Contractual Situations

The Trio Whose Contracts Are Up

Usually for Forest this isn’t a tale of half a dozen key contracts being up for renewal, but for once just 3 really. Aside from the loan players of course.

We have three main players out of contract and one of those has spent the majority of the season unavailable or out on loan in the guise of Marcus Tudgay. Contrary to rumours elsewhere Chris Cohen is not out of contract, a quick search reveals he signed a new deal in October (evidenced here). Other contracts that were expiring in Dexter Blackstock and Radi Majewski have been renewed.

Which leaves Andy Reid, who signed a 2 year deal when he signed, erm, 2 years ago, and Lewis McGugan.

Now I don’t know the ins and outs of whether we have offered deals, and in the past this kind of news has lead to conjecture about players futures. A number all blindly believed Dexter had joined Leeds, and a strange Polish press release seemed to indicate Majewski couldn’t agree terms, but these were both in the early days of negotiations and seem to be a counter ploy by agents to get the required deals.

I say it’s all conjecture because you never know the truth in these matters. Reid and McGugan on the surface appear to be have not offered deals yet. This would surprise me as Reid has played regularly this season and is a big part of how we play, and McGugan is dangerous and would have sell on value.

Our new found wealth would also mean that any potential stumbling blocks over Reid’s wages (believed to be around £12k a week) would now be averted, as had this been last year there isn’t a cat in hells chance of agreeing anything similar.

Unless it is that is a problem. That the club don’t want such high wages when we aren’t sure where we will be next season. However I do assume that the new deals signed this season were all of a higher end of any pay scale, and the fact Reid is 30 might be stumbling blocks too. Stick him on a 2 year deal and we’d be stuck with it. 30 year attacking midfielders aren’t the most valued commodity even if they have the quality Reid does, and with his pay deal and being saddled with that in the Championship? Well Chairman get itchy about that.

There is every chance deals are in the pipeline, but they may have been earmarked as players to monitor in relation to our league position and where we end up. The likes of McGugan would probably want a good deal, and he could maybe step up, but here’s a catch. Is McGugans bright form because of that very reason? He’s playing for a deal? We’ve seen it time and time again.

I can honestly see Tudgay being released. I think the club want to see where they are before seeing what to do with Reid and McGugan, and maybe they both want to see where the club are before they start negotiating. We seem to have been locking down players we want to keep. The fact these 2 deals are expiring I find interesting.

Greening Exiled to Barnsley

I say exile, as Barnsley is rapidly being where Forest players are going to be sent to seed. Harewood, Tudgay and now Greening are all there now. Remnants of last year’s failed season congregating in south Yorkshire for a second chance.

I am perhaps being unfair but Greening became synonymous with last season’s failures. Harewood too, bought in to get goals, in a team failing. Neither succeeded. Tudgay of course has been here longer and at least experienced some of the good days. But as Forest has evolved he has slipped further and further down the pecking order.

Now of course for both its good to be getting match practice, and let’s be honest whatever, if anything Barnsley is paying toward wages will also mean less financial burden. Even if that’s no longer the worry it was, it’s still good to have these players off the bill rather than not. For one it may create animosity in the dressing room, people unhappy people playing less than them earn more. If they aren’t there, it’s not a factor.

Also if they are getting match practice, it means they will be more match sharp should we need to call upon on them in a crisis. More so Tudgay than Greening, but his loan is with a view to a permanent move. Greening is in a position so laden with players he could have the greatest few games of his life and it’s unlikely he’d get back in our team.

Good luck to them though.

Our Strikers - An Appraisal

With the new signing of Simon Cox and the news we seemingly are also looking at Chris Wood and or Simon church, its begs the question what are we intending to do with our current stable of forwards, and where they fit in with the scope of the team and squad as a whole.

Simon Cox
As the big new signing and seemingly high cost involved it is almost certain Cox will regularly start. As well as playing front he can also get pushed to the wings too, as shown at Euro 2012 for Ireland. Apart from this Cox is somewhat of a mystery to me, I do not know a great deal side looking at his stats and what Wikipedia says, but that doesn’t always cast a true story. A lot of Baggies fans have told us we have a good player on our hands and that’s good enough for me, and the fact he was good enough to be in the Irish squad for 2012, although Ireland didn’t do a great deal, the fact he was there performing on a very grand scale footballing event speaks volumes.

