Takeover Complete - Now Let's Get Back to Reality

As most of you will be aware, the Al-Hasawi family completed their purchase of Forest from the estate of Nigel Doughty last night.

Of course, great news considering many weeks back we never dreamed a day like this would come.

Like every new owner at a club, the communication from the Al-Hasawi's to the fans is one of excitement and positivity for the times ahead, which is already proving mutual.

How much they are worth I still find is unclear. I see them dubbed as 'mega rich' but never see any figures.

Now I'm not being pessimistic, I'm as delighted as any we can rebuild and look forwards to a new beginning. I'm also confident Doughty's estate wouldn't have sold the club to anybody considering they're both fans of the club and would be keen for a return on the loans Nigel put into the club over the years.

I guess sceptical is the right word due to examples of how foreign investment can go wrong in clubs like Portsmouth, Blackburn and Birmingham. The obvious flip side to this is the likes of Man City and Chelsea, something we can only ever dream of.

This is obvious, and in saying that I'm covering no new ground. In fact, I don't believe I am alone in being pleased with a hint of scepticism about the takeover and the future. I guess we will see what happens.

As things stand though, I guess all I can ask of the new board and fellow fans is to be realistic with expectations for the season ahead.

We certainly do not want the Al-Hasawi's to pull any PR stunts similar to what other clubs have done to get the fans on side. Historically, they never pay off - even at Man City the first thing they did was buy Robinho, who was sold on for half the price inside two years.

These stunts may create a buzz and drum up a few extra season ticket sales. Fact of the matter is the Al-Hasawi's buying the club alone has already done this. Why do they need to do anything crazy? In fact we have been in and out the papers for a majority of last season, do we really want this to continue?

The goal for me this season, is to establish ourselves in the middle of the table. It's not a low expectation and I question why should we be looking for promotion when the current squad is unbalanced and, following recent departures, would be one of the favourites to go down?

We could well be 'mega rich' but its uncommon that big investment produces immediate success at higher levels. Look how it worked out for Leicester last season.

Rebuilding the squad smartly and trying to link up the financial fairplay regulations would be the best and most achievable thing they can do for the club. In fact, they will be putting our best interests at heart immediately.

To help rebuild the squad, I would not change the manager either. Cotterill knows what and who he wants to sign for his playing and non-playing staff. There are lots of gaps to be filled and if he was given say £4m-£6m to spend, I'm confident he would build a great squad that would link up well.

Despite his critics, few could argue with the loanees he signed in January, which transformed our season. He went on to build a strong tactic to dominate teams, particularly away from home. It's clear he has a vision of what he wants and I am all for him having the chance to act it out - although a replacement for Sean O'Driscoll will support him.

What you must remember is Cotterill has never had much to spend throughout his career as a manager. It's alright saying he will not get us up but in fairness to him, he has never been given a budget or mission to get a club promoted - less so on the latter with Notts County. He is an unknown quantity in this respect but I am confident he can stabilise and help kick us on.

But I can not emphasise enough that this season we must be realistic and aim to finish mid-table. Anything else really will be a bonus and we simply can't get carried away with a promotion dream that isn't really achievable at the moment.

There will be lots of ridiculous rumours about who is coming in - Maradona and Michael Owen being two within hours of the takeover being confirmed - and we need to keep grounded as fans.

Today is a new beginning and while we all want glory now, it's vital we build a strong plan of how we will get to the Premier League and stay there in the next five years.

Patience and realism are good starting points to work from.

Follow me on twitter @benando_torres

A Comparison: David Platt and Steve McClaren

I feel these characters almost pull Forest full circle over a 10-12 period of time. Both coming to the club with reputations before them that include England although with mixed experiences, and both with a lot to prove. And both given substantial wage funds.

Platt of course was charged with getting us promoted after relegation. No tall order, but in those days almost expected. Clubs yo-yoed frequently, and it wasn’t rare to see the same three clubs up or down doing the same the next season. Platt was given a hefty war chest, even by today’s standards, and splashed out on players which didn’t succeed. This included a veteran in the guise of Moreno Mannini, ho on paper looked to be a rock to hold it all together. Throw in Petrachi and Matrecano, and the three worst signings in clubs history perhaps are complete. There were also large sums spent on Scimeca, and later the likes of Jim Brennan.

