Whisky and Women

I could sit here and bore you all with the details of how I got here. I could go into horrific detail about the broken leg that ended my playing career at the age of twenty-six. I could talk for hours about the process of gaining my coaching license, visiting clubs around the world to learn from the very best managers in the game. I could even regale you with tales of my season spent in non-league football, a season so impressive that it landed me the very job I hold now. But I've never been one for looking at the past. And besides, I'm not sure how much of it I can honestly remember past the endless bottles of whisky and all the willing women.

The fact of the matter is that I'm here now, manager of Nottingham Forest at the tender age of thirty, looking to rebuild a formerly great club. A club whose history could still make some of the greatest names in the world quake in their boots.

There will be few who don't know at least part of this history of this once great club and the legend who once managed them. Two European Cups and countless domestic trophies came their way, but now they sit with the record of being the only European Champions ever to fall to the third tier of their domestic game. But this tale is not about Forest. Going far into their history would be pointless. I'm here to tell you about me. My object is not to bring glory to Nottingham, it's to cover myself in it. To succeed, no matter what the costs and no matter where it takes me.

I could sit here and bore you all with the details of how I got here. I could go into horrific detail about the broken leg that ended my playing career at the age of twenty-six. I could talk for hours about the process of gaining my coaching license, visiting clubs around the world to learn from the very best managers in the game. I could even regale you with tales of my season spent in non-league football, a season so impressive that it landed me the very job I hold now. But I've never been one for looking at the past. And besides, I'm not sure how much of it I can honestly remember past the endless bottles of whisky and all the willing women.

The fact of the matter is that I'm here now, manager of Nottingham Forest at the tender age of thirty, looking to rebuild a formerly great club. A club whose history could still make some of the greatest names in the world quake in their boots.

There will be few who don't know at least part of this history of this once great club and the legend who once managed them. Two European Cups and countless domestic trophies came their way, but now they sit with the record of being the only European Champions ever to fall to the third tier of their domestic game. But this tale is not about Forest. Going far into their history would be pointless. I'm here to tell you about me. My object is not to bring glory to Nottingham, it's to cover myself in it. To succeed, no matter what the costs and no matter where it takes me.

My object is not to bring glory to Nottingham, it's to cover myself in it.

Excellent [/Mr Burns]

Good Luck

cheers

--------------

I woke with a start, all of a sudden sat bolt upright in my bed. From head to toe I was drenched in sweat and a painseared through my left leg. Much as I like to brush it off, much as I like to avoid talking about it, the dreams still plague me. I expect they always will. I hear the crack clearly from behind my closed eyes, the screams that followed, though I can never tell whether from me or the crowd. The world still swims, just as it did back then, the faces of my teammates, the doctors, everyone just swinging in and out of focus. Even in my dreams, it's difficult to pick out any details. The Diagnosis. Compound fracture. Left fibia. Milky white bone protruding from my milky white skin, clear for all to see above the sock forever rolled around my ankle.

I don't even know what happened to cause it. A mis-timed challenge, a twist, studs caught in the turf? I've never built up the courage to watch the video, though it sits on my shelf alongside Finding Nemo. I know I said I wasn't going to do this, go back through what happened. I said I was going to deal with nothing but the future. The truth is that I don't want to remember it past the whisky and women, they've all been in a vain effort to forget, but I guess that going over and over it is simply unavoidable when it still haunts me. If I'm going to be wrenched from my sleep in the middle of the night then you might as well know why.

I looked down at the darkened figure lying beside me, a beautiful sight hidden deep under the covers despite the warmth of the summer night. To be honest, I don't even know this one's name. Starts with an L, I think. Lauren, maybe. I swung my legs out of bed and looked at the alarm clock on the table nearby. The luminous green numbers lit the room in an eerie way, though one I had gotten very used to during my sleepless nights. 03:42. I picked up the whisky glass and slugged down its contents before being reminded by a foul taste in my mouth that I'd stubbed a cigarette out in it during the previous night's festivities. With the liquid and the offending stub spat out across my discarded clothes and the choking cough I threw forth failing to wake my bedmate, I stumbled towards the bathroom. In just over four hours I was due in the office for my first day at the new job. I seriously doubted that the bags under my eyes and alcohol on my breath would make much of a good first impression.

The financial report didn't make for good reading. The chairman, Nigel Doughty had stuffed it in my hand the very moment I'd walked through the door into reception. Not only were there £15M in loans outstanding, being paid back at £125,000 per month, the club's bank balance was a devastating £2,000,000 in the red. The salary bill was already £6,000 per week over budget, but despite all this, there was still apparantly a few hundred thousand pounds for me to play with in the transfer market. A few hundred thousnd pound with which he fully expected us to win the League One title.

With no assistant manager to get me up to speed on the qualities (or lack thereof) of the players at my disposal, I sat that evening with mountains of coach reports and videos of that day's training session. It had been the first after the club's summer break, and at least most of them looked fit, but little ball work had been done to help me with my decisions. The bank balance and salary bill combined to make it definite that some bodies would have to be moved on, and loan deals rather than permanent signings were the way to get new faces in.

As consolation, however, there was at least a base of some talent in the squad already at my disposal. Some of the players on the club's books had gone through very fruitful Championship careers, though that was more likely to mean a few more pound signs to my eyes than a great career in a Nottingham Forest shirt.

Between the sticks it seemed a straight fight from what my coaches told me. 24 year old Danish stopper Rune Pedersen was the favourite of most, and his on field influence marked him out as a potential captain, but veteran Englishman Paul Gerrard, perhaps still in his best years at the age of 31, looked like he could provide good competition for the spot.

In numbers, at least, the defensive side of the team looked healthy. My plan to begin the season with a solid 4-5-1 depended on having the defenders to shut up shop, and we had seven of them to fit into four positions. Nicky Eaden was the only out and out right back, but both John Curtis and youngster James Perch could fill in there despite being more comfortable in the centre. The centre back slot, however, was where I found Danny Cullip and Ian Breckin, two stalwarts of Championship campaigns with more experience than you could shake a stick at. The only problem was that Breckin was attracting a lot of attention from clubs higher up the divisional ladder than us, and with his near £4,000 per week wages, the chances were more than good that he'd be moved on in the very near future. On the left side of the planned back four, Argentinian Gino Padula would fight it out with Alan Rogers. I fully expected Padula to win the battle, but if he proved himself useless then Rogers was more than capable of stepping up.

The fight for the holding role in front of the back four was between three of the older members of the team. The youngster of the trio, and most likely to get the nod was 29 year old Welshman Paul Evans, but Nicky Southall and Scotland internationl Gary Holt both had distinct merits of their own.

The fact that I wanted to play four in front of that position, two breaking forward from the centre of the park and two parading down the wings was complicated by the fact that I only had a further four midfielders in my squad. Eugen Bopp was the only one comfortable on the right flank, whilst the same applied for Kris Commons on the left. In the centre, former Plymouth man David Friio looked set to partner the ageing Eoin Jess, though I made it an instant priority to bring in some further strength in depth to bolster the midfield.

The lone striker role would fall to one of four candidates unless anyone else was brought in, and that was a distinct possibility. David Johnson and Gareth Taylor were the most likely prospects, both Eugéne Dadi and Scott Dobie had failed to impress me in their earlier carees, though Dobie's ability to play on the right flank was one thing that might find him a place in the side after all.

Strong in defence and decidedly weaker in attack, I was nonetheless reasonably pleased with the squad given the level of opposition we would be facing. With a few well thought signings in a few crucial positions, there was not a doubt in my mind that winning the league was by no means out of the question.

From: N.Doughty@nottinghamforest.co.uk

To: S.Beckett@nottinghamforest.co.uk

Subject: Neil Mellor

Hi Stephen, just a quick note to let you know that the papers were all signed this afternoon and sent off to the FA. Neil has gone back up to Liverpool but he'll be back to report for training the day after tomorrow, well in time for the friendly against Dagenham.

Neil

---------

The chairman's e-mail was fantastic news. I'd approached Liverpool about the possibility of siging Neil Mellor on a season long loan, one of four which we were allowed. He didn't seem to figure in Rafa Benitez's plans, and there had been a lot of interest from other clubs, both in the Championship and League One, so I was delighted that we'd won the race to get him. There had been no doubt from the first few training sessions that, despite my plans to only play one up front, we needed some more firepower. Dobie was earmarked for a role on the right flank, Dadi simply wasn't good enough and I still had serious doubts about both Johnson and Taylor. Mellor, however, I was confident would be a star at this level.

The slightly worse news was that I'd been effectively forced into accepting a £400,000 bid for Ian Breckin. The chairman told me, as he was handing me the faxed offer from Southampton, that we needed to raise some cash in order to make sure that there was no threat of administration, and that the wage bill really could do with trimming. I was told that I'd get to reinvest £150,000 of the Breckin sale money, and it seemed pretty certain that he was on his way out when Wolves matched the bid made by Southampton.

I was far happier to get rid of Kevin James. Ostensibly a right winger, he'd shown not a tiny flash of talent, and the £2,300 he was earning every week was definite to have a better use. There had initially been no interest in him when shopped around with a £50,000 price tag, but as soon as we let it be known that we would off him on a free transfer, a swarm of League Two clubs contacted us. Kevin made his decision quickly, and became the first player out of the door since I took over when he packed his bags to join Shrewsbury.

The friendly against Dagenham & Redbridge, six days after I took over the job, was my first chance to see the boys in any kind of action. We'd not even done any five-a-side in training. I was fully expecting a win against a conference side, but when Paul Evans was sent off in the ninth minute for a bad foul on Chris Moore, my confidence levels dropped. Moore had the cheek to even open the scoring for the home side, but within sixty seconds the natural order had been restored with a Neil Mellor goal. Eugen Bopp added a second before the half time whistle, and when Scott Dobie cut in off the right wing and planted a shot firmly in the bottom corner with sixteen minutes remaining, the game was well and truly over.

It had been a good showing, certainly one that gave encouragement for the campaign ahead, though Paul Evans had done himself no favours with a challenge which could easily have broken Moore's leg. If Holt and Southall impressed in the remaining friendlies, then he could expect to have a long fight to find himself in the first team again.

