I need to spend a little bit of time working through the events of the last few days at Nottingham Forest. Just now I feel in a very low place when it comes to football and my club but I want to resolve a few things, both for myself and for the people who have graciously spent time reading this blog, about why that is.
Many will not agree with what I set down here and that is fine, I am not suggesting that my way is best, it is simply the way I feel and my response to what has happened. I am not doing this to offend or to cause argument merely to explain.
The first thing that I need to be clear on is that this is not about Alex McLeish. In fact it is not personal about anyone, except me. There are aspects of McLeish’s career to date that do make me nervous about him taking charge of my club but I wish him well and hope that the anger that has been shown towards him by some fans will have subsided by the time he takes to the dugout.
For me this is not about individuals it is about the type of football club that I want to support and the type of game that I want to be a part of. As the saying goes I will be “Forest ‘till I die” because I am so closely bound to my club that it will always be exactly that, but I will not blindly turn up no matter how it behaves.
When the Al-Hasawi’s arrived they set out an attractive vision of building a club for the long term and appointed a manager in Sean O’Driscoll who fitted both that vision and what I believe to be the intrinsic nature of this club. In time I believe that he would have built something special that he could pass to the next man with pride, laying foundations that would have gone on to serve the club well beyond his own time here.
As a result even when performances have stuttered I have remained confident in what O’Driscoll was trying to achieve and happy to support him in that, giving him time to get things right and re-build Forest from what was a terrible starting point only 5 months ago.
The owners felt differently and after such a brief time have ripped up Plan A and replaced it with a promotion or bust short term goal, ditching O’Driscoll and bringing in a new man they think can deliver instant results. Some see it as a welcome ruthlessness and ambition that matches their own short term desire for a Premier League place but for me it is a sad turn of events that has driven a wedge between this Forest and me.
It may be that the owners feel if they can get into the money league they will then have access to greater funds that can then be funneled into long term development. Alternatively they may simply have decided that English football is a money pit and they want a quick return on their purchase. At this stage we simply do not know.
If it is the former then they will probably find that sustaining Premier League football will quickly overtake any developmental efforts and extra revenues will be soaked up by extra wages and fees. If the latter then this latest disruption could well be nothing compared to what might lay ahead.
Right now, however, it has made me question whether I want to be a part of something that is so lacking in roots, that can make such a fundamental shift in the way it behaves in such a short space of time and which appears to be aligning itself with everything that I find unpalatable about the modern game.
I admit that I am a romantic when it comes to football. I am uncomfortable with the amount of money in the game and with the way that money directs behaviour; that it is okay to act despicably as long as you are winning football matches and that human values are subordinate to points in the league table.
The treatment of Sean O’Driscoll and the unnerving haste with which he and the club’s apparent strategy were jettisoned marks Forest, in its current form, out as part of the darkness of modern football rather than as the light it had hinted that it might have been.
I have no words of abuse for the owners, that is the last thing that I want to see, it is another side of the game that fills me with horror. I hope that they succeed and that Alex McLeish delivers the promotion that they seek, but I think that any joy from such an achievement has been lost for me in the way it will have been achieved.
If Forest are playing top flight football next season then many will feel vindicated and no doubt laugh at me with my old fashioned notions and principles and that is fine, but I hope that some of you will at least understand.
I really thought that we were going to build something special at this club that has been a part of me for my whole life and at the moment I feel let down. I have said before that although the result is everything, paradoxically it is the journey that is actually most important.
I feel that we had it right under O’Driscoll, we were focused on the goal but we knew that it would be a journey that would take us there. Now we seem to have returned to buying a lottery ticket and crossing our fingers and though I will keep my fingers crossed for all of you it simply isn’t for me.
Featured Image: Jumpers for Goalposts, Brunswick Lawns
The eastern portion of Brunswick Terrace provides a suitable backdrop with Embassy Court on the far right. The lawns separate the A259 from the beach and provide a suitable recreational area particularly in summer.
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Well written-just about sums up my attitude as well (and probably many others).
Well said. You’ve summed up my feelings to a tee. Saw my first Forest game in 1948 as a 7 year old and been solidly behind them ever since. Now I’m not too sure.
I totally agree with you, my sentiments exactly. Modern football is all about the cash, and what SOD was building was steady, proper and exciting. This route i feat will send us to the PL without grace, ending up with overpaid mercenaries with no connection to the club. I hope I am wrong.
Well written article, that probably strikes a chord with us older Forest fans, I agree that even with promotion “any joy from such an achievement has been lost” now.
