lost that loving feeling - A Matter of Platt

First of all I must apologise for the late appearance of this edition of the column, but I haven't had time to write one for the last 2 weeks. And what a two weeks! A dire display against Birmingham, the delight of a win over Palace in dramatic circumstances, followed by the shame of a defeat by Darlington and a poor performance against Blackburn on Saturday. Through this time Platt's popularity has shot up and down quicker than a cheap tart's knickers.

In the last 3 games Platt has shown himself to be one of Forest's best players. Unfortunately, he hasn't shown himself to be any good at managing the team. The side failed to hold a 3 goal lead against Palace and were fortunate to get a win. And two more dire loses in the league have only gone to highlight his lack of knowledge. Setting aside the Darlington Cup defeat, Forest have been much improved this season in the league. But it still seems we aren't able to compete with the other promotion contenders such as Blackburn and Birmingham which is very worrying.

And it seems most people have run out of patience for the Forest boss. Those who had been willing to give him a chance have come to the end of their tether, and he faces a great test if he is to keep his job. There have no doubt been improvements from last term's dire show, but so far I have worked out Forest have played only 120 minutes of quality football for the whole season (that's over 630 minutes in total). This takes into account the first 45 at Selhurst Park, the second half in the opening game at West Brom, and a bright spell against Birmingham. This shows Forest CAN play decent football, but the amount of rubbish we've seen as well means bad news. Chants of "Stuart Pearce's Red and White Army" at the Blackburn game, go a long way to show the fans' discontent with the manager.

Platt has hardly been the most popular manager ever at the City Ground, and many saw his appointment in 1999 as preventing one of the old boys (Stuart Pearce or Nigel Clough) taking over. And with a disastrous first season Platt had soon run out of friends. But most were prepared to put that behind us and see how the new season went. Now Platt has had enough time to prove himself in most people's view, and reportedly the Forest board. The rumour is that if the Reds don't pick up 4 points from the next two games at Wednesday tomorrow, and Fulham on Saturday, then he will be out. However, Forest top man Nigel Doughty yesterday said this was rubbish and he wouldn't even consider a replacement until the summer and only if it was necessary. This may sound like him just being conservative and not wanting to undermine the manager's control, but it is very likely that Platt will not be sacked. His contract runs out in the summer, but at the moment if Forest were to sack him they would have to pay a huge amount of compensation on his contract. This basically means we are probably stuck with him.

But personally, I am prepared to give the fella a bit more time. I have always felt he has been given a hard time from the fans since he got here. Taking on an inexperienced manager is always going to mean you're not going to take the league by storm straight away, and after last season started to look like we weren't going to get promotion people he was under unfair pressure. We were never going to get promoted last year no matter who was in charge because of the mess the club was in both off and on the pitch. This year, as Mark Arthur keeps reminding us, is the key one, and if we don't go up then it might be a long time before we have another chance. It's time for Platt to prove his worth now. It hasn't been a great start to the season, but by no means a dreadful one either. There is still a long time to go before the final positions are settled, and it's a very close, competitive league that anyone could win. As I said earlier, we are capable of good football, and if Platt is able to reproduce this in more games then we will be right back in it at the top of the table. I have set myself a target of November before I make a decision on Platt. If by then, he doesn't look like taking us up then I will give up on him. But until then I will back him no matter what. At times like this there is no need to start getting at the team when they need us to get behind them most. Despite this though, I have a nagging feeling that Platt may not be the right man for the job. On the evidence so far this would seem right on the mark. But right now I am praying that Platt can prove me, and all his doubters wrong.