Posted February 3rd, 2010
by Rish
Nigel Clough has denied any wrongdoing following on from the handbags at the end of Saturday’s match, and appears to be asking for leniency as it is a local derby (not sure that this is an argument that will curry any favour with the FA). However, Billy Davies has continued with his claims and made an official complaint (involving lawyers) against Sir Brian’s son. I saw some footage on East Midlands Today, and while it wouldn’t stand up in a court of law, it doesn’t look too clever on Nigel’s part (I have had a look but cannot find the footage online – sorry)…
In the meantime, Garry Birtles has a grumble about Forest not adding any players to the squad (no, not even a left-back), while there are vague rumours circulating that Nigel Doughty may have had enough of January inactivity and will “restructure” the acquisitions panel.
Finally, wee Billy and Chris Cohen are nominated for Manager and Player of the Month for January – results announced on Saturday.
Tags: billy davies, chris cohen, derby county, garry birtles, nigel clough, nigel doughty, nottingham forest Posted in General
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 August 22nd, 2009
by Rahoul Baruah
So a one-all draw away at QPR, and from what I heard on the radio, it was a good performance. Not that that counts for much – a lot of people were saying we were unlucky against West Brom, whereas I thought we were disjointed and their game-plan worked when ours didn’t.
But much more worrying was the post-match interview. Unlike my brother, I think I’m coming around to Billy Davies. He comes across as thorough, organised and seems to know his stuff.
But this hints at deep, deep trouble ahead.
Davies stressed Pleat’s presence did not cast doubt over his future, saying: “Don’t misunderstand me. I have known David a long time and never had a cross word with him. I will not be walking over this.”
But he added: “I’ve identified clearly three defenders and got none of them. Now I cannot identify to you why we didn’t get them.
“We have defensive frailties and I cannot tell you why we are having to play with an outside-right at right-back.”
For the record I can see both sides. Nigel Doughty wants a structure where decisions are spread across the club, so when the manager (inevitably) leaves, there isn’t a massive void to fill (see Charlton following Curbishley’s departure, or us throughout the nineties). Billy Davies wants the power to do what he needs to do, make decisions quickly, get things done and get those players signed.
It seems that one of the two will have to back down. But which will it be?
Tags: billy davies, david pleat, nigel doughty Posted in Opinion
Posted May 13th, 2009
by Rahoul Baruah
The big news of the day – while Sport Billy is still in for Dele Adebola on a free, “our” Nigel is after Nathan Tyson, for a paltry £400000.
Ian Breckin thinks that we are a club on the up.
Nigel Doughty is putting his hands in his pockets to support Billy.
And we play Rotherham on the 22nd July.
Finally, meet “better than Paul Smith but not as good as Lee Campo” keeper, Peter Shilton – if you are at the Warndon Villages FC Fun Day.
Tags: billy davies, dele adebola, ian breckin, nathan tyson, nigel clough, nigel doughty, peter shilton, rotherham united Posted in News
Posted April 30th, 2009
by Rahoul Baruah
Billy Davies is looking forward to Sunday’s match against Southampton, before his real work begins.
That work being bringing Dexter Blackstock to the club permanently.
And if not Dexter then the “big man”, Dele Adebola (who I’m still not keen on but didn’t have give Wes the run-around this season).
Well that’s about it for this exciting news-roundup. I’d take this over sweating about Sunday though!
UPDATE
Mark Arthur reckons a Premier League Two is inevitable.
And Nigel Doughty has money to burn this summer.
Tags: billy davies, dele adebola, dexter blackstock, mark arthur, nigel doughty, premier league, premier league two 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 February 27th, 2009
by Rish
Before I start, I am not saying that Davies should be sacked or is not fit to manage this club – it is far too early to resort to such mean-spirited words…
Those of you who listened to the post-Derby podcast will have noticed that we weren’t happy, and that we were laying the blame at least partly at the manager’s door. There is much talk about the “acquisition committee”, and this has been started (at least partly) by the manager’s decision to publicly bemoan the lack of transfer activity.
We do desperately need new players, and I do agree that in an ideal world, the manager should be trusted to make the acquisitions himself. I can also understand why Messrs Doughty and Arthur are reluctant to relinquish the purse strings after poor signings made by Platt, Hart, Kinnear and Megson.