I sponsored a player’s shirt this season, young Jamaal Lascelles, as I thought the future with SOD and what appeared to be sensible new owners was going to be built from the bottom up, I regret that contribution now.
This is spot on exactly how I feel
Even if we ‘suceed’ it will be with a bitter taste in our mouths
What a dreadful lesson/legacy for young Reds supporters, I am having difficulty explaining the actions of the Chairman and the Board to my 10 yr old son
The new owners bought a brand new train set and it was coming along nicely, on the right track so to speak. A few pieces missing here and there were probably on the way in January that would lead us ever closer to the promised land. Unfortunately the new owners have decided to smash this one up now with a sledge hammer.
If M.Arther is still on the pay roll should he have not advised on the damage this will cause between the board and the fans trust?
New TV screens one day turmoil the next.
Merry Xmas
Spot on with the article. While I wouldn’t wish anything but the best for the club or owners, I think this says a lot about them. Over the last 24 hours my feeling has shifted from disappointment to certain level of, for lack of a better term, disgust.There is no way the expectations have changed from the start of the season, they’ve simply finally admitted what their goal was all along. In waiting they have sought to delay certain inevitable expectations of them from the fans, betraying ours and the managers trust. I, like you, thought the prospect of a positive football style every week was well worth the time it might take to develop. I do not want to get promoted playing the atrocious Stoke/Wolves style. There is something to be said for how you’re promoted, Swansea being the best recent example. So while I hope we get promoted, as there is nothing to be gained now from staying in the Championship with a decent “Now” manager instead of a great “Style development” manager, the promotion will be bittersweet to say the least.
How do you know what football he is going to play?
How do you know McLeish (Who turned the job down in the summer because it was too soon) was not the long term target to get us promoted??
Sounds like a bit of spin from a man who according to the Telegraph was ‘influential’ in the appointment of McLeish!! The same man who has just been re-appointed to the board!
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excellent article, a really sad week in the history of Forest.
Why did the long term slow build plan change so quickly in the past few weeks? Is it connected to wages not being paid and club credit card being rejected? Are the owners under financial pressure to make the PL this year or else?
I think Sean O Driscoll is exactly what Forest needed over the next 3 years, building the club in the right way, and it can be done. Swansea did it, Stoke (maybe not the football everyone likes) are well run and established in the PL. It looks like Palace are trying to build in the ‘right way’.
The signals and intent from Forest owners by sacking Sean O Driscoll are very worrying. I hope Mcleish succeeds, I have nothing against him, But to quote his own words at todays conference ‘if it aint broke don’t fix it’ and it wasn’t broke, in fact it was the beginning of something better, it may have taken some time but i was happy the way Forest were going and now I am disillusioned and sad.
I hope one day we see Forest run from top to bottom in the correct way, and if that means we dont get to the PL, I will still be happy.
The way football is r
I disagree. Any success we have will have roots. Roots in 148 years of history, in the fans who have and will always be there. Players, managers and owners are but ships in the night – we are the club. Whilst I also strongly disagree with the latest decision, I have also disagreed with many other decisions over the years supporting Forest. Andy Impey being one of them. But bad decisions are also but ships in the night, small parts of a rich and rarely predictable tapestry that is our club and our history.
I agree with much of the sentiment of what you are saying. I feel that the last 14-15 years during which we have appointed loads of managers and failed to find a real personality for the club have been a very expensive mistake. I thought we might be addressing that in the early days of the new ownership but it feels like we have just reverted back to the same mistakes Nigel Doughty made. Time will tell but with such fine margins in the Championship and several clubs spending big those that fail will face potentially crippling financial issues further down the line. It’s a gamble with the future.
Couldnt have put it any better myself. O’Driscoll took pragmatism to a whole new level, but I enjoyed listening to his philosophies on the game and what he thought were the process required to build a successful foundation. Im beyond disappointed that he wasnt given a chance to see the job through.
Absolutely agree. Putting in the foundation for a strong playing ethic doesn’t happen over night but was being put into place by SOD. That would have put NFFC in good stead when promoted. Now, even if we get the promotion this season we will arrive with a team and a squad ill equipped to stay there, meaning we will struggle to survive at best. The only salvation I hope for is that O’Driscoll gets an opportunity elsewhere and that he does to Forest what Clough did to Leeds all those years ago – has tons of success.
Absolutely agree. Putting in the foundation for a strong playing ethic doesn’t happen over night but was being put into place by SOD. That would have put NFFC in good stead when promoted. Now, even if we get the promotion this season we will arrive with a team and a squad ill equipped to stay there, meaning we will struggle to survive at best. The only salvation I hope for is that O’Driscoll gets an opportunity elsewhere and that he does to Forest what Clough did to Leeds all those years ago – has tons of success.
