Posted May 26th, 2008
by Rahoul Baruah
I saw this article by a Swansea follower, and it makes an interesting comparison between the attitudes of Leeds United and their supporters, and the attitudes of Reds supporters after not achieving promotion twice in a row.
Broadly speaking, most Reds fans learnt a few lessons in the first two seasons, we stopped bragging about how we are too big for League One, and as a result, many opposing fans left congralutations on the messageboards.
Like the Reds over the last few years, I suspect that the mouthy Leeds fans are just a vocal minority, so I have sympathy for the genuine Leeds fans who recognise that they got relegated of their own accord; however, a major distinction is the anti-Football League propaganda thrown out by Bates & Co and seemingly devoured at face value by many of the fans. Regardless of the rights and wrongs of their situation, the way that Leeds United FC have conducted themselves in the last year shows a lack of grace and dignity.
Let’s hope that Leeds and their fans have learnt a lesson from their dismissive attitude towards others this year, and they may just get promotion next year.
Of course, the reason for this article is that Leeds lost the play-off final – congratulations to Doncaster!
Posted in General
Posted May 22nd, 2008
by Rahoul Baruah
Let’s get this straight; I like(d) Kris Commons. I thought he was the best player on the park when Stoke came to visit four years ago, I know that he was capable of doing great things in a Red shirt, and I also like the fact that he was one of many Forest fans in the squad.
Throughout the whole “will-he, won’t he?” speculation, I have actually been pretty confident he would stay; not just because he is (was) a Red, but also because when he signed a one-year deal last year, he suggested that he wanted to see if we would get promoted (with the implication being that he would stay if we did – not that I have any quotations to back that up with at the moment).
From a rational point of view, you cannot argue with his choice if he does go to Derby; they are reportedly offering £9ooo a week(!), they are only 15 miles down the road so he wouldn’t need to move house, and he does have a young family to support. Also, he left Stoke to join Forest, and Stoke are now joining the Premier League, whereas Kris has spent the last three seasons in Division One.
However, football is not a rational game. Many fans on the messageboards have reminded us of Stuart Pearce saying that he would rather sign on than sign for Derby – and he wasn’t even brought up as a Forest fan. One could argue that he is leaving a team of winners to go and join a bunch of losers (the worst team in history at that level, by a country mile).
If I had to describe Kris in one word, it would be “mercurial”; he is clearly talented, but just is not consistent. Also, he is not likely to play a full season. So in that sense, maybe it is not such a big loss. Also, as CC seems to want to continue playing 4-3-3, it does suggest that Kris would still be playing out of position (although he was brilliant on the left wing, in a 4-3-3, on the last day of the season).
Perhaps more interesting is the fact that Kris had clearly already made up his mind that he was leaving, regardless of promotion. Sometimes you see emotional farewells from players who announce they are leaving before their last match (Des Walker going to Sampdoria springs to mind) – not for Kris, which suggests that maybe he is not as much of a Red that he makes out, and/or that he will sign for the Sheep.
A couple of other interesting points: have you seen the picture (above) that the Forest official web team chose to use to announce his departure? Hmmm… Also, a thread on 606 was suggesting songs to sing at him if he turns up in a Derby shirt (assuming that he isn’t “injured”) – my personal favourite is Trumpton Red’s:
Baa baa fat sheep Have you any shame Gone to Derby Cos you couldn’t get a game
Posted in General
Posted May 22nd, 2008
by Rahoul Baruah
May 2009
The manager of the McDonald’s branch on Radcliffe Road has reported a sharp downturn in profits for the 2008-9 financial year.
Nottingham Forest Blog overheard this telephone conversation with the East Midlands regional manager:
“Unfortunately one of our regular customers disappeared in May last year. He said that he worked at the City Ground, but he would always drive in, as he couldn’t be bothered to walk. I got to know him quite well, as he would always come in for breakfast and lunch, and sometimes dinner as well – I think his name was Kristian. I did see his car going through the drive-thru last September, but some people in the car park started throwing chips at him and shouting “fatty Judas”.
However, the good news is that our sister franchise in Pride Park, Derby, has reported increased profits of 400% in that same period…“
Posted in General
Posted May 20th, 2008
by Rahoul Baruah
Colin Fray has written an article on the criticism that CC faced during the season, and the post-promotion reaction of Messrs Calderwood and Arthur.
As you might expect, CC shies away from sticking two fingers up at his detractors, but gently makes the point that achieving promotion should calm at least some of the criticism. Would Joe Kinnear have done the same?
Posted in General
Posted May 18th, 2008
by Rahoul Baruah
After a couple of weeks of pfaffing about, I have finally managed to get my photos uploaded onto the computer, so you might want to save yourself the money on the commemorative DVD and just look at these instead!
