History repeating itself
16/09/04 | by Alex Walker

"The party is not concerned with perpetuating itself.
Who wields power is not important, providing that the
 hierarchical structure remains always the same"
- George Orwell, 1984

In the last few weeks much of the frustration among Forest fans has been expressed towards Nigel Doughy. The problem with this is that Doughty is a mute target - he stands there like a punch bag, letting the blows roll off him without reply. Every politician must envy his position, being able to skulk in the shadows when the heat is on, then take the limelight when things are going well, all without facing any difficult questions. And eventually the pressure moves off onto another target...

Now the pressure seems to be moving onto Joe Kinnear as supporters look for a more satisfying target for their rage. Joe's certainly not helping things by increasing not only the volume of his media contributions, but also their venom. He has slammed his players for not pulling their weight, while at the same time bemoaning the paper-thin nature of his squad. His attempts to throw the blame every other way have only resulted in more fingers being pointed at him.

For Joe Kinnear there is no patiently waiting for tempers to cool before speaking in public à la Doughty. He has neither the option nor the temperament to do this, so naturally exposes himself to more criticism. In a way, Kinnear's methods are always going to be controversial and will always attract debate, but by needlessly filling Doughty's silence with his own voice, he is opening himself up for a barrage of censure.

Only this week he appeared on the Radio to promise two new signings: one the following the morning, the other by the weekend. The former has not appeared yet, and I don't hold out much hope of being bowled over by the latter either. By making these bold statements, it is the equivalent of the "serious about promotion" promise made by the club, on much a smaller scale, but because it was made by the highest profile figure at the club, it is just as dangerous.

So Kinnear has become the natural target for many fans' anxiety. Perhaps there is some justification in that - he has played players out of position in a number of games this season, and not always out of necessity. He has also failed to attract the players needed to the club, where, according to Doughty at least, adequate resources have been provided to him. But hang on, isn't that somehow familiar?

Doughty trotted out the same line about players turning down Forest "not for financial reasons" when he was trying to make Paul Hart the scapegoat a year ago. What he is saying is, 'I've done my bit by providing enough money, so it's the manager's fault for not making the most of it'. But how do we know this is true? It would take a very brave manager to come out and say, 'Err, no, actually you haven't been doing your bit at all'. We've got a very brave manager at the moment and he has verged on saying that a number of times already.

What worries me, as supporters move their vicious crosshair from Doughty to Kinnear, is that they are being fooled by the same routine they fell for less than 12 months ago. History is repeating itself, yet no-one seems to be learning the lessons.

It was perhaps reasonable to assume that Paul Hart wasn't very good at finding players and sweet-talking them into signing for the club due to the fact that he hadn't much experience in that (although he's not done badly in bringing some decent players to Barnsley, has he?). Joe Kinnear, on the other hand, has years of experience in wheeling and dealing to snap up bargain buys, so why has he suddenly lost his powers to the extent that we can't get anyone to join the club?

In all likelihood, he hasn't. And in all likelihood, he is in fact suffering from the same problems that destroyed Paul Hart. To what those exact problems are, we can only speculate for as long as those involved keep their silence. But in the mean time, Forest risk seeing another good manager become the fall guy so that Nigel Doughty can continue to avoid what is surely coming his way sooner or later - having to answer some very difficult questions indeed.