Forest 1 Blackpool 1

Well this was one I had to miss so I'll leave it to the other 2 Forest Bloggers to fill you in on what went wrong over at Trent End Talk and Mist Rollin In From The Trent not the greatest of results but I suppose at least we didn't lose, so that's four games undefeated and we're still in a decent enough position to make a push for the top of the table if we have a decent run.
While I'm sending you off to other websites check out Cheer Up Alan Shearer where I have the honour of being the latest person to write for their guest column of 'Favourite player ever..' my choice is somewhat predictable but their really could have been no one else.
Tranmere to come on Saturday and hopefully 3 more points. This is a teamI particularly loathe, for no other reason than they used to be managed by John Aldridge. A man I detest, in fact I would quite happily chin him if I ever had the misfortune to be anywhere near the loathsome scouse b*****d. And the reason for these strong feelings against a man I've never even met?
Quite simple really, in the replay of the 1989 Hillsborough FA cup Semi, Brian Laws gave away a penalty, now bearing in mind this was a pretty sensitive game after so many people had lost their lives so what does John Aldridge do?? With the biggest grin on his face he ruffles Brian Laws hair, bang out of order. As Psycho said 'If he'd have done that to me I'd have chinned him there and then'.

Swansea 1 Forest 1

A belated post on Saturdays match. On the face of it a good result, going to the league leaders and getting a point is not ot be sniffed at. But we so should have won. Once again it was Jack Lester that gave us the lead and we should also have had a penalty when Commons was taken down in the area, but hey ho thats football. We were fairly comfortable until we switched from 4-4-2 to 4-5-1 and then Swansea started to take control. admittedly taking Lester off was probably the right thing to do, we've only just got him back and can ill afford to have him injured again. Also he was on a yellow card and the little Hitler in the middle would have probably sent him off for one shoelace longer than the other before much longer. I just wish Megson had stuck with the formation that was working (and has been working for the past few games) rather than reverting to his failed 4-5-1. But no worries we're moving in the right direction and we have Blackpool to come tomorrow night ( a game I'm going to have to miss due to it being the other half's birthday). I reckon we can pick up 3 points from this one and start our push towards the top of the table rather than worrying about how few teams are left below us. Like I said before The Only Way Is Up.

The Only Way Is Up, Baby!

Good win for the Trickies tonight, 3-1 over struggling Bristol City. On a night when the City Ground remembered Brian Clough this was the only possible result in order to honour the great man's memory. The Red's started poorly going down to a soft goal and all the old problems seemed to be there, an inability to string a set of passes together, players hiding and the old hoof up the field and hope. But as on Saturday, Lester once more came to our rescue slotting away a penalty to make it 1-1 followed quickly by a goal from Perchy to make it 2-1. half time came and we were looking in command, but by no means safe. The second half Forest came out much brighter, playing some decent passing football at times and showing just what they were capable of. Given confidence and the backing of the crowd this team should have nothing to worry about in this league, when they play football there are very few teams that can live with them, it just seems that the fear of a mistake is holding them back a bit. We had another wonder goal from Commons in the second half (and this time I actually think he meant it) to wrap the game up and give us all 3 points.
Things are by no means sorted and looking Rosy all of a sudden but we're certainly on the right path and if we keep playing like that we should be back in the Cahmpionship next year.
Finally Russel hoult in goal, great shot stopper but can he find a red shirt with his clearances?? Can he hell as like! Think he needs to pretend all the lads in Red are 15 year old girls then he'd have no problem (for those that don't know the bloke has a bit of a reputation for allegedly being a bit of a paedo)
good result lads, keep it up.

R.I.P. Sir Brian

Taken me a while to post this (due to various things outside of football I haven't had much chance to get near a PC). But thankfully Saturday saw us return to winning ways, seeing off Rotherham 2-0. Goals coming from a pen. by Lester and a fluke (or goal of the season however you want to see it) from Commons. This was by no means a convincing performance and at times they looked like they just weren't interested in trying to get the win but thank god it came, can it be any conicidence that this win coincided with the return of Jack Lester and the ousting of "Captain Fantastic"??? I think not!!!
More importantly, tomorrow night sees us entertain struggling Bristol City, this is definitely a winnable match at the moment, then again Forest have a habit of gifting wins to struggling sides in order to kick start their seasons. But thats not why tomorrows important. It's the first anniversary of the death of the greatest manager this country has ever seen (Sir Brian Clough of course) and hopefully the players can put in a performance that will make him look down and smile. But tomorrow isn't really about winning or losing (although 3 points would be nice), for me it will be about all those great memories Mr. Clough has left me with and the amazing things he did for both this football club and the city of Nottingham itself.
These are the things that will be running through my head as I enter the stadium and watch the match, the European cups he bought to the club, the League title, those great cup runs of the late eighties, the fans he smacked round the head (and then apologised to him and paid his fine for him), above all he's the main reason I'm Forest through and through due to the entertaining football he insisted on being played. Thank you Mr. Clough, thank you for everything.

