Through the seasons before us..

The club claims an average increase of 10%, I make it around 12% - casting my eye down the list of prices, then I would say I’m satisfied rather than pleased.  If we take a few of their renewal rates and divide them by 23 for a ‘per match’ basis, then it does start to look a bit of a rip off in some areas, but less so in others - but I suppose that this hasn’t really changed over the last few years.

Let’s start with renewing in the Trent End, £349 - the cheapest adult option at the City Ground - this represents a little over £15 per match which isn’t bad at all.  Take it to the other extreme and go for a new (ie, not a renewal) season ticket in C or D block for a whopping £517 and it works out at almost £22.50 per game.  Now, once you factor in the ‘everyone £5/£10′ type promotions, suddenly that doesn’t start to look like such a good option unless you can guarantee you’ll make every home game.

We would have been fools to not expect Forest to leverage their promotion as an opportunity to increase their prices, but perhaps with them achieving the unexpected on the pitch I had vainly hoped they would do something even more unexpected off it and offer a real reward to those of us who’ve stuck it out for the last few seasons whilst others have walked away.  A £25 difference (between a 5-8% discount depending on where you sit) isn’t really much of a reward when you think about it.

The full details are available by clicking here.  Mark Arthur had to say the following to announce the ticket prices:

“In setting the prices for season tickets we have taken into account several factors including other Championship club’s pricing structures, especially those clubs of a comparable size and stature, and our desire to give Colin Calderwood the best possible chance of strengthening the squad.”

Ah, the old strengthening the squad chestnut.  Mind you, if we could get (and these are completely hypothetical numbers) 15,000 season tickets sold, for an average price of £275 (once you factor in the younger fans and the senior citizen rates), then it would be worth over £4m, which isn’t to be sniffed at.  Having said that, if Mr Doughty is serious about his talk of wanting to be a challenger I imagine it would still take a fairly deep hand in his pocket to supplement the season ticket money…

Hats half-off to the powers-that-be at Forest, I was anticipating the usual wait ’til some time at the end of May or the start of June until they announced season ticket prices; but apparently they’ll be available on the Official Site at some point tomorrow.  Given the residual feelings of euphoria most of us are probably still feeling, it’s a prudent move, although of course it leaves us cautiously anticipating whether they’ll opt to fleece more cash out of us or reward our loyalty over some pretty dismal seasons.

I do think there’s some way to go on this front from Forest, our neighbours down the A52 released season tickets for sale some time ago, and have reportedly already shifted just under 20,000 of them.  Whilst I can understand that economically Forest might want to consider their promotion status, other clubs in the same situation are able to offer details - and solid incentives - to get renewals tied up with these things still unconfirmed.

The idea that promotion should also mean an increase in price is a bit of a simplistic stance - promotion to the Championship is worth £8m, so arguably a price increase would be less justifiable than if we’d failed to go up again - particularly since a higher league of football should increase demand and therefore sales of the magic booklets; which ultimately, when you consider the £5/£10 games etc, don’t really offer that much of a saving - particularly if you sit in the Main Stand.

But it will be welcome to know a bit further in advance than usual, I’m still holding my judgement until I understand exactly how much I’ll be expected to part with - will it be a cynical attempt to cash in on those fantastic feelings at the weekend?  Will it be a sympathetic reward for the loyalty so many of us have shown by continuing to renew through seasons of turgid rubbish?  I suppose it’s likely to be somewhere in between the two.

It’s no great surprise really, six wins out of seven - and a draw - have been enough not only to snatch Forest automatic promotion, but enough to snag the manager of the month award for April/May; an award he’s not picked up since November 2007.  So a big congratulations to Smoulds, who quite prophetically said back in November that he wasn’t celebrating too much as the April/May award was typically indictative of the success or failure of a season.

He said to the Official Forest site:

“I remember saying when I won the award in November that it didn’t really mean too much at that stage of the season and that any manager who wins it in April and May would really have something to smile about.

“Managers who win the award at this stage of the season have usually done something right in terms of getting their team promoted or clear of relegation.

“It’s nice to get the award but it’s not all about me. We won promotion as a team and a club and have celebrated likewise since Saturday.”

Also on the Official Site is a rather nice wallpaper they’ve put together of the assorted celebratory shots taken at the weekend - perfect for that work computer if you happen to sit next to a Leicester City or Derby County fan!  You can download them by clicking this link.

No? Me either!  Here are some more to enjoy - no goals this time, just the aftermath of the game and what it meant to the players and staff alike, not to mention the fans.  Keep an eye out for Terry the Kitman who makes a fairly prominent appearance!!

