A Pure Insult

AS Nigel Doughty rose to his feet to enthusiastically applaud Nottingham Forest’s 1-0 victory over Barnsley, you could have forgiven many in the City Ground who questioned how on earth the club chairman had the audacity to make such a gesture.

There was certainly no happier man to see The Reds inch closer to safety in their Championship relegation battle. And maybe no one who more deserves to see Forest survive at this level given his sheer investment in the club over the last nine years.

It did however raise the question just how publicly fickle one man can be.

Even by Nottingham Forest’s standards, the failure to quash last week’s managerial rumour mill and circus act was embarrassing.

The very public lining up of Billy Davies to replace Colin Calderwood should Forest have lost at the weekend was completely unprofessional and ultimately shameful for the subsequent eleventh hour u-turn made on the appointment.

Because whilst Forest finished the week two points closer to the safety of 21st place in the Championship, the rigmarole that unfolded with the news of interviews of replacement managers and subsequent speculation turned into a public relations disaster.

Doughty and Chief Executive Mark Arthur had one thing to do once the vultures started circling on Tuesday following the disappointing draw against Doncaster. Back the manager until further notice or sack him.

If the former was chosen no specific vote of confidence or grandiose statement was even required. A one or two line public confirmation to simply kill most of the chinese whispers circulating the city would have been sufficient.

Instead the club’s hierarchy let it spin almost out of control with no single public statement of intent. A pure insult to Calderwood.

When the manager stated just how emotional he was at the final whistle against Barnsley it was far from a surprise. For a man who has yet to fully endear himself with charisma and charm to the Reds faithful, even the majority will have sympathised over his treatment.

The fact he remained so dignified throughout the latter end of the week meant he came through with his reputation only enhanced.

Whilst he may still not be the man to steer the club away from relegation, the club’s inactivity actually served to win him more support. Maybe inadvertently that was what the hierarchy actually sought.

What the club do on the field between now and May will be all that the record books remember.

The manner in which the club stumbled through another episode of poor public relations in a situation so important to the club’s survival in the Championship is one Colin Calderwood will remember a lot longer.

Here to stay?

 

 COLIN Calderwood received the dreaded vote of confidence before Nottingham Forest’s seventh defeat of the season against an average Crystal Palace side.

 

But for the supposed death knell that such a public statement usually carries, as undertaken by Reds chief executive Mark Arthur, the Scotsman can be assured it is virtually100% genuine-and that he is here to stay.

 

Because whilst one win in ten games sees Forest languishing at the foot of the Championship, the manager knows he has a hierarchy behind him highly cautious over sending him packing with a P45.

 

Given the nightmare the club has gone through in the last four years, lessons have been learnt by Arthur and chairman Nigel Doughty.

 

The premature sacking of Paul Hart, and the rigmarole and relegation that descended under Joe Kinnear and Gary Megson have shown the club that stability is of paramount importance.

 

Now, getting rid of a manager who on paper has the credentials to succeed after an impressive apprenticeship in the last five years could be another costly mistake- and no one knows it more than Calderwood.

 

Without doubt results must now start to arrive, but given the club’s recent past, 21^st place in the Championship is all that the board will now see that matters.

 

For that reason Calderwood may get an extended stay in the hotseat regardless of results in the short term. The fear of major player and financial upheavel that a new manager would bring is still an all too bitter taste from Kinnear’s tenure.

 

So even with a further five or six bad results in October and November the manager is likely to keep his job. Hit December and still be rooted to the bottom of the league and the atmosphere on Trentside maybe somewhat different.

 

Cue the end of season promotion party in May. Arthur stated Calderwood would still have been in charge at the end of the season, regardless of the division the club were in.

 

Whether that was pure hot air on the back of the euphoria of the most unexpected promotion in the club’s history is open to debate.

 

However, not many managers with their side shipping goals and on the back of five defeats out of six are afforded five day trips to China to suss out next year’s pre-season.

 

That is a luxury only accommodtaed by a club desperate to keep continuity and stability at any price.

 

The shame of enjoying someone else’s misfortune

 You really have to feel for Paul Smith.
 
The opening goal he conceded against Swansea on Saturday is every goalkeeper’s nightmare. A magnificent lunge down to his right that was then directly responsible for conceding the very thing he was trying to stop.

