The City Ground Night of the Long Knives

Well if you understand the heading you understand where this article is heading already, but if you don’t Wikipedia or Google are your friends. Essentially it’s a historical reference of back stabbing, covert operations and the putting down of subterfuge.

Right, business. The sackings of the three members of senior staff at Forest, or the sackings of two and one’s subsequent resignation, if you believe other channels has sent tongues wagging, brains taxing, and rumour mills into a spiral.

Clark, Burt and Arthur have all gone. To this were mixed emotions. Arthur’s departure is pretty much mostly delirium, though it still puzzles me exactly why he is as vilified as he was. To all intents he was a very nice guy, had good contacts and always operated in the clubs best interests. There was a reason Doughty trusted him so, and the al-Hasawis kept him on for a while. Keith Burt's dismissal is a little odder. I say odd, it’s clearly obvious the board want a new angle on scouting and recruitment and want to overhaul this. Burt was a Doughty appointment, essentially at Calderwood’s request, who wanted to concentrate more on the team and leave the signings to someone else. Burt basically has clung to his job for a long while considering. Davies was a constant enemy, and the fact he was retained suggests Doughty believe caution in the transfer market via an intermediary to make informed decisions on managers targets was required, as thus the much maligned transfer acquisition panel was born, with Burt being integral. Therefore for me it’s a surprise he was still here, never mind that he got removed.

The Frank Clark element is a little more unappetising, but to be fair his job was essentially a ceremonial one now. He has been removed from doing not very much. What is the sour taste is his complete removal from the club, after serving so well in many guises and his role in trying times. Perhaps they might have held on to him in some capacity.

Now comes the speculative parts. Why now? Why remove them all at all? What reasons, and where does the truth lie. More “facts” (we don’t know if true” are coming out. The latest being Arthur resigned on the back of the first two dismissals, Hence why his departure was much later in being announced, and the al-Hasawi’s have spun this to be his sacking. Perhaps also aware of his unpopularity amongst many fans.

The next step was for a number of supposed well informed journalists (Rob Dorsett from Sky mainly) blindly speculating about why and suggesting this is all bad news, based on nothing more than to presumably to try and create a story where there might not be. Immediate comparisons to the Venkys are extremely misguided. The Venkys at Blackburn have never been involved in the sport, the al-Hasawis have. The Venky’s were so unaware of the game, they didn’t know that relegation existed from the Premier League, and had no idea that Blackburn’s subsequent relegation and loss of incomes was possible. The al-Hasawi's have at least shown an awareness of the game. They have run admittedly Kuwaiti clubs, in the past but it’s still an awareness of the game.

Now, from what I have read, there have been question marks in the past with their very hands on approach at al-Qadsia. But it has been a successful club. The problem we have here is that the moment foreign owners start tinkering with club structures everyone gets very upset and starts questioning reasons. Why? Because think about it, every club is stuck firmly in the past. People say we are, but I don’t know a single club that doesn’t immediately point to its past glories. We all do. So for them to remove a club great immediately gets tagged as misunderstanding the English game and the clubs roots. They get tagged as trigger happy foreign owners.

If they were so trigger happy why were they all retained for so long? Most regime changes immediately overhaul the board level. It happened with Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City. Man United at least retain the likes of Bobby Charlton in roles, but purely token ones. The old regime failed. Face it, what those three employees stood for was a failure to achieve what the al-Hasawis want. Premier League football. And so we evolve. And evolution is also a football fans worst enemy. There are many elements I could suggest. Fans clinging to old formations, and not liking change. Not liking a popular player essentially being usurped by a new better player being parachuted in. The hegemony of the big clubs being challenged. We immediately decry and almost ridicule the “new money” clubs of Chelsea and Manchester City “buying” success because we don’t like change.

Now whether Rob Dorsett has an agenda I don’t know. But he has curried a certain amount if dischord. As I say whether it is to create a story, or whether because some of the now removed people were personal friends or contacts. He already said he has not spoken to the clubs new owners who have turned down interviews. Agenda’s.

Now this is not a party political broadcast on behalf of the Hasawi’s. There are obvious questions that need asking. The main problem now is though we all imagining the worst. The completely hands on role, in as far as actually managing the club itself at Qadsia is a worry, it shows a slightly megalomaniacal approach. I can’t see them trying this, but there is a precedent. By the way these are things I have read in the past and can’t find the sources anymore, so therefore I can’t comment on the reliability of this.

