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…

Why Winona cold-shouldered me and went for Johnny instead...

Ambition. Strange thing. It can be interpreted in so many ways. I used to be said to lack ambition because I never aspired to any managerial positions with big corporations. Instead my ambition lay in music. I wanted to make a living out of the only thing I really knew anything about. Not for me the company Audi or BMW, laptop or flashy and preferably long-legged assistant. I lived the dream for as long as I could. And yes, I can now see it was merely a dream but it was my own, personal ambition at that time. Just depends on where you’re coming from. I certainly had a lot of fun, but that is a completely different story.

Much in the same way, I and my FFF’s dream of the Premier League. Wouldn’t it be grand to be back among the big boys, fighting it out at the highest level, pushing for Europe? Would it not be fabulous to straddle the top flight and scare the living daylights out of Europe’s biggest clubs the way Chelsea and Man Utd can? Oh, yes. Clough, that would be brilliant. Right back where we belong… Who sang that again? But the question we have to ask ourselves is: do we actually still belong there? Right now, we don’t, in my opinion. We simply lack the budget required to have any chance up there. Nigel Doughty has put a lot of money into our club and he is a wealthy man, but he is no Roman Abramovic or Al Mubarak.

Now some FFF’s blame our chairman for being too careful with his and the club’s money. They say it is his fault that Billy Davies fails to get the players he wants to join the club. In my honest opinion, they are mistaken. Let us look at four recent, high profile NFFC transfer targets. First there was Nicky Shorey, on loan with us at left back for the first half of last season. Billy (and us fans) would have loved for him to stay. Problem was, there was also an offer for him to join Fulham on loan. Given the choice between staying at the City Ground and the chance of playing on one of the biggest stages in the world and showing himself to a possible new club, Shorey did what we would all have done (if we weren’t avid Forest fans) and went to Fulham. Billy Davies (followed by many FFF’s) decided to blame the board and the acquisition panel, creating a negative atmosphere that was partly responsible for the spectacular drop in form in the second half of the season.

But let us look at that a little closer. First of all, can you really blame that sudden poor form on one player leaving? We have to be honest. Billy Davies has to be honest. At least part of the blame for a club dramatically dropping in form has to go to the manager. The buck always stops with him, after all. He cannot hide behind the fact that one player left the club. One player who only played in nine games, I must add. And did Billy himself not say recently that Shorey’s replacement, Chris Cohen, was much better at left back than in midfield? Surely he must have been an adequate stand-in for Shorey then, because we all know how good Cohen is in midfield.

But I mentioned four transfer targets. There was also talk, last season, of signing Victor Moses, then of Crystal Palace. Now first of all, Forest were far from the only club after Victor, who had just had an impressive run of eight games with five goals and was hot as proverbial faeces. Moses in the end went to Wigan for 2,5 million Pounds. Not only is that not the sort of money Forest easily pay, but even if we did have that kind of budget, Victor Moses would have been left with the choice between Forest in the Championship or Wigan in the Premier League. Bigger stage, bigger wages. No brainer.

This summer, Billy was at it again, blaming the board for not being ambitious in their transfer policy. Apart from the fact that he should not say those things in public, Billy was wrong. The fact that NFFC actually TRIED to sign his targets, shows ambition. They had the ambition to sign them. But… The two main targets, Darren Pratley and Peter Whittingham, were key players for their respective clubs, Swansea and Cardiff. Forest tried hard to pry them away from their clubs but failed. It was not disclosed how much was actually offered but some reasons could be pointed out why Cardiff and Swansea refused to let their men go. First, as mentioned, they are key players for their clubs. Second, it would be really bad business to let such key players move to a direct competitor for promotion, which Forest are viewed as. How would Forest fans feel if, say, Lee Camp was sold to Swansea or Cardiff? The only way to change the situation would have been to offer “silly money,” a practice which NFFC and Nigel Doughty refuse to get into, and rightly so.