Dexter Blackstock
The Antigua international was recently handed the captains armband in the Villa friendly. An indicator he is regarded as one of the senior pros at the club, and he is similarly well regarded by the fans. I see Dex as being the target man for Cox, holding up play and feeding the new man. But Dex has an eye for goal too, and can score a lot of gals at this level. He seems to love the club quite a lot, and is hungry after such a long layoff with injury to get back to the fore front. He will definitely play a role in the squad, and start more than he does not in games.

Ishmael Miller
For me this should have been his season to shine and lead the line. Maybe Cox is replacing him. Miller was definitely intended to be the power house forward and be a focal point, due to injuries and poor form it hasn’t happened. Whether this is down to managers not knowing how to implement him, or maybe the element of resentment of his inflated wages is true. Miller is on double many of team mate’s wages. Aside from this he struggled with fitness never able to be build a head of steam form wise and merely flit in and out the side regularly. Very much under used in the second half of the season he does though have a good record. Add to that though there was other clubs apparently interested and due to his hefty wages, and despite now having money we may look to move him on should the right offer come in. Maybe we were just the wrong club at the wrong time.

Matt Derbyshire
Where do you even begin? In and out of the treatment room, and apparently had been carrying a very long term injury when even in the side Derbyshire has said he is fully fit and raring to go, that may well have to be at another club. Like Miller he is on a hefty slice, more than many team mates and the fact he has done next to nothing to justify these wages, which have so well funded Vue and Showcase cinemas it seems. He gets a lot of abuse, probably unwarranted, he’s just doing his job, it’s just he’s so bad at it, falling over continually, seemingly unaware of the big net thing at the far end of the pitch. Most fans have been lost in terms of him, it would take an amazing turn in form for the fans to take him to heart, and the majority of McClaren signings are like this. Regarded with complete indifference, because frankly they have all failed. Derbyshire’s record in the past is mixed at best anyway, and it seems he isn’t quite in love with this club, always on twitter about Blackburn or Olympiakos, and seemingly on match days when Forest are on twittering about whatever else he is getting up to. The problem is on his wages he will be difficult to unload, either on loan or permanently.

Robbie Findley
All pace and no end product. He has scored a few goals admittedly, often in cups versus lower league opposition. His most famous achievement with Forest is missing from2 yards with an open goal. A clearing off the line any defender would be proud of, he was trying to score. Also for spending his first few months with the club permanently injured. I’m not sure he is as fast as people said he was, He doesn’t seem as fast as Tyson say for instance, and at least Tyson had a powerful shot, Findley doesn’t seem to have this. He also seems very much a confidence striker, which when you’re in and out the team is hard to for you build that. MLS fans on 24-7’s forums’ warned us he wasn’t that good. A warning that seems to have come true. It might be worth moving him on or loaning him to a League One level side. Or Barnsley, because they take practically anyone on, especially when foreign.

Marcus Tudgay
As I said last week he seems to have been bookmarked as Blackstock's back up for a target man to hold the ball up who can also finish well. Just as I thought his time would be up he looked good against Villa. The thing I’m not sure he is top Championship striker, he’s perfectly reasonable for some teams, but not if you want promotion as he can drift out of games. That said he has scored some very important and good quality goals in his couple of years at the club. Plus it’s always nice to have ex Derby players who have a bait of scoring against them. I see him as having a limited future; maybe see his contract out as a fringe squad player.

David McGoldrick
You don’t get nicknamed McGoaldrought for nothing. I genuinely would be elated to see the back of him as I can’t help thinking he must demotivated. He scored goals before us, but something is holding him back, as whenever he plays for us he is mostly anonymous. Occasionally a good game marks people saying he’s turned the corner only to not hear his name again for weeks on end. Needs to move on quickly, like Garner did once he was out the loop.

Dressing Room Dust Up

Apparently all was not as it seemed Tuesday when they report there was a double injury in the warm-up. A somewhat of a mild cover up has tried to disguise that there was a fight pre match which saw Anderson and Tudgay ruled out, not strains picked up.

The full detail are unclear, and some of this is based on information gleamed from non official sources, but I have seen this from unrelated sources with offers a level of credence to this.

Tudgay and Anderson had a dust up, for reasons unclear at this moment, and meant that both had to be pulled from the line up, which saw Findley introduced.

