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, 21st 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.