Pre-season was progressing nicely, the boys were training well, getting noticably fitter with each passing day and, more importantly, beginning to impress upon me that they did indeed have some skills to work with. The search for an assistant manager had proved fruitful, the chairman had got word out that we were inviting applications for the posts, and no fewer than fifteen well respected men of the footballing world made their interest known. The cadidate that stood out for me, however, was former Blackburn and England goalkeeper Tim Flowers. Not only did he talk sense about the club and the game in general when we met, but he would bring something of the higher profile which I definitely lacked.

With money still a rare thing at the club, we were still scouring the market for decent laon signings. During our negotiations over Neil Mellor, Rafa Benítez had mentioned that there were a few other members of his squad whom he may be willing to let out on loan for the campaign, and the one that had interested me most was Mohamed Sissoko. Whilst the Mali international, recently captured from Benítez's former club Valencia, was by trade a central midfielder, he was also comfortable playing on the left flank, and with Kris Commons being our only option in that position, a new face was greatly needed. The deal to bring Momo in for the entire season was straight forward and quickly struck, though with only a day's training under his belt at the City Ground, it was decided to start him on the bench for the friendly trip to Woking.

I wasn't overly happy at playing warm-up games against lower level opposition, but they were games arranged before I had come on board and I felt somewhat obliged to keep up our committments. The game at Woking proved to be a slightly easier one than we faced against Dagenham, for one this we managed to keep all eleven players on the field for the whole game. The first half was quite an even affair, the only difference between the sides at the interval being Nicky Southall's penalty, struck on the half hour. We came out fighting in the second period, and within six minutes of the restart we'd added a further two goals to our tally. David Johnson rifled in a volley from six yards, and Eugen Bopp swung a free kick into the top corner to complete our win in a nice, easy run out.

Just twenty four hours after the run out against Woking, Ian Breckin completed his move to Southampton, the south coast club sending 400,000 crisp pound notes in our direction as compensation. On the playing front, I was sad to see Ian leave. Though, due to his ongoing transfer saga, he hadn't featured in either of our friendlies, he had been extremely impressive in training and the sort of player whose experience could have been vital in our bid for an immediate return to the higher level. However, I was well enough aware that the bank balance remains king in this game, and was happy enough with John Curtis and Danny Cullip as a partnership.

My transfer blues at the loss of Breckin were tempered the following day by the news that Eoin Jess had agreed to join Bury on loan for three months. It may have been a weakening of our squad in terms of numbers, but the 33 year old had shown me nothing to say that he had the quality I was looking for in my side. If a permanent deal could be done in the winter transfer window then I would be more than happy. Furthermore, a third season long loan deal was completed with Chelsea's young French starlet, Lassana Diarra making the move north. Just nineteen years of age, the defensive midfielder was a very highly rated prospect at Stamford Bridge, and just a few minutes of his first training session was enough to convince me that he should be my number one choice as the anchor man in front of my defence.

Our third of four friendlies came at Oxford's Kassam Stadium, and a generally strong side was put out. Tim had been bending my ear about a kid he'd seen in our reserve side, nineteen year old central midfielder James Beaumont. Apparantly a product of Newcastle's youth system, James had failed to make the grade at St James' Park and was now in his second year at the City Ground, though yet to make his first team debut. Tim seemed to see something special in him, so I stuck him on the bench, only to have to throw him into the fray after twenty minutes when Dobie hobbled off the field with an ankle injury. Lee Bradbury had put Oxford in front by that time, but Beaumont justified his selection with the equaliser after half an hour, though with two minutes of the half remaining, he too was forced off by a tough tackling Oxford side. Neil Mellor, who had been causing all sorts of problems for the home defence, got what turned out after a drab second half, to be the winning goal in first half injury time, heading home Momo Sissoko's cross. Though again against lower league opposition, three pre-season wins was not to be sniffed at, and I was definitely getting a good feeling about my side.

nice start

Seconded

cheers both

-------------------

"Pump 1 and a 'Times', please."

"Forty pounds, thirty five."

"****ing petrol."

Still struggling with my disgust at the local petrol station charging 97 pence per litre for its product, I flicked open my paper and turned immediately, as always, to the back page. The word Forest jumped out at me immediately from a small story towards the foot of the page. I read on with amazement that turned into disdelief with every passed paragraph. The paper was reporting that a deal to bring major investment into the club was being tied up today, and even had a quote from my chairman saying he hoped that the money would speed up the club's drive back to the top echelons of the game.

Back on the road, I slammed my phone into its in-car charger and dialled the chairman.

"Nigel Doughty's office."

"Hi, Christine. It's Stephen, could you put me through."

"Sure."

.....

"Nigel Doughty."

"Hi, Nigel. Is what I'm reading in the Times true? About the investment?"

"I was going to tell you when you got in. Where are you?"

"Five minutes out."

"Come straight to my office when you get here."

---

I came out of the chairman's office an hour later a much happier man. Whilst my incredulity at being kept out of the loop longer than the national press had not entirely abated, the news that a London-based business man was all set to pump £8,000,000 into the club was more than enough to keep me quiet. My thoughts had immediately turned to the transfer budget, and much to my surprise, I didn't have to struggle and fight to get my share of the spoils, I was told immediately that part of the deal on the investor's part was a guarantee that £5,000,000 of the money had to be made available for squad strengthening. That news was slightly tempered by the fact that the salary budget would remain the same, I would still have to free up a bit more room on it before I could buy, but to me ears the best part was that it meant any financial pressure to sell my more marketable assests had been removed.

With the wage bill almost down to the level allowed, I decided to get a little cheeky the following day and request the chairman sanction two permanent signings. Admittedly, neither wanted more than £1,000 per week, less than Ian Breckin was getting on his own, but I was still dubious of the outcome when I sent the request to the chairman's office. My coaching staff and I had worked quickly upon the news that there was money available to sight some targets, and the names of Adam Nowland and Clint Hill were quickly agreed upon. Nowland, formerly of West Ham, had fallen out of favour at Preston already and joined for a mere £40,000 fee whilst it took £100,000 to get Hill from Stoke. They were joined by a third season-long loan deal from Liverpool, Stephen Warnock arriving at the City Ground to push Alan Rogers out of sight in the pecking order.

Our final friendly of the pre-season campaign saw Crystal Palace visit the City Ground. This was the sort of game I had been looking for, a test against higher division opposition to show me a real clue of where we might be come the start of the league season. After ninety minutes of action, I was led to think that we might be pretty well placed, if truth be told. Starting his first game in the shirt, Momo Sissoko got us off to the perfect start, and despite Ben Watson's equaliser, an Aki Riihilahti own goal had us back in front before the half time whistle. Eugen Bopp hobbled off injured early in the second half, allowing Nowland on for his first taste of action, and quick goals from fellow substitutes, Scott Dobie and Gareth Taylor sealed the win for us. Anthony Danze got a late consolation for the Premiership side, but we had been well worth the victory, driven largely by a fantastic Sissoko performance.

...I lost my faith in the summertime

'Cos it don't stop raining

The sky all day is as black as night

But I'm not complaining...

My hand emerged from underneath the covers and groped around for the source of the annoyance. Finding my alarm clock in full flow, I threw it as forcefully as I could muster into the wall, hoping desperately to silence it. I had no success though. For a third time in recent weeks, the dreaded clock survived a high speed meeting with my bedroom wall and kept on singing. Gradually I forced the rest of my body out of bed, though the apathy of my muscles saw me crumple into a heap on the floor.

My mind was hidden beneath a dense fog. I could barely think where I was, let alone why my alarm had been set. Slowly, as I sat quietly on the floor, the situation came back to me. In just a few short hours, I would be leading out a Nottingham Forest in my first competitive game. It was the last thing that I wanted, to be honest. At that very moment all I cared for was a long sleep followed by a lazy day, resting off the hangover that had inevitably come my way.

The previous night had been spent ensconced in a local bar, drinking far more than my weight in whisky and lager. I couldn't remember how, or why, I had ended up there. It seemed a nonsense thing to do on the eve of such an occasion in my life. Yet it was, depressingly, the exact kind of thing that I was prone to do. I pulled myself to my feet and scanned the room to see if I had brought anybody home with me. It appeared that I had not been successful in that endeavour, at least, so there was one less thing to worry about.

A long shower and a quick shave later, I was in my office trying desperately to focus on the task ahead. Come midday I had finally managed to pick a team, with Sissoko away at the Olympics with the Mali national side, it was a no brainer to pick Kris Commons on the left flank. Yeovil were the visitors to the City Ground on the opening day of the season, a game that but a few years ago would have looked a David vs Goliath cup encounter. In truth, it played little different as we dominated our supposed lesser opponents from first to last, scoring early on in both halves. The opener came through Scott Dobie, swapping positions with Neil Mellor, and heading the striker's cross past Chris Weale in the Yeovil goal. We could have been far further ahead before we did finally double our advantage, Neil Mellor turning from provider to scorer as he latched onto Friio's through ball and slid his shot under Weale. The game played out with Yeovil having only one shot on goal, and that flew yards over the bar.

The damage from the Yeovil game was limited to a slight shoulder injury, which would keep him out of the visit to Doncaster, though he would certainly be back in contention for the visit of Colchester. Two players were released before we took to the field again, Paul Evans being packed off to Scunthorpe without the need for a transfer fee, whilst Alan Rogers went in the same way to Championship side Queen's Park Rangers.

We made only two changes for our game at Doncaster, Southall and Nowland coming in for the tired Diarra and injured Friio. As the teams lined up for kick-off, I was taken aback by the home side's formation. Whilst we, as we had against Yeovil, lined up in a somewhat cautious 4-5-1, Doncaster began 4-2-4. There was no doubt that they were going to come after us from the off. For much of the game it worked, we were pinned back in our own half for the vast majority of the first period, creating only a solitary chance for Mellor which he fired straight at Andy Warrington. The first twenty minutes of the second half progressed no better than us, and come the hour mark I decided to make a triple substitution. Padula and Johnson came on for the ineffective Commons and Mellor, whilst James Beaumont, impressive in pre-season, made his club debut when on for Adam Nowland. And it was Beaumont who forced us in front. With eighteen minutes left, Dobie crossed into the area, and Beaumont's late arrival caused havoc, allowing him to calmly volley past Warrington. Doncaster seemed dispirited, and within five minutes we had a second when Beaumont's through ball was fired in by Johnson.

great stuff

thanks, bertie

-------------------

With two wins in the bag early on, there was a bit less pressure going into our home game against Colchester. Friio and Diarra returned to the starting midfield, and they were joined by James Beaumont (at the expense of Eugen Bopp) after his game winning performance at Belle Vue. Come half time, there was little between the teams in terms of possession and territory, and only Scott Dobie's 16th minute conversion of a David Friio square ball separated them on the scoresheet. I knew the first ten or fifteen minutes of the second half were going to be crucial, and told the players as much as they sat around the dressing room. What I was stunned to find, was that my chiding worked, and sixteen minutes after the restart, we had opened up a four goal gap. Gareth Taylor, starting in place of Neil Mellor, grabbed our second of the day when put through by Beaumont, and the young midfielder got on the scoresheet himself soon afterwards with a superb finish. Taylor provided the fourth with a pinpoint cross for Kris Commons to volley past Aidan Davison, and the win was rounded off in fantastic fashion eight minutes from time by substitute Mellor.

