Despite a few lingering concerns about the lack of defenders, the small contingent of international trialists and the question of ‘who’ will ultimately decide their fate, the positivity surrounding Nottingham Forest, for the moment at least, is undeniable but having survived over a decade of what became predictably bad decision making and PR from the late Nigel Doughty’s and the bullet proof Mark Arthur, we could all be sceptical of certain aspects of the new owners early days.
Sipping from our half empty glass we could (mis?) interpret that the Al-Hasawi family are overly keen to introduce players from his homeland to the English game and that the levels of control being spoken of in public are merely a smokescreen for their managerial puppet to ‘toe the line’ and accept players over his own personal choices. Ultimately, we have to hope that the ‘final decision rests with the manager’ is true and most importantly, if players on trial do stay, we have to accept the ‘managers’ choice and give the new players our full backing. The flip side of this is that the Hasawi’s knowledge of the region and the standout players, might lead us into a previously untapped market of talent. Another leg up on our divisional rivals at this stage.
Another curiosity is the 6 or so days it took to appoint Sean O’Driscoll… First, it was going to be Mick McCarthy. So much so that it was nailed on as an absolute certainty but come the hour, the man was nowhere to be seen having spoken to the new owners by telephone and cut his holiday short only to rule himself out of the running that same afternoon. Did MM do a Coterill and have the interview from hell, or were there questions about the level of control and ownership being demanded by the Al-Hasawi’s? Next came Glenn Hoddle, energised and relishing a new challenge and a McLaren-esque chance to prove his worth again. Most fans, like was the case with MM, were on board with this, dubious sudo-religious beliefs aside, Hoddle’s intelligence and brand of football were what we were craving. Paul Taylor (@nottmtails) reported several times during the grey area, that Hoddle’s representatives were ‘not returning calls and unobtainable’ and slowly, suspicions rose that again, a potentially good appointment had slipped through the net. But why a second time. I mean, one time, you could put it down to a number of innocent factors like displacement, style, budget and culture, but for it to happen twice to two very different managerial characters… Were the Al-Hasawi’s demanding too much for too little?
To play Devil’s Advocate , the events of the following days could go a long way to explaining the Hoddle episode. If true, that the players did indeed approach the Al-Hasawi’s to recommend O’Driscoll, this would likely have taken place around the same time that Hoddle was bring reported as close to the job. Things can change very quickly and you can bet that whatever Sean O’Driscoll is being paid, it is considerably less than messers Hoddle and McCarthy would have been on. Similarly, the cost of rebuilding a squad to a newcomer would be considerably more than it was ever likely to be with a manager familiar with the squad already. Sean O’Driscoll, now reported to have had a large part in bringing in certain key loan figures from Wolves last year, knows the players, knows the setup and while still hampered by the desperately short time we have before Kick Off against Bristol City, is in a far better place to complete a squad, rather than re-build a squad. Again, something Steve McClaren found to his cost in his short tenure last season. One final thought on the McCarthy saga… Did the Al-Hasawi’s want Guediora more than they wanted McCarthy and was a potential deal already in place. Guediora signed on Monday a week after McCarthy walked away from the opportunity. Things can happen very fast in football and in the bigger picture, a week isn’t very long at all.
This brings us to the first major positive that the new owners have introduced. Clarity and communication directly to the fans. Ignore the speculation about who was going to be manager and never was, these aren’t the sort of things you would expect to hear about while negotiations are ongoing. There are no doubt legal obligations to fulfil and rights to secrecy that no doubt mean we will never know what was or wasn’t said to and from McCarthy and Hoddle in relation to the job. What we do know is that the first instant that most of us heard about the takeover being officially completed was from Fawaz’s tweet just before 5pm on a Friday afternoon. The local Forest beat reporters noted on Twitter that the announcement even took the club by surprise… A new era of candidness to the fans was beginning… Secondly, where were you just after 4pm on Monday the 23rd? I know for a fact that the moment I read Fawaz’s tweet confirming that we had signed fan favourite Adlene Guediora back from Wolves after a hugely influential loan spell at the back end of last season, I was lifted, I yelled BOOM!, I phoned my friends and fellow Forest fans to relay the news and most importantly, I had the biggest smile on my face. Not just the news itself, but the fact that it felt like my own personal exclusive. Fawaz had told me (and by extension all of us fans), before the media had told everyone else. Nice one!
