YOU'LL NEVER BEAT VANCE WARNER

2010 So Far

2010-01-18T12:59:00.004Z

It's been a good start to the New Year. We've carried on where we left off last year, and in some ways we have grown even stronger. Outplaying the Premiership's form team having made seven changes from what we could now reasonably call our 'first eleven' was particularly impressive - and that was the only game we lost!

Apart from that, the obvious highlight has been the West Brom game. It was a fiercely cold evening, one of those nights where you really need a good performance to warm you up (and a few pints, and possibly some Bovril). Forest didn't disappoint. Incredible stuff in the first half, and even when we faded slightly in the second (which we seem to be making a habit of just recently), we still looked far too good for them. Before the game, my friends and I went for a drink with an acquaintance of ours in the West Bromwich Dartmouth Cricket Club, which I'm told is a gathering place for some of the more hardened Baggies supporters. I was torn between whether I should just keep my mouth shut, or attempt my finest Stan Collymore impersonation to fit in with the West Midlanders. Thankfully, I was spared the chance to roll out my finest Cannock dialect (thank God, I'm no Rory Bremner, it would have caused far more problems than it solved) as we were identified as Forest fans from the outset. Everyone was lovely, and it was great to hear opposition fans speak in reverent tones about the team we have at the moment, and the way we're playing. Everyone was in high spirits, and when we left we all wished each other all the best for the game, and the season. It should be noted, however, that they didn't answer the phone when we tried calling them after each of our goals went in. I'm sure that three answer phone choruses of 'We're Nottingham Forest, Unbeaten Away' cheered them up no end.

I didn't get to the Reading game, but it sounded like a similar case of battering them for half of the game, and then being under the cosh somewhat during the second half. Highlights from the coverage on Radio Nottingham were:

- Discovering that Mick Gooding, the former Reading manager, says 'afternoon' in a really funny way.

- Peter Trembling starting a conversation with Robin Chipperfield by calling him David. He did at least have the grace to apologise, saying he was miles away, reading about the day's postponed games.

- Peter Trembling ending the conversation with Robin Chipperfield by calling him David again. No apology this time.

- Robin Chipperfield and Colin Fray giving constant banter to Derby County, this week because of their decision to release a DVD of their victory (on penalties) against (League One) Milwall in the FA Cup. Highlights of the digs at them were Fray saying there would be commemorative mugs on the way as they'd just gone two nil up (against nine man, bottom of the league Peterborough), and Chipperfield speculating on whether there would be an open-top bus ride around the city when it reached 3-0.

And staying with Radio Nottingham, the first in an occasional series: John McGovern 'Literally' Watch, in which I note my favourite quotes from the former Reds captain where he incorrectly uses the word 'literally'. My favourite from Saturday was after a Reading chance, when he told us that Forest 'literally went to sleep a little bit'. Leaving aside the difficulty of sleeping 'a little bit', it seems extremely unlikely to me that the entire club decided to get forty winks at exactly the same time. I reckon he's been watching Channel 5's FlashForward.

BANDWAGON JUMPERS FOR GOALPOSTS

2009-12-31T01:30:00.000Z

Welcome back. I feel I should explain my credentials. As I mentioned in the first post, I don’t want to be thought of as a fair-weather blogger. It’s funny to think that we’re one of those clubs that probably did pick up a few glory hunters, back in the days when we were imperious both at home and in Europe, and when we were led by the most charismatic, the funniest, and, let’s face it, without a shadow of a doubt the greatest football manager who ever lived. That 95-96 season when Frankie Clark took us to within a mere six goals of reaching the semis of the UEFA Cup was a golden age indeed.

I jest, of course. It was the late seventies and very early eighties that probably saw a few out-of-towners board the good ship Nottingham Forest. Certainly whenever you mention Nottingham when you’re on holiday in Europe, very often the name Brian Clough pips Robin Hood in the race to put a face to our city. And in England, too, we probably picked up a fair few people who wanted to share in our triumphs – the kind of people to whom, when nowadays they proclaim their love for Manchester United or Chelsea, we give short shrift. But anyone who came on board then, and is still with us now, has more than earned their right to shed that unsavoury glory-hunting tag.

Under Brian Clough and Peter Taylor, Nottingham Forest achieved things which now seem unbelievable. They took an unfashionable club from the Midlands from the Second Division to the Championship in three seasons, winning two European Cups, taking players who were either thought to be past it, or were thought to have never had it in the first place, and making them into world beaters. 1978 – Champions of England. 1979 – Champions of Europe. 1980 – Champions of Europe again. 1981 – I was born. I feel almost entirely responsible for the ensuing decline.

But things were still great when I first became obsessed with the club. I count myself as very fortunate that my initial foray into the world of the Reds was during an era of the likes of Stuart Pearce, Des Walker, Nigel Clough, Roy Keane, Teddy Sheringham. I grew used to us being seen as one of the teams who played football as it should be played – beautiful, counter-attacking moves, balls sprayed across the pitch to the feet of tricky wingers, the crunching tackles of our fullbacks, the intelligent reading of the game by our centre-backs, the cool finishing of our forwards. Referees were never surrounded by protesting Forest players – Clough simply wouldn’t allow it. It was a pleasure to be associated with the club, in any capacity. And despite the problems we’ve faced in the post-Clough years, that has never changed. It was always with pride that I would tell people that I was a Forest fan. Even if I did (and I’m not proud of this) start adding ‘for my sins’, somewhere around the time we appointed Joe Kinnear.

