Exciting ins and a worrying possible out

I confess. Very much in touch with my inner child, I still play football games and management sims on the Playstation and pc. I find it strangely relaxing to put on some vintage Queen records (yesterday’s anniversary of Freddie’s death prompted a genuine marathon!) and try to restore Forest to their old glory of the same period, be it in a digital, parallel universe. And restore them I have. FA Cups, Champions Leagues, Premierships, we have won them all. In a childish way it feels great every time. One thing that strikes me about these games is how accurate they have become when it comes to assessing player qualities. When you have a really promising player in real life, his digital counterpart usually reflects that. I have often bought promising players in those games who later really came through the ranks in real life. I remember buying Andrea Pirlo, Samuel Eto'o and Matthew Etherington for Forest before I knew the actual players. (OK, the virtual Etherington worked out a lot better than the real one, but you get the general picture.) Certainly with Lewis McGugan, EA’s Fifa09 were spot on, starting Lewis off at a pretty good rating but making sure he quickly grew in stature because of his “elite” label. In the game I am currently playing, I have had offers for Lewis of well over £20M.

And look at Lewis now. Possibly the most exciting player in the Championship at the moment. Nine goals now this season, from midfield. And nearly all of them absolute belters. He shows vision, ability and skill worthy of the Premier League. And the Premier League seems to have taken note, with rumours recently that he is on the radar at Fulham, West Brom and Aston Villa. Now I honestly think Forest will not sell Lewis at this time. He is simply too important for us and the fans would go mental if he was sold. The good thing is, Forest do not have to sell and, in my opinion, will only do so if really silly money is offered. The rumoured 3M from Aston Villa certainly is not enough, especially when Gerrard Houllier has just said that Ashley Young is worth a staggering 80M to him. Surely that makes Lewis 20M at least…

I hope young Lewis doesn’t let the promise of big money and the Premiership turn his head. The best thing for him to do is to stay at Forest until he cannot develop any further here. He can help take Forest back to the Premier League in the form he is in. And if he stays, he can become an absolute Forest great if that form holds. He is a real hero at the City Ground right now and at a new club, he would merely be the new guy. It isn’t hard to figure out which status should appeal most to a young man of his age. But it all depends on the common sense of the player and his entourage. In Belgium we recently saw the fantastic (but sadly very exceptional) example of Romelu Lukaku of Anderlecht. The highly rated youngster is on everybody’s wish list but in August there was actual talk of a move to Real Madrid. Romelu’s dad earned my everlasting respect when he merely said: “That is all very nice, but Romelu has to finish school first.” Too many players have gone to waste by signing for a big club to early in their career. So please, Lewis, think long and hard.

Meanwhile, we will be missing Dexter Blackstock for a very long time after his knee gave out in Cardiff. It looked horrible when it happened and the news so far isn’t good. We wish Dexter courage and a speedy recovery. To compensate for Dexter’s absence, Forest have dipped into the loan market and come up with Marcus Tudgay of Sheffield Wednesday and, impressively, Aaron Ramsey of Arsenal. While we know that ex-D**by people generally do well at the City Ground and I am sure Marcus will be no exception, it is Ramsey who is the more exciting prospect. One of the most talented young players in the Premiership right now, Ramsey is sure to give the City Ground a buzz. It is a shrewd move by both Forest and Arsenal to get him in the Garibaldi for a month. Forest have six games in that period, in which they will want to hold on to the excellent home form and confirm away after the excellent win in Cardiff. But for Arsène Wenger as well, the move has huge benefits. At Forest, his player will get a lot more competitive football under his belt on his way to recovery. And with Chris Gunter and Robert Earnshaw, he will have some familiar faces around him from the Wales squad, so he can settle in quite easily. It is a perfect short term deal. It would be great to see a longer deal develop after this first month finishes, but we mustn’t be greedy. Still, getting Aaron Ramsey in, even if it’s only a month long loan, seems like a message of intent. We may well be on our way to a very interesting transfer window…

Yes Billy, but...

Here we go again. Billy Davies has lashed out at the board once more regarding the lack of signings in the last two transfer windows. Davies said his job had been put on the line because of other people’s decisions and that Forest does not at present have a squad capable of a top six finish. Comparing our situation to Liverpool FC, King Billy added that a club needs “stellar signings” to get into the top six. Liverpool have not made any and look where they are, is the gist of Billy’s argument.

The thing is, that comparison doesn’t cut any wood. First of all, contrary to Liverpool, we have at no point in this campaign been in the actual drop zone. Second, we are not the subject of a massive sale or no sale situation which hangs over the club like a black cloud, with undoubted effect on team performances. (Also, Liverpool have just won a number of games on the trot and beaten the league leaders. If that is what Billy intends to do, I’m all for it, obviously…) Sure, some “stellar signings” would be fantastic. A good signing lifts a club, from squad to coffee lady. But the list of players recently targeted goes a long way towards explaining the problem. Billy aims high and rightly so. And the club have tried their best to get his targets to come to the City Ground. Pratley, Whittingham, Moses, Shorey, name them. But two preferred to play Premier League football, which you cannot fault them for. And the other two were not allowed to leave at their respective clubs, which is fair enough as well. We wouldn’t let Lewis McGugan go to a direct rival either. So unless you have some other options, a plan B, a compromise signing or whatever you want to call it, you can’t really blame the board for any of those. If the 10/10 players are out of our reach, try to sign some 8/10 ones. And stop being so stubborn about loanees. Just look at the number of goals scored in our division by players on loan from the Premier League. A decent extra striker on loan right now could make a massive difference. Oh, and by the way, Billy, we did get Majewski, who is a more than decent player.

Then there is the top six thing. The current squad (minus Bertrand) took us to third last season. And they have taken us to within a single point of the top six, so quite clearly they should be capable of finishing within that top six again, given that we have more than half a season to go. It’s only a matter of sorting out our away form. Because, dear Billy Davies, THAT is the real problem at this time. While you moan every time you show your face at the City Ground (which appears to be not very often), you should be trying to do something about that. One win in the last 22 away games or something in that region. That is nothing short of pathetic. And I cannot for the life of me imagine that it has to do with anything other than confidence. By now, the players must be shaking in their boots for every trip away from Nottingham. And it is a manager’s job to do something about that. If you can win nearly all your home games, surely you should be able to get some more points away. If we had got only three extra points from the away games this season (which is not a lot to ask given some of the opposition, with respect) we would be comfortably in the play-offs positions. Hey, if we had got some more points out of last season’s away games after January, we’d have been promoted.

I still have nothing against Billy Davies as a manager per se. I must really point that out. After all he did give us a fantastic season last year and got us as close to the top tier as we have been for some time. You have to love him for that. And I don’t even mind the fact that he speaks his mind. I am very much the same sort of person in that respect. But Billy has to open his eyes to a couple of key factors. First of all, he is an employee of the club and should at least try to act like one, rather than constantly attacking everybody around him in what seems like a nifty way to cover up his own shortcomings. Second, Nottingham Forest FC does not currently have the cash or the pulling power to attract the top players, not even in this division. They either want to play at a higher level or are not allowed to leave, as we have seen again and again. And the third thing? Timing. I mentioned a black cloud earlier. All this surely can’t help the dressing room atmosphere. With the next transfer window coming up, would it not be wiser and more constructive to sit down with the people he shouts at, and try to see what is what for January, rather than rake up their past disagreements and maintain and fortify the stand-off? Maybe it’s just me…