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Claridge: All is forgiven?

earthworm

earthworm

Jack Burkitt
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/8400147.stm

Claridge responds to somebody asking him if Forest are contenders, and how he thinks the front runners of Division 2 are set up for life in the top flight.

Surely, after sweeping aside Doncaster (4-1) and highly-touted Leicester (5-1) in consecutive games and having won seven and drawn four of their last 11 games - including beating leaders Newcastle - Nottingham Forest now have to be taken seriously as promotion contenders?
Steve Long, UK

He's answered his own question there! Yes, of course they do. Forest had a poor start to the season, although they probably didn't get the results that some of their performances merited, but they're in good form now.
Robert Earnshaw

Nottm Forest 5-1 Leicester

The board has backed their manager Billy Davies and he's made the most of it, no doubt about that. As you can see from their results, his side have definitely got goals in them - they have got five or six proven goalscorers at Championship level whereas others are struggling to find one or two.

Forest have got a really strong squad and now they are playing very well. They look full of confidence too - they know they have got a team that can hurt the opposition which always gives you confidence going into a game.

Billy had a similar situation at Derby, when he took them up to the Premier League in 2007. And, although he keeps saying it's too early for Forest, it's never too early to get promotion because it might not happen for them next year, or the year after that - you've got to do it when you get the opportunity and this season is certainly a big chance.

Can they make the top two? Well, Newcastle or West Brom are going to have to falter for that to happen. But they look good for a top-six slot and, if anyone had offered Forest that at the start of the season, they would have bitten their hands off.
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My question is this - which teams, if any at all, do you think are well-equipped enough to survive in the Premier League if they got promotion this year? which teams currently pushing for promotion do you think wouldn't stand a chance in staying up?
Leigh Ford, Pontypool

When you go up, to stay up you have to already have five or six players in your side who are good enough to play in the Premier League. You cannot buy a whole new team - that's impossible.

So, half of your side have to be good enough already, otherwise you are going to get relegated - that's the easiest equation to make.

When I went up with Leicester in 1996, we had seven or eight players who were good enough to play in the top flight and we finished ninth and tenth in the next two years and won the Carling Cup in 1997 because all our manager Martin O'Neill had to do was add to that existing squad. He bought four or five players each summer but the majority of the side stayed together and was clearly easily good enough to stay up.

Of the teams in the race for promotion this season, Newcastle and West Brom would certainly be competitive against the lesser sides in the Premier League, even with the squads they have got now.

With those two teams, and Boro too, at least some of their players have been there and done well in the past, despite being relegated last season.

But with Forest and Leicester - for example - they have clearly got very good Championship teams but they are not proven yet in the Premier League and so could find it very difficult to make the step up.
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Added the text to save people following the link.
 
DanR

DanR

Steve Chettle
This is his last comment:

But with Forest and Leicester - for example - they have clearly got very good Championship teams but they are not proven yet in the Premier League and so could find it very difficult to make the step up

How does he manage to lump them in with us after we spannered them 5-1? Tosser.
 
earthworm

earthworm

Jack Burkitt
Kier said:
I'm not quite sure what we have to forgive Claridge for in the first place ???
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Everyone on the iPlayer thread was ripping him to shreds from being Leicester scum and glossing over us being generally amazing of late.
 
The Maniacal Megatron

The Maniacal Megatron

I belong to nobody!!!
I've got nothing against Steve Claridge. I even liked him as a player.

The thing is with that poxy show is that it's rushed through so quickly it is a mis-mash of highlights and random bits of info.
 
Randy Bumgardener

Randy Bumgardener

AKA Randy Bumgardener
I am coming round to Claridge, especially after the Savage jibe :D

He has been very vague about us, but he's a relatively new pundit. If he states 'Forest will be there at seasons end' then we lose every game for the season, he will be quoted on it forever.