McClaren was charged with taking us the extra step to promotion that Billy Davis had failed to achieve, and in a highly competitive division where anyone could beat anyone and in times where clubs from the Premier League were not always expected go up, that differs to Platt. He did however bring in a veteran, in the guise of Boateng who never got going and a duo of expensive players in Miller and Greening, as well as Matt Derbyshire, and Andy Reid (although that was apparently set up before McClaren came in) There was also the Wesley Verhoek saga, and in what now looks like the greatest foresight of anyone, Verhoek opted to turn us down. At the time it was the club said he was unsure about leaving Den Haag. You can’t help wonder if he had some kind of vision.

The comparisons are already there. And take into account that both of them never really inspired confidence during their times with the club. Throw in that both are bookends essentially to Nigel Doughty’s time with the club, and that’s how we come full circle. Platt’s errors bought Doughty to the fore as chairman, and McClaren's ended his reign.
For a long term legacy Platt has to be
argued to be worse. His bad signings and wasting of vast swathes of our cash and parachute payments led us to being in a financial mess. However out of the ashes rose the phoenix of many top young players, and a campaign where we nearly went up. Had it not been for having to shed so many players, perhaps, Jenas, Dawson, Reid and Prutton may not have broken through? Well they probably would, Platt wasn’t afraid to blood youth, he gave Prutton his début (which for me checking Forest results at uni and seeing an unknown name to me played was odd) Some players like Keith Foy were blooded, and although ultimately failing its further than many of have got for a while. That financial element is key though. It meant ultimately we had to sell Jenas before getting any benefit.

Platt also signed David Johnson for a large sum and very large for the time wages. Johnson had a past of succeed in the second tier but never quite the top flight. He flattered to deceive and after being attempted to be moved on, after a loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday, Johnno came good and started banging them in.
Ishmael Miller was an expensive signing on large wages who has done it at this level before. He has also largely flopped in his first season. Now I am not trying to see parallels everywhere, but there are quite striking ones here. He also too had Marlon Harewood to play alongside.

The long term legacy of McClaren is of course similar to Platt. No more money and having to move on players. Top earners HAVE to go, and like the Italians, Derbyshire and Greening look to have simply have failed here. Perhaps Greening could do a Scimeca and ultimately come good.

The long term effects are that again a new chairman will have to come on board and settle the club. The main difference is McClaren walked early. Knowing he was on a hiding to nothing. Platt kept hanging around like a bad smell, until Sven Goran Eriksson insisted he was to be his right hand man, groomed as his heir apparent, only to continue to prove to be inept at England U-21 level.

For the reasons that it appears to be a full chapter beginning and closing in similar ways that I feel a new stage for the club is on the horizon. Steve Cotterill has had the thankless task of mopping up, and despite there still being many boo boys he has ultimately won me over. The guy is genuine, and does, from his signings, seem to know a good player from bad. McClaren and Platt just seemed to sign anyone who came along.

Whether both had tried to create a new cabal of players in the dressing room that were his and knew he could turn to, as well as the obvious restructuring required. We lost a number of players before both players tenures, and in that vital strikers (van Hooijdonk and Earnshaw) needed to be replaced. McClaren also lost a talismanic midfielder in Cohen to injury, although we were already struggling by then.

The basic thing to consider is that both will never be remembered fondly. Both will be remembered as flops, again at least McClaren had the grace to walk away (although this was less for the club, but more to retain his reputation and not taint it with a failure) That is certainly one thing they share, to be even more maligned than perhaps Kinnear and Megson takes something. I think Platt is more hated, and that’s a lot or retrospect too. Platt’s record was never great, but we weren’t in the clear and present danger we were post McClaren. Don’t get me wrong; Platt led us to the brink of relegation, needing late results to be safe, just in case. It’s more the long term legacy; McClaren was just always bad (even if I did miss two games of his brief tenure.) The simple comparison is both failed, and when you look into it, although the timelines were different it was a very similar story.