The win, though not against a side whom we expected to challenge at the top of the table, was a signal to the rest of the league that we meant business. The players were quickly beginning to convince me that they belonged at a higher level, a theory we'd have the chance to test when we faced Reading in the Carling Cup after a visit to face Port Vale in the league.

"Have you got two minutes to see Ian?"

"Yeah, sure, send him in." My chief scout had been away since my very early days at the club. I'd sent him on a two month mission to scour the British Isles for the best talent we could afford, but so far he'd had problems finding any real gems.

"Mr Storey-Moore, welcome."

"Cheers."

"You in town long?"

"Nah, off down to London tomorrow morning. Just though I'd stop by."

"How goes the search?"

"Better. Found a couple you might be interested in and one I reckon you should jump in for as soon as I leave the office."

"Excellent."

"Davidas Cesnauskis is a possibility at Hearts, but I don't really see him as a viable long term option. I don't think he's going to get any better than he already is. There's Chris Burke at Rangers, but he's going to cost you an arm and both your legs even if they are willing to part with him. Plus you're going to have to beat off interest from Everton."

"So moving on."

"Yeah. Liam Fox."

"Who?"

"Plays for Inverness. Can play on the right or through the centre. Bit rough at the moment, definitely needs some work but I reckon he could go straight into a first team at this level, and he's certainly got the potential to get a lot better."

"Price range?"

"Couple hundred thousand ought to do it, I would think."

"Fantastic. You want a drink?"

I'd sent Ian on the lookout for another right-sided midifelder. Whilst I was very happy with Scott Dobie's performances, he couldn't play every game and I was eager to keep Eugen Bopp available to play through the centre as often as possible. FOx sounded like just what I was looking for, so I got the chairman to fax through an offer of £150,000 to the SPL side whilst I went off to prepare the boys for our next match.

Port Vale were a team that, to be perfectly honest, I knew little about. Further than that they seemed continually stuck in the lower echelons of the English game, they were an entire mystery to me. Naturally, I was somewhat weary, though I needn't have been as Bopp had us a goal in front inside sixty seconds, heading home Commons' cross. The home side lost right back Steve Rowland to injury before the tenth minute had passed, and before the twentieth had arrived, Bopp had doubled both his and our tally, this time racing onto Beaumont's through ball and firing past Jonathan Brain. We had to wait until the second half to find ourselves any further in front, substitute David Friio, on for Dobie just moments earlier, getting on the end of another Commons cross to fire in our third. Vale got a consolation two minutes into injury time, though it did little to take the shine off our win as we confirmed our position at the top of the table.

The news got even better for us a few dyas later as, after Caley Thistle had accepted our offer for Fox, the 20 year old midfielder quickly agreed terms on his move and completed in time to feature on the bench against Reading. On a few messageboards, some fans expressed an unease at Fox's signing, apparantly he came with a reputation of causing a bit of unrest. I, however, was more than confident that he'd fit well into what we were trying to do.

Excellent reading

thanks for the kinds words, banditsfan

----------------------------

My natural instinct was to treat the Carling Cup with contempt, to field a weakened side despite our lowly position in the league structure. The temptation, however, to try and prove a point against Championship side Reading was too great. With the only changes from the side who had beaten Port Vale seeing Gino Padula come in for Warnock and Adam Nowland replace Beaumont, we went onto the City Ground turf with every intention of winning the game. Throughout the ninety minutes, we had been the better side. We created three chances for every one that Reading mustered. However, we had shown all the killer instinct of Buddhist monk and extra time was upon us. During the second half, Nicky Eaden had come on the replace Lassana Diarra after the Frenchman had taken a slight knock, but was to find himself well and truly in my bad books when he was given his marching orders in the 103rd minute after a second deserved yellow card. With us down to ten men, the smart money would most certainly have gone on Reading stealing a win during the second extra time period, however they could no more force a clear chance than when we had all eleven on the pitch. Indeed, as the seconds ran down towards a penalty shoot-out, the 120 minutes up and only brief injury time remaining, Adam Nowland laid a ball between the two Reading centre backs and Neil Mellor got onto it first, lobbing Graham Stack from the edge of the area, putting us through into the second round of the tournament.

Eaden's red card meant that he would be suspended for our next game, a trip over the border to face Swansea. More worrying, however, was the news that both Diarra and Commons would also miss the game. Both had been forced off during the Reading game, replaced by Eaden and Warnock respectively, and both had been playing surperbly well in the initial stages of our league campaign.

The squad was strengthened though, by the arrival of Moroccan international winger Yacine Abdessadki. He had fallen somewhat out of favour at French side Toulousse, and despite not being the most talented individual ever to grace a football field, at the level we were playing he looked more than capable of doing a job. Especially given the price tag of only £325,000.

With few changes again made for the Swansea game, only Holt and Sissoko deputising for the injured pair of Diarra and Commons and Beaumont in for the tired Nowland, Abdessadki took his place amongst the substitutes and settled himself down to watch with the promise that he'd get some action in the second half. What he saw, however, was another example of just how special a talent young Beaumont appeared to be. In the eighth minute of the match, he laid a perfect through ball between the Swansea defence, Sissoko timing his run expertly to find himself on the end of the pass and able to fire his shot past the onrushing Willy Guéret. Sixteen minutes later, the same combination, a sublime Beaumont pass unleashing Sissoko to score, worked again to put us two in front, and despite Andrew Gurney's penalty after Warnock's handball halving the gap, we never looked in the slightest danger of not coming away from the game with all three points. Neil Mellor restored our two goal lead before the break, and twenty minutes from the end he nodded in Abdessadki's cross to complete the win.

"Hi, Nigel."

"Morning."

"Anything wrong?"

"Far from it."

"Then please, come in." My chairman had stuck his head round my door with a worryingly sullen look on his face. I hated to think what could have had him in a bad mood considering the start to the season we'd had, but you never know with men such as he.

"I've just had a fax from the FA."

"Not usually good when those meddling bastards get involved with something."

"I think you'll be pleasantly surprised this time." He slid a single sheet of paper across my desk, his face now unable to hide a manic grin. A quick glance at the sheet said it was the results of the monthly awards for League One, something I'd certainly had in the back of my mind given our start to the season. I had not, however, expected to sweep three of the four awards, the only one missing our name being the goal of the month competition.

My manager of the month award was sweet, and seeing Kris Commons pick up the young player crown for August was pleasing. But nothing competed with watching James Beaumont being handed his player of the month trophy and being interviewed by a rather enthusiastic Chris Kamara. Our nineteen year old midfielder had ended the month with two goals and five assists in just four appearences, if the rest of his Forest career were to play out the same then he'd be something of a legend in a few short years.

August 2004 Summary

(League One unless otherwise stated)

Nottingham Forest 2 - 0 Yeovil

(Dobie 7"; Mellor 47")

Doncaster 0 - 2 Nottingham Forest

(Beaumont 72"; Johnson 77")

Nottingham Forest 5 - 0 Colchester

(Dobie 16"; Taylor 52"; Beaumont 58"; Commons 61"; Mellor 82")

Port Vale 1 - 3 Nottingham Forest

(Bopp 1", 19"; Friio 59"; Burchall 90+2")

Nottingham Forest 1 - 0 Reading (a.e.t) (Carling Cup 1st Round)

(Mellor 120")

Nick Eaden sent off - 103 minutes (2nd yellow card)

Swansea 1 - 4 Nottingham Forest

(Sissoko 8", 24"; Gurney pen 27"; Mellor 31", 71")

Awards

Player of Month: James Beaumont

Young Player of Month: Kris Commons

Manager of Month: Stephen Beckett

This is excellent. I can just visualise Chris Kamara getting very excited about Beaumont's record so far this season as well

cheers, d_s football league coverage just wouldn't be as good without kamara

---------------

Beaumont had picked up a slight knock in the game against Swansea, Lee Trundle had trodden on his heel as they contested a ball, but with a two week break before we saw action again, there was plenty of time for the youngster to recover his full fitness. One player who wouldn't make the game against Huddersfield, however, was defender Clint Hill, who twisted a knee in training and would miss over a week of training before he could be considered for selection again.

---

I permitted myself one day a month to go through the box. The box that contained everything I missed about her. It usually had me hitting the bottle quicker than anything else, and generally lead to one stupid act or another, but I couldn't help go over and over what had happened. I've got no one but myself to blame, if I'm truthful. It's not difficult to see that my behavious made me someone impossible to live with, but that thought can't remove the cold, knife-like pain that drove through my heart.

I've always enjoyed a drink. From my earliest teenage days I can remember getting trollied, I'm sure most of us can. But for a long while it never progressed to anything more than that. I'd go for a night out with my teammates every once in a while, I was never bound by the hugely professional rigours of a big club, my playing career never took me higher than the second division, but I was far from even coming close to having a problem.

That all changed after my injury. The club had been fantastic. Once I'd gone through my operations and was out of the cast and off the crutches, they offered to help put me through my coaching course, and said should I pass there was a job with the youth team waiting for me. That side of things all went smoothly, I got my qualifications with ease and it soon became apparant that I had a talent on the coaching element of the game. But away from the club things were much different. I managed to keep it a secret from everyone but Rachel. It's hard to hide your alcoholism from someone you share a bed with.

And it's not like she didn't warn me. I remember at least three ultimatums to stop the drinking or she'd walk out, but once she doesn't the first time then you kind of fall into an expectation that it's always an empty threat. Not so. Despite having been together for four years, married for two of them, a year and a half after I'd been retired out of the game, I watched her walk down the garden path, throw her last suitcase into the Transit van and drive off into the distance.

