In the first part of our season review, now that all the dust has settled and most of the fall out is beginning, we will begin with August and have a look at the events of the month, what people thought at the time via re-looking at forum posts, and how this looks with hindsight.
August
We started with a defeat. At home to Burnley we lost to an Iwelumo goal.Lining up with a very familiar side, with Bertrand the only new face, Wilson was them beginning in central defence with Morgan with eventual player of the season Chambers on the bench. McGugan his runner up also began on the bench. Most fans on the forum had predicted a draw,and unfortunately we didn't have a match thread to be able to look back on post match thoughts of various forum members.
The transfer news at this early stage was also quiet. Callum Davenport was training with us, with a multitude of rumours about him signing, which of course never came to fruition. The Whittingham and Pratley saga was in full swing with various people claiming they knew the inside scoop. no-one did.
We then went to Bradford in the League Cup and after taking the lead with a heavily depleted side lost in injury time. Depleted because of people being away on international duty, some of the forum comments were angry that this was allowed to happen.How could it be fair Forest had to play a game on an International fixture date? We were minus Gunter, Earnshaw, Bertrand,Majewski and Maloney. This was made all the more annoying by the fact Maloney and Bertrand and weren't even selected for their national teams. What was funny was some fans reactions. This was taken from Facebook at the time
The mongs are out already though, one comment:
**** off Billy, bring in O'Neill.
Was only a matter of time haha
This was followed by a home draw with Leeds,in a game we played well early on in but allowed Leeds back into. The goal was by Dexter Blackstock in the 9th minute. Comments on the forum were as such.
Forest008 said
Eurgh, not good enough at all.
Fantastic first half an hour, should of been 2 or 3 goals up.
But we were seriously poor after that. Midfield was non existent, McKenna and Radi were so bad its unreal.
Need to add to the midfield for sure, Pratley would of been a key player today.
IntotheForest said
Thought we were gonna hammer them and probs should of done. Then when Leeds equalised we were nothing for the rest of the game. If Beckford was still a Leeds player we would have lost.
Still very poor with our finishing but in a few weeks time we should have sharpened up and be back to form. The chances are there the goals aren't.
No one stood out today, Bertrand was good I guess.
This website at this stage still didn't exist so we can't say what we did in August(the site began in September)
We did on the forum get a very insightful post by Asocthern, who predicted the following
This season I think we'll see the worst of raddy now he's got his contract I don't think he will be all that bothered.
Probably proven correct over the course of the season. Leeds fans as always were deluded and thought they deserved the win, despite the stats illustrating what an equal game it had been. The game would be remembered by Leeds for Gunters sneaky "stamp" (more of a tread on) on Lloyd Sam. Who reacted like he was dead.
A multitude of names were being thrown around as potential signings. Jermaine Johnson being the only concrete rumour. Other names were Ricardo Fuller, Ross McCormack, Michael Tonge and Joe Mattock. And of course Pratley and Whittingham.
We next played Reading away. Another game without a win, saw us draw with the Royals, coming from behind. Readings teams was largely what finished the season, Sigurdsson who left and no Harte. Reading took the lead through Pearce,and we equalised after half time deservedly with a Earnshaw strike, after a Federici error.
The common consensus was that it was a good result.And probably fair.
Manic Loop on the forum said
id defo have taken this before the game.
ForestForever32 said
I think we have done really well today and deserved more than we got........I'm a bit worried about Tyson though he seems to have no confidence at all. Every time he gets the ball he messes up .
This left us near the bottom of the table. Not helped by the story that had broken the day before the game. Davies had apparently let rip to a Forest fan on a flight to Glasgow about the board and how many players weren't up to it. Looking back at what was apparently said some of it looks like it may have been real but a lot also looks utter garbage, especially the parts about Bertrand and McGugan not being up to it and him not happy,and the fact he thought he was about to be sacked. It certainly was a strange story to have broken, and filled the forums with gossip for a few weeks till the next drama occurred which we'll come to later.
We next faced Norwich at home. When we faced Norwich,what with them being a newly promoted club the fans were certain our first win was about to come, as shown by Manic Loop on the forum proclaiming.
first win of the season. thats a manic loop guarantee
We did take the lead through a Blackstock penalty. Norwich had already hit the wood work twice,and then equalised on 42Min's through Andrew Crofts. We hit the post late on, but it remained a draw. And we were again still too close to the drop for comfort.
The views on the forum were as follows
Manic Loop said
worst game ever
Ascothern said
I thought Wilson had a shocker got back to the car and they were singing his praises on the radio
We basically had no midfield until moussi and lewis came on
McKenna majewski and cohen were diabolical
Forest008 said
that was fvcking pathetic.
worst we have played in months.
McKenna, worst game he has ever had in a forest shirt.
Only positives, Earnshaw played very well, and Moussi and McGugan looked good when they came on.
So poor today, lucky to draw.
Changes need to be made now.
Fans were becoming divided on what to do with Davies, many deciding that he obviously must be trying to get sacked, or that something foul was a foot,with others blaming a lack of signings. What is now apparent looking at it from an end of season perspective is we played against 3 teams in the top 7 at the end of the season, and that it was almost a commendable start. Burnley being the only team to beat us and they were in the mix for a while too. Then we all thought it was a terrible start,but hindsight is a wonderful thing, and we can now say it was acceptable considering the opponents
So the first month ended in turmoil.Davies with an unsure future, Forest languishing in the bottom half of the table, fans unhappy at alack of signings. And then came a news report that an Irish consortium wanted to buy the club. Which was largely proven as utter rubbish by nothing happening. It seemed uneventful, but hey,looking back August had it all, other than a Forest win.
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