Where Do We Go From Here?


I swear this isn’t the first time I’ve used this title, and shamelessly ripping off a Filter title too. Anyway, we are in a sorry state of affairs tonight. The world is officially laughing at us after Alex McLeish ended his 40 day tenure as manager. Loan signings he made will have longer Forest careers. His tenure will now surely go down in history as one of the worst mistakes the club made.



So we are again managerless, rudderless and evidently clueless.  Quite what this does for a player’s mindset I’m not sure. On the one hand maybe it makes not much difference but it must be a time of confusion for a squad just getting used to one guys ideas. And as for the backroom staff too, again confusion as to what they do now. Namely Peter Grant who I haven’t seen mentioned what’s happening with him.

Was this all doomed to fail from the beginning? Probably. I was never comfortable with this appointment. For me he isn’t good enough, and he never had a large portion of fans on his side. There are rumours he was only was here as he is a Ferguson acolyte and Fawaz is keen to develop links with him. Sounds feasible, also sounds like utter rubbish. Anyway, he’s gone, many fans wanted this, but it feels to me like many of those same fans are now up in arms about the disarray, which many tried to cultivate anyway. This somewhat puzzles me. On the one hand fans want to have their say, but it appear when the chips are down, in reality, what they want after all is stability.

Now the whole sorry issue is out for all the national media to have a field day. A lot of what will be written read and broadcast will be hearsay, speculation, conjecture and more utter tosh. Some out there have an agenda. Why people insist on constantly citing Daily Mail articles is beyond me. This paper is the worst paper out there. Horrendous right wing dribble for grannies and racists, but some are lapping up what they have to say. Surprisingly about foreign ownership they aren't keen. In their early days of the Hasawi reign they were claiming all sorts, and when that was disproved came up with a new load of twaddle.

My main sources on these matters have stayed a little more removed from this. Perhaps because they don't know what’s happening, or aren’t comfortable with blind speculation I’m unsure. I am not for one minute saying what’s out there are lie. I am merely suggesting it’s an embellishment of the truth. Or perhaps because they don’t have a desire to push stories for attention, more for their accuracy and quality.

There is desperation to believe anything and the in particular the very worst gossip right now, because for some reason a panic and headless chicken mentality kicks in Someone tweets a made up rumour and before you know it’s spread like wildfire. It’s hilarious yet terrifying. This isn’t the worst state this club has ever been in. Not even the worst state it’s been in for a year. So for some to be claiming so is naive and to misunderstand the perilous state of our finances in the summer.  And never forget the state of affairs under Nigel Wray and Irving Scholar. We had to take this offer, we couldn’t wait. To wait would have been suicide as we’d had to start to jettison players. We aren’t there. Yes it embarrassing, yes it’s a mess, but we are still mid table. The playoffs aren’t out of the question.

Remember most of the uproar was because we backed out of a deal with a player many people didn't want. Ok there were promises of a few players but you have to agree deals. Fawaz was perhaps naive in his dealings with clubs. He will learn. And it will be the hard way.

And hopefully he has learnt a lesson in appointing managers here. He will take time over this appointment rather than the rather rushed McLeish one. Maybe he won’t. Maybe he will rush an appointment and panic. And if he panics, there will be one name he can pluck out the hat to try and appease fans, and hopefully make sure he can ride out a storm.


William McIntosh Davies. Regular readers know I am not his biggest fan. Ok he had successes, but his legacy hasn’t been great. Remember he was instrumental in disbanding the reserves and developmental squads. He was vocal in wanting new players and not wanting outside interference. Something he clearly won’t get here. So to call for Davies is to not look at this bigger picture. He wastes a lot of money too and a few of his signings were expensive errors. Was Adebola worth £5k a week? What about the expensive loan signing of Konchesky? David McGoldrick? He isn't the great financial wizard some make out. In his first full season we spent a lot of money on players.  .Around £4-5million and tats on fees alone. Ok, so he does appear to be a good man manager, and that might be what we need now, but he wouldn't last 40 days with this board either, unless he is really desperate for work. Additionally he has a huge point to prove. But that said he fluffed his lines before in the playoffs.

However, what other options are there? Will Adkins who has just been burned y a hands on chairman want another such deal. After the way he was treated by Southampton, which seemed very akin to O’Driscoll he would be right to have his reservations. After that, the list gets grim quickly. The top bets even include Roy Keane, who doesn’t have the greatest record.

We’ve been here all too often lately. What we need is an I’ll say it time and time again, not someone who was “Proven” because for a start they have no loyalty. They also have aloof ideas of themselves. We need a young hungry manager eager to make his mark. It worked for Norwich, it worked for Swansea. Both these managers played football too”! But who is out there? Well I’m not the expert on lower leagues I might be so I am not sure. Karl Robinson was linked before and has MK Dons doing good things. We don’t have the plethora of ex player’s names to pluck from. Laughable I have seen people seriously tweeting Martin O’Neill’s name. Not going to happen ever. He’s at a bigger club, in the top flight, and the club he supported as a boy. To think he’d come here is downright stupid. Nigel for me is still a question mark over his ability. He’s starting to show some signs of working well on a budget, but he's been blessed with a few vary talented youngsters to supplement that. Apart from that there are none likely. Psycho is a mere pipe dream.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink is being linked with a quick return as a caretaker. I’m not sure. It seems a bit Joe Kinnear to me. Insofar as to get a guy in who will cheer up the dressing room as apparently Jimmy is very popular. Does he have managerial acumen? Well there's only one to find out, but do we really want an untried manager after the last time under Platt? Well maybe. Platt was an idiot, not all new managers are idiots. Hasselbaink knows the squad and knows this division now.He might work out. He has something to prove.


But what does this all mean for the club. People say no-one will want the job. But there have been far worse chairman who managers have gone and worked for. There will always be an option. Maybe a depleted field, but a field nonetheless. We need patience this time.Don't appoint the first manager you can think of. It was clear they wanted McLeish in before they even sacked O’Driscoll before maybe now it will force the al-Hasawi clan to take stock a little. Have patience. Look around, though there will be calls from some fans for a quick appointment. There are those fearing we will see Fawaz in the dugout at the next game. I don’t think it will get that far. It’s happened before though at other places. No, what we need is for them to realise this was all a mistake and to move on. Maybe the whole Boyd thing was an attempt to get McLeish to walk. Aah no, now I’m doing blind conjecture, you got me doing it too now folks.

Comments