And there lies the problem of perception we currently face. Many fans see the chairman's careful budgeting as a lack of ambition. In their opinion, the club should take what is seen as a considered gamble and splash out on some of the best players to get us into the Premier League. But that is exactly what Leeds United did about a decade ago, isn’t it? Gamble and throw money at getting to the next level? It proved to be a very expensive gamble, which at one point had Leeds on the brink of disappearing altogether. Now I, for one, don’t want the club I love to be put in danger like that.

I prefer another season in the second tier as a healthy club to a promotion bought with money we don’t actually have and the possibility of it all going horribly wrong. It’s not like we have a divine right to be in the top flight of English football. Nobody has. Our first ambition should be to confirm last season's performance. If we can get into the play-offs again, I'll be a happy Forest fan. Rome wasn't built in a day and all that.

The whole debate made me think of Winona Ryder. Strange? Bear with me. When I was about 17-18, I wrote a song for Winona. I had a massive crush on her. I recorded the song on a cassette and sent it to her through MGM. Lo and behold, I got a signed photograph back, with a little note saying she loved the song and thanks a million. Seventh heaven. Next thing I knew, she hooked up with Johnny Depp. Well, we can easily translate that to the sort of players Billy Davies and the club want to sign. We all want Winona Ryder. But her current boyfriend will probably not be keen on letting her go. And if she was single and had the choice, then the Premier League would be Johnny Depp and the Championship would be little, scruffy old me. It’s a simple as that, really…

Jermaine

From hero to zero. It seems the most accurate way to sum up the career of Jermaine Jenas since he left Nottingham Forest for Newcastle in 2002. Jenas made a big impression as a youngster at Forest before the club had to sell him in order to get some much needed cash in the coffers. His form since has apparently been up and down. If reports and comments on football websites are to be believed, he had good spells when he was new at Newcastle and later at Spurs, but then slumped to anywhere between lacklustre and downright invisible. His managers did maintain belief in him, though, and he never played less than 34 games in any of his Premier League seasons, scoring a total of 37 goals in 303 games. For a midfielder, that doesn’t seem too horrible, even if it isn’t great. Fabio Capello even capped him for his first game in charge, against Switserland. Jermaine promptly scored.

In terms of fan perception, though, something seems to have gone wrong. While Spurs are enjoying something of a renaissance, currently lying fourth in the Premier League, comfortably ahead of Aston Villa and Liverpool, with Jermaine playing 17 and scoring one so far, he does not seem to have many admirers left. For the last year or so, comments from Spurs fans have been seething, calling him a waste of space and wondering what is the point of Jermaine Jenas. In today’s transfer news section, football365.com wrote the following in relation to Spurs’ and Birmingham’s negotiations about the transfer of Russian star Pavlyuchenko: “An amusing aside from that Pavlyuchenko story in the Mirror is what apparently also came up in the negotiations. The paper reports that: 'As part of Birmingham's negotiations with Tottenham they have also been offered midfielder Jermaine Jenas.' It's a bit like someone coming round to buy a bookcase, then being offered that vase that just sits there in the corner not doing much.”

While this is, of course, hilarious, it is also very painful, both for a player who was regarded as a massive prospect, and for us Forest fans who know what Jermaine “JJ” Jenas is capable of and were (or still are) sad he had to go. We used to love JJ and wouldn’t mind seeing him back at the City Ground, where he belongs, or so we feel. Now, aside from the transfer bid Forest have put in for striker Victor Moses (what a name!), there was talk about an interest in a “big name” player. Is JJ considered a big name player? You could argue that he is in Nottingham. Could we afford him? Would he want to come back? Could Billy Davies get him back to playing the sort of football we know he can play? I personally think he would be a great addition to an already strong squad; a versatile, creative midfield player. And surely, when he looks at the way Forest are playing, he must sometimes think about being back home? If football management sims are anything to go by, it would be a great move. As Forest manager, I always get Jermaine back as soon as I can and he invariably does very well, indeed…

Be good!