<RANT>The trouble I have with Billy Davies is that his world revolves around him, even down to referring to himself in the third person. The trouble I have is that he slags off the players in public one day, saying that they are not proud to wear the shirt, then after the Derby match states that it is not their fault as they are putting in lots of effort. He then says that he will sleep easy at night as it is not his fault, then he says that people should blame him because he is the manager. He basically states that there is little point turning up for the matches against teams in the top half of the table as we cannot compete. He, amazingly, even turns down the Megson-esque road of challenging the fans to pick a better team with the resources we have:
If there are any fans out there who can come up with a better formation, who can find the winning formula, they are welcome to come in and advise us.
Well Billy, I doubt you will read this, and I also doubt whether you would read it if I put it in an envelope and posted to you care of NFFC, but maybe you could play this team at Reading:
Smith
Moloney Morgan Chambers Heath
Cohen
Anderson McGugan McCleary
Earnshaw Tyson
See?
- It’s 4-4-2, of sorts, rather than the unimpressive 5-3-2 of recent weeks.
- Play a right back, rather than having a centre-half haplessly continuing out of position; you don’t have to worry about him; with the exception of one costly mistake against QPR, young Brendan has looked more than capable so far (as I write this, I wonder – is Moloney due a suspension this week? I cannot find it anywhere on the OS).
- Breckin looked knackered last week, so give Luke Chambers a chance in his natural position – he has looked decent enough in the snatches that he has played there before.
- Perch and Moose are out, so put our most industrious man in the heart of midfield.
- Play Lewis, our most creative player, further up the pitch where he can hopefully see more of the ball and weave some magic.
- Rather than complain about not having a left-winger, play a winger there!
- Stop telling the defenders to hoof it up to a whippet and a terrier. Neither of them are target men, and against giant centre-halves, they are not going to get much change.
Of course, I don’t expect Ando or Earnie to last ninety minutes, so we may have to rely on the likes of Matt Thornhill and Joe Garner to come off the bench. The squad may be half-fit and short on numbers, but if you keep asking players to do stuff that they are not comfortable with, you are going to struggle to get results from them (and God knows, we saw enough of that under Calderwood). </RANT>
I do want Billy to succeed, really I do. For all the home truths that he is trying to state, I just don’t think his charm offensive has worked so far, on or off the pitch.
Tags: billy davies, brendan moloney, derby county, garath mccleary, lewis mcgugan, luke chambers, mark arthur, nigel doughty, nottingham forest Posted in General, Opinion
Posted February 22nd, 2009
by Rahoul Baruah
Various random posts, trying to get a feel for the opinions of the Tricky Trees.
Davies has upset Pemberton and the Academy staff?
It’s almost the same team that beat Man City.
Morgan puts Commons on his arse.
We need patience.
Davies out!
Fans these days are too fickle.
Paul Smith is hopeless.
Speculation about Marthur.
Are there three worse teams than us?
Our best won’t be good enough.
Who was chucking stuff from the Trent End?
Robbie Savage is a prick.
I quit.
We have no leaders.
Get out you clown!
Doughty and Arthur are doing a great job.
Did Billy do his due diligence?
Billy didn’t even mention the poor performance.
Is the squad together?
Tags: billy davies, john pemberton, kris commons, mark arthur, nigel doughty, paul smith, robbie savage, wes morgan Posted in General, News, Opinion
Posted February 19th, 2009
by Rahoul Baruah
UPDATE: I think I’m over this now – still not sure what that interview was supposed to achieve but I’m sure Billy has a masterplan in mind. Bring on the Sheep!
The knives are out. Billy Davies, Mark Arthur, Nigel Doughty; no-one escapes the wrath of the Forest fan in the run up to yet another game against the Sheep.
And the source of this malaise?
The fact that our small, injury-ravaged League One squad is still struggling in the Championship, was not strengthened during the transfer window and the fabled new-manager effect simply has not happened (or at least was very short-lived).
Before Calderwood went I said a change (of some kind, not necessarily of manager) was needed; at the very least a big centre-half, a big centre-forward and someone to offer some leadership. Now, in February, we have a new manager but no new players. Fair play to Billy – watch him from the touchlines and he is offering the leadership. He went for Rob Jones to play at the back and Dele Adebola up-front. So it looks, on paper, like he had identified the same weaknesses as me.
But we didn’t get either and the consensus is that this is the board’s fault. Could be, I don’t know enough about what went on. Is Jones worth more than £600000 or is he another Lynch? Should anyone ever pay any money for Adebola? Were the board just tight or did they just not want to pay over the odds for players who may not be good enough to keep us up (can you tell which one of those two I feel falls into that category?) If they were tight then it’s definitely a false economy – League One will cost far more than the extra £400000 that was reportedly the difference between our valuation of Jones and Hibs’ (although I’ve also seen it written that we offered £1m for him).
