Is the mist lifting over the Trent?
05/03/04 |
by Daniel Hawkins
The urgency became apparent in the final game of Hart’s tenure as new signing Michael Chopra was brought in to try and score against a team that was firing more blanks than the Salvation Army. Hart adopted a new formation and even brought on subs as a last act of desperation, only to fail yet again, thus preceding the end of an era.
Who was coming? Who was going to be in charge? Many thought, including myself, that Glenn Hoddle would be the successor, but it was not to be. Step forward, Joe Kinnear. From the holiday home in Spain, he decided that the time was right and Doughty decided he could be the man to save the club and lift the gloom surrounding the club.
Kinnear accepted with excitement. He has the experience and tenacity to pull results from nowhere, as previously proved with Wimbledon. He came in, with fans undecided on his appointment, some fans worried about the ‘long ball game’ he famously played at Wimbledon, and a tag that has been unfairly stuck to him.
However, undeterred he took one look at the team and immediately signed two loan players to help the fight for survival. He had only a couple of days to get the team scoring and get them back into a winning side. Walsall came to the City Ground on the Saturday and Kinnear played his two new signings, former Reds favourite Alan Rogers, and Andy Impey.
Within two minutes we had scored, and the game end 3-3. Not only had we broke the duck against a team that was deemed ‘unlucky’ to us - we had scored three goals! That was followed by two more draws and finally a win against fellow strugglers Bradford.
This was the first win in 18 games and albeit not an impressive performance, a much-needed result. Suddenly Kinnear is the new hero. He is the new ‘God’ on the Trent that can help us out of this horrible mess. Our much-maligned striker Gareth Taylor has found his firing boots and seems to be scoring at every opportunity. Suddenly the mist is clearing and the sun is shining on the City Ground.
Headlines have changed too. Now it’s ‘Forest win at last’, ‘Forest move out of the relegation spot’, ‘Forest unbeaten in five’, and we are only 15 points from the play-offs. We have had a poor season by our standards, we miss players that have left and have not been replaced, and we have played players that are just frankly not yet ready. Now we are signing loan players and finally getting results for the hard work. There is still a long way to go, but at least we are looking a bit healthier than we were six games ago.
So what for the summer? Survival is our main concern at the moment. There is no point in planning on the summer until we get there, hopefully still in one piece and still in the First Division.
After that, I think a ‘backroom’ change-around will be the first order, possibly a new assistant manager, and the current assistant moving into a coaching role within the club.
Then the team - I think we can expect a mass of activity in the summer. Reid will probably leave. All credit to him on how he has handled the rumours, but if we can get a good sum for him he will not only have helped save the team, but he will have helped build the team of the future as well.
Of other current players, I could see the likes of Gunnarsson, Sonner, Williams, Roche and Bopp leaving. Hopefully Des Walker will give it one more year, and a wealth of new players arriving. With Kinnear’s contacts, I am sure he could help us find the experience that has been much missed in recent times.
So we look forward to the summer with bated breath. The mist has risen from the Trent, the sunshine is broken through and with the new king in town, it’s going to be a fun ride. ‘Crazy gang mentality comes to Forest’ will be the future headline. Joe, if you ever read this I would like to join you for that bucket of Guinness in the middle of the park, or even in a pub.