I let myself think about her once a month. Any more and I think I'd go crazy.

makes for unbeliveable reading, top class, well done

thanks, Maxy Boy

--------------------

The LDV Vans Trophy Southern Section 1st Round draw (bit of a mouthful) gave us a home tie against Peterborough, but of more immediate concern was our home league encounter against Huddersfield. For much of the first half, we battered on the visitors' goal, forcing Paul Rachubka into more than one stunning save. Gino Padula was one of the main exponents of our good play, linking up well with Sissoko down the left, but the Argentinian was forced off at the break with a slight ankle knock. We didn't hang about long in the second half though, Sissoko making a great run into the box, only to be brought down by James O'Connor. The referee pointed immediately to the penalty spot, and Mellor swept home the kick, putting us a deserved goal in front. We continued to plug away, looking for the second that would kill the match, and it only came fifteen mintues before the end, when the superb Rachubka pulled off an almighty blunder, palming Scott Dobie's cross into his own net. Abdessadki set Beaumont up for a third before the final whistle, and our superb start to the season continued.

The following day, a interview appeared in the Notthingham Evening Post. The subject of said piece was our Jamaican striker, David Johnson, and the thrust of it was that he was extremely unhappy at the lack of first team action he was seeing. Not only did I disagree with his statement that, due to my inexperience at the level, I couldn't spot a good player if I saw one, I was furious at him for airing his views in the press rather than coming to see me. I was determined that he would spend a long, long time getting cold in the stands.

That, however, was thrown out of the window for the very next game. A collision in training between Neil Mellor and Gareth Taylor left both with minor knee injuries, and though Taylor would need only a day or two's rest, Mellor would be out for the better part of two weeks. What it meant in the immediate sense though, was that my only fit first team striker, was the moaning David Johnson.

I was certain that it was the forced of fate which had conspired to get Johnson a start in our game against 12th placed Oldham at the City Ground, I just hoped that the same forces had it in mind to make him score as well. The game started poorly for us, Liam Fox hobbling off after just two minutes of his first start with a badly bruised toe, replaced by the impressive young German, Eugen Bopp. The balance of the team didn't seem right though, Bopp was far more comfortable playing in the centre than on the wing, but needs must at times. Indeed, it was the German, settling more into his wide role in the second half, who laid on the opening goal for us, and it was just my luck that the man on the end of the chance, who stuck it calmly underneath Chris Day, was David Johnson. We had more than enough chances to have killed off the game before injury time happened upon us, and we were made to pay two minutes past the ninety when John Curtis lost track of Guy Branston at an Oldham corner and he powered a header past Pedersen to snatch a point.

Fox, Dobie and Mellor were all missing for our return to Carling Cup action against another Championship side. This time it was Luton who came calling, and Mohamed Sissoko who sent them packing. The Mali international, again playing out on the left wing in place of Kris Commons, whose inability to play two successive games was becoming a bit of a worry, and supplied us with chance after chance after chance, and it reflected rather poorly on our finishing that we only managed to take three of them. The first came through Yacine Abdessadki, powering home a drive from the edge of the area after Sissoko had crafted space. The next two came from the boot of Momo himself, first whipping a free kick into the top corner of the net and then charging forward from the halfway line, leaving four players trailing in his wake and hitting a monstrous shot from the edge of the penalty area which was past Marlon Beresford before he had the chance to move. If ever a game proved that we belonged in the Championship, this was it.

With Kris Commons missing for a week with a sprained wrist, Jack Lester off to Bury for a three month spell and the Carling Cup third round draw having placed us against Watford, we travelled to Yorkshire to face Bradford. The home side had obviously employed two tactics in order to try and beat us. The first was to kick the living ***** out of any Forest-clad player who came within range, which worked to the extent that Eugen Bopp, Lassana Diarra and Scott Dobie were all forced off with knocks at half time. The second, and infinitely more effective, was to sign Clark Kent as a goalkeeper. He may have gone by the name Russell Howarth, but his secret identity was only too clear as he flew across the goal time and again to deny us the goals we so readily deserved. Thankfully, our defence was in just as mean a mood and the game ended with neither goal having been breached.

The fitness of Kris Commons was becoming something of a worry for us. Not once had he managed to complete a full ninety minutes, and rarely had he been able to play in two consecutive games. With only Momo Sissoko available to cover on the left, and my desire to see him play more often in a central role, I decided to try and bring in, temporarily at least, some extra left sided cover. There were a mere three days before we faced Peterborough in the LDV Vans Trophy, so work had to be done quickly and it was, bringing Faroe Island international Claus Jørgensen from Coventry on a three month loan.

Jørgensen was given a starting berth on the left for the visit of Peterborough. David Johnson had suffered the same injury as Kris Commons, straining a wrist in endeavours best left private, so Eugène Dadi came into the side for his first appearance since I had taken over. The game started badly, young defender James Perch having to come off after just five minutes with a twisted ankle, meaning that John Curtis was forced onto the pitch despite my having not wanted to play him at all. For much of the time, as you would expect even given the presence of a number of reserves players in our side, we were the better team for much of the game, and deservedly took the lead in the twentieth minute when Dobie’s ball found Jørgensen free in the area, and the new boy placed his shot expertly past Mark Tyler. With ten minutes of the game remaining, just what we had feared happened. André Boucard levelled the scores, forcing extra time and thirty minutes that some of my players could well have done without. By this time, we were down to ten men as Dadi was forced off after our three substitutions had already been made. We held on for a penalty shoot-out, however, and after James Quinn sent his shot over the bar for the visitors, Jørgensen hit the back of the net to put us into the next round against Brentford.

September 2004 Summary

(League One unless otherwise stated)

Nottingham Forest 3 – 0 Huddersfield

(Mellor pen 47â€; Rachubka (OG) 75â€; Beaumont 77â€)

Nottingham Forest 1 – 1 Oldham

(Johnson 57â€; Branston 90+2â€)

Nottingham Forest 3 – 0 Luton (Carling Cup 2nd Round)

(Abdessadki 24â€; Sissoko 44â€, 80â€)

Bradford City 0 – 0 Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest 1 – 1 Peterborough (a.e.t) (Nott’m Forest won 3-2 on penalties) (LDV Vans Trophy Southern Section 1st Round)

(Jørgensen 20â€; Boucard 80â€)

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 1st | | Nottm Forest | | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 19 | 3 | +16 | 20 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 2nd | | Rotherham | | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 20 | 7 | +13 | 18 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 3rd | | Hartlepool | | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 4 | +6 | 18 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 4th | | Gillingham | | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 20 | 7 | +13 | 17 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 5th | | Bradford City | | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 6 | +9 | 17 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 6th | | Bournemouth | | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 8 | +6 | 15 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 7th | | Swindon | | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 4 | +6 | 15 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 8th | | Bristol C | | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 12 | +3 | 14 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 9th | | Yeovil | | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 12 | -2 | 13 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 10th | | Chesterfield | | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 15 | 11 | +4 | 12 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 11th | | Blackpool | | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 15 | 14 | +1 | 12 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 12th | | Barnsley | | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 12 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 13th | | Doncaster | | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 11 | -1 | 11 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 14th | | Brentford | | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 5 | +2 | 10 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 15th | | Huddersfield | | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 11 | -4 | 9 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 16th | | Southend | | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 16 | -7 | 8 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 17th | | Oldham | | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 9 | -3 | 7 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 18th | | Swansea | | 8 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 12 | -5 | 7 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 19th | | Colchester | | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 18 | -9 | 7 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 20th | | Port Vale | | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 21 | -11 | 7 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 21st | | Walsall | | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 15 | -6 | 6 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 22nd | | Scunthorpe | | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 12 | 20 | -8 | 5 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 23rd | | MK Dons | | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 13 | -8 | 4 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 24th | | Tranmere | | 8 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 17 | -15 | 1 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

Enjoying the read Simon but why aren't you using your shiny new copy of FM2006?

I want to get used to FM06 and all its little quirks before settling down to write a story on it. whilst I'm playing '06 a lot, '05 still has my story writing attention

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Terk:

'05 still has my story writing attention </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Amen to that! Although I'm waiting for my paycheque so I can go get the damn thing!

Enjoying this so far Terk

cheers, xenon

--------------------

We'd driven north on the Friday evening before our game against Hartlepool. A journey of some hundred and thirty odd miles is not one to do on the morning of a game if you can at all avoid it. On the Saturday morning, I'd woken in my hotel room bed, drenched again in a cold sweat that near stuck me to the mattress. I could barely remember my dream, but even still I had trouble focusing on the afternoon's events. I knew that we'd drawn 1-1. I knew that Neil Mellor had equalised after we had fallen behind early on. But only when talking with Tim on the way back did I find out that we had clearly been the better side, and had Mellor been anywhere near his shooting boots then we'd have bagged a nice three points.

There was mixed news from the physio's room when we returned to training on Monday, a knock that I had been unaware that John Curtis had picked up would keep him out of the team for a couple of weeks, though with our next game being two weeks away, there was still hope that he might make it onto the bench at least. The better news was that Liam Fox was ready to return to full training, though match fitness wise he was still well short and the decision was made to give him at least one game in the reserves to try and get him nearer to a first team return.

--

I’d first met Rachel back in 1998. The sister of a fellow player, flaunting herself at his birthday party. I hadn’t been able to keep my eyes off her for a moment, every move had me mesmorised. We shared a bed that night and I woke up happier than I ever had before, not the slightest whisper of the pain we would cause each other over the next four years.

I could even put up with her Welsh accent, something I’d not been able to stand on anyone else before, or since for that matter. Swansea was where I played what were to be the final years of my career, and to be fair it was the highest point that my playing talents had ever reached. I’d questioned many a time my decision to join the Welsh side, but it all made sense when I met her, in that stupid kind of logic you find when falling in love anyway.

--

Neither Fox nor Curtis made the squad for our league game at home against Gillingham, but come the ninetieth minute we had missed neither and walked away with a full compliment of points courtesy of a goal either side of half time. We hadn’t started in the most impressive of manners, we gave away too much possession when we encroached into the Gillingham half, but managed to get ourselves in front when Dobie’s cross was volleyed into the top corner of the net by the ever rising star of James Beaumont. The game continued in a somewhat dull style, certainly had I been a fan I wouldn’t have felt rightfully entertained for the money I’d paid, but ten minutes from time we did what was important when Commons touched a ball to Diarra and the young Frenchman lashed a drive past Jason Brown from twenty-five yards.