Doughty Chants Take Attention Off Derby's Win

A lot has been spoken in other blogs about the nature and the reaction to the Doughty chants from the Derby fans. They weren't funny or clever but perhaps they were predictable.

Far more taboo subjects have been used for chants fodder by other teams. All you have to do is look at how Hillsborough or Munich gets used by Liverpool and Man Utd to know in comparison it is fairly small fry.

It is however raw and recent. Which makes it taboo.

To sing and mock the death of something’s whose family will possibly be attending the game if not listening to it, is somewhat childish, foolish and downright disrespectful.

I have seen a number of fans of Derby attempt to justify their actions by saying well Forest would have done the same. I have no doubt a minority would have, but that doesn’t mean you get to use that as a justification. For one you’re saying you admit your chanting is wrong. Secondly you’re saying you have no element of individual thinking and have to follow the herds. You'd have done it so we have to!! Well now you don't HAVE to. You could take the moral high ground.

It's a very childish argument to have that we did it because you would have. It feels like they realised after this is wrong and now feel they need to justify it in their heads by explaining to Forest fans that it's because of us.

Hang on though, blaming something on the possibility and chance of something happening, that isn’t right. And to be fair who does mock something like that. You have to be a shallow person in life to mock the afflicted or dead in that way.

I for one would no way have ever done the same had the tables turned. People who sit near me would have possibly, as Is it near some utter retards, who are the same type who are reacting with righteous indignation.

It is has tainted a win for Derby. So much so than even their patron saint Robbie Savage has felt the need o speak out. Dexter Blackstock has tweeted to tell the world how he feels, this speaks volumes.

Also in a highly charged atmosphere using material like this is ridiculous. It sums them up really. These are the same fans who thought flying a pathetic plane over our ground to celebrate a win is the height of hilarity.

I appreciate the majority of Derby fans probably have a similar mindset. That the chanting is wrong. But the sad minority are always the loudest and most moronic.

Nigel Doughty dies aged 54

Forest 24-7 are today sad to report the sudden passing of owner Nigel Doughty at the age of 54.

Doughty, who has been owner of Forest for over 10 years, was found dead in the gym at his Lincolnshire home early this morning. His death is not being treated as suspicious.

His passing marks another low in our disastrous 2011-12 campaign.

Doughty in recent years has been a man who has divided supporters. The lack of recent success, poor form and Billy Davies' sacking, saw some fans take matters into their own hands and call for his resignation ahead of the Birmingham game in October 2011.

Doughty resigned as chairman shortly after and put the club up for sale. He did, however, pledge to fund all existing contracts until the end of the 2013/14 season.

The club now has an even more uncertain future than ever before.

But today, I'd like to thank Doughty for everything he has done for the club over the past few years. It's a shame it ended tragically.

Follow me on twitter @benando_torres

No Bids

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

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

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

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

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

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

Will Forest Have To Sell in January?

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No More Money

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No Takeover on Horizon

I never like to be a told you so, but there is and never was a consortium in place taking over Forest.It was all just a rumour manufactured by the Sun, and who could have thought that? The very fact that anyone believed something that started with them frankly worries me that people these days believe anything they are told.

In my opinion any such takeover would have been a huge risk and gamble anyway. Do we really want people who frankly don't particularly care take us over? Don't get me wrong, they would for as long as they get us into a position to sell, and that would mean promotion, but where's the long term future there? Look at Birmingham and Portsmouth. I saw one tweet suggest if Manchester City can get massive backing, then why can't we, and then they then tried to suggest we were a bigger club pre Mansour then they were. Despite that vast shiny new stadium they had and being in Premier League. I point this out to show how deluded a whole bunch of fans have become.

In terms of having to stay with Doughty, people would you believe he is the worst chairman out there in the world, despite of course losing vast swathes of his personal fortune to keep us going, at least we haven't been a selling club. We haven't actually been that since we sold Dawson and Reid. We have always managed to keep our best players together without having to sell to keep us afloat unlike many so many clubs, so why is that so bad? Surely its worse to have a chairman we know can keep us afloat, but yet relies on club sales.

