Nottingham Forest - A Happy Place To Be Again ?

[Randy Bumgardener]

Interestingly, it feels like Forest are a good club to be at for players and staff !

Earnie is blatantly (and doesn't hide the fact) overjoyed with his first season here. His comment summed it up for me yesterday on the radio

''I'm so glad I joined this club'' says more to me than anything.

Dex is bigging us up, and his stance seems to have certainly changed since his first interview. Gunter praises us repeatedly and there seems to be a welcoming unity in the team. In past seasons, we haven't expected much from a new player until he gets into the swing of the club, but lately they seem to slot straight in !

Granted, they aren't going to say ''nah, I hate it here'' but to me there seems to be a new aura around the club. Billy seems to be running the club, properly, in a way that has been needed for years.

He repeatedly praises the players, whilst we are in no doubt that he would speak his mind over any matters and let any of them know, publicly if they weren't performing !

Roll on next season, and with a 'Billy Davies' pre season, we may see a new Forest when the season begins !

 

[Cooky]

here here!

the atmosphere at the club appears to be brilliant at the moment. Earnie's comment really put a smile on my face for me as a fan but also knowing that a quality player seems to have happily found his feet and feels settled again after his nightmare with the scummers.

Adding in Gunter and Blackstock's comments, the unity must be immense in that dressing room. Can't wait for the new season, and neither can the players by the sounds of it.

 

[T.B.T.]

I totally agree. I'm not suggesting that the dressing room is all sweetness and light yet I do feel that there is mutual respect following the trauma we experienced mid season and the unrest following Billy's honeymoon period.

With results comes confidence and we will embark upon the summer in a stronger position. I don't think we're yet at the stage where we're beating a stream of prospective new signings away but I do believe we can not offer a more stable, more consistant and more attractive package.

Our future looks good. We're financially secure, we have money to spend, we've proved we have a great fan base and we can only build and strengthen what is already a strong foundation of a squad. I hate making comparisons yet there will be many clubs we're playing next season who will need to rationalise and cut their squads over the summer to remain competitive.

 

[weasel]

Everything is now geared up for what should have been after Joe Kinnear kept us up. This time around it wasn't in anything like as emphatic fashion, but the key thing now is our manager is not a geriatric foul mouthed lunatic and our board are much wiser and seem very clued up in the transfer market these days.

Roll on optimism.

 

[MaxiRobriguez]

Can I hasten to add we had a terrible squad when BFJ kept us up? Anyone with an ounce of sense wouldn't say they were serious about promotion.

Now on the other hand, we're in a position to build. We'll probably finish mid-table next season, but that won't be a failure.

 

[Tutts]

Can I hasten to add we had a terrible squad when BFJ kept us up? Anyone with an ounce of sense wouldn't say they were serious about promotion.

Now on the other hand, we're in a position to build. We'll probably finish mid-table next season, but that won't be a failure.

Given some of the teams likely to come down next year, I think mid table is the best we can realistically hope for.

2 of Newcastle / Boro / Sunderland / Hull + West Brom + 3 of Reading/ Sheff utd / Preston / Burnley + Ipswich under Roy Keane + QPR possibly starting to spend, would all be bookies favourites ahead of us.

This doesn't mean I'm not optimistic with the shape Billy is giving the team.

 

[Spring Heeled Jack]

It's considerably better than when Mugson was presiding over the likes of Eaden, Dadi, Johnson and Powell.

Long way to go yet though...

 

[Gary]

Given some of the teams likely to come down next year, I think mid table is the best we can realistically hope for.

2 of Newcastle / Boro / Sunderland / Hull + West Brom + 3 of Reading/ Sheff utd / Preston / Burnley + Ipswich under Roy Keane + QPR possibly starting to spend, would all be bookies favourites ahead of us.

This doesn't mean I'm not optimistic with the shape Billy is giving the team.

Not to mention that Leicester shat all over League One, so it's not like we're gonna have really easy teams to play either.

Mind you, besides Charlton, there was never definitevley an 'easy' team this season either.

 

[MaxiRobriguez]

Not to mention that Leicester shat all over League One, so it's not like we're gonna have really easy teams to play either.

Mind you, besides Charlton, there was never definitevley an 'easy' team this season either.

Three of them went through the trapdoor in my opinion.

The teams replacing them will be much better equipped to deal with the demands of this league. It'll be a much harder season next time round, but I reckon other clubs will not have us earmarked as cannon fodder like we were in the early stages of this campaign.

 

[Gary]

Three of them went through the trapdoor in my opinion.

The teams replacing them will be much better equipped to deal with the demands of this league. It'll be a much harder season next time round, but I reckon other clubs will not have us earmarked as cannon fodder like we were in the early stages of this campaign.

Agreed. With Leicester and possibly Leeds coming up, these are 2 clubs with massive fanbases, at the end of their droughts, ready to drink from the top flight trough again.

Next season is going to be immense. One of those rare seasons where every team are at the foot of something big, and not just sliding down (maybe Newcastle, but I can't see them going further than the second tier).

