Wes: One of those players you never thought you'd see in another shirt

I’m pretty sure the first time I saw Wes Morgan play for Forest was in a pre-season friendly at the City Ground whilst he was still a youngster.  He put in a thunderous tackle on a similar-unfamiliar Rafael Van Der Vaart which left the Dutch midfielder without his boot on one foot.  I think this was back in 2003, unfortunately the Forest website doesn’t seem to show friendlies on its’ retrospective fixture lists, so I can’t check.

Since that fledgling appearance we saw him undergo the ordeal of being a stand-in leftback under Paul Hart, before eventually cementing his place in the heart of defence to the point where he’s amassed over four hundred appearances for us.  His departure makes Paul Smith our longest-serving player if my calculations are correct – obviously the fact Wes is a local lad and a bit of a cult hero, well, it makes it sad.

Having said that – a fee of up to a million quid for a player who is out of contract in a few months is sensible business.  Alas, it would appear sensible business is the name of the game at the moment for Forest (of course, more sensible business would’ve been attending to his contract earlier, and NOT signing a plethora of more highly-paid primadonnas but hey, ain’t hindsight a wonderful thing?

For Wes I’m actually pleased – he’s stuck with us for a long time and just as, with the advent of McClaren and higher wages, he must have been looking forward to a new contract to reward his loyalty and commitment.  To be overlooked until the era of Doughty walking out and Cotterill’s cost-cutting kicked in must have been a real kick in the teeth.  He deserves the opportunity to go and earn a chunk of cash before his career begins to decline.

Of course, it’s a sad indictment that a mid-table Championship team with perhaps an outside chance of sneaking into the play-offs is deemed a better bet than we are – but at the moment it’s a difficult assertion to deny.  As such, I wish Wes all the best and will certainly give him a decent reception should he ever line up against us.  To be named in the Championship team of the year by your peers is high praise indeed, so he will be missed.

If Forest fail to use this move to fund at least incoming cover for the departure of Morgan then we really are up the proverbial creek without a paddle.  Chambers – hardly a ‘safe pair of hands’ this season is suspended for another game, Cunningham picked up an injury, Lynch is surely only a game or two away from his next injury… hmm, soz Gunts, looks like you’re on your own in defence.  That’s if we don’t sell you, too.

In other news Notts County apparently want to extend the loan of Kieron Freeman.  Hopefully we tell them to get bent!  We could do with him as cover for Cunningham given the lack of numbers we have in defence!

Westley. Considering departing the sinking ship.

Westley worked his way up from a youngster in the organisation, his reputation for a great work ethic showed from an early age. Rarely unable to work through illness or injury, he established himself as a key member of the staff over many years. Always modest, and never one of the shining stars – he was the kind of solid and dependable team members that any organisation depends upon.

Through his many years he’s been through performance issues with the business, he’s seen massive changes in personnel. He’s continued his fantastic attitude and workrate whilst surrounded by those less committed than himself, he’s done this whilst under austerity measures of wage restrictions that see him rewarded less well than his contemporaries at other businesses.

This season a change in policy saw a lifting of wage restrictions and an ambitious drive to accelerate the performance of the business. Westley was excited, his current contract was up soon and he was looking forward to the opportunity to be rewarded for his dedication, loyalty and hard work, as new recruits came to the organisation on much higher salaries than had previously been allowed.

Unfortunately this new strategy proved a gross miscalculation.

With performance levels unacceptable a backlash of customer complaints saw the chairman step down, the general manager depart and leave the club in a very different financial climate of cost-cutting. Nobody had spoken to Westley about his circumstances for some time, and other organisations had noticed his dependability and his contractual situation, and registered their interest.

Whilst Westley had a great relationship with the customers of his company, was a valued colleague by his team and felt a fondness for where he worked, he couldn’t help but think about the opportunities that he could have in another organisation. Certainly he could earn more money to provide for his family, he might have a chance of developing his career to higher levels too.

The fact that Westley happens to work for a football team rather than in a factory or office doesn’t really change anything for me – I wouldn’t blame him at all for seeking to move on from an organisation that has not recognised his value or loyalty and the contribution he makes to their performance. Add in the kick-in-the-gut influx of sub-standard players on considerably higher salaries and that just compounds matters.

I would be absolutely gutted to see Wes Morgan leave Forest, the only club he’s played for professionally and our longest serving player, however, I wouldn’t blame him one little bit – and he’ll always get a good reception from me should he ever return. You’ll never beat Wes Morgan!