I bring to your attention John Majedski at Reading. Reading this year have sold two of their key players from a promotion chasing squad. Mills and Long were vital players,and haven't been replaced. From reading their forums I can see exactly the same argument we have made been made there. How can we get so close and just then not invest to get us over the line. In fact they made less signings than us. And we didn't sell two key players (Don't even try and claim Earnshaw as key,most fans I know thought his legs were gone anyway)

Or do we want what Doncaster had, where they had to ask fans to dig deep to loan a striker. To quote a Doncaster Rovers blog.

With Billy Sharp, Ryan Mason and James Hayter all struck down the club wanted fans to dig deep and donate money to the club to fund a replacement. Off the back of the worst injury crisis the club had ever known, this was our contingency. Our plan B involved wealthy men asking less than wealthy supporters for more money. The fans did raise some cash, probably enough for a week’s wages, two at best. And yet now a month later we are able to bring in a new manager and place another on ‘gardening leave’. Who’s paying for O’Driscoll and O’Kelly? Who is paying for Dean Saunders? Can those who donated blindly have their money back?

We aren't alone people in having a chairman who makes unpopular decisions. And here we go again, with a Burnley blog saying similar things

Clearly, it has not been the summer we all wanted to see. We had hoped there was going to be some money to spend and Eddie Howe would be able to keep the vast majority of his squad together, while adding two or three quality players to make us a real force this season.

You see this feeling of hard one by. That the people in charge should do more and have to do more, it's a feeling across most clubs. The difference is many other clubs make do.Their fans seem to understand the constraints.Our fans ,well a minority I should say seem to think £10 mill a year should be spent minimum.SO they got really excite about this takeover.

The whole takeover rumour just started getting silly anyway, with people on Twitter and Facebook just outright making stuff up about it, from Alan Shearer fronting it, to David Beckham buying us.I even saw someone tweet at Victoria Beckham asking her about it!!! WTF!!! That's outright ridiculous.

But now Doughty has resigned, it just seems he wants to stay owner, to keep us going, but just not making decisions. And now Mark Arthurs position seems to have been strengthened.Bravo protesters. Bravo. You utter dickheads.

Its Silly Season

I simply do not know what to believe any more, but there are so many reports flying around at the moment about what is going on with Forest,it's hard to frankly believe.

The Sun is suggesting an American / Chinese consortium is bidding to take over. They would install a top manager and invest big sums.They also suggest Doughty wants to sell up, which isn't really whats been reported elsewhere.I cant help thinking this is utter tosh. Throw in a couple of vague nationalities, a suggestion of a big name but with no real body behind the story and you have something that sends everyone into a frenzy. Also why would Doughty be stepping down at the end of the season and not just wait till the deal is concluded? Oh and its the Sun of course.

That other great reliable source of truth the Mirror is saying that Peter Ridsdale, of Leeds infamy offered to swoop in after Doughty resigned. Seeing as Ridsdale is one of the most maligned names in the sport in this country, I for one am elated he has not succeeded if this has any shred of truth. That really would be a case of the grass certainly not being greener, it'd be a very dead brown patch, and in administration. Ridsdale runs clubs to the very brink of extinction, but gets lovely goldfish to look at whilst he does it.

Roy Keane has seen his odds slashed to become Forest boss. This if true would definitely suggest that the takeover story is rubbish. That being said the age old story was that Keane was the choice of Irish businessmen bidding last season. But in yet another twist to the most twisting convoluted blogpost I have ever written, a few sources on Twitter (again highly dubious) suggest Keane has no chance an to not waste your money, there has simply been a run that everyone followed on gambling on Keane.

Finally, I haven't checked but if I won EuroMillions, I will be bidding for the club tomorrow.

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.

McClaren and Doughty Resign

After just 111 days in charge, Steve McClaren has resigned from his role as Nottingham Forest manager  with immediate effect.

Today's defeat to Birmingham was the last straw for Steve and following 2 hours of rigorous talks with both chairman Nigel Doughty and chief exec Mark Arthur, he decided leaving the club was in the best interests of both parties.

Reports suggest McClaren was ready to walk away win, lose or draw. Doughty wrote off two loan moves for Michael Kightly and Lloyd Dyer in the past 48 hours due to wages. For McClaren, enough was enough.

