Posted October 13th, 2009
by Rahoul Baruah
The disciplinary hearing for us and the Sheep is approaching – 22nd October.
The Daily Star have noticed that the football season has begun, running a season preview – and they have also just found out that we once won a few of trophies.
The word is still that David Platt is favourite for the Notts job. Do they never learn?
Speaking of ex-managers, Colin Calderwood is plotting our downfall. Apparently. While Marlon Harewood reckons the Geordies aren’t the crisis club they appeared to be. But Ned Kelly reckons the international break has done us good and we are ready for them.
Tags: colin calderwood, david kelly, david platt, derby county, marlon harewood, newcastle united, nottingham forest, notts county Posted in News
Posted October 12th, 2009
by Rahoul Baruah
Fabio Capello thinks Trevor Francis was the best Englishman to play in Italy. Trevor Francis thinks Fabio Capello is the new Brian Clough.
Is Marlon Harewood misunderstood? Not by me – I think he’s great and one of my all-time favourite players.
Finally, was Billy Davies due for the sack even as the Sheep were winning in the play-offs? I can remember thinking that he had been left high and dry during that summer, so was not surprised to see them struggle. But was it all planned, even before the Americans had taken over?
UPDATE:
David ‘Ned’ Kelly is in line to take over at Tranmere.
And Notts County have sacked Ian “Charlie” McParland. Is David Platt being lined up as a replacement? Sven Goran Eriksson is completely in the dark.
Tags: billy davies, brian clough, david kelly, david platt, fabio capello, ian mcparland, marlon harewood, sven goran eriksson, trevor francis Posted in News
Posted October 6th, 2009
by Rish
Following his stunning/lucky/wind-assisted/goalkeeper-assisted (delete as applicable) goal on Saturday, young Pole Raddy Majewski has been named in the Football League’s Team of the Week (alongside ex-Red Sammy Clingan, who scored another cracking free-kick at the weekend).
In other news, Forest have been linked with Leeds left-back Alan Sheehan, currently enjoying a renaissance in form whilst on loan to Oldham Athletic (don’t be fooled by this talk of him being a striker, that is simply shoddy journalism).
Sven favourite and Forest hate-figure David Platt has been linked with the managerial position at Notts County. Even though Charlie is still the manager. Is it April Fools’ Day already?
Finally, a real treat from one of our favourite newspapers (which Rahoul had already posted on Twitter): a rant about … well, everything to do with the management from boardroom downwards, it seems. The article attacks Messrs Pleat, Doughty, Arthur and Davies, but makes no discernible point about anything really.
Tags: alan sheehan, billy davies, david platt, david pleat, mark arthur, nigel doughty, nottingham forest, radoslaw majewski, sammy clingan Posted in News
Posted March 14th, 2009
by Rahoul Baruah
There are a number of people saying that today’s result (5-0 defeat at Burnley if you had your eyes shut, your fingers in your ears while singing la-la-la-la-la) is a new low in the history of our illustrious football club.
I was visiting friends this afternoon, so I didn’t listen to the commentary – just a quick check on the scores on my phone, prompting a simple response (has swearing, if that sort of thing offends you), shortly followed by one of these. At this point, I’ve not even heard Billy’s post-match interview and/or excuses.
Maybe that lack of connection with the events mean that I’m looking at things differently. But this doesn’t feel like a real low in our history. From my point of view, the real lows (in no particular order) are:
- Losing 5-1 to Bryan Munich – not the match itself, where I thought we were their equals (but couldn’t put away the chances) – but getting home later that night, to have all my friends say “oh that was awful”. My response was “didn’t you see the game? we were fantastic, it’s just that they scored more than us”. No-one understood. Watching the video of the game a few years later proved my point
- Pierre van Hoijdonk going on strike. We truly were a laughing stock
- Harry Bassett being sacked. And finding out by reading the newspaper. I was ashamed to be a Forest fan that day.
- In fact, every day when the club was owned by Scholar, Markham and Wray. We may owe Nigel Doughty a fortune but you could never claim that he is bleeding the clubs coffers dry.
- Losing 8-1 to Manchester United – not the defeat, but the fact that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer only came on with five minutes to go and then scored 4, making us look like proper chumps
- Fat Ron Atkinson going into the wrong dug-out at the City Ground. And then signing Carlton Palmer. And being a twat.
- David Twat and his italians. Contrary to popular opinion, there were some good things during Platt’s reign – Bartman’s captaincy, John Terry and Tony Vaughn saving us from relegation, Robbie Blake, Ben Olsen. But, most of the time it was pretty dire.
- Paul Hart having a massive sulk after being refused permission to speak to Leeds United. His one word post-match interviews were embarrassing and our form suffered greatly.
