No more heroes
04/02/05 | by Alex Walker

When you can’t even palm your former star striker off to Hull City, that’s when you know things are bad. But what is perhaps more distressing than the fact we cannot find a taker for DJ is his dramatic fall from grace in the eyes of the fans. Some short time ago a move like this would have had supporters up in arms, but following Johnson’s unfathomable loss of form this season many are being disconcertingly rational about the whole affair. Gary Megson is trying to off-load a player many would describe as a “hero” in mind of his previous contributions and commitment to the club, yet no-one seems to mind – why is this?

We saw another example of this uncharacteristic lack of emotion from supporters regarding departing players earlier this week when, upon losing undoubtedly the two most talented and promising players in the side to the lure of Premiership glamour, very few were willing to show their disapproval, as would be customary in the circumstances. To use recent examples, the sales of David Prutton and Marlon Harewood to Southampton and West Ham respectively both caused outcries from the fans about “lack of ambition” and so forth. So why did we not see the same reaction following these latest sales, despite them involving players no less talented?

The answer, it seems, is that fans have become so detached from the players that they simply do not care any more. Not through choice, but from some form of subconscious self-protection: deep down we know that if we allow ourselves to become emotionally attached to players, sooner or later we will have our hearts broken as the club’s financial position forces us to cash in, so we now regard our current stars (the few we have left, that is) in a dispassionate manner.

In some ways this is good as it allows us to examine circumstances in a rational, objective way. We can see that it was good business for Forest to get what they could for Dawson and Reid at the present juncture. However, it is not the job of fans to be rational about this kind of thing – the whole concept of picking a team to support for life is totally illogical and therefore requires some degree of emotional attachment for it to work. Football fans need heroes and villains to love and hate; at the moment Forest simply do not provide that for most supporters.

In all amongst all the numerous unwanted gifts I received at Christmas, a particularly unwelcome stocking-filler was the 2005 official Forest calendar. This artefact alone demonstrates how desperate the average Reds fan is for somebody worthy of their hero-worship. To break it down, month-by-month:

• JANUARY: Andy Impey – consistent under-performer transfer listed by Gary Megson after only a week in charge.
• FEBRUARY: Eoin Jess – much-maligned utility man who hasn’t played since November.
• MARCH: Jon Olav Hjelde – former first team regular released on a free by Paul Hart and then brought back as temporary cover during an injury crisis.
• APRIL: Paul Gerrard – one of only two players remaining in the squad that has any claim to have performed well this season.
• MAY: Alan Rogers – another consistent under-performer who has isolated himself from supporters with a poor attitude and dreadful discipline.
• JUNE: David Johnson – formerly our most potent attacking player but has been short of goals since returning from injury; a poor captain and recently fell out with the manager.
• JULY: Gareth Taylor – fairly competent player who scores on a fairly regular basis, but lacks real skill and gets booked or sent off habitually.
• AUGUST: Kris Commons – summer signing who barely got a look at the first team under Joe Kinnear and now faces the tough task of filling Andy Reid’s boots.
• SEPTEMBER: Matthieu Louis-Jean – somewhat over-rated full-back who excels in few areas, although he does benefit from being the club’s longest serving current first team regular.
• OCTOBER: Paul Evans – battling midfielder who is popular due to his ‘honest’ approach to the game but is devoid of any real skill.
• NOVEMBER: Wes Morgan – the only other player to have really impressed this season, but he seems destined to join the long list of fellow academy graduates to have left the club soon.
• DECEMBER: Michael Dawson – was sold to Tottenham Hotspur earlier this week in a £8m joint deal also involving Andy Reid. (It is also worth noting that he played so few games this season for the Reds that he is pictured in training kit.)

The club had the good sense to leave Reid off the calendar, which was a relief after last year’s idiocy where fans were forced to endure the likes of Marlon Harewood, Danny Sonner and even Paul Hart staring out from their walls long after they had departed the club, although this year’s calendar does have Joe Kinnear’s mug on the front cover.

But given the list of potential candidates, who on the above list of misfits and mishaps are we to bestow hero status upon? Paul Evans and Gareth Taylor are both popular, but they hardly exhibit the skills to rank alongside previous Forest legends. And anybody who does show some signs of ability is sure to be sold off before the year is out.

The sad truth is that we have no heroes left. In many ways this is indicative of the modern game where transfers are more frequent, money is the ultimate force, players regard their own ambitions above that of the clubs, and loyalty is a largely alien concept. There are decreasingly few clubs that can boast a Matt Le Tissier, Steve Bull or even Stuart Pearce figure – someone who has stuck with a team through thick and thin. Many fans across the country are coming to accept that such players come along very infrequently and there is no point in hoping that your latest emerging star will be with you for any longer than he needs to be, as Forest fans can certainly testify.

This is a much greater problem than simply not having any idols to stick on your walls. Without heroes, the sport of football holds significantly less interest – after all, how many of us became interested in the game after being amazed by the skills of one footballer or another as a youngster?

As I said before, fans need an emotional attachment to their teams. And clubs need fans. It is a difficult position for the clubs because there is very little they can do about pampered players who demand their every whim satisfied. But if chairmen and board members are feeling pleased when they see fans rationally debating the benefits of the latest sale from the club’s ranks instead of taking to the car park with incensed placards, they should instead be taking heed of a dangerous possibility – if football fans do not have heroes to hold their interest, they may lose concern for their clubs altogether and that would be very bad news for the game indeed.