Four days later we were back on the road with a visit to the Bescott Stadium to face Walsall. Liam Fox came into the starting line-up, with David Johnson replacing the tired Neil Mellor up front. Fox proved his selection to be the right choice when, after just a few minutes had passed, he burst into the box, drawing a foul from Ian Roper which resulted in Danny Cullip tucking a penalty past Mark Paston in the Walsall goal. We scored the second and final goal of the match two minutes into first half injury time when Bopp fred a shot which Paston parried, only to see the rebound stuck into the net by David Friio. Only Johnson coming off injured early on made the second half worthy of note, a pulled muscle in his neck would keep the Jamaican striker out for a week or so, but another three points kept us firmly on top of the table.

Excellent stuff Terk, love the style and I've just packed my (FM06) scouts off to check out Beaumont!

thanks flipsix i won't pretend that i haven't 'borrowed' a few styling elements from 'leaving the past..', just think of it as a compliment and i was completely taken by surprise by beaumont. hopefully his performance levels can stay so high

--------------------------

We were married after just over two years together. My 26th birthday had not long passed, and my injury nightmare was only six months away. She said when everything had passed that it was that which changed me. That I became a far angrier and more difficult man to live with, that the zest for life which she had found so attractive in me had vanished. She's probably right.

The final straw was on our fourth anniversary. I'd done the usual thoughtless male thing and forgotten, then gone out and got drunk and come home with a nubile female companion draped from my arm. In hindsight it wasn't my best night, choice wise. The next day I came home from the club to find Rachel in the process of packing her things into a van, I was amazed, to be honest, that she'd actually stayed past the previous night, but there could be no doubt that I had deserved what she's done.

--

Eoin Jess was back at the City Ground in time for our visit from Southend, not that I ever had any intention of including him in the squad. There were, however, seven changes from the side that had beaten Walsall, and those changes certainly seemed to give us a fresh approach. A slight tweak of formation saw us attempt a 3-5-2 over the 4-5-1 we had been playing, and within quarter of an hour we were happy with the outcome as Beaumont swept home the opener. We had to wait until the second half to extend our lead, but when Kris Commons came off the bench in the 62nd minute, we looked an entirely different side. He fired in our second within three minutes of his arrival, and then laid on a second of the day for Beaumont, before wrapping everything up when he took Sissoko's pass in his stride and fired past Bart Griemink.

Beaumont's two goals against Southend meant that he now sat proud as the club's joint top scorer for the season with six goals. The fact that I had missed his quite obvious talent during the first days of my tenure was still weighing on my mind, and to be honest it grew heavier with every goal he scored and superb pass he played. If I could miss someone like that who was playing right under my nose, what chance did I have of bringing the right people into the club?

Beaumont was one of the players rested for our Carling Cup trip to Watford, though a strong line-up was still fielded as I tried to grasp another chance to prove we belonged at a higher level. The home side had had an average start to their Championship season, sitting pretty much where the pundits predicted they would finish, firmly in mid-table. Adam Nowland and Lassana Diarra came into our starting XI, and both were at fault early on to gift the home side chances, thankfully both of which Rune Pedersen swatted away. The game may have been goalless at half time, but it was far from dull, both sides had crafted at least three clear chances each, and it took only eight minutes into the second period for the lead to be taken, thankfully for us, and through the boot of Momo Sissoko. Watford piled on the pressure in the remaining time, Paul Devlin at the heart of most of their good work, but Pedersen was inspired, and we found a place in the fourth round draw.

That fourth round draw, watched live on Sky Sports News, placed us with a tough draw, but not the mouthwatering one against Chelsea that I had hoped for. We, instead, we to travel all the way up north to face Middlesbrough at the Riverside stadium. It would likely see us dumped out of the competition, but at least it would be at the hands of top league opponents.

October was rounded off with a trip to Oakwell to face Barnsley. The home side were most definitely the better side in the opening exchanges. After two games of 3-5-2, I'd decided for no apparant reason other than that I could, to change back to 4-5-1. The Barnsley midfield were still finding it easy to pick their path through us, but as the game wore on we began to wrest more and more control from them, creating more and more chances as we went. The only goal of the match came our way, Scott Dobie cross for Kris Commons just after the hour mark, and the English lieft winger volleyed his effort past Nick Colgan. In truth, we should have won by more. Neil Mellor missed two gilt-edged chances late on, and Dobie fired wide from the penalty spot, but we still won the three points, and kept our charge on course.

The end of the month awards again saw us recognised, Kris Commons landing the player of the month trophy whilst I was once more named the best manager of the previous thirty one days. I was fast becoming accustomed to success.

October 2004 Summary

(League One unless otherwise stated)

Hartlepool 1 - 1 Nottingham Forest

(Neil MacFarlane 7"; Neil Mellor 14")

Nottingham Forest 2 - 0 Gillingham

(Beaumont 22"; Diarra 80")

Walsall 0 - 2 Nottingham Forest

(Cullip pen 3"; Friio 45+2")

Nottingham Forest 4 - 0 Southend

(Beaumont 13", 78"; Commons 65"; 82")

Watford 0 - 1 Nottingham Forest (Carling Cup 3rd Round)

(Sissoko 53")

Barnsley 0 - 1 Nottingham Forest

(Commons 64")

November brought the draw for the first round of the FA Cup, and we were given a seemingly simple tie against Aldershot. Even though it would see us on our travels, I would have been stupid not to be reasonably confident, but as ever with such games, the words 'giant' and 'killing' would rest in my mind until we had successfully seen them off.

Eugène Dadi was packed off to Rochdale on loan for three months before we faced Brentford in the LDV Vans Trophy, which had now progressed to the second round of the southern section. Our visitors were sitting a comfortable ninth in League One, and with my decision to field a number of players more used to our reserve team set up, there was every possibility that we would be knocked out. Certainly, I did not expect us to trounce Brentford out of sight. By half time we were two goals to the good, Adam Nowland and Ross Gardner getting forward from midfield to score. The second period went even better, Gardner setting up Liam Fox for our third, with Claus Jørgensen and young striker Sam Litchfield rounding off the result in the final ten minutes.

The quarter final draw of the southern section gave us another potentially tricky tie, this time a visit to Bournemouth. I resolved then and there to make it even more tricky by continuing to field fringe and reserve players. It was, quite frankly, a tournament that my regulars could do without, given the number of games they would have to play anyway.

Bloomfield Road was our next league destination as we travelled to face Blackpool, a side whose predicted mid-table season had started exactly on course. We controlled much of the first twenty minutes, pulling two stunning saves from home 'keeper Brad Jones, but the entire dynamic of the match changed in the twenty-second mintue. As Blackpool striker John Murphy was set clear by a ball from his strike partner Kiegan Parker, Clint Hill deliberately caught his heels and sent him tumbling to the ground. Referee had no choice but to send Hill off as he had been the last defender, and with Nicky Eaden sent on to replace Lassana Diarra we struggled to come with our diminished numbers. The home side swarmed forward in an attempt to take the lead before the break, but inspired performances from Danny Cullip, John Curtis and Rune Pedersen kept us level into the interval. A reorganisation gave us a better balance in the second period, and within sixty seconds of it we had found the lead. Cullip's ball was swept into the net by Beaumont, andtwo minutes later Cullip was on the scoresheet himself, netting from the penalty spot after Dean Gorré had handballed. Blackpool had simply been stunned into submission, and the points were sealed with two goals from David Johnson.

Given the fact that Clint's red card was fully deserved, there was no appeal made against the one match ban placed upon him, though I also indirectly held him responsible for the groin strain that Curtis suffered during the match, obviously caused by all the extra effort needed.

The league got its first managerial casualty before we took to the field again, Paul Merson was relieved of his duties at Walsall with the club lying in a lowly eighteenth position. Any such moment is bound to make you think of the fragility of your own position, even if, as we were, you're top of the league with the sun shining and the birds singing.

Having netted twice against Blackpool after being brought on as a substitute, David Johnson was given the nod to start in our Carling Cup game against Middlesbrough. The fourth round tie at the Riverside was undoubtedly the biggest game I had taken part in, either as manager or player, though sadly I was not in the slightest bit confident that we could overcome our Premiership opponents. With a bunch of foreign softies in their side, I figured the -5°C weather and flurries of snow could only benefit our more homegrown squad, though having said that I did have a Jamaican leading the line. The game started badly, we were forced to make a change when Warnock damaged his ankle ligaments in a challenge in the tenth minute, Yacine Abdessadki having to use his natural left-footedness to make the switch from right wing to left back. To compound our woes, we were two behind before the half hour had been passed, Yakubu breaking free and slotting his shot past Pedersen and Hasselbaink doing the same three minutes later. We pulled one back from the penalty spot when Ray Parlour fouled Kris Commons and Danny Cullip stepped up to net his second in consecutive games, but on the half time whistle we looked out of the tournament as Yakubu notched his second of the match. Some enthusiastic encouragement at the break seemed to work as David Friio headed in Commons' cross to halve the gap, and with just eight minutes left, substitute Neil Mellor latched onto Sissoko's through ball and slapped a shot past Mark Schwarzer. Just as it appeared as if we had earned the chance for extra time, with the game three minutes into second half injury time, our tired legs gave up and George Boateng found space enough in the penalty area to drill a low shot past Pedersen, sending up crashing out of the competition.

Boateng’s goal had been a crushing blow to the morale of the players, despite having fully expected defeat beforehand, to come so close to forcing extra time and then be shot down would leave anyone in a bad mood for a few days. We had no time to feel sorry for ourselves, however, as we had cup duty again three days later when travelling to face Aldershot in the first round of the F.A. Cup. The lower league side were clearly our betters for the first period and the 7,000+ crowd sensed an upset. The introduction of Neil Mellor at the interval, however, swung the game in our direction as the on loan frontman bagged the only two goals of the match, booking our place against Forest Green in the next round.

The journey back up the M1 was a lot happier than the journey south the previous evening. Despite a lack of polish to their performance, the win over Aldershot had quickly erased the hurt of the Middlesbrough defeat. Unlike my players, I had thoroughly loved the Carling Cup experience. The press attention before, and particularly after such an agonising loss had made me a slightly more well known face around the country. I had been afforded a brief glimpse of life in the spotlight, and I had adored it.

Both Eugen Bopp and Yacine Abdessadki missed the visit of Rotherham as they were away representing their countries (although Eugen only at U-21 level). The team sitting second to us in the league were expected to give us our toughest time yet in the league, but instead a comfortable win, courtesy of three goals, found its way to us, and another three points were notched on the board.

