In Nottingham, There’s a New Sheriff in Town

[cousins141]

New York Times

 

[Col]

An article about Football, in the New York Times, that isn't about the premiership, and is well researched! We really do live in the future... 8)

 

[LPF]

sick

 

[Darth Pierre]

sick

:x

 

[Randy Bumgardener]

sick

I think you will find the correct spelling is 'SIK'

 

[Gary]

Hah, the title 'New sherriff in town' coupled with a featured picture of a Birmingham player, made me think we'd signed McSheffrey.

 

[Gingers Across the Midfield]

I think you will find the correct spelling is 'SIK'

Isn't it 'SIC'? :blink:

 

[Randy Bumgardener]

Isn't it 'SIC'? :blink:

Not in Oxford :dry: (fumbles around trying to correct mistake)

 

[Matt90]

Thats a really good article, well researched and well written. 8)

 

[weasel]

Very good! Most of the English papers struggle with accurately reporting some of our turbulent recent history, but aside from implying McKenna and Adebola were both on loan here last season, that's pretty much bang on.

 

[incapable hulk]

I like how it explains absoloutely everything, to make it easier for the american fans to understand. Good stuff

 

[garrilla]

Clough’s son Nigel, in addition to playing for Forest, replaced Davies at Derby County.

:nowink:

 

[Cooky]

sick

innit blud

 

[king_congo_red]

Isn't it 'SIC'? :blink:

Oh the irony...

In writing, it is placed within the quoted material, in square brackets – or outside it, in regular parentheses – and usually italicized – [sic] – to indicate that an incorrect or unusual spelling, phrase, punctuation, and/or other preceding quoted material has been reproduced verbatim from the quoted original and is not a transcription error.[1]

 

[ubique]

can't get the link to open - could someone ctrl+c & ctrl+v it here?

 

[donny]

can't get the link to open - could someone ctrl+c & ctrl+v it here?

Ask and ye shall receive.

If Manager Billy Davies takes his club to the Premier League, Forest fans will do more than make him the sheriff of Nottingham by proclamation — he will be the new earl of England’s East Midlands.

“The great thing is that I’ve got experience getting a Championship club into the E.P.L. before it was ready,” Davies, a 45-year-old Scotsman, said in a telephone interview from Nottingham, referring to his previous job at nearby Derby County. “And I’ve said the same thing to the Forest people. We’re a good young side that is making strides and has potential. But it is too early for this team and the infrastructure. I have been in this position before and then found myself out of a job. I don’t want déjà vu!”

It may be too early for Davies, but well past time for the fans of Nottingham Forest, a provincial club that once breathed the rarefied air at the pinnacle of European soccer when it won back-to-back European Cups (the precursor to the Champions League) in 1979 and 1980 under the legendary manager Brian Clough (who was the subject of a recent film, “The Damned United”).

And for Davies, the association with Clough simply will not go away. Clough was the Derby manager when that club won its only top flight title, in 1971-72, then later had his greatest successes at Forest. Clough’s son Nigel, in addition to playing for Forest, replaced Davies at Derby County.

The previous season, Davies took Derby (which had two American players, Eddie Lewis and Benny Feilhaber, on its books, and is owned by an American company) to the Premier League. It was a disastrous season that ended with Derby winning only one of 38 matches and Davies receiving his walking papers a month before Christmas 2007.

“The two clubs are only separated by 14 miles and there’s a longstanding love-hate relationship because of those great issues in the past between the clubs,” Davies said. “When I got to Forest I was disliked by many fans because I was ex-Derby. Now we’re doing very, very well and I’m everybody’s friend.”

With the season in the League Championship, one tier below the Premier League, a little more than half over, Forest is in second place behind Newcastle. The two top teams gain automatic promotion to the Premier League, with the next four entering playoffs. Forest has not lost a league match since September, an 18-game unbeaten streak, while goalkeeper Lee Camp has allowed only 20 goals, less than a goal a game. Nottingham Forest has not played in the Premier League since the 1998-99 season, when it finished 20th and last, and was relegated.

With Forest giving every indication that it plans to stick around this season in the lucrative race for promotion to the Premier League, Davies has of late been pestered by questions and comparisons to Clough, who died in 2004.

“I live in the shadow of Brian Clough,” Davies said. “But at no time did it concern me. There’s no fear factor. I’ve no problem with it. It’s great to manage a club with tradition, but Billy Davies is Billy Davies. I don’t want to be Brian Clough. I do everything I do by instinct and make decisions from my own head and heart. Being in his shadow doesn’t irritate or concern me at all. I’m proud of our once-famous history. Now, let’s make our own history here, something the club can be proud of. I want us to become the new history makers.”

History is one thing that Nottingham Forest has its share of. The club was founded in 1865 and won its first trophy, the F.A. Cup, in 1898. That same year, Forest moved into its City Ground stadium, which holds about 30,000 and whose grandstand abuts the River Trent. The club still plays there. A new 40,000-seat stadium is in the cards, but only if England is awarded the rights to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup (that decision will not be made by FIFA until December), according to the club spokesman Fraser Nicholson.

Davies took over at Forest in the middle of last season with the club in danger of being relegated. With one of the youngest clubs in the English game, the players had an average age of 21, Davies engineered a great escape that saw the club go unbeaten in its final eight league matches to finish seven points out of the relegation zone.

During last season, Davies and the club were adept at taking several players on loan who performed well and ended up being acquired by Forest. They include striker Dexter Blackstock (seven goals), the veteran midfielder Paul McKenna and striker Dele Adebola. This season, the club plucked on loan the 23-year-old Polish international wing Radoslaw Majewski from Polonia Warsaw. Forest’s leading scorer this season is Robert Earnshaw, the Wales international, who leads the team with eight goals and has scored 20 in 48 games for Forest since 2008.

“It was a real, real challenge when I took the job,” Davies said. “Confidence was low, our position in the league was low. It was a real test. It was all about coaching and seeing our young players through a difficult situation. We came through and I feel it was the best achievement of my career to date. We saved the club £10 million by not being relegated. It’s my achievement.”

With all the club’s success so far in the 2009-10 season, Davies said his greatest joy was working on the field with his young players. But he also lamented the scant time promising players have to develop their craft.

“I feel that young players need more time to settle into a place, to get to know the culture of the club and get to know different styles,” Davies said. “In football right now, everything is done in a short time. It’s a sad fact.”

Still, with his experience of having taken Derby to the Premier League before crashing and burning still fresh in his mind, Davies is relishing another shot at the big time.

“I have unfinished business in the Premier League,” he said. “What I’ve been saying to everyone is that between now and the end of the season I will do the best I can to win as many games as possible. I still feel that we may be a season too early to go to the Premier League and to stay there. But that won’t stop us from trying. In an ideal world we would have another season to prepare.”

 

[Tutts]

Goaltender Lee Camp has achieved shut outs with regularity this season and was successful with a penalty reflection against the Reading Royals.

???

 

[adam09]

Reflection? Lol.

I liked the line "I want us to become the new history makers."

 

[Forever Forest]

Brilliant article. I worked in America coaching football for 4 months and used to get fed up with them not knowing anything about 'soocer'! At least this reporter has researched well and it is a nice read - Take heed Jamie f***ing Redknapp

 

[ubique]

cheers for that mate

 

[poole_red]

Good write up, well spotted.

Its got me dreaming of us joining the EPL! ;D

 

[Fulf501]

Great hustle from garner right there period