The photos are organised into two slideshows on Flickr: the match itself, and the post-match celebrations.
If you hover your mouse over the picture, and click on the “i”, then you will be able to see an explanatory caption for each picture. The slideshow will move between pictures automatically, but if you get bored then you can hover over the pictures and use the right and left arrows to skip.
Legal note: These are my photos, but I don’t mind you using them as long as I (and the blog) get a credit, and you don’t make any money out of them. Any queries, please contact me.
Posted in General
Posted May 9th, 2008
by Rahoul Baruah
So much of last week seems almost like a dream; but one thing that I know I did not imagine was the wonderful reaction from the Yeovil supporters, who stayed long after the final whistle to applaud both the team and the fans. There are also reports of Yeovil fans standing outside of their supporters’ coaches to shake hands and applaud the Reds’ support. Nice one.
I actually tried to email Yeovil Town to thank them for the support, and for the dignified response of their players and the kind words of Russell Slade. Unfortunately my email bounced back and I never found the time to send a proper letter to the club, but it seems as though many others have:
“NOTTINGHAM Forest supporters have given huge praise to Yeovil Town fans for the way in which they made their dramatic automatic promotion success even more special…”
Read the full article here.
Posted in General
Posted May 7th, 2008
by Rahoul Baruah
1. Promotion and getting out of this hellish league (obviously)
2. Pre-match optimism and atmosphere
3. Jules’s goal – crunching tackle, fine finish
4. The atmosphere once the first goal went in; it was the loudest I have heard the City Ground in many a year
5. More fine goals from Krissy and Lewis
6. Every single player getting a good reception from the fans
7. Perchio – he had a fine match until he injured himself making a great tackle
8. Krissy, in a red shirt, on the left wing – the best place for him
9. A storming performance from Tys featuring everything but a goal
10. From the Main Stand: “Colin, give us a wave”, followed by a response from the bronzed one
11. Chris Cohen, especially in the first half when he was here, there and every-bloomin’-where
12. The roar that went up went Cheltenham scored their second goal against Donny
13. Turning on the radio just in time to hear that Cheltenham had won said match
14. The roar and wild celebrations that occurred at hearing this news
15. The Forest players suddenly playing with more freedom upon hearing this news (for all of two minutes of stoppage time!)
16. The final whistle
17. The lap of honour
18. The Yeovil fans staying for so long after the final whistle to applaud the players and CC – thanks to all of you, these things do not go unnoticed
19. The players joining hands to run to the Trent End to do a Klinsmann dive (pictured)
20. The fans engulfing them before they got that far!
21. Ringing my Dad in Spain just to yell “We’ve done it!!!!“
22. My friend, stranded in the Upper Trent End, calling me just to shout “Yeaaaahhhhh!!!“, “Whoooh-hoooh!” and other such phrases
23. Walking across the pitch to savour the atmosphere at the end (and nicking a bit of City Ground turf – sorry groundsman!)
24. The weather – it was perfect for the occasion
25. Shaking hands with Paul Smith before he disappeared down the tunnel; what did I say to him? “Nice one Smudge!“
26. The walk back to the car – a chance to get my breath back!
27. Driving back across Trent Bridge, horns beeping and red-shirted people singing, dancing and celebrating
28. The commentary highlights on Radio Nottingham as I drove back
29. The many messages of goodwill from fans of other clubs, including (gulp) Leeds, Lessda and Derby, many of which were on the
606 messageboards.
30. The realisation that this was the best weekend in many years for Reds fans – the reserves parading their trophy, and the first team sealing an unlikely promotion. When was the last time we had such cause to celebrate?
Posted in General
Posted May 4th, 2008
by Rahoul Baruah
Smith
Chambers Morgan Wilson (c) Bennett
McGugan Perchio Cohen
Ormerod Tyson Commons
I really haven’t got time to write this – I know it’s bank holiday Sunday but I have lots to do today; but I just cannot ignore this. I really don’t think it has sunk in yet, it almost feels like a dream…
It was a warm, sunkissed afternoon at the City Ground, and there was a great, optimistic atmosphere even before kick-off. My Dad, in an uncharacteristic bout of bad timing, managed to be away, so I was in his seat in the lower BC; not my first choice of somewhere to sit, but better than at home in front of the computer!
Although the team was ostensibly lining up in 4-3-3, in reality Cohen was playing in the hole behind the three forwards, and the first half was action-packed. There had already been half-chances for both teams, including Lewis drilling the ball narrowly wide from 20 yards. Then on 20 minutes, Jules celebrated his Player of the Year award by winning a crunching 50-50 with Marvin Williams; while the Yeovil man lay prostrate on the floor, Jules picked himself up, and with a little time and space, looked up before banging the ball with the outside of his left foot inside the far post. A cracking goal, it really lifted the mood and from then, I knew that the Reds were going to win this match. Comparisons with Stuart Pearce are probably a bit lazy, but this was the type of goal that Psycho might have scored in his pomp.
