THE BLUES
Thank you Blues. With both the national cricket and rugby teams sinking to embarrassing defeats the sporting day was saved by the three points placing us in the top six even if the performance with not top notch for most of the game. With the Borient continuing their slide down the table and the Farmers losing at Palace to be nine points from safety I could go to sleep relatively happy, and as for Barnsley beating Chelsea! (Congrats to the under 18 side as well on their second league win, 3-2 v Gillingham, that Rhys Henry could be a real prospect in a year or two.)
The season starts here. Since beating
It's no good moaning anymore, the rightfully criticised back five of Flahaven, Francis, Clarke, Barrett and Mulgrew are Tilly's choice and barring suspension or injury will see the season out. Hunt is a very capable option on the bench. In midfield I hope Bailey is not close to ten bookings as his loss would be a huge blow. Not sure Moose is the answer as Mac's replacement but I'm sure he will start against Forest and I look forward to a revised Macca against
I have never doubted the ability in the side, they have just not shown it on a consistent basis all season. Now is the time for T&B to get collective heads down and go for it. The merry month of March matches us with teams in our half of the table, even Huddersfield and
COME ON YOU BLUES, 1-0!!!!!!!
THE OPPOSITION
Colin Calderwood must have felt like a kid given the keys to the tuck shot when he was handed the
A goal difference of 23 means Blues have to win 16-0 to go above them so I'll be happy with the points and further inroads into the top six! Forest of course held higher ambitions, and fourth place and 57 points would be enough for most clubs, but a home defeat to promotion rivals Carlisle and an away draw to strugglers Crewe mean they enter Tuesday's game with some stuttering form, they are now nearer seventh than second!
Junior Agogo has given our central two many a tough game while he was at Bristol Rovers and has justified his fee with eleven league goals this term. Of course, the other ten he puts out will give us a game as well, ex-Borient legend Matt Lockwood, ex-top scorers at Wycombe and Rochdale respectively, Nathan Tyson and Grant Holt, were all on the bench in the match against Crewe! Nine goal Tyson should start, his 30 minute run out at the weekend was a return from injury, while if he starts with the beanpole Omerod our lack of inches at the back could have its toughest test since it responded so well against
Forest have a host of players getting treatment ahead of this match, including yet another forward on loan, Hoskins from Watford! Full back Leon Chambers, who helped Leon Clarke get a red card in the November game, should start, the odd Blues player may want to remind him of that, but midfielder Arron Davies is out for three weeks with a hamstring strain. Kris Cummings may be recovered enough to replace him, a Gower type player, he will start on the wing.
A report on the goaless draw v Crewe from the Nottingham Evening Post and the team that finished that game.
In Austria, a group of psychologists are offering football fans courses on 'despair management' ahead of their nation's expected humiliation in the Euro 2008 Championships. (I love it, at least they qualified as a home nation!) "It is about avoiding the sense of catastrophe. Fans must breathe deeply, all the way from the stomach," said organiser Henriette Wursag.
Closer to home, the supporters of Nottingham Forest have battled with such emotions for three years now. But their frustration may finally be boiling over, as the quest to escape League One at the third attempt took another significant blow. Manager Colin Calderwood denied this was the day their automatic promotion hopes died, but unless something dramatic happens over the next few weeks, it is looking ever more inevitable that it eventually will be viewed that way. A few deep breaths may yet be required among the City Ground faithful, because it is going to take something special, with 12 games remaining, to close the eight-point gap that has now grown between Calderwood's side and that crucial second place. While their closest rivals continue to monotonously grind out results, Forest produced the kind of performance that provided the perfect example of exactly why a dark cloud of doubt continues to cast a shadow over their Championship dreams.
A draw away from home is normally a satisfactory result. But the chorus of boos and chants, aimed at the manager, that greeted the final whistle were not just motivated by two points dropped. They were inspired by another performance that was lacking the substance expected of a side with genuine promotion aspirations. Forest never looked like losing this dour, dull encounter. But they rarely looked like winning either.
At the back, the central defensive trio of Ian Breckin, Kelvin Wilson and Wes Morgan allowed Crewe only the briefest glimpses of goal, with Paul Smith again barely required to make a save. But, at the other end, Forest lacked the imagination or incisiveness to penetrate a Crewe rear-guard that was largely equally untroubled. New signing Brett Ormerod generally looked like a player that has not started a first team game in three months, but while several brief moments of quality from him suggested that he may prove to be a worthy addition to the squad when he regains his sharpness, neither he nor Junior Agogo were ever really given the opportunity to shine. Ormerod, the man signed on loan for the rest of the season from Preston, looked composed on the ball and produced several moments of good vision, in picking his passes. but he and Agogo lacked both service and support.
