Through the seasons before us..

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!

Of course, as the joy subsides a little it was inevitable the rumours would start to surface, and not all of them would be nice.  I’ve heard a few whisperings about the Sheep being interested in Kris, but it wasn’t until the Evening Post picked up the ageing rumour and ran with it that I saw fit to comment myself, particularly since there were so many more important things to be focusing on in terms of on-the-pitch action!

The reports are suggesting he’s already agreed terms, for wages outside of our structure (having said that, since we’ve attained promotion, presumably our wage structure will be adjusted accordingly?).  Now of course, you don’t have to go back too far to find movement of players between the two clubs that perhaps wasn’t expected, indeed, John Robertson did just that and partly destroyed Clough/Taylor’s already fragile relationship, yet is still revered here.

Now Commons is no Robertson, but I would be disappointed if he were to seek pastures new now the Reds have been promoted.  Had we languished yet again in League One I think he would have been perfectly entitled to seek football at a higher level; and since it’s unlikely a Premier League team will come in for him, I would hope that Forest will - sooner rather than later - make him a sensible offer and get him signed up (and Sammy Clingan too, for that matter).

If he is to leave, then so be it.  On his day he’s fantastic, on others not - I was looking forward to seeing him play for us in the Championship because he should have more opportunity to flourish without being clattered every five minutes by some lower league clogger - but we shall see.  If he leaves, to someone other than the Sheep, then I wish him well.  If he does deign to sign for Derby then he’s dead to me!

Of course, the Evening Post are not famed for their insightful journalism nor accuracy of rumours, so let’s hope that unlike Forest, they haven’t undergone a miraculous turnaround in form!

It only occurred to me when watching the highlights that it was three local lads who scored all our goals, which resonates rather with the ‘putting Nottingham back into Forest’ comments Nigel Doughty made after the game.  Hopefully the YouTube police don’t notice this little infraction and allow the clip to remain, as it’s fantastic viewing, I’m sure you’ll agree!

For those of you wanting to download the video, you can do so by clicking here.

There’s a nice reminder in there about how tense it was over the course of the day, for those of you who watched ‘The Championship’ this evening, you’ll have seen from the footage of The Championship games how it looks the other way too; I resisted the urge to make videos of the Leicester slide into League One oblivion, preferring instead to bask in our own celebrations!

I’ve just spotted a gallery feature in the software used to create the blog… and I quite like the idea, so I’ve gathered a bit of a montage of pictures that some of you kindly sent to me, some of them I’ve blatantly pinched, and they’re available below for your viewing pleasure.  There’s loads of photos doing the rounds, I’ve not tired of looking at them all afternoon so far!

Although the pictures above are awesome and emotionally charged, you can’t beat a bit of comedy too - and I don’t think I’ve seen a funnier picture than this:

Erm, I’m afraid you’re not, mate!

Because, thanks to a mere draw with promoted Stoke City and Southampton winning 3-2, for the first time in their history Leicester will be getting to sample the delights we have endured over the last three seasons.  It may take a while, but karma does seem to be working for me this weekend - and finally the Foxes seem to arrive at where they should for their administration-cheating shenanigans all that time ago.  Overall, it caps of what has been a terrific few weeks in football for me.

Let’s have an approximate look at a kind of timeline of things that have happened in the world of football that have filled me with delight over the last few weeks…

1. Derby confirmed as the first ever team to be relegated from the Premier League before the end of March.  A bittersweet one this, it’s funny to laugh at the Sheep of course - and I am looking forward to our reacquaintance with them next season - but their laughably poor showing in the top flight this season really underlines the gulf between the Championship and the top flight.
2. Notts County ensure they remain a league side.  I’m genuinely gutted for the Stags who didn’t manage to stay up, but am pleased that County have retained their place - ideally I would have liked Dagenham to go down and both Nottinghamshire clubs to survive.
3. Liverpool get knocked out of Europe.  I don’t particularly like Chelsea or United, but I loathe and despise Liverpool so I was happy to see them fail to reach another Champions League final.
4. Forest get promoted. I’m not ashamed to admit that I would have traded all the other things on this list for this one - by whatever means - but to have nicked automatic promotion on the last day was a momentous occasion and achievement by the boys in Red.
5. Cheltenham survive relegation.  My desperate hunting of stats and information made me develop a real soft spot for the team we were pinning many of our hopes to.  The Robins didn’t let us down, and although a draw would have been enough for us, them beating Doncaster gave them a platform to survive too - which I’m genuinely happy about.  Up the Robins!
6. Derby confirmed as worst Premier League team ever.  We knew it was going to happen anyway, but upon losing to Blackburn yesterday, it became impossible for Derby to level or better Sunderland’s previous lowest point record of 15.  The most Derby can get is 14 in the unlikely event that they actually win a game.
7. Leicester City relegated to the third tier for the first time.  They’ve spent their history in the top two divisions, until now.  I never really concerned myself with them until their immoral exploitation of naive Football League rules to get out of their debts - so I’m happy to see them struggling to the level they should be at had the correct rules been in place back then.

It’s been the kind of few weeks you joke about with your mates; realising that it’s just not possible that nearly everything you want to happen in football generally doesn’t.  Particularly concerning our own team, which is why - as I noted above - I would happily have traded anything on the list for the day we had yesterday, or even hauling ourselves up through the playoffs.  Now I find myself slightly gutted that I didn’t buy a Lottery Ticket yesterday, as surely it would have won?

As we recover from our foray in the third tier, brought about largely by honestly dealing with our financial mismanagement in the past (ie. selling players, and paying our debts), it’s good to see that eventually it comes to those who deal with matters in a less moral fashion.  Enjoy the splendours of League One, here are my top five tips for things you can look forward to:

1. The Johnstones Paint Trophy.  You probably don’t know what it is, you don’t want to either!
2. You’re not famous anymore.  From every set of fans, every week, ad nauseum.
3. The first round of the FA Cup.  Probably away at Backwater United, maybe even on telly.
4. Frozen pitches.  Games between November-February have a 50:50 chance of going ahead at many grounds.
5. Shilton reborn every week.  Opponent goalkeepers will become worldbeaters when they play you.

I’m sure a few fellow fans might come up with a few more things for you to look forward to as you navigate the third tier for the first time.  Huge congratulations to Stoke City who confirmed promotion to the Premier League today, and of course to a Stern John - of all people - inspired Southampton who managed to win 3-2 to secure their safety at the expense of Leicester.