The fact Leon Britton’s fizzing shot was worthy of a goal anyway before it hit the post and then the back of Smith’s head will be of no consolation to him.

To then save a dubious penalty later in the game and see the rebound fall to taker Fedde Bodde’s feet for a gift of a second bite of the cherry to score a game changing goal just added insult to injury.
 
But the rebound incident reminded me of the first time I remember seeing it happen.
 
October 1991. Title rivals Man United versus Arsenal in a battle of the titans at Old Trafford.
 
I was only eight years old and whilst I supported another team in red, my sister was an avid Gooner.
 
It was a Sunday afternoon and a time as kids when we were literally glued to the telly. If you’d told me Elton Welsby had personality I’d have believed you. 

We hung on every word and action of Alan ‘Smudger’ Smith, David ‘Rocky’ Rocastle(RIP) and anybody else in the Arsenal ranks.
 
Well that’s what my older sister would tell me I’d have to act like. I was still smaller than her at the time and there was no doubting who still won the fights if we ever had a scrap. I knew, because I had the bruises and the tears to show for it. So I was never going to shout for anyone else whilst she was in earshot.
 
The opening goal that day saw good old Rocky chip a magnificent 25 yard lob on to the crossbar, hit the back of the head of a young, aspiring goalkeeper called Peter Schmeichel-and trickle over the line.
 
And my sister and I went wild-as did around 8,000 Arsenal fans directly behind that goal who we were desperate to be part of.
 
The joyous look on their faces compared with that of the despair of the red nose Dane seemed particularly cruel. They mocked him with gestures insinuating they had uncontrollable shaking problems with their wrists.
 
It didn’t matter for United that day-they went on to grab a 91st minute equaliser courtesy of Steve Bruce’s deft header.
 
On Saturday, Paul Smith got no such justice.
 
And more is the shame for a keeper who just six days earlier pulled off a world class save to earn Forest a draw in their opening game against Reading.
 
That I suppose though is the topsy turvy territory you live in as a shot stopper.
 
But there was part of me that was ashamed when Leon Britton’s shot embarrassingly clattered off the post and into the Forest goal via Smith’s head.
 
As a very small minority of Swans fans mocked the Forest man, I felt shocked that that was me- 18 years previously. Even if I had only been watching on the telly. Even if I had only been eight years old. 

 
I’ll never forget the joyous feeling of seeing the team I was supporting that day in 1991 score a ludicrously fortunate goal over a major rival in a big game. It made it that bit sweeter that lady luck shone at such a crucial time. It felt fantastic.

 

But the gesture and the joy of feeling someone else’s misfortune was the same as the incident in South Wales on Saturday- and I couldn’t believe how much I remember enjoying it.
 
On the surface then I am ashamed simply because of the look on Paul Smith’s face as he departed the Liberty Stadium pitch on Saturday. It was one of pure anguish.

 

It was one of those times that you wished,after all, you’d put your name down to volunteer for the Samaritans when you passed their stand at Fresher’s Fair at University. Maybe then I could have offered him some condoling words.
 
But I couldn’t. And for that I am sorry to have mocked one of his fine predecessors in the game for an identical misfortune.
 
So I’m sorry to Peter Schmeichel. But I still hate Man United.
 
 

 

 

 

4-3-3?! I don’t believe it…..

Last season I was called Victor Meldrew by one reader who’d written to me at the Journal about my coverage of Nottingham Forest.

 

It was mostly over what I put together in the wake of Forest’s 4-1 hammering of Southend and the somewhat negative angle I’d taken over Colin Calderwood taking four months to realise what many in the stands knew already.

 

Play your best players and just put them in their natural positions I said.

 

I used Nathan Tyson as the example. He came off the bench that night, had the ball played to his strengths down the channels, scored a goal and set up another in a second half romp.

 

I questioned why Calderwood hadn’t maximised particularly his and other player’s abilities more in countless games before that November match.

 

Cue the criticisms. ‘Stop being like a Victor Meldrew and support the team, the media these days are rubbish, just report the facts.’ the letter said.

 

Point taken. So with promotion secured in May and Forest spending the most money of any side in the Championship this summer, I have set out refusing to be called the first Victor Meldrew of the season.

 

Positivity is the buzz word from here on in.

 

Well, actually, that isn’t true. And being ultra positive would just be very boring.