An improvised flick on the edge of the box provided Agogo with the opportunity to strike a spectacular dipping volley, which forced the best save of the game from Crewe's Ben Williams, who plunged to his left to palm around the post. But that, along with a lunging shot from Breckin, blocked in determined fashion by Danny O'Donnell, was as close as Forest came to scoring. Sammy Clingan, who had a fiercely struck, rising free-kick saved within the first minute, and Chris Cohen worked tirelessly in midfield and Arron Davies provided the odd cameo of skill, providing one or two teasing deliveries into the box - but not to a degree where the home side ever felt under pressure.
Steve Holland, Crewe's first team coach, claimed he had been surprised by Forest's formation. Given that it was the same approach Forest had fielded in their previous two away outings, that raises one or two question marks about Crewe's scouting. But they still coped with Forest's strategy with some ease. With Crewe happy to let Forest keep possession at the back, it was only when one of Breckin, Morgan or Wilson carried the ball forwards that the visitors really mustered a threat, which they did willingly and frequently. But, with all due respect to the trio, while they may again have been imperious at the back, none of them were particularly effective when they found themselves in a position to deliver into the box.
The expected return of Kris Commons, who was sidelined with a tight groin on Saturday, will be a welcome one when Forest travel to face a resurgent Southend tomorrow night. But, while the winger will provide a much-needed dose of creativity, there also needs to be an improvement from the rest of the squad. So often this season Forest have looked close to finding the formula to success - but have paid the price for falling short in one particular area or another. Against Carlisle, seven days ago, it was a moment of defensive chaos that combined with a host of missed chances to hand their rivals a valuable win. Previously, at Leeds, Forest had also failed to make the most of their opportunities and allowed their hosts to force a draw. On Saturday, while not quite sinking to the levels they had in the 2-0 defeat at
Bournemouth, they again failed to kill off a side fighting relegation. While, at the same time, Doncaster and Carlisle were making light work of Brighton and Port Vale.
After the final whistle, the players took ice baths to ease their aching muscles. But they should have been shivering already, after being given a cold taste of reality. While the promotion dream is not over yet, it will be if there is not a significant improvement. Calderwood admitted it will take an almost perfect run of form to guide them back into the automatic promotion reckoning, which is something Forest have not managed to produce this season for more than a handful of matches at a time. Anything is possible.
But time is running out and anything less than victory tomorrow and on Saturday, when Walsall visit the City Ground, will edge Forest closer to the play-offs. And, if Forest produce many more displays of this nature, the Reds fans will need some despair management of their own.
Smith, Wilson, Morgan, Breckin (Thornhill 83), Perch, Davies (McGugan 75), Cohen, Clingan, Bennett, Agogo, Ormerod (Tyson 66).
Subs Not Used: Lockwood, Holt. Booked: Davies, Cohen, Bennett.
THE MATCHES
Played 10: WON 3 DRAWN 1 LOST 6.
It could be a worse record seeing as we started with two succesive home defeats against them over the space of 24 years. Feb. 20 1926 saw a 0-1 FA Cup 5th Round defeat in front of 18,153, then on Jan. 28 1950 we lost 2-3, Wakefield with a double, in Division 3 South. Four months later, April 15, we finally beat them 2-1in Nottingham; Wakefield, again, and Davies. The next year saw us play them twice in a month. On April 7 we won at home 3-2; Grant, French and Anderson got the goals. In the away return we lost 0-3 which remained our biggest defeat to them until last November.
That was it for 42 years until the first match of the 1993/94 Division One season saw us hold the recently relegated Premiership side 1-1, Sussex opening the scoring while a penalty enabled them to escape with a point. We all turned up expecting to see departed hero Stan turn out for the Reds but he was injured. He did play in the return, on Dec.19 1994, where I can still here the majority of the 21,641 crowd roar everytime Stan got the ball to his feet. Even a quiet game by his standards saw us lose 0-2 and Forest went on to claim promotion back to the top tier at the first attempt finishing runners-up.
Another gap, this time 12 years, saw us beat them 1-0 on Sunday October 9 2005, when a Freddie volley from close range gave us our 8th succesive league victory in front of 10,104 and the Sky Sports cameras. Sadly, my video buggered up so I only have the live memories of that stirring victory. In the away game next to the Trent on Nov. 19 05 we lost 0-2 in what was one of our poorest performances in our League One Championship winning season. What was poorer was the behaviour of the Forest supporters around and above us who were not taking little Southend being above them in the league very well. You are certainly not that famous any more lads, get used to it!