Sir Paul and King Billy

I went to see Paul McCartney in Holland last week. A mind-blowing concert. I saw a fantastic musician, singer and songwriter. I saw know-how, to use a bit of horrible business terminology. I saw great passion still to play those old songs. They sounded fresh, almost new, even if we knew them well enough to sing along to nearly every word, all 30,000 of us. Careful as I am when I have a ticket to see a legend of this magnitude, I had said to myself that this may very well be a case of old glory, that it would never live up to my massive expectations. But it wasn’t, and it did. It was phenomenal. Easily the best concert I have ever seen. Nothing about it suggested any “former.” It was all glory. Paul played and sang for nearly three hours. Didn’t miss a note. The man is 67. To think he once wondered if we would still need him when he’d be 64! Younger bands should watch a show like this once a year, to get some perspective. That is you, Chris Martin. And you, Bono. You’re not fit to polish Macca’s guitar. I went home a happy man. I had spent nearly three hours a mere 12 metres away from a Beatle. Cloud Nine! Even if that is a George album. I have been playing Beatles, Wings and Macca albums ever since. I just can’t bring myself to put anything else on.

I have the same feeling about Forest at the moment. While the past eight to ten years often felt like we were supporting a team whose greatness was very much in the past, this season it seems much more about the here and now and even the future. Of course first hand I can only judge by the footage I can see on the BBC League Football show, but my opinion is largely backed by the reports I read, the forums I check and the mailing list that I am part of. We are playing some great football at times. Flowing, passing football that is a joy to watch. Robert Earnshaw’s first goal against Leicester was a prime example. The attack had everything. Pace, speed, vision, a dummy, a shimmy, and a fantastic finish to boot. It was almost like watching Arsenal. And at the back, we hardly give anything away, either. It’s been 13 games now since we last lost. I can’t possibly say how long we’ve had to wait for a run like this.

At first, we protected ourselves from euphoria by saying that it was only smaller teams that we were beating or getting points off. But then we beat Newcastle and drew Middlesbrough and Cardiff, both actual competitors for promotion, both away. Then followed a 4-1 demolition of Doncaster. They are a fair bit lower in terms of league position, true, but 4-1 is a big result. And it got even better last week. When number four plays number three, you can reasonably expect a tense affair, with not too much in it. But Forest brushed Leicester aside like they were playing the reserves team! 5-1 was not the result anyone expected. The bookies would have looked at you like you were a raving madman if you’d put a fiver on that one. We’re so good right now that the 0-0 in Sheffield against the Blades felt almost like a let-down, even if a point away at Bramall Lane is a more than decent result. We didn’t play well, some even said we were a bit rubbish, but we still got that away point. And if we needed proof that we don’t need to play our best football to win games, this duly came last Saturday, when a single David McGoldrick goal dispensed with Swansea at their place. We soaked up a lot of pressure and, admittedly, Swansea were unlucky and a bit careless in finishing, but again: job done. Another massive result that got us to within two points of the automatic promotion places. Where our away form was a big problem over the past seasons, it is now simply impeccable. We haven’t lost away. All season.

Talk on the mailing lists and forums is no longer about impending doom in the form of relegation. We now talk about what will happen if we make it into the Premier League. Are we ready or not? Would it be better to stay in the Championship for another season and keep building gradually? Or would the money be good and in any case, we would get the parachute payment if we went back down? It’s a whole different mind set. And it feels a lot better.

Just like Paul McCartney managed to ignite all those old songs with a spark and make them sound brand new, Billy Davies seems to have instilled a new energy, a new sense of purpose in Nottingham Forest FC. I was a bit cynical when he first came to the club, mainly due to his record in the Premier League with our neighbours The Unmentionables, and a nagging little voice in the back of my head still says we can’t be sure he can manage in that top flight, but right here, right now, King Billy is the man for the job and I doff my hat to him. I cannot remember feeling this good about our club since the last promotion season out of this same division, then still called, inanely, the First Division, which it blatantly was not. Proud, always, but it had become a sort of blind pride, against better judgment at times. But this feels utterly, utterly great. The same sort of great as standing a small pub’s length away from Paul McCartney. Long may it last.

