Through the seasons before us..

Handsome devil Ronnie Moore has been the first to start some kind of psychology in the build up to Forest’s visit to Tranmere Rovers at the weekend.  Tranmere are likely to be favourites in this match given their home advantage, so the former Rotherham United manager has set out by pointing out the numerous injury problems the almost-Scousers have mounting up.

Midfielder Paul McLaren will certainly be missing with an ankle injury, and there is a chance that winger Kevin Ellison could be joining him on the sidelines after hilariously picking up an eye injury after being poked in the eye by a teammate during a goal celebration.  I certainly don’t like to find mirth in the misfortune of others, but that did tickle me.

Top scorer Chris Greenacre and Shane Sherriff also are doubts for our visit, and perpetual arsehole Jason McAteer as well as Danny Harrison are also expected to remain sidelined with their existing injuries.  Tranmere do have a relatively small squad, so it’s possible Moore will be tempted to dabble with some loan signings before the weekend, either way, injuries or no injuries I expect a tough match.  Not least since Rovers may well line up with a certain Mr Taylor who I’m sure would like to shut up a few fans who treated him rather shabbily during his spell with Forest.

Since the rumours linking former Reds keeper Paul Gerrard to Gillingham seem to have been absolute piffle, there are new rumours suggesting that Neil Warnock is looking to draft in the free agent to cover for Paddy Kenny (presumably while he convalesces by eating pies and sweeties).

He’s no stranger to Sheffield United, having been on loan to the Blades prior to joining Nottingham Forest.  Certainly the lure of Premiership football, albeit the lower eschalons, is likely to prove more tempting to the shot stopper than the mid table of League One!

If he does head to Sheffield United, he’s certainly going to be busy!

Fans of Forest and beyond may be interested in the 12 lots that have just gone onto eBay to raise funds for the Brian Clough statue fund.  There are full details on this website, but below I’ve listed a link to each of the auctions with a summary for those of you too lazy to click onto another website.  For the items listed relating to other clubs, please pass these on to any friends you have who support these clubs.

Bust of Cloughie donated by his family

Framed Cloughie sweatshirt signed by Barbara Clough and former Forest legends

Cloughie Banner from the Market Square memorial service

1980 League Cup runners-up tankard

Framed Barcelona FC shirt signed by Frank Rijkaard

Football designed and signed by fashion guru Paul Smith

A dartboard signed by Bullseye legend Jim Bowen!

A Cloughie sweatshirt signed by the current Forest squad

Signed Manchester City football donated by Stuart Pearce

Signed Bolton Wanderers shirt donated by Sam Allardyce

Signed Nottinghamshire County Cricket shirt

Signed Blackburn Rovers shirt from 2002-2003

So if you see something that takes your fancy then get bidding - it would be great to see the statue fund reach it’s target real soon.

David Johnson retiring sparked these thoughts in me, and in particular fans at the City Ground chanting for him during the disappointing draw with Carlisle United yesterday. The diminutive striker has always has his adherents amongst the Forest support, even during his (not insignificant) lean spells with the club. I watched the fans chanting “Stand up, if you love Johnno”, doing a mental sweep of them I’d say demographically they were younger fans.

By my reckoning, people such as myself who are mystified as to their hero worship need to reevaluate our harshness somewhat. Whilst I will never feel that adulation for the likes of Johnson, rather than be incredulous that other supporters may feel that way I’ve started to feel a bit more sorry for them. Perhaps in this age of a new lowly Forest, he is a good candidate for adulation afterall, even if it was on the back of one decent season with us, and in him hardly justifying his exhorbitant transfer fee and wages.

I was brought up hero worshipping players like Stuart Pearce, Steve Hodge and Brian Laws, to list but a few. These were of course part of Clough’s second great side that went to Wembley practically every year in those delicate early stages of my supporting Forest, quite a potent formula for strengthening the decision a young lad makes in supporting a team. When I look at our current squad - and don’t get me wrong, we have players I admire - there really is rather a dearth of that kind of quality. I dread to think how the fans old enough to remember the European Cup winning squad must think on matters like this!