However, for whatever reason, we didn’t bring anyone in during the window. So we have to make do with what we’ve got (and what we can loan in).
And this is where my problems begin. We know that they are young and inexperienced. We know that the Championship is a big step up from League One. We know that we have an injury crisis on, forcing us to play players who aren’t first choices. But that is the hand we have – unless we loan four or five players in tomorrow, then that is the hand we will have when playing Derby. We are where we are.
So why slag them off Billy? We all know that confidence is a vital component of success in football. Do you honestly believe that telling the only players you have available that they will never make it at this level is going to make them perform better this weekend?
In goal we’ve got Smith. The best thing that Calderwood did this season (apart from getting us to play some pretty football that had been sorely lacking for quite a few years) was bring in Lee Camp. Whilst some people think Campo is the second coming of Peter Shilton, I’m not so convinced. The defence needed a kick up the arse and Campo gave it to them. But in terms of actual keeping ability there’s not so much in it (Smith’s terrible kicking aside) – witness Campo’s flapping at a cross when we played against QPR.
At centre-half we’re looking OK. Breckin and Wesley are the first choice pairing; having Breckin back in the fold is a definite bonus, but Calderwood wasn’t lying when he said the old man isn’t fit enough to play every week. Wes has been immense after a dodgy start to the season. Chambers is an able deputy (note, this is centre-half) but Wilson appears to be getting worse under Davies, and he wasn’t playing great to start with.
At full-back is where the real trouble now lies. Moloney has been a breath of fresh air this season, but Davies does not appear to trust the youngster to do the job. Leaving Chambers to play at right-back and we all know it’s just not his position. Things are worse on the left with Bennett out injured – leaving Heath who tries hard but isn’t ready, Wilson, who looks like someone playing out of position (funny that) or Lynch. Nuff said.
In midfield, it’s no secret that I am a great fan of Perchio – he’s not the best defensive midfielder in the world but it’s a vital (unsung) role and he does it well. The Moose should be back soon and he had a great start to the season, but seemed to go missing for a few games before his injury. Cohen is many people’s favourite for player of the season – certainly his work-rate is incredible. Thornhill is probably my favourite of the youngsters – intelligent, beautifully timed runs with excellent passing. And then there’s Lewis McGugan. Probably our most talented player, certainly the one we could sell for the most money. But he seems to have gone backwards recently. Billy plays him a bit deeper than Colin did and he looks like he’s struggling with it – and when Lewis plays badly, Forest plays badly.
And then, up-front. Earnie’s out injured and this is a big loss, as our only Championship-quality player. Tyson works his socks off but isn’t an out-and-out goal-scorer. And he can’t do it all by himself. Leaving Garner. The target for Davies’ post-match interview and another youngster with obvious talent but not necessarily the work-rate or application Billy wants. From the little we’ve seen of him so far, he appears to be one of those who does nothing for 89 minutes then produces a piece of magic that turns the game. However, I can’t see much more magic coming from him under this manager.
We’re in the shit. We know that. The players know that. The manager knows that. The board (probably) know that. And when you’re up against it you need to be pulling together. Unity can make up for a number of deficiencies. Unfortunately, I don’t see much of that around the City Ground at the moment. Sorry to be so gloomy, but things aren’t looking good.
Tags: billy davies, brendan moloney, doom and gloom, Guy Moussi, ian breckin, james perchio, joe garner, joe heath, joel lynch, kelvin wilson, Lee Camp, lewis mcgugan, luke chambers, mark arthur, matt thornhill, nathan tyson, nigel doughty, paul smith, rob earnshaw, wes morgan Posted in Opinion
Posted February 11th, 2009
by Rahoul Baruah
Julian Bennett makes the most of his time out injured, while Nigel Doughty does good with his millions.
Fans’ favourite Paul Hart’s tenure at Pompey may be a short one.
Viv Anderson’s not happy about England’s friendly in Spain.
And lastly, Robbie Earnshaw (is a red) is about to restart training and hopes to be ready to play again very soon.
UPDATE: Oh and I forgot. Unlike us, who thought he was the “worst ref in history”, Paulo Sousa reckons the referee made only one mistake – and that was missing a foul on Campo in the build-up to our equaliser. Which would explain why the goal happened in bullet time.
Also need to mention that both me and nffcblog were tweeting during the game. To all the Smith haters I give you this.
Tags: julian bennett, nigel doughty, paul hart, rob earnshaw, viv anderson Posted in News