Barnsley 2 Forest 0

And so it continues, another game, another lacklustre performance ending in the inevitable defeat. We are now in the relegation zone, just one point off the bottom. Seven games played, 5 defeats and 12 goals conceded. not even close to good enough, and you cannot fault the fans who chose to boo the team yesterday, they need to kow how we feel.
The next 2 games are now crucial for us in defining our season, and maybe turning this mess around. 2 Home games against Rotherham and Bristol City, both of them winnable. 6 points from these 2 games can turn our season round, get the players confidence up and the fans back on the side of the players and the manager.
And so for these 2 games I call on all Forest fans to get behind the team, sing your heart out for the club as if we were playing D***y for the league title. Scream until you can scream no more. And I don't just mean the normal singing sections of the crowd (A Block, Upper Trent and Upper Bridgford) everyone in the whole damn ground get on your feet and support the club like you never have before. If a pass goes astray or another shot goes sailing 10 yards above the cross bar, don't give up and sink into your seat. Sing louder, really let them know what it means to be a Forest fan. You may say we've done this before and it didn't work then, but is that any reason not to give it another go?
After all what have we got to lose? If it fails and the players still don't raise their game then we have lost nothing but our voices, but if it works we may just turn our season around.
Show them how much you care, show them what this club means to us all above all show them exactly who's club this is.
COME ON U REDS!!!!!

England

Oh Dear!!!!!

'We've' Lost That Loving Feeling

Given the current sad state of affairs I decided to re-read the excllent 'Forest Ever Forest' By Chris Broughton, it basically is a season by season recollection of this mans time watching the Trickies (and god did he get to see some good times). Anyway it got me to thinking about my years watching the glorious reds and my memories (good and bad) over the years. Also reminding me of why I have an irrational hatred of certain clubs and players (John Aldridge step forward I'd like to introduce you to a Mr. Brian Laws who has something he should have given you all those years ago when you patted him on the head) and other clubs I have a soft spot for.
One of these clubs would be rather surprising to most Forest fans as they aren't exactly loved around Trentside (and no I don't mean D***y, Leicester or Liverpool). I'm referring of course to Sheffield United!
Now don't get me wrong, I hate their manager Colin as much as the next man and some of their fans leave a lot to be desired (I can recall many a trip to Bramall Lane and being constantly spat on and showered with coins).
My reason for liking The Blades goes back to the 92/93 season. The season we first got relegated from the prem and God decided to call it a day and retire to his roses in Derbyshire.
Our last home game of the season was against United, a game we had to win to stand any hope of staying up. It also coincided with the week that news leaked out that Cloughie was to call it a day at the end of the season. Naturally the City Ground was packed for this one, so we could all say our farewells to a Nottingham legend, nay a Football Legend. I had a season ticket stood on the Trent End that year (it was still a terrace then) and on my walk over Trent Bridge could have sold it to countless people for a lot more than it's value such was the demand to be at the ground for this game. No way was I giving it up though, not for any money. I owed it To Mr Clough to be there to say goodbye after all he'd done for us. See that famous Green sweatshirt step out onto the hallowed turf for one last time.
The ground was heaving that day and the atmosphere was absolutely amazing. Brian Clough walking out to an amazing recption from all sides of the ground (United included). At half time the song from our European cup days ('We've got the whole world in our hands') came over the PA. To which the whole Trent End sang along with flags being waved, scarves held aloft, people climbing on top of the crush barriers to stand out from the crowd. Truly amazing scenes considering we were just about to get relegated. As it turns out we lost the game 2-0 and went down but the thing that stands out for me from that game is during the second half the United end started singing 'Cloughie for England' (and no I don't think they were taking the piss) and soon all four sides of the ground (yep even the Exec) were on their feet singing along and saluting the great man.
That is why I have a soft spot for the Blades. They didn't have to do that, that day. They could quite easily have spent the day laughing at us and enjoying our impending demise but they didn't they instead chose to honour one of the greatest managers this game has ever seen. And for that I thank them.

Forest 1 Brentford 2

Right a belated post on yesterday afternoons match, I couldn't be arsed by the time I got back from Notts so decided to resort to having a few beers instead in the fatally misguided impression that after 10 pints everything would seem ok.
As I've said before this season is already starting to take on a worrying similarity to last seasons debacle. Yet again for portions of this match we looked dominant and more than capable of tearing apart what is essentially a poor side. All we needed was to step up the pressure a bit, maybe pass the ball to feet a bit more and the goal would come, but as has happened so often we gave up after about 15 minutes and the midfield retired for the day having obviously worn themselves out.

Firstly a message to Mr Megson 5-3-2 is not the system to play at home (I'm sure it was supposed to be 3-5-2 but the 2 wing backs spent more time in defence than in the midfield) stick to 4-4-2, trust me it works.
Secondly Johnno's quite a short bloke (you may not have noticed this assuming him to be sat down every time you've talked to him) So playing the long ball to him constantly (completely bypassing our midfield) is not going to work. This was obvious after about 10 minutes yesterday as yet again Johnno was outjumped and Brentford came away with the ball, yet for some reason we continued with this tactic for the whole game, what was the bloody point??
When we did play the ball through midfield we yet again resorted to crossing the ball early rather than taking the defence on and getting round the back of them (this is also a tried and tested tactic that causes problems for defenders).
Thirdly TAYLOR IS NO FUCKING USE!!! He's employed as a striker and is obviously incapable in that role so don't stick him in our bloody defence so he can stand their and watch the opposition score, take the captaincy off him and get him making the tea instead.
Not sure about Dadi yet, he didn't impress yesterday but I'm willing to give him a chance as he has to settle in yet.

Not good enough Forest, not good enough by a long shot. So I suggest the players, the manager and the chairman all pull their fingers out and start trying to fix this mess, before the fans turn. Believe me its not far off.