James Beaumont had been first on the scoresheet against Rotherham, stealing the ball off Neil Mellor’s toes in a crowded penalty area and drilling a shot past Gary Montgomery. It had been that way at half time, but our lead was doubled when Kris Commons stole the ball off David Worrell and whipped in a cross for Momo Sissoko to volley home, and the left winger then crossed for David Friio to do the same in the final ten minutes. Rune Pedersen hadn’t been forced to make a single save.

Beaumont’s form had risen to worrying proportions, as Championship outfit Preston had sent a scout to watch the lad put himself second in the League One scoring charts against Rotherham. Luckily, he missed the visit of Brentford with a sore arm, though that did nothing to diminish our chances of winning. Returning from international duty, both Bopp and Abdessadki were keen to make sure they weren’t forgotten, and they were far from so when the German crossed for Clint Hill to head our opener, and the Moroccan rifled a loose ball past Stuart Nelson for the second.

Bournemouth were another side who had gone down the route of sponsorship of their ground, the Fitness First Stadium being the next venue we would play at. Near 10,000 people stuffed themselves into the stands, but the vast majority of them had left long before the full time whistle, such was our dominance over the home side. Mellor netted his tenth goal of the season after just seven minutes when he was put through by Liam Fox, and Sissoko benefited from good work by Beaumont to make it two before the break. Hill headed in from Commons’ corner early in the second period, and Gareth Taylor got the last touch after a goalmouth scramble to complete another more than comfortable tick in the win column.

â€Do you realise how long its been since we conceded a goal?â€

“Erm, Middlesbrough.â€

“In the league, ya twat.â€

“Ah, erm, I suppose that would have been……………. Hartlepool?â€

“Yep.â€

“That was back at the start of October.â€

“Yep. Eight hundred and three minutes of league football since we last conceded.â€

Tim’s love for reasonably useless information certainly came in handy as a morale boost, the fact that we had kept clean sheets for so long had indeed escaped me. Rune Pedersen wasn’t the flashy sort of ‘keeper who makes you notice that he’s on form, just someone who quietly amassed clean sheets. So I was horrified when, about twenty minutes after finding out how good our defence had been, I was informed that Rune would miss the next three games with a twisted knee. Both Cullip and Bopp would miss time on the field as well, but neither worried me so much as Pedersen. It had been a very close call at the beginning of the season as to whether he or Paul Gerrard got the nod as first choice, but now I simply could not imagine Paul on the field.

The visit of Scunthorpe gave Gerrard his first chance to shine, and with the visitors lining up in a 4-2-4 formation, it looked as if he would need to. I hadn’t counted on our sheer brilliance, however, and come the end of the game, we had registered twenty five shots on goal to our opponents’ two. How then, one might ask, had we only found our way to a single point? Mellor had put us in front on the stroke of half time after good work by Commons, but to be honest we should have been four or five to the good by that time. It should have been six or seven by the time Gerrard parried a shot into the path of Stephen Torpey, who found the corner of the net with a perfectly placed toe poke. Even as the seconds ticked down to the final whistle, we should have scored, but every pair of shooting boots had been left elsewhere, and Abdessadki’s wild effort with the last kick of the match which nearly cleared the stand behind the goal entirely summed up our day.

With both Diarra and Sissoko suspended for our next game due to having collected five yellow cards each, I was truly thankful that it was only an LDV Vans Trophy match in which they wouldn’t have featured anyway. The Southern Section quarter final saw us back at the Fitness First Stadium to take on Bournemouth, this time with reserve ‘keeper Aaron France between the sticks. A number of fringe players were fielded, though we still managed to be the better side, thwarted only by a stunning performance from goalkeeper Les Pogliacomi. He kept his side in the game long enough for Dani Rodrigues to net the only goal, just two minutes from the end of the ninety. Whilst defeat in any form hurt, I couldn’t say that I was entirely disappointed to have been thrown from such a joke of a tournament. The ease on our fixture schedule was more than welcome.

Once again we dominated the player awards at the end of the month, Momo Sissoko picked up the player of the month award, and won himself a place in the hearts of the fans by praising the people and supporters of Forest for making his loan spell so enjoyable, that he adored the friendly atmosphere around the club. His partner in crime on the left side of the pitch, Kris Commons, finished second to him in the vote for Player of the month, but had the consolation of the young player award. I had to make do with a second place to Swansea’s Kenny Jacket in the manager stakes, something that indeed drew the whisky bottle our in force that evening.

November 2004 Summary

(League One unless otherwise stated)

Nottingham Forest 5 - 0 Brentford (LDV Vans Trophy Southern Section 2nd Round)

(Nowland 20"; Gardner 40"; Fox 65"; Jørgensen 82"; Litchfield 89")

Blackpool 0 - 4 Nottingham Forest

(Hill s/off 22"; Beaumont 46"; Cullip pen 48"; Johnson 62", 83")

Middlesbrough 4 - 3 Nottingham Forest (Carling Cup 4th Round)

(Yakubu 25", 45"; Hasselbaink 28"; Cullip pen 38"; Friio 53"; Mellor 82"; Boateng 90+3")

Aldershot 0 - 2 Nottingham Forest (F.A. Cup 1st Round)

(Mellor 48"; 62")

Nottingham Forest 3 - 0 Rotherham

(Beaumont 29"; Sissoko 53"; Friio 85")

Nottingham Forest 2 - 0 Brentford

(Hill 15"; Abdessadki 24")

Bournemouth 0 - 4 Nottingham Forest

(Mellor 7"; Sissoko 27"; Hill 56"; Taylor 66")

Notthingham Forest 1 - 1 Scunthorpe

(Mellor 45"; Torpey 74")

Bournemouth 1 - 0 Nottingham Forest (LDV Vans Trophy Southern Section Quarter Final)

(Dani Rodrigues 88")

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 1st | | Nottm Forest | | 18 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 43 | 5 | +38 | 46 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 2nd | | Rotherham | | 18 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 32 | 15 | +17 | 38 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 3rd | | Gillingham | | 18 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 34 | 15 | +19 | 36 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 4th | | Hartlepool | | 18 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 23 | 15 | +8 | 33 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 5th | | Bradford City | | 17 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 26 | 14 | +12 | 30 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 6th | | Swindon | | 18 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 25 | 19 | +6 | 29 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 7th | | Swansea | | 17 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 25 | 20 | +5 | 29 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 8th | | Bristol C | | 18 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 24 | 21 | +3 | 29 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 9th | | Brentford | | 18 | 8 | 3 | 7 | 21 | 13 | +8 | 27 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 10th | | Bournemouth | | 18 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 27 | 21 | +6 | 27 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 11th | | Chesterfield | | 18 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 27 | 25 | +2 | 25 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 12th | | Blackpool | | 18 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 27 | 29 | -2 | 25 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 13th | | Yeovil | | 18 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 23 | 27 | -4 | 25 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 14th | | MK Dons | | 18 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 22 | 22 | 0 | 24 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 15th | | Oldham | | 17 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 17 | 15 | +2 | 22 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 16th | | Doncaster | | 18 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 24 | 29 | -5 | 19 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 17th | | Barnsley | | 17 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 18 | 25 | -7 | 18 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 18th | | Walsall | | 17 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 16 | 23 | -7 | 17 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 19th | | Colchester | | 18 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 20 | 32 | -12 | 17 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 20th | | Southend | | 17 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 17 | 30 | -13 | 17 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 21st | | Tranmere | | 18 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 15 | 32 | -17 | 16 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 22nd | | Huddersfield | | 18 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 11 | 27 | -16 | 12 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 23rd | | Scunthorpe | | 18 | 2 | 5 | 11 | 17 | 35 | -18 | 11 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 24th | | Port Vale | | 18 | 2 | 5 | 11 | 15 | 40 | -25 | 11 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

I sat on the edge of my bed and gazed out of the window onto the street below. The sun had just begun to rise, but the streetlamps still cast their ethereal glow on the world underneath. An unusual Saturday off had meant a Friday night spent around many of Nottingham’s drinking establishments, and that had meant, as so often before, I had woken up beside someone I had no intention of staying in contact with.

I slipped on a t-shirt and padded through to the kitchen where I sat with a strong coffee, for once not needing to shake the cobwebs from my mind. As much as my personal life was shambolic and unpredictable, mired in a plethora of sordid encounters, my time in the dugout was anything but. There could be reflection on a job, so far, well done. There was much hope to be found for times ahead.

Something still nagged at me, however. I may have been just six months past my thirtieth birthday, but the onset of middle age still worried me. The playboy lifestyle I led was all well and good, though even then hardly the most satisfying way to spend one’s days, and I knew that it couldn’t last much longer. There would come a time when it drove me back down to rock bottom.

---

Save for Rune Pederson and Neil Mellor, a full strength side was fielded for our FA Cup 2nd round tie against Forest Green. Naturally, given our position high atop League One, we were favourites for the tie, but the fact that it had been chosen for live television coverage gave credence to my fears that we could be set for a big fall. Those fears were dispelled, however, after eight tremendous minutes, which I’m sure had neutrals around trhe country channel hopping. With just eighteen seconds on the clock, Sissoko fed a through ball to Beaumont, and the youngster smacked his shot into the back of the net, and seven minutes later the Malian international did the same for Gareth Taylor, who likewise thumped his effort past Scott Findlay in the Forest Green goal. By the half hour we had bagged a third, Diarra’s free kick superbly headed in by Taylor, and just after the hour our comprehensive and trouble-free win was rounded off in style, Dobie sending a powerful volley screaming past Findlay.

Six days passed before we returned to League One action against Tranmere, in which time Eoin Jess had left for another three month loan spell at Bury, and our progress to the FA Cup 3rd round was rewarded with a home tie against Grimsby. Our defeat-free run in the league was beginning to attract not only the attentions of the press, but those of the fans who had drifted away since the glory days, and we took a full and vocal support to Prenton Park. They had little to cheer in the first half hour, neither side looked remotely like troubling the other, but as half time creeped closer, we began to take a hold on the game, culminating with Commons’ drilling a free kick into the net from twenty yards. The second half was much of the same drab affair, but again we came good late on, and the points were made safe when Dobie headed home Abdessadki’s corner, and then turned provider, crossing for Sissoko to slide the ball in at the back post.