Whatever would we have done without YouTube?!

Firstly, I’ve managed to track down a copy of ‘that video’ - I’ve uploaded to YouTube and re-embedded it in the original story, and I’ve also uploaded a version of it in AVI format that you can download and keep (see original story for the link).  Given I’ve been lucky so far with my other video not being subject to the ‘cull’ of so many videos of the weekend, I’m hoping it might remain there for a while, but we shall see - so watch it while you can!

The other good news is that Sky Sports are reporting Forest have made Kris Commons a contract offer in the wake of either Derby County or his agent playing silly buggers and starting to make us worry he might be on his way.  So get it signed, Kris - you said you wanted to play in the Championship, why not enjoy the contribution you made to our season by enjoying the benefits next season whilst still wearing the Garibaldi!  Hopefully we can get this wrapped up quickly.

On a blogging front, it’s been understandably busy ’round here for the last few days - Sunday smashed my previous record day, and then Monday went and smashed that too - even yesterday was bigger than the original record day.  Which is completely awesome, past ’spikes’ in activity had been driven by negativity, it’s great to have a fat spike for positive reasons.  There was a certain amount of help by links from The Guardian (bottom left, we’re number two on “Our favourite things this week”) and When Saturday Comes - so thanks fellas!

Of course, after a frenetic few days of posting, it’s likely that the posts will slow down over the next few days, weeks and months - but of course I’ll try to keep track of the rumours as they arise.  The other good news is that the reserves are on track for a league and cup double after winning a semi-final match today, so a huge well done to them, an opportunity for them to cap off a truly remarkable season.

Nigel Doughty came out immediately after promotion to congratulate Smoulderwood and the team, but given the plethora of things to comment on this one slipped through the net ’til now.  He obviously spoke of his pleasure in the achievement, but there was to be no gloating from the opt much maligned Forest chairman.

Upon taking over the club he set himself three targets, to put the finances right (which - despite involving debts, just to Mr Doughty rather than less sympathetic creditors - are apparently to his satisfaction), the mysteriously vague ‘putting the Nottingham back into Nottingham Forest’ - unless he means purely employing a decent proportion of players who hail from local areas, then I’m not convinced that’s been entirely achieved yet.

I would read that as Forest being a welcoming place for supporters - which I don’t think it has been.  I’ve seen stewards treat home (and away, to be fair) supporters very shabbily with no obvious provocation, the club are still one of the last to announce season ticket prices and endless other quibbles.  So if they mean by putting Nottingham back into Forest they will be providing exemplary service to the fans who have stuck by them through some turgid times, then I still think there is room for improvement.

His third pledge was the one that got all the headlines - to regain and retain our Premier League status.  Now, I’ve spoken before of my disillusionment with all things top flight before, it isn’t a competitive arena - but I must confess the thought of just being a league below it makes it a tantalising prospect again.  Doughty claims he won’t celebrate until we get to that level - and indeed, has spoken of not settling for mere consolidation next season either.

It’s great to hear him speaking so soon after the game and so ambitiously, of course he leaves himself open to criticism immediately - but equally he would have done by remaining silent.  Of course, this sets a target for Smoulders and his team from the get-go - consolidation is not enough, the last time Forest spoke up of lofty ambitions was the ‘We’re serious about Promotion..’ campaign - and we know how that ended.

Personally, a couple of decent results against the Sheep and a finish in the league at least four places above them (incase, surely I can’t be that lucky, they finish bottom!) would do me, and that sounds quite unrealistically ambitious right now!  I hope that Mr Doughty’s much loftier ambitions prove to be more realistic - let’s face it, it wouldn’t be the first time Forest were capable of achieving heights vaster than I believed!

Sometimes something completely random pops into your email and leaves you lost for words because of the sheer unlikeliness of it.  I had a few of those last week, they involved Forest getting automatic promotion, and that happened!  Today I received this from Rich Fisher, who is appealing for your old Forest shirts so that he can put them towards a very good cause, which certainly does sound like the most random thing ever… read on…

Dear NFFC Blog,

I’m hoping you can help me out by making mention on your fine site of a truly noble mission that I am undertaking this summer…. and which I need Reds fans to help me with.
 
Yes, this may sound crazy - but I’m going to attempt to make Forest the biggest football team in Mongolia!
 
Allow me to explain!
 
Basically, I’m a lifelong Reds fan - and this summer, a friend and I are taking part in a charity event called the Mongol Rally.
 
For the benefit of anyone who hasn’t heard of this, this will basically involve us attempting to drive all the way from the UK to Mongolia in a really crap car - and getting people to sponsor us.
 