Steve will not take any compensation.

The drama didn't end there as Nigel Doughty will also step down from his role as chairman at the end of the season.

Doughty has taken full responsibility and said appointing Steve was a 'very poor decision' on his part. 

There is no doubts in my mind, the pre and post-match protests also got to Doughty - he probably knew they would only get worse the longer he stayed associated with the club.

It's also worth pointing out that Mark Arthur will stay on...for now at least.

Rebuilding starts here and hopefully the end to the City Ground circus.

Follow me on twitter @benando_torres

Protests and Social Networking

Yes, there is an irony here that to market the site I use Facebook and Twitter, and yet I am about to lambast those very same tools for their role in what is become somewhat of a farce.

See I say farce because of the planned protests. I do not deny your right to protest, hell we live in a free country, but I am yet to see one salient united point for this. A series of gripes, which are either protesting against all the board, some about saying its about Mark Arthur, some saying Doughty out, others saying about McClaren, and one scamp about the price of a halftime bovril.

Social Networking is playing a key role in rallying the troops. Just today I got an invite (from someone I don't know) on Facebook inviting me to a protest. It didn't say what about, it just vaguely specified a location and time. Nothing about its aims, its techniques, its methods or any of that kind of valuable information.

That speaks volumes about the lack of coordination.

Social Networking is key to this as you can easily invite a vast array of people to single events. Whether that's by an event on Facebook, or by hash tags on Twitter. The problem then becomes partly in who is organising what, or the fact that a complex game of Chinese whispers goes off till the point is lost amongst the thousands who have seen passed it on.

I don't know if that invite was from an organiser, or just some chancer on Facebook trying to take credit for organising things, because lets face it, on Facebook there is a lot of people hiding behind certain identities currying discord without actually stepping forward. Pretending to be a player or the manager, they know thousands of people have added that player, because they like that player so it can show on their timeline. Not to have some kid fire a million status updates and ridiculous questions at people to the point of annoyance ( i do concede not all them do this)

In fact that these enablers, I say enablers purely from some kind of social studies context, as they (perhaps unknowingly) influence people into a certain belief. Hell I saw Lee Camps Facebook profile, which is definitely not Lee Camp despite what the kid used to try and make out, start commenting on national politics. Is that what you "like" a player to see. Some 14 years old views on matters he clearly didn't understand. These accounts curry feelings by one person being able to present his views to many, often presenting his views as facts, and as I say hiding behind anonymity, instead of actually putting their views out there as their own

Anyone who has used Social Networking sites knows how misinformation or suchlike can spread like wildfire. People see a status or a group and angrily react too.You end up with lots of people believing something that might not be true because one person somewhere set something up.

Its like with the recent riots, being able to send mass messages quickly to people you might never meet, and that message then being forwarded and proliferating till you get a mass movement of people, who may or may not know what the initial aim was. Things get lost in translation. Maybe the first people to want a protest did have a salient end point. It's not what I am seeing or hearing though.

Yes, something is wrong, but the very fact that there is very little common consensus what is wrong suggests something. It isn't clear what. So to start acting like this and wanting wholesale change is some what kneejerk. Some want Doughty to sell up, well we covered this before, who exactly do they expect in? I always get the same response to this question. Someone will buy us, someone out there will. Well, no I don't believe there will be. Last season Mike Ashley was on every street corner in the world hawking Newcastle to people. This is a club with a lot better financial record than we have. More appeal, more fans, fervent support. More income. And no body bought them. Why do people insist on saying someone will us? Everton are a bigger club with more going for them, again no buyers. We lose a lot of money per annum, so why would someone buy into that? People say the clubs being run badly, but if someone came in and balanced the books, those same fans would be angry that prices were raised, players sold and cheaper alternatives bought in, because "running the club better" would see that occur. And what with Financial Fair Play coming in, it would also be impossible.

