Is it just me, or do football clubs seem to spend a tidy sum of money on completely unknown players these days? I see clubs like Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Blackburn and more considering signing completely unknown players from countries far, far away.

And then they end up rotting away on a substitutes’ bench and falling out with their manager / team mates / supporters / neighbours / people in general. Which reminds me of Andrea Silenzi’s spell at Forest. He was hardly the most expensive player Frank Clark signed, but he was by far the worst. Apparently, he had done well at Torino and Forest got him for just a million pounds. As you all will remember, he was never much of a success (an understatement, I know). A bit like Robert Rosario. Justin Fashanu. Ian Wallace. And Jason Lee. And Ian Moore. How many strikers have Forest bought that have failed abysmally to deliver the goods? Okay, Ian Moore has been a success at other clubs, but he hardly made a great impression here. Then again, he had to compete with Kevin Campbell and what’s-his-name.

In the days before Roy Keane became the most expensive player in England for a brief moment when signing for Man Utd, there was a good tradition of former Forest players failing miserably at Old Trafford. Gary Birtles is but one. Peter Davenport and Neil Webb others.

One might put down the sign saying “<non-goalscoring striker’s name> out!!” for just a second and wonder why some players fail so miserably at some clubs, while making it big at another club before that, or just afterwards. Is it all due to expectations? Or style of play? Stan Collymore was a big hit at the City Ground. Not so big a hit at Anfield. Now, the failure of Stan the Man to deliver could be ascribed to his unstable psyche… but what of our former favourite, the mr. Level-headed himself, Nigel Clough?

It seems to me that obviously talented players may fail miserably for reasons hard to explain. Loss of form, loss of confidence, loss of teammates and adapting to changing circumstance all seem plausible explanations for this. But, somehow it also seems as if really mediocre players (Nigel Jemson, anyone?) may succeed at some point, and then suddenly fall back to where they belong; in obscurity. Style of play and a safe network of coaches, officials and teammates would seem important. And as far as I can tell, the players at Forest seem to have all that.

The season is ‘over’ for us in many respects. The play-offs are out of reach, Sheffield United ended our hopes of FA Cup glory and we’ll most certainly not be relegated. This is a time to build confidence, to work on the tactics and refine the style of play, and to build up the players for the season to come. Premiership football by 2005, perhaps?