- Gary Megson inviting the fans into the dressing room. For an authoritarian, disciplinarian sergeant major, this just made him, and us, look like fools.
- Capitulating to Yeovil. Nuff said
I’m sure that there’s stuff I’ve missed, I’m also sure that my brother’s list will be different to mine. But does today’s defeat come close to any of those mentioned above? And what would be in your list?
Tags: bayern munich, ben olsen, chris bart-williams, dave bassett, david platt, gary megson, irving scholar, john terry, nigel doughty, nigel wray, ole gunnar solskjaer, paul hart, pierre van hoijdonk, robbie blake, tony vaughn, yeovil Posted in Opinion
Posted September 8th, 2008
by Rish
In view of the lack of other Forest-related stuff at the moment (save for John Toshack’s embarrassing decision to try and play Robbie Earnshaw as a lone striker against Azerbaijan), I found this thread quite interesting: who do you think has been the best Forest manager since Sir Brian retired?
I personally feel that this accolade has to go to Frank Clark: faced with the tough job of succeeding the great man himself, he went about it quietly after a slow start (CC-doubters, take note!); he also wanted his teams to play decent counter-attacking football (even if that did sometimes lead to tactics being “give the ball to Stan and let him do the rest”), and tried to play everyone in their best position (e.g. converting Steve Stone to a right winger). He made some great signings (Cooper, Collymore, Bohinen, Haaland), some decent ones (Bart-Williams, who would later prove influential, Tommy Wright, Lyttle), although later blotted his copybook with Jerkan and Silenzi. Even his resignation, when it came, was borne out of the realisation that the incoming board would sack him (I remember him suggesting that it would be like a turkey waiting for Christmas), so he preferred to go with dignity.
In second place would be Colin Calderwood. The first manager to clear out the rot that was setting in and achieve a level of stability (although arguably the first to be given enough time to do so), and importantly, he got us promotion, albeit at the second attempt (and to those of you who say it was lucky, I would argue that the table doesn’t lie: we were the second best team in the division after 46 games). Even better, despite dire football over the last two seasons, CC is now showing signs of wanting to play the game that Sir Brian would have intended.
Third place? Probably Paul Hart, although I get irritated by the pro-Hart propaganda that still circulates amongst fans (e.g. he was never backed by Doughty in the transfer market, and was forced to sell players). I cannot substantiate this, but someone who I knew at the time was mates with Nigel Doughty, and said that Hart was offered the money to sign Huckerby in the summer after the play-offs, but Hart turned it down, only to ask for it again three months later when his price had tripled! Also, Forest did not have to let Scimeca, Brennan, Lester and Hjelde go, but Hart made “take it or leave it” contract offers, and when they turned them down decided that the “fringe” kids (Thompson, Williams, Bopp et al) would be good enough, with the addition of Brynjar Gunnarsson and Danny Sonner. Make of all that what you will – the football at its best was stunning (Hart’s first game in charge at home to Sheffield United was unbelievable), but at its worst was torrid, and if Hart had remained in charge, I think Forest would have gone down that season.
Which brings me onto Joe Kinnear, who did a marvellous job in keeping Forest up, followed by a bloody awful job in taking us halfway down the following year. He scrapped the diamond formation which the players didn’t like, brought in the men to play 4-4-2 (Rogers, Impey, Barmby), and played to the strengths of the team (and how many times did Gareth Taylor score important goals that season?). If you were the chairman, wouldn’t you have given Kinnear a chance to keep up the good work? It all went wrong early on, with the ill-fated Capital One tour to the USA; then Rogers and Impey showed that, now that they had got fat juicy contracts, they weren’t concerned about performing on the pitch; finally the lack of competence on the pitch was coupled with a lack of discipline that would have made Sir Brian apopleptic.
I mention Sir Brian a lot because I feel it is important to recognise the legacy that he has left; in the same way that a young Jedi should always be mindful of the teachings of Master Yoda, a Forest supporter will only really be satisfied if the values of the Clough era are espoused: football played “the right way”, team spirit and discipline.
As for the rest of the managers, Stuart Pearce was never likely to save us from the drop; Dave “Harry” Bassett did a good job in getting us promoted and had the rug pulled from under his feet the following season (and would probably be number four in my list); Megson did good work off the pitch (trying to tackle the “me-me-me” culture that had clearly built up amongst the playing staff), although his team were consistently awful on the pitch; just don’t get me started on Fat Ron and David Platt…
Who do you rate as our best managers since Sir Brian?
Tags: colin calderwood, dave bassett, david platt, frank clark, gary megson, joe kinnear, managers, nottingham forest, paul hart, ron atkinson, sir brian clough, stuart pearce Posted in General
