“What do we want? We don’t know. When do we want it? Now!”

It was inevitable I suppose, and I wasn’t surprised when I read rumours of planned protests at the City Ground via nffcblog’s Facebook page.

I take a similar view to my blogging colleague – if there is to be a protest, then so be it. It will make it clear to the rest of us whether the unrest is down to a very vocal minority, or whether there is really a wave of discontent at Doughty/Marthur/Pleat/The AP/Robin Hood etc.

Arguably, if you don’t use the web forums or listen to Matchtalk, you could probably be forgiven if you weren’t aware of any unrest – but then, you wouldn’t be reading this either!

As someone pointed out on the same page, many of us will have vague memories of a protest in the Main Stand car park during the JFK era (I think). If I remember rightly, this amounted to about 150 people grumbling a lot. Based on an average home attendance of around 22,000, I hardly think it will have given Doughty and the board nightmares.

If the protest takes place (I am not going to advertise it any further – if it happens, you will all be able to find out easily enough), then I would contend that it won’t mean much unless several thousand contribute – any less than that and it would suggest the strength of feeling against Doughty isn’t as strong as some would have us believe.

Tags: billy davies, david pleat, mark arthur, nigel doughty, nottingham forest (by Rish, 1 September, 2010)

We’re doomed!

… or so the naysayers would have you believe following another transfer deadline day without any acquisitions. This was not a surprise to me, to any Forest fans I know personally, or indeed to anyone who has any passing interest in the club.

Naturally, and unsurprisingly, there are a number of disgruntled supporters. Those of you following our Twitter feed today might be surprised to learn that I am one of them; whichever way you look at it, eighteen fit players is not enough to sustain any kind of challenge, whichever end of the table you may find yourself.

However, in my opinion, there is a danger of seeing things as being rather black and white. I am not impressed with the lack of signings and the general bumbling around (who was not reminded about the “serious about promotion” campaign when Mark Arthur foolishly spouted off about Pratley and Whittingham?), and think that the summer months are turning into a PR disaster at the very least. Does that mean that I think we should be burning effigies of Marthur and Nigel Doughty on Trent Bridge? No-one has actually suggested this to my knowledge, but one of the traits of modern life appears to be a tendency to resort to hyperbole to make your point.

The other thing that some (certainly not limited to Forest fans) are guilty of is presenting rumour, conjecture and opinion as fact. The well-worn argument of “Doughty didn’t back Hart after the play-off season” is commonly presented as fact; I actually heard different at the time, that Harty wanted to give the kids a chance and therefore turned down the chance to sign Darren Huckerby for £250k. I heard that from someone who knows people at the club, and while I cannot verify either side of the argument, the accepted narrative is still that it was a crusade by Doughty and co to undermine the manager.

One supporter on Twitter has taken the opportunity to write to Nigel Doughty and posted it up on his blog. Forest Grump states his opinion that Doughty has presided over the worst ten years in the club’s history, and also justifiably showcases a number of transfers that didn’t materialise. However, he is one of a handful of people who suggest that under Doughty, the club have at least trodden water, and at worst are in a much worse situation. People are entitled to their opinion, but I personally subscribe to the premise that the club were in deep financial doo-doo since the 209 shareholders sold out in the early nineties, the Scholar regime probably milked the club dry, and that Doughty’s stewardship has meant that we, as fans, haven’t had to endure the trials that fans of Portsmouth, Leicester, Leeds and Cardiff, with High Court appearances and winding-up orders.

None of the above is intended as a personal attack on Forest Grump, who does make some salient points. However, it might be worth remember that none, if any, of us are in possession of the facts:

* Has Doughty’s chairmanship saved the club or seen us move backwards? Without seeing the accounts (and knowing what the figures mean), I am not sure we can answer that.

* Are Doughty’s loans to the club repayable at commercial rates or has he ploughed the money in out of goodwill? What I have heard (again, unsubstantiated) is that as long as he is chairman, repayment is not a major issue, but should someone want to take over, he will want the money back. If this is true, it sounds reasonable to me.

* Did Forest actually make acceptable bids for Pratley and Whittingham? We may never know (although it is quite possible that Marthur’s interview made it less likely that Cardiff and Swansea would do business with us).

* Is Billy happy or not with the Acquisitions Panel? He may not be, but he knew the arrangements when he joined the club (he made much of having undertaken “due diligence” before he put pen to paper), and lest we forget, he and Ned are on the panel; apart from that, remember that it was William himself who said, “Don’t believe anything you read and only half of what you hear me say”.

* Does the lack of signings show a lack of ambition, a lack of money, or is there another explanation? I don’t know, and unless someone can present me with some concrete facts or direct quotations, I will take everything I read with a pinch of salt.

Some things are more clear: Forest have not undergone the worst decade in their history, merely the worst in my lifetime; many other clubs have also struggled in the transfer market; and we have the nucleus of a squad that can challenge for the Championship, but need more players if we want to keep up with other clubs who have invested this year. The other thing that is very clear is that there a lot of supporters who, when they bought their season tickets, had a right to feel that Forest would attempt to build upon last season’s almost-achievements.

Finally, I would like to make a recommendation to the Acquisitions Panel – it is usually a good idea to have a back-up plan.

Tags: billy davies, mark arthur, nigel doughty, nottingham forest (by Rish, 31 August, 2010)

Lethargy

Newly promoted Norwich and the return of Grant “Grolt” Holt to the City Ground. Surely we can kick start our season here?

We lined up with

A pretty standard line-up. What was more worrying was that the entirety of the rest of our squad (apart from Matt Thornhill) was on the bench. Bare bones, as they say.

And Norwich out-did us tactically – their organisation and defensive strength meant we couldn’t even pass the ball. Coupled with our defensive sloppiness, this meant that the game wasn’t the greatest advert for the Championship.

Tags: chris cohen, dexter blackstock, kelvin wilson, Lee Camp, luke chambers, norwich city, nottingham forest, Paul Anderson, paul mckenna, radoslaw majewski, rob earnshaw, ryan bertrand, wes morgan (by Rahoul eighteensixtyfive, 28 August, 2010)