Naturally I wish him a speedy recovery – I value him above most of our squad (albeit not as a left back as Steve McClaren seems to insist on utilise him).  The tiny shred of silver lining of this whole issue is that it underlines our need to, you know, sign a left back… which leads me to the next bit of team news…

We’ve signed Clint Hill on loan for 93 days from Queens Park Rangers.  Do you know where he played last season?  He played left back.  For QPR – the team that won the league.  That said, I’m still quite partial to the idea of him putting some pressure on the centre halves and deploying Lynch as left back – he’s impressed me when he’s played there this season (he impressed me at centreback yesterday too).

Hopefully the arrival of his child (congratulations!) will perhaps help lift the heavy weight of the captains armband from Luke Chambers.  We shall see – but a huge welcome aboard to Clint, regardless – I must admit I’ve always thought of him as a bit of a thug – but QPR and Palace fans I’ve asked think differently, although I wonder what Ando thinks as I’m sure he once elbowed him in the face!

Certainly our defence has lacked some steel and leadership – which is one of the reasons I kinda hope that Hill will be used to displace one of the centre halves and Lynch gets a run at left back.  Since that seems so unequivocally sensible I am 99.9% sure that this isn’t the path that Steve McClaren will take…

I would like to say I'm so excited to be playing for Nottingham forest this year all signed 3 year deal .gonna be a great season .—
Matthew Derbyshire (@mattderbyshire2) August 10, 2011

 Speculation from a few places (with the addition of a bit of common sense) suggest that the former-Blackburn man will don the number nine shirt for the Reds – of course, for those fans who want to honour the new player with shirt printing of their own Forest might need to get hold of some iron-on asterisks to take the sting out of having our neighbouring county on their shirts.

I jest, of course – the lad’s name is just an amusing diversion.  What is quite exciting is that we are picking up a striker with both Premier League and Champions League experience, whilst the stat purists will point to a less-than-impressive ratio of goals and games – but they are not allowing for substitute appearances and game time spent on the wing.

Certainly in Derbyshire we don’t have a lone striker or target man in him, from my sketchy knowledge, but he’s got an eye for goal and has been capped fourteen times at under 21 level for England.  I’m sure our signing of him will be causing envious glances from fellow Championship clubs.

After failing at an unexpected final hurdle to sign Verhoek (who has gone to another team in Holland today – tapped up? Much?) it’s welcome news that we have a reinforcement coming in.

So, a big welcome to Nottingham to Matt – I’m certainly looking forward to seeing him strut his stuff in the Garibaldi – and I’ll end with a fantastic idea for a chant that I just spotted on this thread in LTLF:

Derbyshire, Derbyshire,
Matty Derbyshire,
He’s not to blame
For his shit name
Matty Derbyshire!

(To the tune of the old classic ‘Stevie Stone’ song )  Let’s make that one happen!  Of course, there’s always that niggling doubt until we see the picture on the Forest website – particularly in the light of the Verhoek nonsense – but surely this time it really is a (touches wood, rubs lucky rabbit’s foot etc etc) done deal?

Edit: Robin Chipperfield has just posted that this indeed isn’t quite a done deal, there’s a few things to iron out which is why there has been no official announcement – so the Matty himself was a little trigger-happy with his Tweet.  If that’s a sign of his eagerness to get stuck in with the Reds, then that’s no bad thing!

He joins Andy Reid as Steve McClaren’s second signing.  Starting out at York, he ended up at Manchester United where of course the gaffer was Ferguson’s assistant, before following Schteve to Middlesbrough in 2001, before leaving for West Brom where he ended up skipper and a popular figure – latterly being loaned and then sold to Fulham.

A big welcome to Jonathan – he’s got himself a three year contract and has signed for an undisclosed fee thought to be around £600k.  I’m quite pleased with the move – and not just because it’s a signing, any signing – I do think he’ll add the kind of experience and guile we need in midfield, but perhaps with a little more quality than former skipper Paul McKenna offered.

Rumours are also abounding that we have or are about to agree a three year contract with Guy Moussi, presumably after his agent failed to pimp him around all and sundry and had to resort to us (forgive my cynicism, the Moose will be a welcome sight in a Forest shirt again next season, but the delay naturally rankles a little bit!).