I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that some of us are perhaps suffering from a touch of ‘hero snobbery’ - given the time we’ve had over the last half dozen years or so, the most obvious recipient of adulation probably would be a striker who bagged 29 goals that almost got us into the Premiership, regardless of his injury woes or poor form before or since that season.

My random musings are not enough to change my opinion of Johnson, we paid the same for him as we did for Pierre Van Hooijdonk, who admittedly turned out to be a complete arse off the pitch (although in accusing the club of lacking ambition, was he really that far from the mark?). We paid less for the likes of Stan Collymore, who for me still remains the most gifted footballer I’ve ever seen in a Forest shirt - what a shame he didn’t have the mental fortitude to handle the formidible talent he had at his disposal.

The nearest thing I have to an idol in the current Forest squad is Grant Holt, whose 100% battling attitude represents something we’ve seen too little of at the City Ground lately - and at times I’ve been thrilled to see his contribution so far this season (if we ignore yesterday’s penalty miss!). That’s what I hold to be a player worthy of hero worship, a grafter, not an overpriced and overpaid primadonna, who admittedly fulfilled his potential for one season, but who has been wholly disappointing for the vast majority of his Forest career.

Hopefully it will be more along these lines that the collective of Forest fans will select their next ‘hero’ rather than for a one season wonder. That said, I would rather each and every player had a chant and they were all backed fully, which I might have mentioned before!

I’ve never liked Tranmere Rovers much, largely to do with their association with that bastard John Aldridge, but they’ve had an impressive start to the season, and sit just a point behind the mighty Reds. They are also our next opponents as we have to make the trip up to Prenton Park next saturday, the winner of the game will go top - a draw and the Reds retain their slender lead.

Of course, former Reds scapegoat Gareth Taylor lines up as number nine in the Tranmere squad, so there is an obvious person who will have a particular interest in performing well should he get a place in the starting eleven. He’s netted twice already against Chesterfield and Northampton, but sits behind both Greenacre and Mullin in the scoring charts, who have both scored three goals so far this term.

Amazingly Gaz hasn’t picked up a booking in a Tranmere shirt either! So I definitely reckon he’ll be one to watch, particularly since our defence will be without the commanding presence of Cullip. We need to pick up either at least two draws or a win against Tranmere and Port Vale really, and to be honest, I’m not feeling all that confident given the standard of our performances against Oldham Athletic and the second half against Carlisle United.

Still, almost a week to go for me to change my mind, and with Forest one thing you can guarantee is that they’ll never do what you expect - for better or worse!!

I remember John McGovern talking about this on a BBC Radio Nottingham Matchtalk phone-in when Forest had just missed three penalties in a row at the start of the season.  He was adamant that a well struck penalty into the bottom corner (C or D on the picture) was the best place to put a penalty.

But, since we’ve now missed our fourth penalty of the season (!) I decided to do a bit of research on the matter.  Given that penalties are always a hot topic during the World Cup, it wasn’t surprising to find that the good old BBC had put together this guide along with some research which actually states that a well struck penalty into the top corners is in fact, unsaveable.

That’s all well and good, but going for the top corner is more likely to yield a miss than the bottom corner, so I reckon that would be a good starting point, given the skill levels of our players!

Nottingham Forest - 0
Carlisle United - 0

This was the game of two halves that proverbs speak of.  In the first half Forest looked okay, creating chances and in all honesty could probably feel hard done by to not be ahead, we had a couple of chances cleared off the line (according to the Radio on the way home), we missed a penalty (ANOTHER one!), well, it was saved, but we made it easy for the keeper.  It wasn’t clear what it was awarded for, but it looked to me like Agogo handled be ball before ending up in a tussle on the bye line, Grant stepped up to take the penalty but couldn’t beat the keeper.

Grant Holt also had a goal disallowed for offside - from my vantage point in the ground I couldn’t really see whether it was offside or not, but it was a tremendous finish from the frontman.

Carlisle took the game to us in the second half - and certainly there was evidence to see why they’re sitting so high in the league at the moment.  Their number 7 particularly impressed me with incisive runs down the channels and he was unlucky not to get on the end of a cross late on to score.  Forest weren’t completely toothless in the second half, however.

