City and then Forest. After Forest Agogo's career has nose dived. A disastrous spell with Zamalek in Eqypt, a mixed spell in Cyprus, and now playing for Hibernian in Scotland under old manager Colin Calderwood.

Forest Around the World - Germany

In the second of our series looking at Forest connections with various nations around the world we call in on Germany.


Felix Bastians

The young left winger always looked like he was on the edge of breaking through at Forest, the only problem being his position was one always seemingly occupied by the star man, whether that was Andy Reid or Kris Commons.
For that reason he spent a lot of time out on loan at a multitude of clubs, including Chesterfield and neighbours Notts County. Bastians had the honour of being Forests third youngest ever player at senior level.
At the end of 1998 he was released by Calderwood, and he joined Swiss club Young Boys. After a year there he transferred to Freiburg in his native Germany where he plays still today, although now as a centre half. And in the top flight. Two things he wouldn't have been doing at Forest. A real missed opportunity



Eugen Bopp

Although Ukrainian born,he moved to Germany as a kid and was on the books at Bayern Munich before signing for Forest.He started brightly in the Forest team, with a reputation for the spectacular strike, borne out from a pre season goal against India (yes India the nation) He was in and out the side as a youngster before when it finally seemed he was settling in receiving a nasty injury against Derby. It arguable he wasn't the same afterwards, and after a few spells in and out the side again, he was out the club, and on his way to Rotherham. After a year there he went to Crewe where he spent a couple of years,before being released. He now plays for FC Carl Zeiss Jena. He is also on twitter at @EugenBopp4



Pascal Formann

The young keeper never made it at Forest. Always third choice behind the likes of Barry Roche, Rune Pedersen. He left the club and has been the books of numerous other German clubs, though its hard to tell how much he was played. He now plays in the German Fourth Tier for Hessen Kassel.



David Phillips

Although a Welsh international. David Phillips was born in Germany, in Wegberg. I assume this is to do with the presence of an RAF Site at the town. Phillips was a key player under Frank Clark after signing from Norwich in 1993. Phillips made 126 league appearances fro the Reds and scored 5 league goals. His greatest strength though were his assists.He'd had spells previously with Man City, and a successful spell at Coventry when they won the FA Cup. He left us to play for Huddersfield Town.



Tony Woodcock

Born locally in Eastwood,Woodcock was a part of the glory days at Forest.After winning the league and the 1979 European Cup, he left to join FC Cologne in he Bundesliga. HE would have two spells with the German club, with a successful spell at Arsenal in the middle. After FC Cologne went to Fortuna Cologne, and after retiring worked around the German game for a number of years.He also played 42 times for England scoring 16 goals



Munich Olympic Stadium

We really can't mention Germany and Forest without mentioning the Olympic Stadium, where in 1979 we of course clinched the European Cup with Trevor Francis header. We would return to the stadium in 1996 and gain a creditable 2-1 defeat in the first leg of the UEFA Cup Quarter Final. Steve Chettle scoring from pretty much the same spot Francis did with a header.



Ebby

It would be remiss of us to not mention Ebby, or Eberhard Kleinrensing to give him his full name. From Duisberg in Germany he is perhaps one of the more well known amongst fans. Sitting in the Brian Clough lower with his giant flag draped over the front wall,or at an away game, he is always there. Ebby got engaged in front of 20,000 fans at City Ground in 2000.

Forest Around the World - Australia

In this new series we will look at Forests connections with various countries around the world, whether that be players from there,or our former players moving and plying their trade there. In the first of this series we will look at Australia.

The connections with this country are as varied and wide as some others will be when we gtto them, like France or Holland. However there are some connections.

David Tarka

Born in Perth and signed from home town club Perth Glory in 2003 by Paul HArt, he was a highly regarded young central defender. At the time he was involved withthe Australian U-20 team and went on to play twice for the Socceroo's full team, admittedly against Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands.
Tarka never really made the grade at Forest. He never made a first team appearance, and when in the midst of a central defence crisis, instead of staying at the club to earn a place, he instead went to the Olympics toplay for his country. Had he stayed he certainly would have played. Instead Jams Perch made his debut and went on to be a stalwart for a few years before he left the club.
Tarka returned to Perth to play for Glory in the reformed A-League. in 2009he was released after injury problems, never fulfilling the promise he hadshown as a youngster.


Gareth Edds

Edds came from the Australian Institute for Sport direct to Forest. He made his debut in the 1999/2000 season under David Platt in the Championship. He was able to play as full back or in midfield. In that season he played twice. The next season he played 13 times in the league scoring once. And the following season he played once as a sub before leaving the club for Swindon Town.
After Swindon he went to Bradford and then on to Milton Keynes Dons where he spent several years,before transferring to Tranmere. After two years on Merseyside he moved back to Australia to play for new side North Queensland Fury, based in Townsville.He even went to captain the side. His future is uncertain after the Fury disbanded last week amid financial troubles. He never represented Australia as a full international, but did at junior and Under 21 level.

Eugene Dadi

This one may surprise a few people to see on this list. Ivory Coast born Dadi was somewhat of a journeyman before Megson signed him for Forest in 2005.Having played in France, Austria and Scotland, he had a short stint with the Reds, playing just 6 times. That was probably 6 times too many as he was quite a limited player. Admittedly in a poor team, where Megson led us to the brink of the relegation zone in League One.
After Forest, and a loan spell with Notts County, he spent a short time playing in Israel before signing for Perth Glory. He spent a couple of years in Western Australia before setting off on his travels again,via New Zealand ending up now in Indonesia.
He had one cap for the Ivory Coast won in 2000.