Doughty and Hart – a troubled relationship
08/02/04 | by Alex Walker

That it was Nigel Doughty himself who made the announcement of Paul Hart’s sacking is telling. For the normally shadow-dwelling chairman to come out so soon after a game to make such a statement demonstrates that the decision to axe Hart was his alone and he took some relish in performing the duty. As a flash businessman who likes to associate himself with football’s big names, and a modest, down-to-earth manager in the traditional mould, Doughty and Hart have always been an odd pairing, one that has led to a consistently troubled relationship.

There must always have been some resentment on Hart’s behalf. Paul applied for the manager’s job in 1999, but was over-looked as Doughty appointed his pal David Platt. When Hart finally did get the job, he was hired by the Forest board – Doughty himself was barely involved in the decision.

That Hart was not Doughty’s choice for manager must always have been a sore point for Doughty’s pride. As Hart proved himself as a competent manager in difficult circumstances, the success must have been bittersweet for the new chairman. He wanted a big name in charge of his club; instead he got a widely unknown youth team coach. No matter how well Hart was doing, Doughty always wanted someone else in charge.

By the end of the 2002/03 season, Doughty could ill afford to publicly go against the supporters who had hailed Hart as the new hero and it seemed he was stuck with Hart as boss for the time-being. However, while on the outside Doughty was backing Hart, behind the scenes he was subtly undermining the manager. Hart had built up a side that came within touching distance of the Premiership, but was forced to release key players. The chances of repeating this success were becoming very slim.

At the start of this season, the team had been significantly weakened by the club’s squad cull. With Doughty still lurking out of the spotlight, Hart remained the public face of the club as the team showed signs of struggling. A few months into the season and with Forest playing below par, the supporters' love for Harty was waning somewhat.

At this point Doughty made his move. He began to crawl out of the shadows and make more public appearances. He gave interviews to radio stations and newspapers, something he had not done before. Doughty’s astute use of spin has been well-documented on this website, and as Hart’s popularity declined rapidly, he was keen to make sure his reputation as the generous benefactor who saved the club remained intact. He gleefully explained how he had the club’s strategy all planned out, that he was going to release enough money to keep the club in a competitive position (as he saw fit), and that now it was down to the manager to make the most of it.

He gave Hart £1.5m to spend to bring in new players. To his credit, this was a relatively large sum compared to other First Division clubs this season. However, while Hart had money to spend on transfer fees, he was being restricted in other ways. Doughty’s quest to make the club financially viable had resulted in a strict wage-cap, making it almost impossible for Hart to attract the players he wanted.

In his media offensive, Doughty had been keen to point out that he wasn’t an “interfering chairman”, as he put it. He made it clear that everything that happened was the manager’s decision. This was not true. It was merely a ploy to make sure the blame stayed away from himself.

As well as restricting Hart’s ability to bring in players, Doughty was meddling in the transfer market - there is evidence to suggest that Hart was not as keen to sign Marlon King as the chairman was. Hart must take the blame for Gareth Taylor’s uninspiring arrival, but he was also taking the flack for Doughty’s fanciful purchases.

Doughty’s clever playing of the situation continued as the club sold Marlon Harewood for a pittance. Doughty accepted the bid, knowing full-well that Hart had never been a fan of the enigmatic forward, despite his recent track-record. What we had was a clash of egos, one that was damaging the club, but that Doughty eventually foresaw himself winning. After all, he had the power to sack Hart, all he needed for the fans to lose faith.

With the chairman gently pulling the rug from under his feet, was it any wonder that Hart started looking elsewhere for some more secure employment? Hart knew full well that he was battling with the chairman. Sadly, his actions were exactly the wrong thing to do in the circumstances, damaging morale within the squad and giving the fans more reason to question his suitability as manager.

By the new year, Forest were in a rut and it was only a matter of time before Hart had provided Doughty with enough rope to finally hang him by. Doughty never gave Hart the public vote of confidence he needed as more and more fans turned against him. There is even the possibility that transfer money was being withheld from Hart, ready for the new manager to spend upon his arrival. Not only this, but the rumours of Glenn Hoddle’s imminent appointment kept growing in strength (he has recently bought a house in the Nottingham area and is, like Platt, one of Doughty’s big name chums).

Hart’s control over the club was straining while Doughty tightened the noose around his neck. In a last attempt to make sure he was seen as the good guy, Doughty called Hart in for “emergency” talks. Instead of the sacking the press was predicting, Hart announced that he was being given time to bring in some loan players to turn things around. Doughty had generously offered the beleaguered manager one more chance.

In came Chopra, but it wasn’t enough for Hart to end his team’s losing streak and he had blown his last chance. Doughty was left with no choice but to make the “regrettable” decision of sacking Hart - the decision he had been wanting to make for a long time.

This may turn out to be the only thing that can save us from relegation. Doughty was clearly not going to give Hart the resources he needed to turn the club around. If Doughty didn’t get his way on Hart’s employment, Forest would have continued to spiral towards doom and Division Two. With Doughty able to bring in his man and have things his way, we might just be able to stop the rot before it becomes too late. Something certainly had to be done.

The full extent of the troubles within Doughty and Hart’s relationship is difficult to determine. From examining the events of recent years we can see that there were definite signs of a rift between the pair. In the months before his sacking, even before our form became dire, Hart appeared outwardly dispirited – in conversation there was clearly something on his mind and, at a club where he had (for a while) the full backing for the supporters, staff and players, it makes sense that the source of his depression was the highest figure in the club, casting a shadow over his efforts.

There are some things we may never know about the Doughty-Hart relationship. Question marks still hang over many of the recent transfers out of the club, which have done incredible damage to the team’s on-pitch fortunes. Doughty’s clever use of PR and Hart’s introverted nature will ensure we are not provided with answers as to whom it was that made the final decision to dismantle the 2002/03 team and which players were to be sold – issues that, for many, were key to assessing the club’s current plight and how to resolve it.

In the end, resolution has been forced upon us. The fans will be sad to see such a popular and potentially successful manager go, but his poor relationship with the chairman threatened to tear this club apart as we slid into obscurity and oblivion. Hart is not the type to spill the beans in a kiss-and-tell autobiography, but he was probably well aware of what the chairman was trying to achieve. Sadly he lacked the ability to combat Doughty’s cunning, so ended as the victim. With Doughty victorious, the hope must now be that the club can move forward and that his relationship with the next manager is more productive.