Many a fickle, makes a muddle!
22/11/05 | by Carl Blackborow

Hands up, who gave England a hope in hell of winning the World Cup after the Forest-esque capitulation at the hands of world giants Northern Ireland? Fast forward a couple of months, and now let’s have a look at those hands post Argentina. Now cast your mind back to a balmy summers night by the Bosphorous, when Liverpool completed the stunning comeback of modern time to somehow beat AC Milan in Istanbul. Rafael Benitez was the cream, the dog’s danglers, one of the untouchables. Now he’s cast as the potato head who signed a striker that barn doors are sniggering at, and all for the bargain price of a third world nations deficit. And if you think that’s fickle, then you haven’t been to the City Ground for a good era or two.

A fans’ favourite, a striker who looks about as dangerous as Eeyore with a water pistol, and a fans’ scapegoat, sometimes more brawler than footballer, who still gives his all, and still keeps coming back for more, despite the torrid abuse he still receives. The former receives adulation, the latter receives vilification.

A manager who’s head should be severed and paraded for daring to adopt unfamiliar tactics, but who should be saluted and applauded for bringing to the club an intriguing prospect of a young striker.

A manager whose signings are abject, yet the options left over from previous regimes are “simply not good enough”.

A chairman lambasted for his failure to provide his past appointments with the resources that return the club to Where They Belong™, but also a saintly chairman for now distributing the dollar to make up for it. 

A legendary manager, who is remembered with stoic heroism for his glories, and in the same breath tarnished with inane comparisons of today’s Nottingham Forest.

Fans who bemoan the extortion, yet who continue to pour out their pockets and make them the best-supported club outside of the top two tiers in the land.

Fans that turned their backs on their club, yet who will be the first into Nottingham city to congratulate their boys if honours are abound to Trentside come May.

Forgive me; I cannot work out which is more confusing. The improving fortunes of the team, or the unfathomable view of the Nottingham Forest fan. Hang on… I’ve cracked it. I think the team may be on the verge of doing so too.

Can there be any fan more fickle than the fan of Nottingham Forest?