In the space of only a couple of weeks there has been far-reaching changes at the top at Notts Forest. Its goodbye wally with the brolly and hello Cotty with no lolly. Daniel Widdowson offers his views.
It seems a lifetime ago since Billy Davies departed Nottingham Forest football club. Since that time the players have seemingly lost all ability, the fans have lost hope and the club has lost its chairman and replacement manager. Scoring a pathetic 8 points from 10 games we find ourselves 5th from bottom and face, what would appear to be, an impossible challenge to recover any respectability from this season. However, changes have been made, could they possibly turn around the fortunes of the 2011-2012 season?
Firstly, let’s start at the top. Frank Clark replaces Nigel Doughty as chairman of the club. To begin I would like to thank Doughty for his input to the club and whilst many fans seem to support the views against him, I for one thought he was a great asset to Nottingham Forest. However, times change and Clark replaces him. It would appear he can’t keep away from the club, playing for forest between 1975 and 1979, and then managing the club between 1993 and 1996. These experiences should certainly gain him the backing of many Forest supporters. I wish him the greatest success with our club and hope he is able to work with the new manager and backroom staff to turn us around.
People need to get behind the team, the manager and the entire club.
Then we move to the other big change… Steve McClaren resigned and has been replaced with Steve Cotterill. It would appear change should be good for the team because moral and performances clearly weren’t up to standard under McClaren’s system. However, to the fans this may be an annoying decision. Cotterill has been able to make the best out of a very low budget throughout his career, and does this suggest that other managers have been offered the budget and simply walked away from the offer? From the performances I saw Cotterill bring to Notts County during his time there it would certainly suggest that he has the potential to lead the club to success, but first lets recover something from this season.
As many of the clichés claim the Championship is a tight league, it’s a long season and it only takes a second to score that match winning goal. I see no reason why Nottingham forest cannot push into the reckoning again this season and would ask supporters to take Billy Davies’ advice and not look at the league table until Christmas now. People need to get behind the team, the manager and the entire club. Tuesday 18th sees Forest take on Middlesbrough at the City Ground with various ticket offers in place. This would be an ideal time for fans to pack the ground to welcome the new manager and show their support for the momentous challenge ahead.