Now it might be a bit clearer why Cotterill was talking in riddles after the match when asked about the dressing room and Findleys introduction. At first it seemed like Findleys inclusion is what had cause Cotterills "I know what I know comment" about dressing room harmony, but now it is more the disarray causing Findleys introduction rather than because of as first thought.

Anderson was still missing Saturday and Tudgay was back in the team, which may well speak volumes.

It also reveals an alarming fracture in dressing room spirit previously unknown. And not with any of the new players earning more money. No it's players here before hand having fisticuffs.

It would go a little to explain the lacklustre display, well perhaps a little as the effect on morale was palpable.

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.

Transfer Round Up

As we haven’t done one for a short while, here are the players linked with moves to and from Forest with the window coming to a climax.

Ins

Max Gradel

Sky Sports understands that we were interested in Ivorian international, Max Gradel. Most of us will remember him for being the Shaun Wright Phillips like winger who put two past Forest at Elland Road in April.

Gradel is out of contract next May and Forest face competition from West Ham, Leicester, Fulham and Sochaux.

The official Leeds website today says that a fee of around £4.5m has been reluctantly agreed with St Ettiene after Gradel handed in a transfer request last Tuesday.

Andros Townsend

Another winger whose name has been circling the mill for a few weeks is Andros Townsend.

Some will have recognised him from his excellent display for Spurs in their 5-0 trouncing of Hearts recently – others may know him from a loan spell at Ipswich last season.

Andros is another pacey attacker who’d add some quality to our ailing wings.

Unfortunately for Forest, Townsend it’s looking likely to be a makeshift in the Scott Parker deal between West Ham and Spurs, which will see him join the Hammers on a one year loan.

Ryan Bertrand

This guy must feature in every single one of these round ups that we do.

Yep he’s been linked to us again with another loan move - this time by the Guardian. They say we're retracing him as a solution to that problematic LB position – although Sunday’s game another CB is desperately needed.

We’ll see how this unfolds; more than likely it won't.

Marvin Ogunjimi and Regi Goreux

These two are names that were mentioned on twitter earlier today with most fans believing there is something in it.

Ogunjimi is a 23 year old, Belgian international striker; who has gone from nothing to a national hero inside 12 months.

Like with every other attack minded player we’re linked with, his main attribute is pace. He also has a keen eye for goal with 4 goals in his first 4 international appearances for Belgium.

Goreux is a left winger who can also play right wing and either full back position. He is the last surviving member of Standard Liege’s title winning side of 2009.

It’s hard to decide whether they’ll be good enough with so little known of them.

Outs

Joe Garner

This rumour came from a Forest player – and for the record it wasn’t Joe.

It was believed a few weeks ago that Forest was due to let Garner go to Doncaster on loan for 6 months.

While nothing has materialised since, it might just be worth casting an eye over this move in the coming 24 hours.

Marcus Tudgay

The Evening Post apparently suggests that Milwall and Palace are keeping tabs on Tudgay.

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Miller Signing Spells the End for Tudgay and McGoldrick?

Firstly I was playing with bad puns to report the Miller signing along the lines of "call me Ishmael" quotes or Much the Millers Son. And decided all were unusable and really trying to hard. Besides everyone on planet earth knew this was coming so its hardly news. But yeah, welcome to Ishmael Miller. A big physical fast striker, possibly of the Marlon Harewood or King models of the past.



Its a type of player we missed in the past couple of years. Yeah we had Dele but his mobility was near negligible and so negated all his other work. I feel the strike force is coming together. We have replaced those guys who left us with players in my opinion as good or if not better. Derbyshire is the poacher in Earnshaws mode. Finley is the Tyson speedster. And Miller now the physical tough guy.



All this begs the question now what of Marcus Tudgay and David McGoldrick. Neither of whom have really flattered to deceive lately. McGoldrick to me has to be regraded as largely a failure since signing. An occasional goal, albeit wonder strikes versus Palace and bundling the goal in from close range from a yard haven't made me think he has it. And now there are more strikers vying for his place,it may be time to move him on,or try to fit in him another role. But where. He can sort of play wide, which he might be used as,and he can also sort of play in behind the striker, but he would never be first choice in either of these positions. Most fans would not be disappointed to move him on. True, he hasn't ever really had a chance to have a long term run in the team,but ask yourself whys this? You need to be good enough to get that shot,and right now,it seems Schteve doesn't think he's up to the challenge of leading the line.