 

So let’s get it off my chest. 4-3-3. Is it really going to work game in game out for Forest?

 

By all means I will reserve judgement once Andy Cole, Nathan Tyson, Paul Anderson, Joe Garner and now Lee Martin have had time to bed into the system.

 

But for me it just doesn’t get the best out of the squad.

 

On paper when everyone is fit you play two of Anderson, McCleary and Martin as out and out wingers in a 4-4-2, pick your best(sorry only two that are fit) strikers and everything else fits into place.

 

Also Chris Cohen Lewis McGugan and James Perch have to play as coventional central midfielders. Their natural games don’t suit a three man midfield because none can take on a role to drive forward and assist the out and out centre forward with service or double up getting on the end of moves. They’re not that type of player.

 

Picking one of them to partner Moussi and then letting the wide men cause trouble with service into the box has to be a better route.

 

And more attacks down the flanks with more crosses is a far better option.

 

Laugh you may with his height but in Earnshaw, Forest finally have a striker who can score with his head-something lacking since, wait for it, the days of Gareth Taylor at the club.

 

But maybe the formation simply won’t matter given the sheer quality of players Calderwood now has at his disposal.

 

One thing is for sure- if you’d said in May Forest would sign Cole, Earnshaw, Anderson, Martin and Moussi I wouldn’t have believed you.

 

With that in mind I’ll try and be a little less hasty with the negativity and criticisms this season and not don my Meldrew flat cap.

 

Even Victor would be hard pushed to be negative about where this squad could take Nottingham Forest.

 

Championship return,Premiership aspirations

Well, it only took three years. And a multitude of ups and mostly downs later Nottingham Forest are back in the Championship.

 

Regardless of what you think of Colin Calderwood, he guided Forest back into the Championship in grand fashion.

 

Well, it was either that or the most spectacular collapse in Doncaster and Carlisle’s end of season histories. Make your own mind up.

 

But any negativity the Scotsman received last campaign, justified if not always channelled constructively by many in the stands, has well and truly been eradicated since May 5.

 

The feel good factor has returned to the City Ground with a vengeance.

 

The character the squad showed to pull through in the final seven games was an amazing feat. One that left fans questioning where it had been all campaign.

 

But now, all that’s over. And the red half of Nottingham can look forward to a truly exciting season in the second tier. Even in an irritatingly inconsistent league where the form guide is irrelevant.

 

And messers Doughty, Arthur and Calderwood can congratulate themselves on a job well done in the summer’s transfer market.

 

Andy Cole, Rob Earnshaw Paul Anderson, Guy Moussi, and Joe Garner represent a real commitment to challenge for a top six spot.

 

Should things fall into place-it’s a top half finish probably guaranteed. And anything is possible if Forest can replicate an end of season run like that witnessed in April and May.

 

The only down point is the failure yet to strengthen the defence and goalkeeper. Strange, you might argue given their sterling record in the last 12 months.

 

But Wes Morgan and Kelvin Wilson may just take six months to acclimatise to the Championship completely.

 

Both have experience at this level but one of their few flaws is being slightly flat footed in their own third. They now face better out and out strikers with pace and finishing that will punish any mistakes.

 

But they will get stronger and more experienced quickly.

 

An area that is a question mark is left and right back.

 

Luke Chambers and Julian Bennett have all the youth and athleticism you could want. Bennett particularly can cause trouble with his crossing when he gets forward.

 

But on last year’s evidence they may  both be found out-because they are  in essence centre halves.

 

More astute and skilled wingers may have a field day at their expense because they are simply not naturals in their position, and on the back foot far too much when under pressure.

 

But naturally the pair may well excel in the first few months of the season with the sheer adrenalin of playing at a higher level. It remains to be seen if their hunger and spirit can hide any of their technical problems.

 

A question mark too hangs over Paul Smith and why he has no out and out competition for his place. Seeking a wiser head between the sticks may have been a good call given the age of Forest’s defence in a higher divsion, especially given the former Southampton keeper’s dipping confidence after he makes mistakes in games.

 

Those worries aside, it should be a fantastic first season back.

 

A bottom half finish would be disappointing but after the last three years even Nottingham Forest fans would accept mid-table and a degree of mediocrity.

 

Or would they? It just wouldn’t be Nottingham Forest Football Club without sky high expectations.