I swear this isn’t the first time I’ve used this title, and
shamelessly ripping off a Filter title too. Anyway, we are in a sorry state of
affairs tonight. The world is officially laughing at us after Alex McLeish ended
his 40 day tenure as manager. Loan signings he made will have longer Forest
careers. His tenure will now surely go down in history as one of the worst
mistakes the club made.
So we are again managerless, rudderless and evidently clueless.
Quite what this does for a player’s
mindset I’m not sure. On the one hand maybe it makes not much difference but it
must be a time of confusion for a squad just getting used to one guys ideas. And
as for the backroom staff too, again confusion as to what they do now. Namely
Peter Grant who I haven’t seen mentioned what’s happening with him.
Was this all doomed to fail from the beginning? Probably. I was
never comfortable with this appointment. For me he isn’t good enough, and he
never had a large portion of fans on his side. There are rumours he was only was
here as he is a Ferguson acolyte and Fawaz is keen to develop links with him.
Sounds feasible, also sounds like utter rubbish. Anyway, he’s gone, many fans
wanted this, but it feels to me like many of those same fans are now up in arms
about the disarray, which many tried to cultivate anyway. This somewhat puzzles
me. On the one hand fans want to have their say, but it appear when the chips
are down, in reality, what they want after all is stability.
Now the whole sorry issue is out for all the national media
to have a field day. A lot of what will be written read and broadcast will be
hearsay, speculation, conjecture and more utter tosh. Some out there have an agenda.
Why people insist on constantly citing Daily Mail articles is beyond me. This
paper is the worst paper out there. Horrendous right wing dribble for grannies
and racists, but some are lapping up what they have to say. Surprisingly about foreign
ownership they aren't keen. In their early days of the Hasawi reign they were
claiming all sorts, and when that was disproved came up with a new load of
twaddle.
My main sources on these matters have stayed a little more removed
from this. Perhaps because they don't know what’s happening, or aren’t comfortable
with blind speculation I’m unsure. I am not for one minute saying what’s out
there are lie. I am merely suggesting it’s an embellishment of the truth. Or
perhaps because they don’t have a desire to push stories for attention, more
for their accuracy and quality.
There is desperation to believe anything and the in particular
the very worst gossip right now, because for some reason a panic and headless
chicken mentality kicks in Someone tweets a made up rumour and before you know
it’s spread like wildfire. It’s hilarious yet terrifying. This isn’t the worst
state this club has ever been in. Not even the worst state it’s been in for a
year. So for some to be claiming so is naive and to misunderstand the perilous state
of our finances in the summer. And never
forget the state of affairs under Nigel Wray and Irving Scholar. We had to take
this offer, we couldn’t wait. To wait would have been suicide as we’d had to
start to jettison players. We aren’t there. Yes it embarrassing, yes it’s a mess,
but we are still mid table. The playoffs aren’t out of the question.
Remember most of the uproar was because we backed out of a
deal with a player many people didn't want. Ok there were promises of a few
players but you have to agree deals. Fawaz was perhaps naive in his dealings
with clubs. He will learn. And it will be the hard way.
And hopefully he has learnt a lesson in appointing managers here.
He will take time over this appointment rather than the rather rushed McLeish one.
Maybe he won’t. Maybe he will rush an appointment and panic. And if he panics, there
will be one name he can pluck out the hat to try and appease fans, and hopefully
make sure he can ride out a storm.
William McIntosh Davies. Regular readers know I am not his
biggest fan. Ok he had successes, but his legacy hasn’t been great. Remember he
was instrumental in disbanding the reserves and developmental squads. He was
vocal in wanting new players and not wanting outside interference. Something he
clearly won’t get here. So to call for Davies is to not look at this bigger picture.
He wastes a lot of money too and a few of his signings were expensive errors.
Was Adebola worth £5k a week? What about the expensive loan signing of
Konchesky? David McGoldrick? He isn't the great financial wizard some make out.
In his first full season we spent a lot of money on players. .Around £4-5million and tats on fees alone. Ok,
so he does appear to be a good man manager, and that might be what we need now,
but he wouldn't last 40 days with this board either, unless he is really desperate
for work. Additionally he has a huge point to prove. But that said he fluffed his
lines before in the playoffs.
However, what other options are there? Will Adkins who has
just been burned y a hands on chairman want another such deal. After the way he
was treated by Southampton, which seemed very akin to O’Driscoll he would be
right to have his reservations. After that, the list gets grim quickly. The top
bets even include Roy Keane, who doesn’t have the greatest record.
We’ve been here all too often lately. What we need is an I’ll
say it time and time again, not someone who was “Proven” because for a start
they have no loyalty. They also have aloof ideas of themselves. We need a young
hungry manager eager to make his mark. It worked for Norwich, it worked for
Swansea. Both these managers played football too”! But who is out there? Well I’m
not the expert on lower leagues I might be so I am not sure. Karl Robinson was
linked before and has MK Dons doing good things. We don’t have the plethora of
ex player’s names to pluck from. Laughable I have seen people seriously tweeting
Martin O’Neill’s name. Not going to happen ever. He’s at a bigger club, in the top
flight, and the club he supported as a boy. To think he’d come here is
downright stupid. Nigel for me is still a question mark over his ability. He’s
starting to show some signs of working well on a budget, but he's been blessed with
a few vary talented youngsters to supplement that. Apart from that there are
none likely. Psycho is a mere pipe dream.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink is being linked with a quick return
as a caretaker. I’m not sure. It seems a bit Joe Kinnear to me. Insofar as to
get a guy in who will cheer up the dressing room as apparently Jimmy is very popular.
Does he have managerial acumen? Well there's only one to find out, but do we
really want an untried manager after the last time under Platt? Well maybe. Platt
was an idiot, not all new managers are idiots. Hasselbaink knows the squad and
knows this division now.He might work out. He has something to prove.
But what does this all mean for the club. People say no-one
will want the job. But there have been far worse chairman who managers have gone
and worked for. There will always be an option. Maybe a depleted field, but a field
nonetheless. We need patience this time.Don't appoint the first manager you can
think of. It was clear they wanted McLeish in before they even sacked O’Driscoll
before maybe now it will force the al-Hasawi clan to take stock a little. Have patience.
Look around, though there will be calls from some fans for a quick appointment.
There are those fearing we will see Fawaz in the dugout at the next game. I don’t
think it will get that far. It’s happened before though at other places. No,
what we need is for them to realise this was all a mistake and to move on. Maybe
the whole Boyd thing was an attempt to get McLeish to walk. Aah no, now I’m doing
blind conjecture, you got me doing it too now folks.
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