So with the midfield bolstered by potentially three now (admittedly with one rumoured re-signing) all eyes revert to that troublesome left-back position, and, well, the six or so more signings that Steve McClaren claimed he needed not so long ago.  It will be interesting to see how many of them he gets…!  As Kenny Burns says, Greening is a start, but it’s only a start…

Whether McClaren sees him as the left winger that most Forest fans will remember him as or a more central playmaker remains to be seen – certainly we have had a long-standing vacancy on the left wing, most recently filled by the departed Nathan Tyson who – whilst full of endeavour – lacked a certain amount of guile in that role, just as he lacked the ability to finish when in his preferred position up front.

So a huge welcome aboard to Reidy – a free transfer and a two year deal signed.  Obviously if that’s the full extent of our incoming activity then it will be disappointing, but it’s a good start.  Rumours persist that Giles Barnes has also agreed a deal in principle but is undergoing an extended fitness test – he’s certainly a player that could be a snip if he fulfils his potential.  Big if, of course.

McKenna celebrates his goal of the season contender (sic) against Leicester City last season..

As well as an incoming we’ve had confirmation of the worst-kept two outgoings – last season’s skipper Paul McKenna and Dele Adebola both head to Hull on free transfers.  McKenna has been a good pro for us, and – as is usually the case with defensive midfielders and Forest fans – not always as valued as he deserves to be, having said that, he was starting to show signs of wear and tear, and a move was probably right.

Dele too should go with good wishes – personally I never quite got the affection and belief some fans seemed to have in him, but I don’t doubt he was a decent pro who was good to have around our younger players – even if his contribution on the pitch was, in my opinion, less than overwhelming.  That said, he played his part in some late cameos and caused a degree of havoc in opponent defences.

Best of luck to both of them in their future careers – I’m sure each of them can look forward to a decent reception from Forest fans when we next encounter them.

The lack of news around Earnshaw and Moussi would suggest to me that neither are likely to be with us next season – which is a pity in both cases, particularly Moussi.  Que sera sera though – we really should have looked to get these players on a longer term contract if we had intended to keep them.  It does rather mean that McClaren needs to be thinking about holding midfielders, though.

As for whether Smoulderwood deigns to return or not – that too remains in the balance.  I do hope so though, not just because I want to childishly pick up with the silly nickname again, but clearly he’s the choice that the club want to bring in.  I’m (possibly over-optimistically) looking forward to further news over the next week or so…

Of course, signing a Boyd on loan seems to be becoming a bit of a habit at this stage of the season for Forest – with Peterborough’s George Boyd hardly making waves when he arrived last season.  In return for the loan, the Reds have allowed out-of-favour ‘keeper Paul Smith to move to the Riverside Stadium in a loan move too.  A good move for him, as clearly his future at Forest is sketchy at best.

All the best to him and Boro’s bid to try to get Derby closer to the relegation mire!  Indeed, Derby are Middlesbrough’s opponents this very evening.

Kris Boyd was part of a raft of players to arrive at Middlesbrough from Scotland in the summer, but he’s struggled to make much of an impact at the North East club.  He’s been limited to appearances from the bench since Tony Mowbray took the reigns at the Riverside Stadium – so hopefully he’ll relish the opportunity of a fresh start and a different kind of battle at the other end of the table.

Whilst he didn’t exactly have the impact he’d have liked in Middlesbrough, you don’t become Rangers’ all-time leading goal-scorer without knowing where the onion bag is, and given our difficulties in scoring goals lately it could hopefully prove to be a shrewd move by Wee Billy.  Whether or not he can walk the walk remains to be seen, but from reading the official site, he’s certainly talking the talk.

“The loan transfer has come out of the blue for me. I didn’t know anything about it until Monday but once I knew that a club of Forest’s stature and history wanted me, I didn’t need asking twice.

I want to be part of a successful team and one that is heading in the right direction and Forest certainly fit the bill where that is concerned.

There are a lot of games coming up in a short time and I just want to concentrate on what’s right for Forest and do everything I can to help them get into the Premier League.

I’ve spoken to a few people about the manager at Forest and all I have heard back from them is good. He’s got a fantastic record in the Championship and has the right mindset to get the club promoted.”

Welcome to Forest, Kris.  Certainly this makes tonight’s game at Sheffield United all the more interesting.  Fingers crossed he really can hit the ground running and weigh in with some goals against the Yorkshire strugglers.  All the best to Smithy too, I wasn’t one of those fans that seemed to delight in turning on him, but I do think it’s best for all concerned that he looks to rebuild his career elsewhere.