All of the money we raise will be going to charities who support orphaned street children in Mongolia - some who we will hopefully be visiting when we complete our epic 8,000 mile journey and arrive in Mongolia.
 
And in addition to raising cash and having an amazing adventure, we’ve decided we want to take the opportunity to spread the word of the mighty Reds - by accumulating as many old Forest shirts as we can, and dishing them out to the street children of Mongolia.
 
So, if any fans have any old shirts that they no longer want festering away in a drawer somewhere, I’d be very interested in hearing from them.
 
I’m sure there isn’t a single Forest fan who wouldn’t be amused be the idea of lots of young Mongolian children running around the streets of Ulaanbaatar wearing the famous garibaldi red.
 
If any visitors to your site can help, please tell them to get in touch with me via email at richardpfisher@hotmail.com.
 
Meanwhile, anyone wanting to find out more about me and my mate’s Mongol Rally adventure, go to www.richandedsexcellentadventure.com
 
Cheers,
 
Rich Fisher

So, if any of you have any old shirts lurking in a cupboard somewhere that either don’t fit or won’t get used, then please get in touch with Rich.  I’ve sorted out a couple from the back of my cupboards to send to Mongolia, because, as Rich quite rightly states, it would be great to think of some little Mongolian tykes running amok in Ulaanbataar (I had to look that up!) wearing them.

Terry rightly took his place at the centre of celebrations with the players and staff of Nottingham Forest, as we’ve seen from all the photos - after all the champagne and partying what does he make of the things he witnessed on that magical saturday afternoon?

Disclaimer time: this is, of course, entirely a work of fiction - largely for my own amusement.  Any resemblance between the characters portrayed, and any real person or persons - be they an employee of Nottingham Forest or otherwise - are entirely coincidental!

Now I’ve (almost) calmed down from a few days of madness, I would like to offer an apology to Smoulds.  I initially was very fond of our bronzen manager, and had a great deal of fun constructing an imaginary lothario loosely based around him - at times this season, though, I have howled with rage and derision and posted numerous times that I’d like to see him vacate the helm at Forest.

He has every right to feel both very smug and very vindicated as he and the team celebrate snatching automatic promotion.  When he said a few weeks back, as the gap to Carlisle was 11 points, we called him mad for saying we still had an opportunity.  As Doncaster were closing the gap but we weren’t, we called him mad for saying it kept the pressure on Carlisle.  Some of us called him a lot worse.

I certainly stand by my more lucid criticisms, because whilst this season has undoubtedly been a success - the target was automatic promotion, and that target was met, it hasn’t been entertaining.  I started to see glimpses in the first half against Yeovil about how Smoulders’ system might work in an entertaining fashion, and maybe with some new recruits and with less defensive opponents it might.

The constant ramming of square pegs in round holes will also be something I can’t bring myself to forget - despite his run of goals at the start of the season, Chambers has never looked comfortable at fullback, particularly with no covering winger infront of him.  But for all those criticisms both fair and unfair, Smoulds has stuck to his guns and delivered - and for that he has my heartfelt thanks, and a genuine apology for any criticisms I may have levelled that were unfair.

At the very least he has earned the right to take us to the next level - as Nigel Doughty pointed out post-match yesterday, he’s a relatively young manager - five seasons of management have yielded three playoff finishes (and failures), and two automatic promotions.  I’ll tell you what, I’ll take that for next season in a shot - even the playoff failure part.  So I’m prepared to wipe the slate clean for next season.

Thanks for all your hard work, Smoulds, and thanks for putting up with fickle boggers such as myself - in a ground where the ecstatic feelings were palpable at the weekend, I imagine there were few feeling better than yourself - and you’ve earned it, along with the team.  Of course, there was a slice of luck, but we’ve had enough slices of bad luck earlier in the season too - it’s true these things generally balance out.

SMOULDERWOOD’S RED ‘n’ WHITE ARMY!

Whilst I was lazy and just recorded ‘The Championship’ and stuck it on YouTube and went to bed, I’ve just found the below video which is much more lovingly compiled, complete with commentary overlaid by our very own Colin Fray which is much better!  It’s ultimately the same footage, but I’m sure you can stand to see it again, I know I’ll be watching it a few more times over the course of the afternoon!

You can also download the video in AVI format by clicking here. Or in WMV format by clicking here.

A day of joy for us facilitated by JJ ‘Tina Turner’ Price hitting the post for Doncaster at a point when it would have given them the lead, and of course a day later misery was to heaped upon Leicester by the woodwork too.  To cap it all off, it’s Bank Holiday Monday and the weather is glorious!  I’m off to enjoy the garden for a change!