Second positive, and following on from the signing of Adlene, is the decision making so far. While we will never know if Mick McCarthy or Glenn Hoddle would have been successful (or Strachan, Curbishley, Ericsson, Keane, et al) at the club, we do seem to be universally agreed that after the almost intrusive and oppressive attention we received by the appointment, struggles and ultimate failure of Steve McClaren and also having seen Sven’s primetime failure at neighbours Leicester City, possibly the last thing we really needed was a whole heap of attention piled onto us again. The best attacks come when they are least expected, look at the sort of teams that have been promoted over the past couple of years (WHU aside). No big managers, no big names. Just good football (especially in the cases of Swansea and Southampton). By appointing Sean O’Driscoll, the new owners have made statement about the style of football they want to see, the culture of passing football at Nottingham Forest is one of the things most if not all fans should hold on to the most, we support Nottingham Forest because we have a legacy (not so much recently but times will hopefully change) of playing beautiful passing football… on the ground. “If God had wanted us to play football in the clouds, he'd have put the grass up there.” Brian Clough 1935-2004. Ultimately, I think most of us think that Sean O’Driscoll would agree with that! By virtue of the fact that O’Driscoll was in part appointed by the players recommendation and the positive public response by senior players like Blackstock and Reid, can only suggest a sense of harmony and togetherness amongst the (majority of?) players. They wanted O’Driscoll, they got him.
The squad itself, while desperately short on defenders, is strong beyond that. Not only with the signing of Adlene Guediora (a different class at this level if last season was anything to go by) but also the figurative new signing of Chris Cohen, coming back from a terrible injury that kept him out for most of last season. If rumours are true and the names being mentioned are true, then things look good and the club are targeting the right kind of players yet retaining the same sensible approach that the club has adopted for several years now (until McLaren went striker crazy) of only buying the right kind of player for the club. And of the players currently there, think about this. We have Dexter back for a whole season, that will undoubtedly make a difference. Similarly, Majewski, injured for large parts of last season, is the sort of player who will thrive under O’Driscoll’s pass and move philosophy… Camp and Moussi both had exceptionally poor seasons by their own lofty standards, providing they improve, the team will improve… Then the fringe players, the lost souls of the McLaren era… Well Ishmael Miller is better than we’ve seen him, a good solid low end Premiership quality player should be capable of destroying defences at this level with pace, strength and finishing. Similarly, Matt Derbyshire, belittled by fans, struggled with illness for large parts of last season. Hopefully, the quality of films out at the cinema this autumn will be poor and Derbs can get down the training ground and get back some of the form that lead him to play Champions League football. Andy Reid looks half the player he was last season which should make him twice the player he was last season. Reid, the only player left with a true connection to the clubs last heyday, looks hungry and looks like he wants to lead. Give him the armband. The rest will fall into place. Similarly, Greening and McGugan are better players than we saw last season and with the right kind of management enabling the best of them, we have a genuine shout at the best midfield squad outside of the Premiership. The only thing missing is a genuine right winger and the midfield is sorted.
The final piece of the puzzle is you, us, me, the fans. Having been misled with false optimism and broken promises for far too long now, the sense of over expectation seems to have gone. What makes the most sense about the new era is the grounded expectations, the “England at a major tournament” mentality, that while we certainly have the potential to do well, we almost certain to find a way of f**king it up. But not this time, this time it feels like our expectations are to see some good football and the START of a rebuilding process that we all accept may take some time. Yes we all want to be in the Premiership with all the bells and whistles that go with it, but ultimately, we want our club to be secure and not go the way of the desperate situation at Portsmouth whose fans reminded us on the last day of the season that there are some things more important than promotion and winning. Sometimes survival is the biggest victory in itself.
Finally, the events of last season, the emotional rollercoaster, the relief at survival, the anger and disappointment about everything that the McLaren era bought with it, ultimately has led me to one final perspective for this season. Whatever we do, be it survival to rebuild, to solid league position but good football, to a push for the playoff or ideally, to be challenging for automatic promotion…. Whatever we do this season… Do if for Nigel Doughty. He laid the foundations for what could ultimately prove to be a very positive, optimistic and enjoyable time to be a fan of Nottingham Forest Football Club.
Andrew Cove
@TheGrandMadness
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