Don’t Listen To Me! 22/01/04 | by TrickyMatt

My optimism of a top six place this season appeared to last longer than my fellow Reds. Acknowledging the less than satisfactory league position, I was resolute in my belief that the Reds would pick up and push on into the top six. After all, wasn’t that what Wolves did last season? As January quickly turns into February, I am forced to admit defeat. We didn’t turn it around, and the top six is about as likely as a third series of The Office.

The problems have been discussed constantly during the troublesome period and it would appear that folk have been angered into penning (or typing!) their displeasure with messers Hart and Doughty. Those abusing Doughty have angered me greatly. He is under no duty to throw millions of pounds at the club and has, in my opinion, acted beyond the call of duty already.

Paul Hart on the other hand has come in for more warranted criticism. Tactical naivety and ineptitude in the transfer market is never going to endear you to the fans of Nottingham Forest. After all, we can spot a donkey a mile off. Gareth Taylor has failed so far quite spectacularly, and appears to be heading towards Andrea Silenzi, Gary Bull, Gary Bannister, and early days Kevin Campbell and David Johnson status. 

Hart’s persistent use of the diamond formation effectively cut out the kind of supply Taylor has thrived on during his career. At Burnley, where Taylor’s record is impressive, he had the tricky Glen Little who proved a constant supply line to the target man. Andy Reid’s constant forays down the centre of the pitch, are perfect for channel runners such as Johnson and Harewood, not so for Gareth Taylor. Taylor’s pre-season injury has certainly not helped, nor have the fans. Taylor might not be the new Ronaldo (maybe not even the new Niall Quinn!), but the abuse I have heard for him quite frankly disgusts me. I was at a freezing cold Vicarage Road in December, where believe it or not (especially in the first half), Taylor played well. He was winning his fair share of headers, was holding the ball up well, and bringing others into the game. The cheers that went up when Taylor was forced off through injury were appalling. It’s not exactly going to get him fired up to “do it for the fans” so to speak. 

I hated Kevin Campbell - really disliked the guy. After the 93/94 and 94/95 campaigns, Collymore was obviously God. Our replacement was quite frankly terrible. I felt let down as I thought Forest really were on the cusp of greatness once more and I was desperate for the success to continue. In fact it took until season 97/98 ‘til we got any change out of him, and that was down to the imperious talents of a certain Pierre Van Hooijdonk. I recall a particularly cold night at the Alfred McAlpine Stadium, Huddersfield for a Friday night Sky game which if memory serves me, we won 2-0 with goals from Colin Cooper and Dean Saunders. Anyway, the point of all this is that during the said game, Campbell went down injured and a group of Reds started singing a derogatory, albeit funny, ode to our least favourite striker. Imagine what that would do for your confidence if it were you playing? 

Marlon King, however, I would like to reserve a little judgement on. Technically speaking, he is excellent. I cannot help thinking that had he been playing in last season’s team, he would have been banging in the goals. He is still young and I believe will come good in a Forest shirt.

The Forest fans in general need congratulating. Both the aforementioned Watford game, and the game at Palace a week later attracted healthy Forest followings. At Palace in particular, the vocal rousing directed towards the boys was outstanding. In fact I was standing next to Ebby at Selhurst Park – Christ, that man is committed!

I understand that the theme of a twenty minute “Paul Hart’s Red ‘n’ White army” chant was again prevalent at The Stadium of Light. However bad it is getting, all we can do is keep supporting the boys, and if you feel the need, Paul Hart. The game against Reading, who themselves have a poor away following, attracted the largest Division One attendance of the day! Remarkable considering our league position. My promotion optimism may have faded but I remain confident that we can get out of trouble.

So what have we got to look forward to? Well not much really! The FA Cup may prove to be our only bright moment of the season. I suppose all the other clubs are saying exactly the same though. Sheffield United at home is winable, though don’t expect a repeat of September’s demolition of our newly hated rivals from Sheffield.

If we can get through that, we have a good chance of avoiding Premiership opposition in round five. Plenty of Premiership boys have already fallen and more are set to follow suit as draws three and four paired a number of all Premiership ties. The financial benefits are all too readily cited as cup run advantages, but traditionalists like myself still harbour (maybe delusional!) secret fantasies of watching Forest in another FA Cup Final. If this, quite frankly unlikely occurrence, was to happen, maybe let Dessie sit it out! I don’t think I could stand a repeat Wembley ’91 or a Bramall Lane ’03! 

Changing direction slightly, for those who can get BBC Three, I recommend a celebrated new comedy by the name of Nighty Night. Steve Coogan is behind this, extremely dark comedy. It’s on Tuesday night’s at 10:30 and well worth a look.

Until the next time, keep up the support for the boys in Red and hopefully we can move away from those Sheep bothering losers.