The simple truth is the football fan is never happy. Just look at the big clubs, who cry foul when they finish second. Second!!!?? We'd kill for that.,

I've also seen today people moaning about lack of communication from Doughty, and this was on Twitter. This is the same site of course Nigel Doughty came on to communicate with fans, and was hounded off by keyboard warriors,hiding behind their monitors or on their phone, feeling the big man. Maybe they think they are like an Internet Simon Bolivar or Che Guevera, bringing down the big men with their action, rather than pimply faced cowards. Same people who probably tweeted Robin Chipperfield their anger that they thought Radio Nottingham pandered to the club. You simply can't win with some people, who I seethe anonymity of the Internet as their chance to rant and rave in a way they would never do face to face

So by all means protest. At least know what your protesting about, rather than a vague notion of knowing your unhappy, but not sure why.

Alternatives to Doughty

Ok so many fans have underlined their dislike of the club current hierarchy and want change. Whether you agree with this or not is not the point of this article, we have covered the ground enough there, instead we will go through what various options there are should Doughty decide to sell up.


Rich Foreign Investor
There has been plenty of attention given to these. I saw people even tweeting “Doughty out, Arabs in.” But how likely would this be. The dispatches programme on Channel4 last month underlined there are people out there looking at buying Championship clubs to invest in and build up to the Premier League, in that sense it’s a go. The problem also is most of these people are investors, not people like the Mansour's at Manchester City. They would invest money, but only to get us up and then sell up. Make a quick buck out the club, and leave us 2-3 years down the line in limbo again. Ok I can hear some of you are thinking we are in the Premier League at this stage, it’s all good. Well no, because who’s to say the new buyer wouldn’t be some kind of asset stripper, or someone full of fake promises. Just look at Portsmouth or Birmingham for that. Clubs built-up and sold on, only for the new owner to sell the top players, not reinvest the money and the club shrink back to where it was before but in more parlous state of finances than the whole process began same with West Ham. Oh and do I need mention the farce that was Notts County?

Local Boy Made Good
Ok, the rich foreign investor isn't all it’s cracked up to be, potentially landing us with someone who can’t even point to Nottingham on a map. How about a Forest fan that had made money, like Doughty and wants to push his beloved club forward. Well who are the rich Forest fans?
Lee Westwood
I saw Lee Westwood mentioned some where, career earnings of £7.7mill suggest that’s just a stupid mention from someone clutching at straws. We lose more than that a year.
James Dean Bradfield
Whoever mentioned this really is insane, yeah he’s a Forest fan, but I always get the sense that a not hardcore and b) I really don’t think a staunch socialist in charge of a club is a great idea. Really couldn’t see him investing
Paul Smith
I have vague recollections of him being mentioned in the previous major take over back in the 90’s, and he really is local boy made good. A highly successful fashion designer he has somewhat branched out in to other markets. However there has been little or no mention if he would be interested.
Nathu Puri
Bit of a long shot, but he is said to be Nottingham’s richest man with a wide arcing empire. His wealth is rumoured to be around £130mill (similar to Doughty) which would certainly put him in the right bracket. However, a) it remains to be seen if he is even bothered about football never mind Forest. B0 he admits he doesn’t like spending money too much and what he does he gives to charity. As much as some of us plead we aren’t a charity case, even if Doughty see’s us as a philathropic process.

Fans Trust
Make no mistake this is a final get out of jail card most clubs use when faced extinction. Invariably hard up lower league clubs, there are a number of higher clubs with this set up that runs concurrently to the bard in the back ground. Mainly as a way of making sure fans views are represented at board level it is no more than a token gesture in the vast number of cases. Those clubs which are taken over in this manner are constantly battling to raise funds just to stay afloat, so if people bemoan the current ambition of the club, then they may be in for a nasty shock if this ever came into being. Plus there is the old adage of too many cooks spoilt the broth.

A Consortium
Ok, so let’s finally discuss the potential of a consortium of businessmen, maybe even the likes of Westwood or Puri would jump into. However, remeber the last lot we had? There was a rumoured Irish consortium last season looking at Forest that never came to fruition. Seemingly based on bringing Roy Keane back to the City Ground, I can’t help thinking it was pie in the sky. The types of groups that own Liverpool or Manchester United, which are venture that buy into many sporting franchises could also be a potential buyer. However, most want a big club, a club that’s already operating at a required level and doesn't need vast amounts of investment. A club that has marketing appeal that can be used as operating revenue. Something Forest don’t have, seeing as our income is £2.5mill approximately for a club with outgoings nearly 4 times higher, we really aren’t appealing to groups like this. And how often do you often hear of these consortiums buying clubs turning out to be a success? Only when buying into already succesful clubs yes, but usually it just ends up in tears like Liverpool.