Be good.
Red Devil

Discipline!

Mrs Devil and I were in France last weekend, visiting the Great War battlefields. Both of us have ancestors buried in various military cemeteries along the Flanders front, a fact that has resulted in a shared keen interest in the history of this horrific time. We saw Loos, Vimy, Thiepval, Hamel. It was rather quiet, which added to the experience. Impressive, poignant. And something has changed compared to ten, fifteen years ago. We saw German number plates at Vimy and an English bus at the German cemetery in Neuville-St-Vaast. Finally. The whole region is dotted with military cemeteries, often holding over a thousand casualties. Generals on both sides sent many young men from all over the world to their deaths in France and Belgium. Some of the offensives were utter madness, and they seemed to have a knack of forgetting factors from which they should have been drawing conclusions and learning lessons. But why did the soldiers and officers obey to these sometimes insane orders, knowing they would again be mowed down by artillery and machine guns?

Discipline.

It is something I can only admit to having a complete lack of, sadly. I loved to learn, but hated studying. I love performing music live, but hate the constraints of studio work. I loved to play football when I had two good knees, but hated training. Likewise, I love the fact that webmaster Steve offered me a chance to vent my thoughts about Forest and football in general, but I seem to lack the discipline, once again, to write regularly. For this, I apologise most humbly.

It is not even that nothing has happened in the past six or seven months. Forest managed to stay up after a not so good start to last season. And there was much rejoicing. Belgium sacked their manager and replaced him with the esteemed Dick Advocaat. His first game in charge saw a 2-0 win over Turkey. And there was much rejoicing. England qualified easily for the World Championship, a league above the competition in their group, including Croatia and Ukraine. And there was much rejoicing. BBC started a Football League Show, meaning I can finally see Forest highlights in Belgium. And there…

In this new season, our manager Billy Davies seems to have found his footing. He has turned Nottingham Forest into a feared side. Another slippery start, agreed, but now we have not lost in what seems like ages. We were even on the Beeb the other day, live. And we look good. There is some great passing going on all over the pitch, good running up front. We look lively, we look fluent, we look dangerous. The game against Cardiff was so good I kept thinking that I had seen many reports on Match of the Day that showed far less accomplished football and less excitement from Premier League clubs. We really, truly look good out there.

And of course it is too soon to think about automatic promotion spots, the Premier League, Europe, Munich, Madrid. But things look a lot better than they did two or three years ago. We have Colin Calderwood to thank for part of that. We have Nigel Doughty to thank for another part. Billy Davis for another. The players, who seem to finally realize that they have to put some effort in it. And the fans, who may be called fickle but seem relentless in their support. An average attendance of 20000+ in the old third division is proof of that.

Like Forest, I will try to change. I will try to be more consistent, to score more points. To think less about football, but write more. I have written this before, I admit with my head hung in shame. I’m serious this time. In part a result of a weekend in France that has made a big impression. Discipline.

Be good.
Red Devil

Our season of ifs and buts

It's a strange season we're having. We've lost and drawn many games we could very easily have drawn or won, respectively. Not only is this frustrating (enough so to lead to the sacking of the manager who I personally felt was our best and most promising since God himself), it has also left us in a dubious position in the league. We have hovered just above the drop zone since October, occasionally dipping into it. It's a season of "yes, but" and "what if?"