Terk,

Just want to say this is probably the best story Ive read. I like the narrative style. The others are boring and you lose attention but Im hooked with this one. I prefer the bits you make up like the goings on with chairman and the recorded telephone converstaions and emails sent. Makes it more real rather than going through each match. You should include more league table shots and also include a player whop has spotted your eye and give some info about him

Cheers Mate

Lee

cheers, LEEMOD1 I'm certainly enjoying writing the narrative for this one, always glad to hear that people are enjoying reading it. I don't want to flood that narrative with too many 'information' posts so the tables will remain every second month (plus, I've played and written way beyond where I've posted) but there's definitely more discussion in the way pf player recruitment, scouting, etc as they story goes on

=================================================

My footballing education had been spread across many venues. My father’s position in the army saw him regularly moved around the country, we even spent a few years in Germany during my particularly early years. My earliest memories of football were from the main stand at Tynecastle, my father’s posting in the Scottish capital coinciding with me being old enough to attend games on my own, but it was always Leeds who I held closest to my heart.

The Yorkshire city was where I had been born, where my mother had been raised, where we lived throughout most of my teenage years, and where I found my first break on the field. My time at Leeds lasted only a season, I was quickly found out to be far from good enough to have any sort of future at the club, I barely even featured for the youth side, let alone get anywhere near the reserve squad.

From then my career moved around the lower leagues, never troubling the scouts that came to watch games, never playing my way into the hearts of the fans, never being more or less than a very average figure in the lower echelons of the football league. But I was happy enough. Getting paid to play football, no matter how bare your wage slip looks, is a great honour that few get to experience. In five short months, however, my managerial career had already well outstripped that which I achieved on the field.

---

â€What did you think of Steven Davis?†Tim had developed an unhealthy habit of sneaking up beside me during training, scaring the ***** out of me as he near screamed his question down my ear.

“Villa lad? On loan at Bournemouth? Pretty good, certainly their best player both times we played them. Why?â€

“His loan finished about a week ago and they’ve not looked to extend it.â€

“And?â€

“Jesus Christ, it’s like drawing blood from a stone. And Villa want to send him out again.â€

“Yeah.â€

“And you want to bring in another midfielder.â€

“Ah. Got ya. I’ll look into it.â€

Davis certainly was the type of midfielder I’d had in mind. His loan spell at Bournemouth had been highly successful for both parties, an energetic force from the centre of the park, the Nothern Irishman was in the same mould as James Beaumont, and just the sort of person I wanted to bring in to take some pressure off my young star’s shoulders, but with my ears still ringing and my heart still racing, I was in no mood to discuss it with Tim.

The call was soon placed to David O’Leary though. In fact, as soon as I got back to my office after watching a truly pathetic training session, the only plus sides of which were that it ended and that no one managed to injure themselves, I found the Villa boss’ number. The deal was an easy one to bang out, even my insistence that we pay nothing towards his wages for the three months he were at the club met no resistence from Villa’s side. They were quite obviously anxious that he get further first team action, and I was more than happy to bolster my squad numbers, though the red tape wouldn’t be tied up in time for him to feature in our next fixture.

That fixture was a home game against the MK Dons, or Wimbledon as most people remember them. Just three days after our trip to Birkenhead to face Tranmere, a few players were rested and others looked tired. At half time the score was 0-0, and there hadn’t been a single shot, not even one off target that had found its home in the stands. I wouldn’t have been surprised if the majority of the fifteen thousand strong crowd had disappeared during the break, certainly having paid money to see such a lack of spectacle was not a nice prospect, and things looked even grimmer for us just after the restart when Liam Fox was forced off with a fractured jaw after a particularly crude challenge. Resilliance is a wonderufl thing though, and we sneaked a goal just after the hour mark, in a game where it certainly seemed that one would be enough, through on-loan winger Claus Jørgensen. The Dons had done nothing in particular to deserve defeat, though they’d done nothing to avoid it either, but the three goals we racked up on them was most definitely an unfair reflection on the encounter. Neil Mellor wrapped the points up in our favour with two in the final five minutes, pouncing on a long Pedersen clearence and heading home Jørgensen’s cross.

Great story terk, like the other lads you've got me hooked. In my game as Bristol City, Forest are top and flying too, bought Beaumont on your advice but not quite got the same performances from him as you have so far.

Keep up the good work.

P.S: i'm waiting with bated breath for when you play City....

cheers, sargent i think beaumont's just been a freak of nature in this game, certainly his stats are far from world beating, but his performances driving forward from midfield have been exceptional. and in terms of bristol city, speak of the devil.......

===============================================

I didn’t speak Spanish. I had no intention to whatsoever, either. So I had quite a bit of difficulty when a fax came through in the language. I stood and stared at the page for near five minutes, hoping that the mess of letters would begin to make some sense to me. As I was about to admit defeat and call the chairman to see if there was anyone at the club who spoke Spanish, I noticed something which I had apparantley been blind to before, the words “Gino Padulaâ€. Another look found a figure. €235,000. A third look produced “Recreativoâ€, whom I was pretty sure were a Spanish club, and it was now quite plain that this was a bid for my first choice left back, and a quick visit to xe.com informed me that it was worth £160,000. I wondered how to spell “get tae ****†in Spanish.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">West Press

Tinnion Slams Reds’ Boss

Nottingham Forest may be sitting high atop the League One table, unbeaten in the campaign so far, and appearing a sure-fire bet for an immediate return to the Championship from whence they came, but Bristol City boss Brian Tinnion has his doubts over the voracity of Forest’s claim for the higher echelons of the English game.

Speaking at Ashton Gate today, Tinnion said, â€Obviously they’ve had a fantastic start to the season but they’ve got a hell of a lot to prove if they’re going to claim a promotion spot. They’ve got a lot of players playing well above their talent levels at the moment, and once their form hits the rocks, I think they’ll begin a slide down the table. Hopefully our win over them at Ashton Gate on Saturday will prove the starting point for that slide.â€

Whether Tinnion’s words have the effect on proceedings that he obviously desires, or work merely to fire up the Forest players for the encounter this weekend remains to be seen, but it is certain that, if the league leaders prevail, then his comments will be judged in the harshest extreme.

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I fumed. I sat and fumed, I stood and fumed, I paced and fumed. None of it made me feel any better at all. I wanted to pick up the phone and call every journalist I knew, telling them just what an arsehole Tinnion was. I wanted to march to Bristol and smack him over the head with the first thing that came to hand, but I knew I had to be restrained. I was scheduled on a radio phone in that evening, there was no doubt that I would be asked to respond in some way, in the end I managed to laugh it off and make some banal comments about him being a good man and a competent tactician, but inside I still fumed.

--

â€Boss, can I have a word?†Gino had approached me somewhat cautiously after training, something quite clearly weighing heavily on his mind.

â€Sure. What’s the matter?â€

“My brother lives in Spain. He said that he read in the paper that Recreativo had made a bid for me.â€

“Yeah, they did.â€

“Are you going to…….â€

“We rejected it.â€

â€Without speaking to me?â€

â€Yes. I figure the contract we have with your signature on actually means something.â€

“It does. But the thing is, I want to make the move. I want to play in Spain.â€

“You’re ******** me.â€

“No.â€

“Well, I’m sorry, but it’s not going to happen. We need you here.†The look on his face was one of sheer betrayal, as if I’d just slept with his sister or something. But it was an easy decision. With things going so well, and Gino’s performances having been consistently excellent, there was no way I could let him go, especially for such a pathetic price. It did appear though, as if I had my first truly unhappy player to deal with.

--

Steven Davis, newly signed from Villa on a three month loan, took his place on the bench for our trip to face Bristol City. I kept a stony look on my face whenever Tinnion glanced in my direction, his interview had been pinned up on the wall of the changing room before we went out, and the players had taken it even worse than me. Unfortunately, for the first half hour at least, it got the over-hyped, and concentration was seriously lacking. The only calm head in a Forest shirt appeared to be Lassana Diarra, the young French star doing everything he could to break up City attacks, and thankfully when he was foiled, Pedersen had brought every ounce of his talent with him to keep them at bay. We hadn’t had a single chance in the first half, not even a wayward shot ten yards wide of goal. Until, of course, Neil Mellor found himself on the end of a Kris Commons cross a minute into injury time, and headed his tenth league goal of the season past Steve Phillips. The first quarter hour of the second half was much the same as the first period, the home side attacking as we desperately held them out. But the whole dynamic changed in the sixty-second minute with the introduction of Davis. Within four minutes, the Northern Irish midfielder had burst forward to fire home from Abdessadki’s ball, and then nine minutes from time, having come close twice in the intervening period, he grabbed a second when he volleyed home from Dobie’s cross.

Nearer the actual date than most Christmas parties, the club’s effort still had that feel of enforced frivolity about it. The free flowing alcohol bettered the mood somewhat, though I tried desperately to make sure I kept to my Diet Coke, I had intention of embarrassing myself in front of the chairman or players.

I had spent most of the evening in banal conversations with the staff, keeping my eyes firmly on a few of the players’ wives and the wonderfully ridiculous amount of flesh they were showing. I’d allowed myself a few small whiskies, the chairman had cracked open a 17 year old Ardbeg which I had extreme difficulty in resisting, but I was well in control of my senses.

Stephen, I’ve got someone I’d like you to meet.†I’d quite frankly had enough of Mr Doughty’s sycophantic friends, but his hand was firmly on my shoulder before I could slip away.

â€This is my daughter, Hannah. She’s only been back in the country since Saturday. I’ll leave you two to chat, there’s some other people here I really should talk to.†The awkward situation was made more so by the fact that my eyes appeared to be glued to her, the auburn hair cascading over her shoulders, the dark blue eyes that sat deep in a beautiful face. It felt like almost an hour before I managed to force any words out.

â€So………. W...where did you go?â€

“Sorry?â€

“Your dad said you’d been abroad.â€

“Oh. Yeah. I was in France. Marseilles. I spend quite a bit of time down there.â€

“Sounds nice.â€

“Yeah.â€

.

.

.

.

.

“Can I get you another drink?â€

--

â€Morning, sleepy.†My eyes flashed open and immediately everything seemed wrong. My duvet cover wasn’t purple, there were no little make-up boxes on my bedside table, and there certainly wasn’t a smell of lavender hanging over the entire of my room.

I looked over to the window, where there most definitely wasn’t supposed to be a chair, and saw Hannah sitting with a newspaper held out in front of her. Two and two were still trying to find a common answer in my mind, but it was getting ever nearer. The lace-like curtains, the high-heeled shoes by the door, the half-naked woman sitting by the window, it painted a pretty clear picture.

