lost that loving feeling - Don't turn to the dark side

Do Forest have more inches in the financial or football sections of the broadsheets at the moment? With the seemingly unprecedented suspension of shares and warnings of financial apocalypse in the future from 'experts', our footballing exploits have gone unnoticed recently.

This is a pity. In the last two weeks, the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned on again. A win on a generous plate at Crewe was not so much earned as taken, which is nice. We followed this up with a well earned point against a strong Watford, choosing not to take a win though (at least DJ is now inconsistent, rather than consistently goalless). All-in-all this has to be seen in positive terms. Our form is being rediscovered.

The jewel in Forest's oversized and financially non-viable crown has started to sparkle too. The U19s are back to winning ways in the Youth Cup, and have only lost once all season, back in September (5-1 to Coventry). Despite losing Harty, Nick Marshall is proving his credentials without JJ, Bopp and others.

Add to this the success of our non-signed new signing, Nicky Sumerbee. At last - a winger! I will always insist that the future of football has no room for wide men. Full backs are fit enough to patrol the wings, ala Brennan, and thus allow central midfield play to become the tactical battle ground of the pitch. However, I am glad to see some extra creativity from wide right.

Another bright development is Andy Reid. When he returns from his two month lay off, we can be confident of seeing something I have only ever seen once in a Forest shirt (twice if you count the one time I saw Neil Webb); a good left sided midfielder. Ian Woan's legacy has been an unbalanced midfield. At long, long last, it seems that the balance that CBW could not provide (or Chris Allen) is there. Being without Andy now is a blow to the side and to the side's development, but we can rest assured that he should be doing the works soon after the New Year.

So the light is back on. Not that anyone cares of course. As I have said, our financial position is the talking point of the week. It seems the current board are finding the impossible task of running the club a little harder than expected. No-one has been foolish enough to blame them; David Platt has been a perfectly adequate scapecoat for recent financial mismanagement, not to mention the decision taken to go PLC by the muppet/money/mad (delete as few as appropriate) men who preceded the current board.

However, the board must be questioned in the future as to why they let an inexerienced coach run the club under in a quest for the promised land, the land of money and financial security. Alledgedly. Let us remember the plight of Derby, Leicester and others clubs in the Premiership with mathematically larger problems than ourselves. Change is needed; and bank loans, PLCs and ITV are not the answer, it would seem.

This is why I support several things that have been mentioned. One, sell Bart. In my previous article, "Replacing the irreplacable", I was not only a little bit too quick off the mark, I was also wrong in my conclusion that David Prutton would fill his shoes. How wrong was I, as JJ took the captaincy and the mantle of best player in the first team. And who am I to question Paul Hart?

In hindsight, he does seem to be right, as you would expect. The reason that I deperately want to see CBW gone is that I don't particularly like writing articles about replacing good players. Far less would I like, in the near future, to be writing 'Replacing the Irreplacable; life after JJ / Gareth Williams / Andy Ried'. Life after Forest even. The dead-wood has been shifted. Now we need to trim off those bits of wood we cant afford to finance. The Crown Jewels must be shed, to make us viable.

Secondly, whilst I hate the name, the Phoenix leagues are essential to the restructuring of league football. The disproportionate disparity of the top leagues are crippling football clubs. A 'friend' of mine was reading Marie Claire in Cafe Rouge earlier today. There was an article on footballers' wives. Matt Holland, Lee Hughes and a Brighton player were the players whose better halves were questioned. More interestingly were the average player waged quoted for each division. According to the authority that is Marie Claire, Premiership players can expect a bucket load. I can't remember the exact amount, say 10 grand per week. First Division players pull in 5,000 squids a week, and Second Div players 600 nicker.

The wage disparity in terms of % increase in wage is bigger 1st to 2nd than Prem to 1st. However, the void in TV revenue is bigger Prem to 1st Div than 1st to 2nd. The top two leagues are in a league of their own financially, but only the top 20 get the budget to sustain that. Either, First Division players get peanuts, young talent goes abroad, the division gets uncompetitive and yoyo clubs re-emerge, or the top two leagues get more equal finance, and the class system that is being created within football is partially redressed. The Premium league must become two tier.

But people of Nottingham(shire), I urge you. Don't turn to the dark side. Let the pinstripes go spare sorting that the finances. Turn to the light that shines from the part of the City Ground that matters; the pitch. Pay to watch talent on grass, not shares on stock markets. I can tell you now which is more fun and which has a future at Nottingham Forest. The people who matter at Forest are the lads in RED AND WHITE! Not the gents in black and white stripes.

They play at Meadow Lane.