 

[cuppachump]

but we are the mighty Nottingham Forest - never forget that !!!

 

[sedgred]

A season enjoyed by the likes of Swansea, Bristol City to use as examples would suit me fine.

a, would show that Forest have now established themselves and are moving in the right direction

b, BD is fashioning the side to suit him

c, Very little chance of a '' Shock '' promotion via a late run to the play-off's. Until a team has developed and matured together in this division, the thoughts of being cannon fodder for the Premier League is as welcome as a smack in the mouth on a cold morning. BD himself stated that the sheep went up far too early, for that one traumatic season, they are going to take some hauling around.

 

[benjiabc]

it certainly is a happy place at the minute. i have not had suck faith in a manager for a very long time and i feel with the right backing a premiership return could be on within the next 2-3 seasons.

 

[Gary]

I know it's a shit time to bring this up, but it's been niggling at the back of my mind since yesterday.

That thread started a couple of weeks ago where someone stated that his friend overheard some higher ups discussing Billys future at the club. I'm still worried that it might happen.

Someone slap me and tell me its bullshit!

 

[Randy Bumgardener]

I know it's a shit time to bring this up, but it's been niggling at the back of my mind since yesterday.

That thread started a couple of weeks ago where someone stated that his friend overheard some higher ups discussing Billys future at the club. I'm still worried that it might happen.

Someone slap me and tell me its bullshit!

i think there would be hell to play if he left. He has assured himself a place in every Forest fans heart already. To do so would be near on suicide by the board !

 

[T.B.T.]

Someone slap me and tell me its bulls**t!

It's bullshit!!! ;D

 

[Gary]

i think there would be hell to play if he left. He has assured himself a place in every Forest fans heart already. To do so would be near on suicide by the board !

We should go and start FC Forest of Nottingham if that happens. Seriously though, I can see a huge fan backlash if they erase Billy.

 

[Randy Bumgardener]

We should go and start FC Forest of Nottingham if that happens. Seriously though, I can see a huge fan backlash if they erase Billy.

It could be a new start for FC's franchises lol

Me too. he has already shown to me his capabilities. No doubt this extroadinary escape will have taught him more than a promotion ever could, and this will lead to great things

And he didst smile

And they rejoiced

 

[RedDogChris]

I'm rather excited. Next season I will consider 10th-14th place to be a decent season in all fairness looking at the teams who are probably going to gracing the division. That would set up nicely for a serious push in 2 years time

 

[Flaggers]

There was, indeed, much rejoicing.

I can't begin to express how important I think not being relegated this season is (not just in the absolute "League 1 versus Championship") but in the bigger picture of Nottingham Forest.

The years of hardship, selling the assets, swingeing price rises and all that heartache have been painful, but stabilising the previously-sinking ship, getting the finances sorted, getting most of the deadwood out of the squad - getting in a manager with the drive, the attitude and the experience - is priceless.

All of this would have been undone by relegation. In the current financial climate, relegation would have drastically slashed renewals and supporter numbers and other matchday incomes. The effect would have been catastrophic. Players we want to keep would leave (Blackstock, Earnie, Anderson etc), and new players wouldn't be attracted to the club, and we'd be poorer and languishing.

But we're not.

A year or two to stabilise in this league, and then....

Good luck, Billy, and thank you for proving me wrong. I had resigned myself to relegation just before Christmas, and re-affirmed that belief about 4 weeks after you took over and we started losing games again.

YOU REDS!!!

 

[Gary]

I'm happy to be a Forest supporter. After our Brizzle win, I was proud to don the home shirt on a sunny day in Bolton town centre.

Up until the end of last season, I'll admit to having been a part time supporter. I remember watching SSN during our last league one game being really pissed off that I hardly got behind the reds to see them promoted, which is why I decided to put a lot more time into doing so this season. As selfish as it sounds, a lot of aspects of my life had taken priority over football, but this season I've had time to enjoy such passions.

I may not have been there in the past as much, but I'm sure gonna be there in the future.

(I sound like I'm talking to some kid whose mother I've divorced!)

YOU REDS!!

 

[birkin youth]

Can we talk about Super Robbie Earnshaw a bit more?

When the players did their 'lap of honour', all of A + B Blocks were singing ths usual
Robbie Earnshaw is a red, is a red, is a red, Robbie Earnshaw is a red, he hates Derby

And he was loving it! He stopped in front of us, and he was grinning, and waving. Then he did the funniest dance I have ever seen... it was kind of like the dance Chandler does on Friends. It was like that, combined with him waving his arms to tell us to sing up. And we did. And he continued to do his funny little dance.

I'm glad he's enjoyed being here, because I can't wait to see him bang them in next season!

 

[WatnallRed]

Yh he did seem to be loving it lol did the same infront of cap1.
he loves to scoreeeeeeeeee robbie robbie robbie robbie robbie earshawwwwwww he loves to score.

 

[winnits]

Aye, he was conducting the crowd. He does love it.

Then again he has a good relationship with fans in general, possibly with the exception of Direby and West Brom.