The complete conjecture that the sackings signify that the al-Hasawi's are now on a power monger charge is ridiculous. But lets' see where we go from here. They obviosuly felt the time was right for a change and as such have acted in that regard.

Cotterill Gone..... And Probably Clark and Arthur

Well this is shaping up to be a very hectic few days, made all the harder by my home computer being out of action. So Cotterill is no longer the manager of Nottingham Forest. Which to be honest I remain indifferent to. On the one hand I don’t think he was bad and was never really given a chance, but on the other he never really excited me as a manager.

Yes he had a good record in the market, and bought us two cult legends in Elokobi and Guedioura. However, there were often strange selection choices and questionable post match interviews.

It also marks a huge moment in the new ownership. After a day or so and 2 days of pre season training and 4 days before the squad head to America, we are now rudderless. I expect a very quick appointment. I.e. they already have their man lined up and ready to move in to the role. I hope so anyway. I have no idea who that man may well be.

I have spoken at length about some of those options, and criticised some of those linked names. Now the likelihood of some of them increases (though in Redknapps case I doubt it.)What it immediately spells out to me is the new regime are not afraid to chop and change where they see fit, this partly worries me. I don’t want a chairman who always has his finger on the trigger, ready to sack a manager on any old whim. This doesn’t necessarily mean that, they perhaps do want a long term legacy, just not Steve Cotterill. So let’s see what happens there.

Cotterill was divisive figure amongst fans. Many disliked him, many supported him. He didn’t unite the fans like some and that always counted against him.
I am writing this in the immediate aftermath before any real news or gossip begins to emanate about replacements or the actual reasons why. There will be speculation. I have already seen that it’s the new bosses already buying in players above the manager’s head, needing essentially a yes man. Think Abramovic, but also think Venky’s.

A huge moment in this regimes fledgling tenure. I say tenure, it may be a dynasty. Who knows?

And now after I have written this and don’t want to edit it looks like, and somewhat expectedly Mark Arthur and Frank Clark are going to be also relieved of their duties. Wholesale changes appear to be going on today at the City Ground. Almost fees like a City Ground Night of the Long Knives.

Mark Arthur - Public Enemy No. 1?

Mark Arthur gets a lot of stick from Forest fans, in fact scratch that, a lot doesn’t describe the absolute tonnage of stick this single person gets.

Bear in mind he does have a catalogue of errors in his past and perhaps you can understand why. It mainly boils down to him being the face and voice as it was of the Doughty regime. Doughty provided the money and Arthur did the leg work with it. Negotiations, wrangling, alongside John Pelling.

This is where that dislike comes from. So many alleged deals breaking down in negotiations, misguided PR work. I think the most obvious cases were the “We’re Serious About Promotion” campaign which allegedly was his brainchild and shocked and appalled Doughty to see it after he came back from holiday. You don’t promise the world, and then deliver nothing.

The shambles surrounding the Whittingham and Pratley situation wasn’t great either. However, it was a double edged sword. For one you get criticised for showing lack of ambition for not going for said players, it was well known these were our prime targets. His radio Nottingham interview when he revealed we were in negotiations and he assumed they’d be Forest players by end of week or so was the not so clever part. At first I thought fair enough, he’s told us what we want to hear. He has reacted to the dismay at the lack of communication by communicating directly. However, the manner of how it was handled was shocking.

Unsurprisingly Swansea and Cardiff reacted badly to the news we said their best players were coming to us. This made any negotiation anything but impossible. He had cut his nose off to spite his face. I don’t know if he has received any PR guidance on this matter, but it was really the last vestiges of credibility amongst fans being wiped away in one fell swoop. Whittingham and Pratley never arrived. Was this directly his fault? Would they have signed had he not gone on the radio? We will never know however it apparent his efforts had made getting these players exponentially harder.

There are plenty of other stories that do the rounds that can be barely confirmed, but sound credible enough and is that common knowledge that there cannot be smoke without fire. The Wayne Routledge negotiations where he arrived in Nottingham having verbally agreed a deal for £x amount, only for Arthur to produce a contract to sign for around 25% less as a subtle negotiation tool. That isn’t going to go down well with anyone and smacks of amateurism. There is no wonder he went to Swansea instead.