Neil Harris almost did everything right as he beat the offside trap and smashed the ball into the net, but unfortunately he handled it on the way through so it was rightly disallowed.  The next incidents of note were that Lester did appear to be fouled in the box, but his theatrical reaction won us nothing and got him a booking.  Agogo was later felled in the area too, but unfortunately the referee failed to give the spot kick.

All in all, a disappointing game.  Carlisle were probably good value for a draw despite creating fewer clear cut chances - and a special mention should go to their fans, the best away fans we’ve had at the City Ground for some time.  Before the match it was reported 2000 of them were attending, it looked like more to me, and they made a right racket for most of the game.

Colin Calderwood is certainly talking the talk in the wake of Carlisle United’s visit to the City Ground tomorrow.  What remains to be seen is whether the team can walk the walk following on from tuesday night’s disappointment against Oldham Athletic.

The Forest manager spoke frankly about the problems Forest exhibited on the night, and their inability to deal with the direct way in which Oldham took the game to us, so fingers crossed he will succeed in fixing some of the problems, most noticeably our inability to win the second ball or loose balls, as well as giving away possession too cheaply.

He also speaks of the team spirit still being intact, that the players acknowledge the shortcomings of their tuesday performance and still feel confident in their ability to improve and register a much needed result tomorrow.  It’s important that he doesn’t undo the good work he’s done in terms of team spirit and morale, which is largely built upon what Charlie and Frank started last season after the departure of Megson.

If the players were to read fan sites - this one included, although some of the forums have unbelievably negative content - then it probably could give their confidence a battering.  I reckon if I was a player I’d avoid sites like this, but would your ego really let you avoid publically available opinion about your performances? I doubt it!

This one’s definitely odd, but also pretty hilarious! Rice was signed by Brian Clough when Steve Hodge left his first spell at the club in 1985. Whilst never a world beater, he was certainly not the scapegoat that many Forest fans made of him (heh, some things never change!).

The chant goes to the tune of Yellow Submarine by the Beatles (the verse part, and sometimes leading into the chorus!), take a look at the accompanying image, and you should certainly be able to guess the chant that evokes this disturbing (and badly photoshopped) carnival of gingerness!

It’s usually reserved for when the team are playing badly - so it’s really amazing we haven’t heard it more over recent seasons, but the words go something like this:

Number one, is Brian Rice
Number two, is Brian Rice … (continuing to)..
Number eleven, is Brian Rice … (and into the chorus)..
WE ALL LIVE IN A WORLD OF BRIAN RICE!
WORLD OF BRIAN RICE!
WORLD OF BRIAN RICE!

The verse section has been known to stretch to likening all manner of things to Brian Rice, including the subs, the manager, the board, the goalposts and all manner of other things that occur to the fans as the song goes up.

Definitely good fun, if a little harsh on a man who once scored an absolute wonder goal for Forest at Arsenal in 1988 - but well, at least he’s still remembered on the terraces whilst Forest fans are around!

Presumably after the disgusting behaviour from a section of the Swansea support last season, their fans are facing a bit more hassle in gaining access to the City Ground this time around. They’ve been allocated just over 1,000 tickets initially, with a further 1,000 available if they’re required.

Fans will be asked to provide ID when purchasing tickets, either season tickets or other forms of identification, as well as identification for any fellow fans they are picking tickets up for. This identification will be stored alongside their seats to enable easy tracking of either direct trouble-causers, or at least those who acquired tickets for anybody causing hassle at the ground.

Whilst it must be irritating for the majority of decent Swansea fans, having witnessed the appalling behaviour they exhibited last season at Forest, I think it’s justified. It will hopefully enable those fans who do just want to support their side to do so with limited - or at least easily punishable - aggro from the meathead fans in their fraternity.

Fixtures between Welsh and English sides always seem to have an edge to the atmosphere that can descend into unsavouriness quite readily, so steps taken to minimise this meet with my approval, and will hopefully enable the non-thug element of the Jack Army to travel without so much stigma attached to them.

With a bit of luck, Nottingham’s police will have a bit less of this to deal with (click to read more).

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