That’s not to belittle the efforts of Joel Lynch, who has been covering the left back spot since then – however, we are now roundly sure that his future lies as a centreback rather than a fullback.  It’s been a great relief to see Forest unusually acting on the deadline day to bring in a player of confirmed quality to cover that most troublesome of spots.

The rumours started breaking last night, and even when Terry the Kitman offered hints on Twitter I as always remained dubious.  It sort of makes sense – Konchesky has had a miserable time since joining Liverpool and once a loan back to Fulham fell through his only option for escape was an emergency loan to a Football League team due to the two-clubs-in-a-season rule.

Konchesky signed for Liverpool from Fulham, following his former manager Roy Hodgson, after the start of the season.  He played for the Cottagers against Manchester United back in August which – in hindsight – has been the factor to severely limit his options in trying to escape from Merseyside.  Made all the more pressing as his Mum posted a few ill-thought comments about Liverpool fans on her Facebook page!

Since Kenny Dalglish took the reins at Anfield the 29 year old hasn’t featured for them – having been generally regarded as a bit of a scapegoat as Liverpool adjust to an era of not automatically falling in to the top four of the Premier League.  His past performances for Fulham in the top flight however show him to certainly be capable of operating in the top flight – and have netted him a couple of England caps.

Given his need to gain a fresh start elsewhere, and our – as ever – dire need of securing the services of a specialist left back it’s a match made in heaven for me.  Whilst I’d held on to the hope that we might just lure Ryan Bertrand back from Chelsea, this is the kind of signing I really wanted to see us make.  He should be eligible to play as soon as Tuesday when we visit Coventry City.

Welcome aboard Paul!  It’s good to have you.  Paul Konchesky is a red, is a red, is a red, Paul Konchesky is a red, his Mum hates Scousers!

He’s always been one of those players that seems to have niggled us when he’s been an opponent, and perhaps his unsettledness at Wednesday after other moves were blocked for him meant that people had a poorer impression of his abilities than they should have.  He’s not the biggest or the fastest, but he’s decent in the air (as the Derby game showed, albeit against appalling defenders), and he’s got a great first touch, and an eye for goal.

It all adds to the former-Rams in our ranks too – he started out with Derby, making 99 appearances for them and notching 18 goals before earning a move to Wednesday amidst all manner of outlandish off-field rumours.  At Wednesday he made a little over 200 appearances and notched 50 goals – so increased his scoring ratio from 1 in 5 games to 1 in 4.  Hopefully he can do the same again here, he’s certainly started well enough!

Elsewhere on the personnel merry-go-round we welcome back Joe Garner and Julian Bennett from their loans with Huddersfield and Palace respectively.  It’s already been decreed that no follow-up interest in Joe will be shown by Huddersfield after his loan ended with no goals.  Benno I understand made a better impression at Palace, although given the injury and soon-t0-be-expired loan of Ryan Bertrand the Reds might choose to assess whether it’s worth keeping hold of him.  We still await news of Robbie Findley’s work permit.

After that – well, the usual rumours in a January window are surfacing.  The general mood of the message boards seems to be confidence that Forest will splash the cash in this window, which always makes me – the cynic – feel a bit pensive!  Certainly this season represents a real opportunity to make a claim for the automatic spots, as none of the teams at the top look unassailable at the moment.. unfortunately that also includes us as times!

I really want to have faith that this January will be different – indeed, it has started remarkably well with the capture of Tudgay, but I’m not going to let myself get too excited!

Ryan Bertrand: A lesser-crested left back!

I wondered whether I’d posted too early on the subject of Ryan Bertrand – but it turns out it was right, because he’s signed a six month loan agreement today, which is also his 21st birthday.  Despite his tender years, he’s had plenty of experience at this level and in League One with long term loan spells at Norwich and Reading in the past.  And he makes a most welcome addition to the mighty Reds squad.

He’s recently graduated from the England U19 side to be included in the U21s under Stuart Pearce, and Reds fans will be pleased to know his single solitary professional goal came against Derby when he was at Reading.  Indeed, more pleasing is that it was the game where Savage had ended up in goal for the Rams!

He was converted from playing on the wing when younger, so whilst obviously his principle job is defending he’s known for his ability to get forward and support the attackers – which, given our typically narrow midfield formations, will be something that we would need ideally in any fullback – something Gunter does very well.  I’m really rather excited by this news, hopefully the six months is precautionary to give Chelsea an option to look at their 25 man squad in the window and hopefully extend the deal.

Welcome aboard, Ryan!  In being handed the number 3 shirt, I’m hoping you can do it justice!