At last Calderwood got a victory over a Tilly managed side when in our first meeting this season on the evening of Nov. 6 07 a Leon Clarke missed head butt saw us down to ten men and a 1-1 scoreline rapidly becomoing 1-4. Gower had given us an early lead where a massive 26,094 crowd was watching helped by cheap admission. Whatever you think of them, they can still get the support when needed in this third tier of league football. Should be fun on Tuesday with an away following of Leeds proportions expected.
THE FIXTURES (All Tuesday March 11 19.45 unless stated.)
Carlisle v Luton, Crewe v Port Vale, Doncaster v Gillingham, Hartlepool v Huddersfield, Leeds v Cheltenham, Leyton Orient v Swindon, Oldham v Bournemouth, Swansea v Tranmere, Walsall v Brighton, Yeovil v Milwall. Wed. March 12 - Bristol Rovers v Northampton.
THE HISTORY
Forest were founded in 1865 by a group of shinty players shortly after their famous neighbours Notts County, (the world's oldest surviving professional football club), in 1862. The club's committee decided that Forest's colours should be Garibaldi Red, named after the Italian patriot who headed the redshirts party. They joined the Football Alliance in 1888, and won the competition in 1892, which allowed them entry to the Football League.
Forest claimed their first major honour when they won the 1898 FA Cup, beating Derby County 3-1 at Crystal Palace. However, for much of the first half of the 20th century the club spent life in the Second Division (and had to seek re-election in 1914 after finishing bottom). In 1949 the club were relegated to the Third Division, but bounced back two years later as champions of the Second. A brief period of glory followed at the end of the 1950s, as they regained First Division status in 1957 and won the FA Cup for a second time in 1959, despite losing Roy Dwight {who was the uncle of pop icon Elton John - real name Reg Dwight} through a broken leg and becoming the first team to defeat the Wembley 'hoodoo'. By this time Forest had become the biggest team in Nottingham, overtaking Notts County. But after reaching the high of runners-up spot and cup semi-finalists in 1967, Forest were relegated from the First Division in 1972.
Forest were considered a small club by English league standards until the mid 1970s, when Brian Clough and his assistant Peter Taylor took the helm at the club. Clough was the most successful manager in the history of Nottingham Forest football club. He had won the league title with Forest's deadly rivals Derby County in 1972, and came to Nottingham Forest on January 6th 1975, after a 0-2 home defeat by local rivals Notts County, on Boxing day, prompted the committee (Forest had no board of directors then) to sack the previous manager Allan Brown. They won promotion to the top division at the end of the 1976-77 season after finishing third in the Second Division, but no-one could have predicted how successful Clough's team would be over the next three seasons.
Nottingham Forest became one of the few teams (and the last team to date) to win the English First Division Championship 1977-78 season, a year after winning promotion from the English Second Division. In 1978-79, Forest went on to win the European Cup by beating Malmö FF [1-0] in Munich's Olympic Stadium and retained the trophy in 1979-80, beating Hamburger SV [1-0] in Madrid thanks to an outstanding performance by goalkeeper Peter Shilton. They also won the European Super Cup and two League Cups. Beside Shilton, key players of that era included right-back Viv Anderson (the first black player to wear the England jersey), midfielder Martin O'Neill, striker Trevor Francis and a trio of Scottish International stars: winger John Robertson, midfielder Archie Gemmill and defender Kenny Burns. The club reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup in 1983-84 but were knocked out by Anderlecht in dishonest circumstances in which a Forest goal was controversially disallowed. It later emerged that in the second leg, the Belgian club had bribed the referee.
Nottingham Forest's next significant trophy came in 1989 when they beat Luton Town in the League Cup final. For most of the season they had been hopeful of completing a unique domestic treble, but were beaten into third place in the League by champions Arsenal and runners-up Liverpool and lost to Liverpool in the replay of the FA Cup semi-final, originally held at Hillsborough, where 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death on terracing, the match was abandoned after 6 minutes. Clough's side retained the League Cup in 1990 when they beat Oldham Athletic. There was chance for more success in 1991 when Forest reached their only FA Cup final under Brian Clough and went ahead after scoring an early goal (Stuart Pearce free kick) against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley, but ended up losing 2-1 in extra time after an own goal by Des Walker.