Now he is getting stick for apparently having said the takeover was imminent, and now saying it isn’t there yet. Fans took to Twitter to chastise and berate him again. Except this one isn’t his fault. He never said Imminent. The Pye’s our new sponsors let that cat the bag. Now of course in the usual Forest witch hunt where the fans need a scapegoat for absolutely everything that goes wrong, they say he should have shut him up, Arthur probably told him it’s that close. Well that’s conjecture, you don’t know. Arthur may well have said that the takeovers close in privacy but to be fair to the man he never said that fateful word Imminent. Now most will gloss over this bit. I’m not absolving the man I am merely pointing out you can’t pin this one on him.

Think about all the catalogue of errors above. Not one of them was designed around harming the club. It’s just been a Boris Johnson esque blunder. Now agreed we don’t need the, but each and every time he acted in the best interests. Trying to curry more season ticket sales by saying we will go up. I have no doubt we were serious about promotion, it’s just we signed rubbish players. That’s as much Kinnears fault. As said the Whittingham and Pratley negotiations were a disaster, but he was trying to instil us with enthusiasm and pointing out our ambitious targets. The Routledge story is simply that he thought he could get Routledge for cheaper. If it succeeded not a bad thing.

We rarely pay over the odds for a player, that’s been a trump card. Whether this summer something changed in allowing McClaren's targets to cost us more I don’t know, but in the past I can’t recall too many signings other than McGoldrick which have been utter flops for quite a while. And on paper he was a marvellous signing.

So yeah he’s made some bad decisions, and probably there are better candidates. And if a new regime comes in he will be swept aside. He won’t be missed. But what I am trying to say after seeing some pure vitriol directed his way is that no he’s not the monster he is painted to be. He has not single handedly tried to bring Forest down. He’s just been a little misguided and wrong in what he has done. Enough to be replaced? Certainly. Enough to be vilified? No.

The Craziest Soap Opera Of Them All...

There are some of those outlandish soap opera plot lines, the ones where the long lost brother who was dead reveals it was him all along he infiltrated whatever. Basically that sort of tat TV seems more believable than what has happened in NG2 over the previously weekend. All of which I will break down more in further blogs too. This is all too big for just one.

If we go back 7 days all this looked somewhat improbable and impossible. We'd just won for a start. Going into a winnable away game with Burnley and a home game. It almost looked like things were looking up.

7 days later and the whole world has changed in ways beyond ever most of our wildest imaginations. McClaren resigning, well OK,this was always possible I guess, rumoured at least twice before, it has been a doomed relationship. The photos which will feature in time will be his lonely position he took up in the stands at Vicarage Road. And that was in a win.

The Doughty situation I don't think any of us saw coming, probably even the angry mob of protesters. The irony is of course most were anti Arthur and probably not Doughty, one remains and the other doesn't. And not as intended. I am sure100% of the protest would have taken Arthur resigning and not Doughty, certainly not in reverse. The irony is now too I have seen the protesters think they can get Davies in and will let Arthur stay. Like you get a choice. This is the funny part, one success and they think they are a focus group.

Doughtsy announcement he is to resign at the end of the season shocked me. Initially worried this meant he had decided enoughs enough, you pump a vast amount of your fortune into a club only for people one evolutionary rung on the ladder above a neanderthal to essentially hound you out. I am being unfair somewhat,Doughty has been hounded out per se. I think he is ashamed by this whole affair and so bares all the blame himself and so will bow out to avoid further embarrassment.

There is no embarrassment per se, he has always acted with the best interests at heart. Any line of business sees mistakes and you learn from those. It takes a big man to admit he got it wrong, and therefore I applaud him for that.I think its somewhat misguided,and he will essentially have final say so being the owner. The worry is that the clamour to replace him,might see us bring in a worser animal. Someone who makes bad decisions. Someone who doesn't differ opinion, a Mike Ashley figure, a figure of ridicule. Who merely makes problems worse.

What now? Well the fact that at least 4 people have been bookies favourites speaks volumes. There is no clear favourite. Names are just being bandied about willy nilly. We do have to get this right though.

The move to have Billy reinstated is ridiculous though. Never go back is one the main things said in football. Secondly every single bridge was burnt in this relationship. Finally I am sure it would be more poisonous than before. He wanted to go, and the only reason he has offered to come back is merely to prove a point, and he knows that won't happen.

As I say though, there will be more to come, focusing on Doughty and his reign, McClaren and his doomed tenure. And where do we go from here. Stay tuned.

Exclusive Footage of Arthur and Doughty Meeting

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

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