Just look at the table today. Fifth from bottom. Better than where we were when the year began. After a perfect start with four league wins on the trot, and that massive win over Man City, FF's could be excused for thinking: "Right, we'll have the Sheep in the cup now, storm up the league and maybe challenge for a play-off spot. Good riddance to CC, long live BD." But then came the QPR game, in which our opponents were allowed to score straight after we got in front, 3 minutes into injury time in the first half. We went behind soon after the break but managed to scrape a 2-2 draw. Good point, but should have been three. Then came Birmingham and Ipswich away and the Sheep at home. Fixtures we should have got four points from but which we lost all three, with a dismal 3-1 loss to Derby at home. Depressing stuff.

Luckily Billy Davies then brought in some good loan signings in Osbourne and McSheffrey, and Guy Moussi finally came back from his long injury lay-off. This has changed the team so much I think it is forgivable to think back to the results under Colin Calderwood and how different things could have been without that injury. Most of the games we lost were lost by one goal and looking back at reports, mostly due to a lack of presence in midfield. Presence that is brought, very obviously, by The Moose. Just look at all the 1-0, 1-1, 2-1 and 0-0 results in that period and think what a difference Moussi could have made. That injury, and the transfer window system, are what caused our current predicament. Just think that if we had scored only 6 more goals in that period, three in games lost, three in draws. That would have meant 12 more points!

Back to reality. We're March now, and we've gone two places up. Better than we were in December. Yes, but. Barnsley are 2 points behind us and have three games in hand. It is not inconceivable that they get 2 or more points out of those three games, which would see us drop back down to fourth from bottom, with a resurgent Southampton breathing down our necks, four points away but also with a game in hand. Scary.

Then again, if you look at tomorrow's fixtures, there could be some really good results there, if we get our own stuff right. Getting our own stuff right means beating Watford and gaining a place in the table, leapfrogging our opponents of the day. Barnsley play Birmingham away so we can safely assume they won't get any points at all, meaning we'll peel away from them nicely. Blackpool, currently just ahead of us, are away to Sheffield. Not an easy task, so I don't count on them winning. Even if they manage a draw, we'll still go over them. Up two places. And if we get really lucky, Swansea beat Plymouth at home and we slip into 17th position, cosily behind our old rivals.

But of course, we may again stumble with a late equaliser. Or the ref gives Watford a dodgy penalty. Or something else goes wrong and we'll find ourselves again thinking what if and yes but. It's that sort of season, I've said it before. I can't even write a decent blog about it...

Be Good

Welcome!

A win. I didn't really expect much from the Reading game, but we somehow got three points out of it. Three much needed points, in terms of steering clear of relegation. And a much needed win, in terms of giving our young team something to be proud of, something to lift their heads. After the recent run of results, the last thing they needed was their manager telling the press they weren't really good enough. That could have had a devastating effect. (I have been writing more extensively about this, expect a long-ish post soon...) But I think there was a salvaging factor, a deus ex machina. A comeback that, had it occurred sooner, I am sure would have seen Colin Calderwood still in charge as Forest manager.

Guy Moussi is back. And the impact was instant, judging from all the match reports. From what I read, The Moose bossed the midfield and Forest were able to convert from defence to attack in seconds. This ability, vision and sheer physical presence is something we have missed since Moussi was injured in October. He has rapidly become one of our most important players, it seems. I have repeatedly compared his impact to what happened when Patrick Viera arrived at Arsenal. He soon became a talisman for them. We can never be sure but I do think that a prolonged absense would have affected Arsenal as much as Moussi's lay-off did Forest. Even if it's only one player, some players are missed more than others.

It was good to read Billy Davies' comment in Monday's Guardian about his little (perceived) spat with the club. He has taken time to point out that there is no major rift between him and the powers that be, that he is still committed to getting Forest up the table. And as if out to prove he really does mean business, we have signed a promising young midfielder on loan from Aston Villa. Apparently Martin O'Neill says he's useful. If Martin says so, I am happy to believe him. Just look at Villa...

So welcome to the City Ground, Isaiah "Ozzy" Osbourne. And welcome back Guy "The Moose!" Moussi. Onwards and upwards!

Be good.