In conclusion, there are no viable options at present. People have tweeted me or mentioned on Facebook that how can we know nobodies interested? Well because usually these people make their interest known, especially in a climate of dissent that is rife with Forest. If you wanted to buy the club, right now you'd let it be known you want to invest, because simply you could get a wave of support behind you in forcing the incumbent to sell up. No instead what we have is no-one wanting to buy the club because financially we are not a good investment. People cite the history and size of the club, yes they are wonderful attributes, but these people are barely scratching the surface. No-one with any business sense would take us on right now. It'd be akin to burning your money.
If there was a viable option, someone willing to pour in money who wasn't simply just going to milk us dry when in the Premier League like what Leicester’s owners willing time do, or Cardiff’s, then I would welcome them. For now we have a chairman who is attempting to be frugal in the face of new criteria coming in which will require better managing of finances. It is coming so we might as well get ready now instead of major cutbacks next year. We will be ready, other clubs like Cardiff won't be. And we will be better for it.

A Week of Madness

I left some of views on the matter of the transfer saga and McClarens on off relationship with the club till now, so that it would be easier to dissect after all the dust had settled.



In what was a week that seemed insane at times, it looked like the good old politicking at Forest between Manager and Board has reappeared. The end result has divided fans, and there now appears to be somewhat of a rift between those tagged as Pro Doughty and those who are Anti the Board.



This is not a schism that is pleasant to read on the Internet, and on Twitter people venting their e-spleen by tweeting at the Forest Chairman Nigel Doughty. In fact I even had a small flame war myself. People claiming the chairman should sell up to someone who will spend. Well rich people wanting to do that are not very common. And the clubs which are being bought up are clubs being worked up to be sold on, as shown in the recent Dispatches documentary "How to Buy a Football Club", showing shady Asian groups openly trying to buy clubs to sell on later. I don't want that. A short term gain, for long term disaster.



In the middle of this were the media fanning all the flames of discontent to sell papers. I have written before about my scorn for the Evening Post, and I readily understand that they do have to sell papers. What they appear to be doing is trying to manufacture news and issues by directly inserting themselves into the middle and by currying discontent amongst fans. It almost seems to me that the Evening Post might as well list itself as a blogsite these days as it is becoming less a news site, but more a personal mouthpiece of Paul Taylor



The media have had a central role in all this. McClaren essentially used the media to get his point across that he was disgruntled. This then completely got out of hand to the point there was reports going round that McClaren had already quit. Which was frankly silly to be honest. It all got created by Facebook player profile pages and Tweets that morphed into a lynch mob.



Of course what with McClarens fame and connections, this then went national, in a way that Billy Davies constant games never really ballooned out of control. Here it did, whether that was McClaren using his contacts to get the message out wide and far,or just he was more newsworthy remains to be seen.



Of course it's been revealed that he never had any intention to quit, and the board were always happy with the arrangement. But this hasn't stopped all the anger amongst fans from spilling out. So instead of a mild disagreement between employee and middle management, we get this whole charade being played out in public.



One of my main gripes with Davies was that he aired all his dirty linen in public, using the fans ire to get the boards attention. The problem is now the boards skin is so thick because of this that it merely doesn't get through.



I applaud the chairman being a presence on the Internet, talking to fans on twitter. And I think people should use this for the right reasons. Not too hide behind the anonymity of a keyboard, remotely sending abuse and anger towards someone they know they'll never meet face to face. Its cowardly. But it makes them feel the big man. I actually stopped following a few people on Twitter that day (the fateful deadline day) as it was frankly getting embarrassing seeing people publicly meltdown over something so trivial and out of their control.



Again, I have mentioned it before, but some of the comments that fans say we deserve more. I don't understand this sense of being owed by the club. No-one forced you to buy that ticket. Therefore you aren't owed anything.