I saw my first live game at the City Ground on the 8th September, 1990. We won 3-1 against Southampton, despite Rod Wallace opening the scoring for them, thanks to a Nigel Jemson brace and a Terry Wilson goal. I remember little about the game, except for the fact that I was instantly hooked. It was joyous, but is was also nerve-wracking, and it was unlike anything I’d ever known. Then again, I was only 8 at the time. But it’s never left me, and I can’t imagine it ever will. There’s something about following your home-town team that makes it far more special than following the herd and attaching yourself to one of the big four. I can’t imagine life as a Manchester United fan – I’m already getting bored of how predictable our unbeaten run is becoming. Although long (long, long) may it continue.

Growing up, I encountered many Liverpool fans without a trace of a Scouse accent, and then at university discovered a lot of Manchester United fans whose accents belied them as southerners. All of them had a dad, or an uncle, or a Grandad on whom they blamed their allegiance. Under the most gentle of probing, their knowledge of their teams’ glorious pasts was invariably revealed to be scant at best. But the most baffling of the lot has to be the boy who came into school one day wearing a Blackburn Rovers shirt, never having shown any interest in football before. Coincidentally, this was just a day or so after they had won the Championship in 1995. We asked him where Blackburn played – he didn’t have a clue. He didn’t even have the wit to reply ‘Blackburn’, he just gurned emptily back at us, unsure as to why we were mocking him so mercilessly. It was my first real experience of that insidious creature – the mindless bandwagon jumper. It was, sadly, to be the first of many such experiences.

A friend of mine took his young boy to an informal football training session a few months back. The coach divided the players into two teams, and told one team that they were to be Manchester United, and the other that they were to be Chelsea. My friend was livid. He asked the coach why, as they were in Nottingham, he didn’t tell one side that they were Forest, and the other that they were Notts County. The coach replied that it had never occurred to him. This might seem like a very minor gripe, but if kids are growing up among these kinds of attitudes, then the future for any clubs outside of the big time will become increasingly tough.

Nevertheless, I will be happy to welcome aboard the many glory-hunters we are sure to attract when we’re back in the Premiership, and pushing for Top Four supremacy. They will be useful to bump up the numbers when we move to our new 50,000 seater stadium. However, I will refuse to speak to any of them unless they are able to prove their knowledge of our very own glorious history. But not just that, they need to prove their knowledge of the inglorious bits of our history too. Anyone can know about the good times, it’s the bad days when their support will really be tested. I’m willing to accept anyone into the Forest fold to share in the many great times that I’m sure are just around the corner, but I do think they should have to sit a short written exam on the mistakes made by David Platt before we let them through the turnstiles. After all, those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it.

BLOG POST NUMBER ONE (IS BRIAN RICE)

2009-12-30T22:27:00.001Z

Welcome to the first in an occasional blog in which I intend to chronicle my thoughts on the football club with which I have been obsessed since boyhood – Nottingham Forest. Or, as we like to describe them as often as possible in order to really irritate supporters of other clubs (particularly followers of Derby County): ‘Two-time European Cup Winners Nottingham Forest.’ I still think we should be billed as that on the matchday tickets, especially when we come up against our local rivals.

It seems as good a place to start as any to tackle any accusations that might come up that I’m a fair-weather blogger. Why, for instance, did I not decide to chronicle my thoughts on the Reds when we were languishing in League One? Well, the answer is quite simple. I couldn’t be arsed. What miserable times they were, hopefully to never be repeated. It seems fitting that I’m writing this on the day that Gary Megson has been sacked from Bolton, just days after my friends and I were pondering how on earth he was managing to hold down a position in the Premiership, a dizzy height that we haven’t seen for over a decade now.

Clearly this has been the best season we’ve experienced for many years. In fact, since the play-off semi-final defeat at the hands of Sheffield United, most seasons have been endured rather than enjoyed, and that arguably includes the season where we snuck promotion back to the Championship. It’s great to see us playing with confidence, and it’s wonderful to see us having some depth to our squad, and whichever eleven are selected for games they seem to gel as a team, something a Forest side hasn’t done for far too long. The Christmas period is a great example of this; taking four points from a tough trip to Watford and a potentially tricky encounter with a useful looking Coventry side at the City Ground is something we’ve probably come to expect over the last few months. It’s becoming easy to forget that we’ve been in the doldrums for so long. This is lovely, but it’s also worth remembering, as Billy Davies is telling us on a regular basis, that we shouldn’t get carried away too soon.

The reason we got four points over Christmas is down to sheer hard work (and a little bit of luck – Nicky Shorey doing his best Gordon Banks impression and then getting up rubbing his head – I might have to rethink my feelings on the Thierry Henry incident…), and the ability that we now have to adapt to different situations. A hard-fought draw at Vicarage Road, with Adebola, McGoldrick and McGugan drafted into the starting line-up, followed by our more showy front pairing of Blackstock and Earnshaw, plus the creative Majewski, against Coventry, shows that we now have more strings to our bow than before.

The January transfer window, though, may well be crucial. Comments by Davies through the season so far, plus things he has said about his times at Derby and Preston, suggest that he won’t rest on his laurels and will be looking to add more players to his squad in January. Last week, it was reported that Nigel Doughty has donated a million pounds to the Labour Party. I’m hoping that this wasn’t a miscommunication brought about by Davies suggesting he invest heavily on the left-wing. Other comments by Davies suggest that he’s not entirely comfortable with the Acquisition Panel, consisting of David Pleat, Mark Arthur and John Pelling. Having seen the money some of our other managers have wasted over the past ten years or so (particularly ten years ago – much as I’m not sure about his position at the club, if it has to be anyone then thank God it’s David Pleat and not Platt who is the barrier between Davies and the purse strings), it’s not difficult to see why this panel exists. But hopefully they can all work together towards the same end – giving us a depth of squad which will mean we won’t have to rely on untried youngsters stepping in as injuries and suspensions hit towards the end of the season.

Here’s to a fantastic 2010. It’s going to be a much happier new year than the last one.