Forest were irresistible, with only Chambers looking a little out of sorts. Krissy then went down the right and won another 50-50; when the ball broke to Dynorod, the old pro threaded the ball through and Krissy, who had continued his run, nutmegged the keeper with his right foot for 2-0.
Scarcely had the celebrations died down then we got caught out. Chambers had disappeared somewhere up the right hand side and although Lewis dropped back to cover, when the ball ricocheted back to Stewart, Jaime Peters was able to capitalise on the rightback’s failure to trackback. 2-1, and although there was still a good feeling, the nerves were starting to jangle.
Before half-time, Cohen was chopped just outside the edge of the box on the right hand side – the former Yeovil man was covering every single blade of grass today in a really dynamic display. I had a feeling that Lewis would take the free kick and he made no mistake, in an effort that was reminiscent of his goal of the season against Gillingham last year.
It is worth mentioning in the first half that there had already been a false alarm, a Chinese whisper that Donny were losing, followed some time later by the news that Cheltenham had actually taken the lead. A massive roar erupted, almost as loud as when the Reds scored. Forest narrowly missed out on extending the lead when Wes’ header from a corner was somehow bundled the wrong side of the post by a combination of keeper and defender.
The second half saw Forest obviously trying to play the patient game, just calming it down and keeping possession. Unfortunately they did their usual trick of dropping deeper, and it took some great tackles by Wes and Perchio to keep them at bay; the latter paid the price as he picked up a knock that was to curtail his participation. The rather surprising substitution was to bring on Agogo, switching to 4-4-2 with Commons on the left and Ormerod on the right. I should note that Perchio, who has had his detractors, was one of the star performers today, he did the dirty work and, as usual, made some great tackles; after a difficult season for him personally, he can hold his head up high for this performance.
Unfortunately, Forest were to make us sweat a bit. Chambers had made more mistakes which almost cost us dear, and was replaced by Breckin. I have no idea if Chambers was injured, and I didn’t like the idea of Kelvin moving to right-back, but Brecks’ introduction gave us more physical presence and a bit of authority at the back. However with Ormerod and Wilson making up the right hand side, Yeovil kept attacking us there, winning a corner from which Andy Kirk nodded in, completely unchallenged. 3-2.
The rest is a bit of blur, until the last five minutes when the roar went up that Cheltenham had taken the lead again. What I hadn’t realised was how close Donny had come in the meantime, they had forced some good saves and hit the post. That news, and the crowd reaction, notably eased the tension, and then the Reds relaxed, meaning that our victory was no longer in doubt. At this point I did something I would never usually do, and turned on the radio on my phone, in time to hear the confirmation that Cheltenham had won, which prompted another massive roar, with the entire ground on their feet, dancing and singing (yes, even in the lower BC!). In the meantime, Nathan Tyson had tried his best to single-handedly add to our tally, with Skiverton somehow clearing off the line, and Ormerod (in possibly his last appearance for the Reds) was subbed for Arron Davies, who received a warm welcome from the travelling Glovers’ fans.
You know the rest. The stoppage time didn’t matter; unless we conceded two goals, we were promoted. At the final whistle, it couldn’t have gone more mental! There was a pitch invasion, and then when the fans eventually left the pitch, the team came back out for a lap of honour.
I will have to write a separate post about the emotions of the day – it was certainly unlike any match I have been to before. In the meantime, let’s savour the moment!
Posted in General
Posted May 3rd, 2008
by Rahoul Baruah
Match report to follow soon, but in the meantime, Thank God for that!
UUUUUU RRRRREEEEDDDDDSSSS!!!!!!!!
Posted in General
Posted May 1st, 2008
by Rahoul Baruah
I don’t want to harp on about it, but I think it is fair to say that everyone in football should be glad that the Leeds saga is over. I cannot see how it would be sustainable for Leeds to get the points returned, especially at this stage of the season – I personally think that Bates was trying to be clever, but was found out. I wonder if the Leeds fans will still defend him? I get the distinct impression that they love Leeds more than they love Bates.
From a Forest perspective, of course it is good news, but that is not (and has never been) the main reason for taking this point of view; I merely think that Leeds broke the rules (both in fact and in spirit), accepted that they would receive a punishment in return for their Golden Share, and still claimed that it was unfair.
Back to thinking about Saturday: the butterflies are starting…
Posted in General