Whats needed is everyone to rally and get behind the team. I genuinely worry that should we go behind against Derby that the anger and cat calling will be deeply unpleasant. It won't help the team one iota. Supporters is what we are and support is what we need to do.

Exclusive Footage of Arthur and Doughty Meeting

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

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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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

The Cult of Billy

Following our defeat by Scunthorpe this week,the reaction of fans on various forums and suchlike has been fascinating to see where people apportion blame for this result. Some of it has been downright bizarre.

Many people pointed fingers at who was responsible for the defeat, but what was somewhat alarming was the lack of pointing fingers at Billy Davies. How has the man who picks the team seemingly absolved himself of blame for the defeat. A clever game of politics, but we will come to that.

In many places the usual scapegoat came to the fore. Nigel Doughty. Yes people blamed the chairman for a solitary defeat. Vital as always led the way on this. They should rebrand themselves anti-Doughty.com. The single thing that came out was that they believed the lack of investment was to blame. This why we lose one game. Lets gloss over the 6 wins, and a creditable away draw at QPR, yes, lets forget that,for the simple fact we like to absolve Billy Davies from blame.

I mentioned it was a clear game of politics by Billy Davies, and it is. At the weekend he made the comment guaranteeing promotion if he gets his 3 loan targets. Of course said targets were not revealed. Additionally, this immediate suggests that these player of a calibre that all but secures promotion. Billy has been clever here, now if we don't go up, and we haven't got 3 loans in, he will point to having said I would have succeeded with the right tools. The board, IF the 3 players don't come and we don't go up, will suggest hang on, we got to second with the original set of players. Surely they are good enough.

We have seen this before, last season when Davies suggested that if we had Shorey we would have gone up. Cleverly distracting this deal was never going to be possible. Billy surely knows this, the board knows, but seemingly most fans don't. There are a raft of fans who believe anything Davies says.

Don't get me wrong,I appreciate what a good manager Davies is,and what an excellent job he has done. That much is obvious. But what also bothers me is his complete and utter inability to accept he got anything wrong, and that he pushes blame to everywhere but himself. Maybe that's the life of a football manager, but compare that to Calderwood who was the other extreme and refused to blame everyone bar himself,and its been a huge diametric swing to the other direction. Again, this isn't a complaint,more an observation really that Davies shifts blame to a board he says don't back him.

We covered before that Davies has everywhere else left under a cloud surrounding perceived lack of investment. Managers are aware of their budget, he knows what he was coming into. But by publicly stating he wants x amount of players and how if we get them everything will change. It's is very clever, many many fans completely buy into this. There is a cult of people who believe that Davies should be given free reign over the team to do as he pleases. It's an argument I can understand, but it simply isn't going to happen, so it's useless to suggest it. No manager gets this independence to do as he please. However loads of fans believe Davies should get who he wants no matter the price. One of our targets is supposedly Michael Brown,he earns £30k a week and if we loan him Portsmouth want us to pay all his wages. Do we really want to saddle ourselves with that fee?

I say the cult of Billy, because it's this belief that he can do no wrong, and hence why I bring up the Scunthorpe defeat. Not one of them say he may have picked the wrong team or tactics. No, that can;t be it. It has to be we didn't get Messi, Ronaldo and Fabregas in during the transfer window.

The Acquisition Panel haven't had their name muttered since Pleat revealed it's essentially been disbanded, so now it all falls back to Doughty. As we pointed out earlier in the week, Doughty is not a bad chairman, he has never seen the club nearly go out of business like so many. And do we really want to mortgage the future of the club to get potentially one season of Premier League. And then plummet back, and how often when clubs come back down do clubs just implode financially, trying to over Premier costs.This is an age of austerity, and we are right to be cautious. Nottingham Forest is for life, not just one just one season in the Premier League.



*Additional Caveat*
No sooner do I publish this then Davies is out quoting again about how we should have signed "stellar" signings in the summer and how we are paying for it. Again shifting and apportioning blame to others for failing to back him up. He is probably right, but theres no need to keep going on about to it to garner support from mindless drones who don't see a bigger picture of financial restraints and the fact maybe just maybe clubs didn't want to sell