Tudgay has never fully convinced me either,and I definitely think his time might be up. To me he was always, not quite a panic buy, but a short term solution to the Dexter Blackstock problem. OK he can hold the ball up,and he has netted a few goals, but as warned to me by a Wednesday supporting mate there will be long periods of him looking completely disinterested and going through the motions. I also think he is not aplayer to be at a top Championship club. His level is a little further down,he doesn't have that spark for me, that certain pazzazz that fills me confidence as well as mystery about what he could do. He's not a guy to make something out of nothing. Which is frustrating as he isn't a bad player. He just isn't great either.



Joe Garner too might well be thinking uh-oh time is up. McClaren seems to have a little more faith in him though, maybe illing to give him a go,and after all he did fairly well for Scunthorpe after going there on loan last season. But by god does he need to sort his attitude out. Against County it was embarrassing watching him have tissy fits, pick fights, and dive extremely badly. Like he wants to be that pantomime villain.



It will be interesting to see how the strike force evolves over the next few matches and who gets picked and who doesn't. What will McClarens choices be,and will he stick to the one up front with McGugan tucked in,or whether that was his repsonse to the squad he inherited. One thing is for certain. It is starting to take his shape more now as more players he has signed come in. Interesting times ahead.

Forest Look-a-likes 3

Here is another instalment of our series Forest Look-a-likes. These have been very popular, so we hope to see more nominations please. We are running a little thin on these and there has to be more.
Please leave your lookalikes on the facebook page, on the forum, or via twitter,or indeed in the comments section below here. The links are all on the right hand side of this very page you are looking at.

Without further ado,the latest look-a-likes


Ewen Bremner & Paul McKenna



Rufus Sewell & Lee Camp



Marcus Tudgay & Aleksandr Orlov




Grant Holt and Johan Elmander

End of Transfer Window Summary

So the window has finally slammed shut on a day that has seen some clubs pay absolutely ridiculous money for certain players - we all know which one in particular I mean.

From a Forest perspective, none of the rumours for players like Martyn Woolford and Gabriel Obertan came to fruition and we end the window with three fantastic signings in Paul Konchesky, Marcus Tudgay and Robbie Findley.

Outgoings have seen Matt Thornhill join Hibernian on a free and Joe Garner sign for Scunthorpe on a loan deal until the end of the season.

To conclude, I'm absolutely delighted with the business we've done in this transfer window. With promotion rivals like QPR and Cardiff all strengthening, it's refreshing to see we're following suit and are definitely prepared to go for one big final push between now and May - which could be argued was our downfall last season.

The likes of Konchesky and Tudgay will offer a wealth of Premiership and Championship experience, respectively, to our relatively young team. In Tudgay's case, he's already showing the impact he can bring to our team with his incredible contribution to games so far. Konchesky on the other hand, can be considered the final piece of our left hand side problems. His excellent attacking and strength attributes will hopefully make him the best left back in the league - and make our defence completely watertight.

As for Findley, he has it all to do but with the guidance of Davies - there is no reason why he won't succeed. The pacey striker and winger needs to adapt to the more competitive and fast nature of the Championship inside his first few months, as well as settle down to life in Nottingham. He could be a slow burner like Stern John originally was or make an immediate impact like Ben Olson did. Either way, I'm sure he is in for a successful time at Forest and we all wish him and every other newcomer a warm City Ground welcome.

As for Thornhill and Garner, their moves are definitely best for both parties.

Thornhill had always had that bit of promise about him but with Raddy, McGugan, Cohen, Moussi and McKenna all in front of him, a serious injury crisis would have been needed for him to make his big breakthrough. He now get's the chance to link up again with Colin Calderwood, who thought very highly of him at the City Ground.

Garner's short term departure to Scunny presents Joe with the chance to prove Forest and any potential suitors that is good enough for this league - especially after his disappointing loan spell at Huddersfield.

We both Joe and Matt all the best.

Some breaking news from an Obertan perspective. Reports are suggesting he has handed in a transfer request at Old Trafford - which has unsurprisingly stunned the club. It is rumoured he is looking for a move back home to France in the Summer - could a loan move to Forest be a short term fix?

But all in all, a highly successful transfer window and excellent work from both Billy and the transfer panel. Dare I say we have a squad that could maybe get us over the finishing line in May.

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