You’re not alone with these sentiments. When SOD was appointed I was extremely relieved, and was looking forward to the next couple of years.i would have been satisfied with a top 10 finish this season.
I feel a little jaded at the moment, my enthusiasm is not what it was.
I more than understand I feel exactly the same.
Couldn’t agree more. I have said for a number of years I would love to win the league for the glory but would happily forfeit promotion to the PL. The championship is the closest thing we have to the old Div 1. Most but not all foreign football owners must scratch their heads at articles and opinions like this but it is the culture and history of British football, the stories and legends that are forged and not forced. Many football fans still want to see this in their clubs but I fear they are becoming the minority.
Hallelujah & amen. I am another from among the over-40s for whom you speak most eloquently. Feelings of ambivalence grow by the day. History (1865 to present) has taught us old timers that we are a provincial, midlands club that had an unfathomably glorious blip (1977-1980) and has had other periods of relative over-achievement all associated with medium, long term stability (the Carey era in the 1960s; the Clough rebuild of the 1980s; three seasons under Frank Clark in the 1990s). I will resist the temptation to bang on about the paucity of success that Midlands teams as a whole have enjoyed since the 1960s if we use old Div 1/Prem League titles & FA Cup wins as the metric. It follows from all this that long term “success” for the football club would look something like the 1980s (sustained solid top flight league position + the odd decent cup run). And that’s a long term project not a 5-month project. There’s more that could be said about how (sadly) the Championship is far more interesting than the PL in terms of competitive balance. Not surprising then that some of us are rather tired of the whole thing…
Absolutely spot on. For me the priorities are A) conduct yourself properly, B) play football the right way and C) win some games. The club suckered us in with a vision of Swansea and then jerked into Chelsea lite at the first hurdle. Fawaz wants our trust and support – you earn it, you can’t buy it.
Hahahahaha McCleish…….. Hahahahaha
Thank you santa for the best Xmas present ever hahahahaha
I couldn’t agree more – this is not the Nottingham Forest I know and love. How can one possibly trust the owners when they have performed such a massive U turn? Either they never wanted SOD in the first place or they have decided during the course of the season to “go for broke”. Either way it’s a massive mistake and I have a real fear that the club will end up in a worse position than it is in today. Sustainable development only happens in an environment of real stability, backed by actions, not words. If you compare a football club with a commercial enterprise (which it seems football no longer is) any company that keeps chopping and changing its management structure every few months will ultimately fail. I have been a Forest supporter since 1964, I’ve seen the good times and the bad times, yet like many other, after this latest distasteful episode, I no longer have any desire to go down to the City Ground and watch my beloved team. It may be football, but not as I know it……
Another here who agrees with everything in this article. I appear to be a bit younger than most of the people here at 23, I’ve only seen us play in the Premier League twice, the first I barely remember anything other than who we played against, the second was an 8-1 home defeat.
I’ve essentially spent my entire Forest supporting life following us outside the top flight and unlike many, I don’t care about being there. I often feel like I’ve been born in the wrong era, particularly for football, I love how accessible it now is but I’m not desperate to be in the Premier League. I like the Championship and I love how open and unpredictable it is. Don’t get me wrong, I’d like us to be successful and be in the Premier League but I’m not overly bothered if we’re not there, and if we are I’d like it to be done the right way, well built and sustainable.
In the Al-Hasawi’s I thought we’d found the foreign owners that fans of other clubs would be jealous of, they did the right things, said the right things, employed the right man, signed the right players, all for minimum of fuss and without having to spend excessive amounts. I just feel let down now, cheated almost. I was sold a dream and I fell for it. With the ruthlessness of the sacking and how trigger happy it’s been, we’re now being talked about for the wrong reasons again. If we go up this season because Fawaz has given McLeish millions in January then fair enough, well done to him, but it’ll be too hollow for me to celebrate like I’d like to. And then I have even further increased ticket prices and daft kick off times to look forward to next season. Joy.
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It’s the likes of Lascelles I feel for. Probably very unlikely to ever become a first teamer at Forest now the road to a sustainable future has been swapped for the far riskier road of Russian roulette.
Why can’t these owners look at the likes of Norwich, Swansea and West Brom and see how a bit of faith and sustained club building can deliver far more balanced results then the crazed fetch my cheque book approach adopted by QPR that Forest seem to have adopted?
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