Forest reached their third League Cup final in four seasons in 1992, but lost to Manchester United, and in this successful period also won the Full Members Cup twice (1989 and 1992).
Brian Clough's 18-year reign as manager ended in May 1993 when Forest were relegated from the Premier League after 16 illustrious years of top flight football which had seen one league title, two European Cups and four League Cups.
Frank Clark, who had been a left-back in Nottingham Forest's 1979 European Cup winning team, returned to the club in May 1993 to succeed Brian Clough as manager. His management career had previously been uneventful, although he had won the Fourth Division promotion playoffs with Leyton Orient in 1989. Having inherited most of the players from the Clough era, Clark was able to achieve an instant return to the Premiership when the club finished Division One runners-up at the end of the 1993-94 season. Forest's return to the Premiership was impressive as they finished third in 1994-95 and qualified for the UEFA Cup - their first entry to European competition in the post-Heysel era. The 1996-97 season became a relegation battle and Clark was sacked in December. 34-year-old captain Stuart Pearce was installed as player-manager on a temporary basis and he inspired a brief upturn in the club's fortunes. He was tipped to become manager on a permanent basis, but the Forest directors wanted someone more experienced so in March 1997 they turned to Crystal Palace manager Dave Bassett. Forest were unable to avoid relegation and finished the season in bottom place. They won promotion back to the Premiership at the first attempt, being crowned Division One champions in 1997-98.
Bassett was sacked in January 1999, with Ron Atkinson replacing him. However, he was unable to prevent them from once again slipping back into the Football League with a succession of poor results, most noticeably the 8-1 defeat by Manchester United.
David Platt spent approximately £12m on players, most notably the Trio of Italians. Platt managed two mid-table finishes before quitting for the England U-21s when Forest were in financial difficulties.
Paul Hart became The Reds boss just two hours after the departure of Platt and had a difficult two and a half years as Forest manager. They finished 16th in his first season in charge with a very young team as the collapse of ITV Digital put Forest in massive debt. However, following the sales of key players, Forest did much better in the 2002-03 season finishing 6th place and in the play-offs. However, Forest's dream of returning to the Premiership was blown away by Sheffield United in the semi-finals. Forest then collapsed next season and Hart was sacked in February 2004 as The Reds hovered near the foot of Division One.
Joe Kinnear, the next manager of Forest, was unable to bring out the best of his inherited side to move up to 14th place in the final league table. The next season was an utter disaster for Forest as they plummeted into the relegation zone with Kinnear resigning in December 2004 with The Reds in the relegation zone. Following a brief stint from Mick Harford, Gary Megson took charge of struggling Forest in January 2005 but could not prevent them finishing second-bottom of the league, and slipping down into the third tier (League One) for the first time in 54 years.
With Forest fans expecting the team to walk back into the Championship, they suffered a blow as Forest stayed mid-table with the last straw for Megson being a 3-0 defeat at Oldham Athletic. Megson departed by 'mutual consent' in February 2006, with the Reds just four points above the relegation zone. However, Frank Barlow and Ian McParland took over as joint caretaker managers and got Forest motoring with a 6 game winning run in a 10 game unbeaten run, the most notable result a 7-1 win over Swindon Town. Forest took 28 points from a possible 39 under the two, but it was too late for them as they finished in 7th place.
Colin Calderwood became the twelfth manager in thirteen years for The Reds in May 2006. He got off to a perfect start as he led Forest to a 7 point lead at the top of League One in November 2006, with a seven game winning run helping them there. However, Forest collapsed from the top and just a month later fell out of the automatic promotion places and into the play-offs. Forest remained just outside the automatic promotion places for the majority of the second part of the season as they only lost three times in seventeen games. The Reds finished 4th and entered the play-offs where they faced Yeovil Town. After beating them 2-0 in the first-leg, Forest drastically collapsed in a humiliating 5-2 defeat.
In the 2007-08 campaign, Forest were named title favourites for the third consecutive year. After failing to win in their first six competitive games, Forest then hit an eight-game unbeaten run in the league (including five wins), scoring seventeen goals in the process. After losing to Luton, The Reds had another unbeaten run, this time of six games in all competitions. This briefly took Forest to the top of the league table over Christmas, the first time they had been top all season. However, they lost top spot with some poor results, as they failed to win away from home, in a run lasting seven games. Now in fourth position, nine points behind second place Doncaster, they face the play-offs again with Calderwood's position on the line if they miss out again. Who knows, come May, it could be The Blues v The Reds at Wembley!
(Thanks to the usual suspects for their help with this article)