I grew up watching Forest play a certain way, it wasn't the beautiful sent from heaven Gods own football style many seem to remember it as, but it was quick passing counter attacking football on the floor, it was easy on the eye & entertaining to watch. While I'd love to see a return to that kind of football at Forest (& Steve Cotterill has been delivering a more aesthetically pleasing variety over the last few months) it's not everything.
Since the tragic death of our owner Nigel Doughty, there seems to have been much soul searching going on amongst fans over the way the club should move forwards into an uncertain financial future that will now be based around Financial Fair Play in the Championship. When Mr Doughty first arrived as sole owner, he preached a great deal about making this football club self sufficient, sadly his love for the club seemed to blind him from his initial intentions & he pumped a massive amount of cash into the club to try & achieve his aim of returning his passion to the Premiership. It was sadly an ambition he never realised, & from a man used to getting what he wants that must have hurt a great deal. Mark Arthur recently quoted Mr Doughty as asking "Am I killing the club with kindness?" & looking back over some of the money spent & the manner in which that money was lost, you have to say he probably was. I believe Mr Doughty to have been a decent & honest man who loved Nottingham Forest as passionately as any fan, but was misguided by his ability fund the club. I believe he lost his way.
A look back at my early days supporting Forest shows the way forward in these economically uncertain times. My first ever game was January 1989, it was a Wednesday night and a league cup tie at home to QPR. I was only 15 & not allowed to go to the football because my family were County fans, So a saved up my paper round money and went on my own. The point of this story is to show you some of the players from that day.
Steve Sutton (apprentice)
Brian Laws (£120,000 from Middlesbrough)
Stuart Pearce (part of a double deal £300,000 from Coventry)
Steve Chettle (apprentice)
Terry Wilson (apprentice)
Steve Hodge (apprentice)
Franz Carr (£25,000 from Blackburn)
Neil Webb (£250,000 from Portsmouth)
Garry Parker (£260,000 from Hull)
Nigel Clough (apprentice)
Lee Chapman (£100,000 from Chamois Niortais)
I know football lived in a different economic stratosphere in those days, but that was an entire League Cup winning team team that finished 3rd in what is now the Premiership for just over a million quid (Forest sold those players on for a total of £3,250,000 by the way) , with players signed mostly from lower league clubs along with a smattering of developed youth players and local boys.
When I look back on those days, it's not the trophies that make me proud (though it would be churlish of me to claim it irrelevant) but the manner in which we built that success. Nottingham Forest, at their best, develop their own players along with buying young talented lower league players & then build teams that play attractive football. If Forest are to ever return to the top flight, I feel a return to our routes is the way forward.
We may have been the first club to pay a million pound fee for a player, but both our greatest historical moments & our best chance of a bright future will come from our ability to coach, develop & scout talented players that we can make great.
So, less of the Gary Holts, Nicky Eadens, Matt Derbyshires & Danny Sonners and more of the McClearys please.
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