David Johnson – time to say goodbye?
02/02/05 | by Neil Heath

For want of a less majestic word, the 2002/03 season ‘immortalised’ David Johnson in the imaginations of the Forest faithful. However, it’s now time to take him off the pedestal we’ve built for him. As I write there’s speculation that he could be on his way to Hull City. But it’s not the first time the management has tried to offload him: Joe Kinnear ambitiously tried to swap him for Burnley’s, now Birmingham City’s, Robbie Blake.

Johnno was our most-loved, most-prolific striker post-Collymore. He was total crap on his arrival and was subsequently loaned out. When he returned he was a different player – he couldn’t stop scoring and became the key player in our promotion bid. The following season he moaned at the board’s lack of investment in the team (Post-Reading away) and we all grumbled with him.

He also did his self-image a wealth of good over the Trent when he donated £500 to Notts County’s survival bid. He became the all-round good guy. Untouchable. He signed a new, lengthy contract and scored goals – he became Mr Forest, you couldn’t see him at any other club ever again. He then broke his leg. Paul Hart said afterwards that his thoughts were with David’s family – it was like he’d died. Forest’s promotion aspirations did. We all counted down the days when he would return and he did so with incredible enthusiasm; he wanted to keep HIS team in the Championship. 

But what the hell happened this season? Only he knows.

It’s not through a lack of form that two successive managers have attempted to release him. It’s more that Johnno does not appear to be the positive influence on the pitch he once was. This point was highlighted by his unwillingness to assist his manager, and his team-mates, on Saturday. I don’t know how ‘amiably’ Gary Megson asked him to run down the pitch to keep the defenders on their toes, but if your boss – and a fiery one at that – tells you to do something and you care about whether Forest will win or not, you do it. And if it’s true that he flippantly replied: “Get one of your staff to do it”, (Daily Mirror, Feb 2) then I’ve lost all respect for him.

It’s bad enough that he habitually sprays the ball anywhere bar over the goal line, but not wanting to help in the cause he’s co-created is simply unforgivable. He may feel hard done by this season, we all do; we were given promises at the start of the season that never materialised. But out of respect for the fans, the people that worship him and pay his wages, he should give everything. It’s a real shame that I’ll remember him for the latter and not what he’s done in the past for the club.

Is it time to bid David Johnson farewell or does he still have something to offer the Reds? Email your views to forest_1979@hotmail.com!