I generally think he is very complementive towards us tbh, but he doesn't particularly back any team apart from the top two, to where his vision seems to be based. Maybe if we break into the top two he will get more excited about us, but I don't really see that all the hate directed towards him is fully deserved !
 
J

Jelly Bean

Youth Team
I think he's ok, from what i've seen he's given us plenty of credit. Even when we were struggling at the start of the season he was still backing us to do well.

Doesn't matter that he used to play for leceister (i thought we didn't care about them by the way), as far as i know he's never done anything to offend us?
 
adam09

adam09

Bob McKinlay
DanR said:
This is his last comment:

But with Forest and Leicester - for example - they have clearly got very good Championship teams but they are not proven yet in the Premier League and so could find it very difficult to make the step up

How does he manage to lump them in with us after we spannered them 5-1? Tosser.
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Possibly because they are 1 point behind us? Dunno, just throwing it out there.
 
Rhods

Rhods

Rhods
Claridge was a bloody brilliant Striker - his goalscoring record even in his old age is massively impressive.

However, even aside from his comments on Forest, he gets on my tits as a pundit. He's basically a muppet, which is why he's been binned off as a manager so many times.

As far as management goes - those who can't, teach become pundits.
 
E

EmJay

Stuart Pearce
tricky_tree1982 said:
Claridge never has a good word to say about us on that show! He's still a tosser!
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I entirely disagree. He always has something good to say about us, and is actually a fairly decent pundit.
 
king_congo_red

king_congo_red

Ale Ape
Interesting fact about Steve Claridge...he was ran out of Peterborough many years ago when he was caught stealing women's hand-bags.

The truth is sometimes stranger than the crap I make up, as this is 100% genuine.
 
Mrs_Congo

Mrs_Congo

Youth Team
Ł¡ţťĻĕ_Ðøñķęÿ ç¤ñĝð_ŗèđ said:
Interesting fact about Steve Claridge...he was ran out of Peterborough many years ago when he was caught stealing women's hand-bags.

The truth is sometimes stranger than the crap I make up, as this is 100% genuine.
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You only know this cause i told you.. :)
 
Randy Bumgardener

Randy Bumgardener

AKA Randy Bumgardener
Ł¡ţťĻĕ_Ðøñķęÿ ç¤ñĝð_ŗèđ said:
Interesting fact about Steve Claridge...he was ran out of Peterborough many years ago when he was caught stealing women's hand-bags.
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Did he have a fettish for Tesco bags then ? :ph34r:
 
R

RRRREDUN

Jack Burkitt
I couldn't care less what people say about the Mighty Reds. I'd rather we just quietly got on with our job this season and keep out of the limelight for a bit longer. I think we could go up - just need to get a little closer to Newcastle and WBA. As for Claridge - he's been quite fair to us and recognises that the squad needs working on - but we all knew that ourselves.
 
S

sedgred

Banned
No it is not you useless toss pot claridge.

Sorry whilst you wet yourself over Swansea that Forest won, are third in the league and unbeaten away. You are a twat. For crying out loud, credit due where it has been earned.

So you don't like Forest, but you must be paid to be impartial. It is disgusting, chokes the bastard to acknowledge Forest :mad:
 
Nick.

Nick.

Once known as Nick.Doyle.nffc on 'ere.
That question what they asked Leory and Steve was the dumbest question I've heard lol
 
Tutts

Tutts

Ian Bowyer
sedgred said:
No it is not you useless toss pot claridge.

Sorry whilst you wet yourself over Swansea that Forest won, are third in the league and unbeaten away. You are a twat. For crying out loud, credit due where it has been earned.

So you don't like Forest, but you must be paid to be impartial. It is disgusting, chokes the bastard to acknowledge Forest :mad:
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I must be watching a different programme. Claridge said we had a plan, stuck to it and did well. We did.

He also said Swansea played some lovely football but never got players into the final third. Also true.
 
W

winnits

Guest
Yeah, I didn't have too much issue with Claridge today either.
 
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