â€Hi.â€

“Thought you might want some breakfast. You must be hungry.†She pointed towards an attractive tray of croissants and orange juice and I swung my legs out of bed, only to find that modesty had been denied me. I quickly grabbed the cover and pulled it over to hide my midriff, but not before Hannah had managed a good giggle.

Laughing like that can hurt a man’s self esteem, you know.â€

“Your clothes are the other side of the bed.â€

Once I’d pulled on my boxer shorts and t-shirt, I padded across the room and grabbed a glass of juice. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I tried to clear the fog from my mind, come to a clearer picture of just how we’d arrived at such a situation, but my brain was being stubbornly unhelpful.

â€You’d better hurry up. Training starts in half an hour, I promised dad I’d have you there on time.â€

Hi

Terk, please carry on with this story Im addicted. Its better than any story ive read that and Harrowing mis-adventure are the best 2

sorry for the lack of updates this past week. i shall endeavour to do better

===============================

It was all I could do not to simply smile inanely at everything throughout the day. As more and more memories of the previous evening returned, so the grin across my face did the same. Concentrating on anything, and football in particular, proved difficult, but when all said and done I had a job to do, and a game against Swindon to prepare for.

Coventry had agreed to let us keep Claus Jørgensen for a further three months, the Faroe Islands winger had done all that we asked of him when called upon as cover, and with a busy few months ahead, he was more than likely to be needed again.

Christmas day had passed, for the most part, uneventfully for me. Having spent half an hour on the phone to my parents in the morning, thanking them for the oh-so-kind gift of perhaps the worst clothes money could buy, I sat alone, eating Chinese takeaway in front of the T.V.. The day had not been a total waste, however, Hannah had phoned in the early evening and we’d met up for a drink in a local bar, though unfortunately from my point of view, there followed none of the shenanigans of our first night together.

Boxing Day brought the visit of Swindon to the City Ground, though only just over 18,000 fans took the trouble to join us. The ones who stayed away made the right decision, everyone on the field appeared to have indulged slightly too much the day before, and the sense of lethargy that plagued the game’s beginning had never lifted as a goalless draw was played out.

Two days later we travelled to face Chesterfield at Saltergate, and though the football was hardly any better, we did at least come away with the full compliment of points. Another performance of heavy legs and tired minds it had been from both sides, neither goalkeeper forced into a save until well into the second half, but as timed ticked down towards another missed opportunity, Kris Commons cut in from his left flank, took a pass from Neil Mellor in his stride and thumped a shot past Carl Muggleton.

The end of 2004 brought with it the halfway stage of our league campaign. Having conceded a mere five league goals, it had to be said that the defensive side of our game was working, and the eleven point lead we held over second placed Gillingham meant that we were probablu doing something right in an attacking sense as well.

December 2004 Summary

(League One unless otherwise stated)

Forest Green 0 – 4 Nottingham Forest (F.A. Cup 2nd Round)

(Beaumont 1â€; Taylor 8â€, 28â€; Diarra 63â€)

Tranmere 0 – 3 Nottingham Forest

(Commons 41â€; Dobie 88â€; Sissoko 90+4â€)

Nottingham Forest 3 – 0 MK Dons

(Jørgensen 65â€; Mellor 86â€, 90+1â€)

Bristol City 0 – 3 Nottingham Forest

(Mellor 45+1â€; Davis 66â€, 81â€)

Nottingham Forest 0 – 0 Swindon

Chesterfield 0 – 1 Nottingham Forest

(Commons 82â€)

The New Year was spent in Yeovil, we certainly didn’t fancy a 200 mile drive on the morning of a game; a quiet night in the hoteal was had instead, with the players on strict instructions to remain alcohol-free. In the moments after the bells had tolled, a message beeped its way onto my phone from Hannah, wishing a happy new year and good luck for the game, and it certainly sent me off to sleep in a better mood than I had been.

Just before kick-off at Huish Park, I was required to pose for a photo with my shiny new trophy, awarded for being named December’s manager of the month. I’d woken up with a bit of a headache just a few hours previously, but any thoughts of lingering bad moods were totally lifted when Claus Jørgensen swung his left foot at a Beaumont cross and watched as the ball flew into the top corner in the twelfth minute. We were clearly the better side with Sissoko running the show from the centre of the park, and Jørgensen bagged a second soon after the break. The points were comfortably wrapped up when Momo bagged a fully deserved goal after the hour and our lead at the top of the table was looking ever more iron-clad.

Forty-eight hours after facing Yeovil, were we lining up against Port Vale back on our home turf. The game saw a few fringe players fielded, and they did more than enough to make me sit up and take notice. Managerless Vale, still with caretaker Dean Glover in charge, looked the very definition of rudderless as they chased our shawdows around the pitch. Adam Nowland opened the scoring after latching onto Mellor’s pass, though it wasn’t until the second half that we made our dominance pay with a second. When it arrived, it was through the boot, or rather the head, of centre back Clint Hill, and the win was secure when Jamaican striker David Johnson found space in the box and fired past Mark Goodlad.

--

â€You got a moment?†My chairman was obviously intent on keeping up his regime of scaring the sh*t out of me by coming into my office unnoticed and beginning to speak to me. Once my heart rate had returned to somewhere resembling normal, I managed to mutter an answer.

â€Sure.â€

“We need to talk about your contract.â€

“What about it?â€

“I’m sure you’re aware that it runs out at the end of the season.â€

“Very much so.â€

“Well, the entire board is absolutely delighted with how things are going, and we don’t want anybody else casting eyes at you so, in that..†He dropped a large brown envelope on my desk, â€.. you’ll find a two year extension. Send it to H.R. when you’ve signed it.†With that he wandered idly from my office. The lack of cerimony and negotiation had taken aback somewhat, and I was far from surprised, though I must admit a little disappointed, when I saw that my pay would remain exactly the same. Who am I kidding though? There was never a chance that I wasn’t going to sign it.

--

It was back to the F.A. Cup for our next fixture, and a visit from Grimsby. The former Championship side now sat 6th in League Two and on a decent run of form, so it was not the most surprising of developments that they dominated the first twenty minutes of the game. The difference between the two sides was shown in the following ten, however. Though they’d created chances in their time on top, Grimsby had failed to find a way past Rune Pedersen (only when he spilled the ball into his own net in the second half did they get onto the scoresheet) whereas, in a 600 second spell that we controlled, we found the back of the net three times. James Beaumont was firston the scoresheet, netting his tenth of the season with a well placed finish after linking up with Mellor, and the on-loan striker turned scorer himself sixty seconds later, heading home from a Commons cross. Our period of excellence was finished off when Commons again crossed dangerously, and Steven Davis headed the ball past Paul Fraser. The fourth round draw a few days later rewarded our efforts with a home tie against Premiership side Birmingham.

This is awesome Terk, finally had a bit of time to sit down and read it properly and it's excellent. Screwing the boss' daughter eh? Better send off that signed contract sharpish

Good to see Steven Davis coming in there, I could eulogise far too long here, but good start for the lad - the midfield really does look impressive for a league one outfit. Good luck securing the title

cheers for the kind words and davis certainly has started well, I'm just a little concerned that the majority of my midfield is only on loan

====================

With the transfer windows now in operation, January often brings a flurry of activity, and indeed with contract renewals as well. Gillingham enquired about how much we’d ask for Nicky Eaden’s services, but our answer of £300,000 cooled their interest entirely. Southampton’s offer of a contract to John Curtis had the effect merely of forcing our hand. I had been unsure of whether to offer John a new deal, he had certainly been performing well, but I wasn’t entirely convinced that he could be as effective in the Championship. The former Blackburn and Man Utd centre back was offered a one year extension to his deal, and I couldn’t completely decide whether I wanted him to sign it or not.

Pedersen had strained his wrist in training, and so missed out on Doncaster’s visit to the City Ground. Paul Gerrard took over between the sticks, with reserve ‘keeper Aaron France called up to sit on the bench. Pedersen’s captaincy was passed temporarily to Curtis, and certainly we seemed a little less sure of ourselves in the first half. Momo Sissoko was forced off with a broken wrist (which would keep him out for three weeks) before the twentieth minute had passed, Steven Davis taking his place in the centre of the park. The second half, however, was a different matter, Mellor firing past Andy Warrington after connecting with Yacine Abdessadki’s cross, and substitute Davis ending a goalmouth scramble by toe-poking the ball into the back of the net.

Three days later we travelled to Layer Road to face Colchester, still with Gerrard in goal and Curtis wearing the captain’s armband as Pedersen continued to recover back in Nottingham. Again we started in a slow manner, but goals either side of half time from Eugen Bopp and Scott Dobie (for which they set each other up) sealed yet another three point haul against a decidedly lacklustre Colchester side.

Good news came in the form of Curtis rejects Southampton’s approach and penning a one year extention to his deal at the City Ground. Indeed, I turned out to be so happy about it, that I let reserve centre back Wes Morgan leave on loan to Northampton for three months.

--

â€Gino, can I have a word?†The Argentinian left back loped over to the corner of the training pitch as the rest of the muddied bodies trudged back into the changing room.

â€We’ve had another offer for you, Gino.â€

“…….†His blank expression was hardly the reaction I had been expecting.

â€From Recreativo. And considering that you’re performances have hardly been at their best of late, we’ve decided to accept it. They’ll contact you in the next few days. If you need to fly out to talk to them, you can.â€

“OK. Cheers, boss.†Given his previous tantrum at having a move denied, his downtrodden manner baffled me. I had more pressing things to worry about, however, namely Hannah’s birthday.

--

Birmingham’s visit to the City Ground in the fourth round of the F.A. Cup proved a great attraction for the fans, over 30,000 turning up to see us play the Premiership side. Steve Bruce’s side were sitting 15th in the Premiership, and had just been on the receiving end of a 6-0 battering at St James’ Park. Having come so close against Middlesbrough only to be denied at the very last, I was determined to give as good again. The lads were fired up going onto the pitch, and as so often in these types of game, the underdogs began the better of the two sides. Kris Commons was causing all sorts of problems for the Birmingham defence, but when our best chance of the first half came, Mellor sclaffed his shot wide of the post. The Premiership side threatened slightly in the first period, Emile Heskey driving a shot inches wide of the post from twenty yards. The moment that should have crushed us came early in the second half, Clint Hill’s handball leaving Nicky Butt to strike the resultant penalty past Rune Pedersen. Hill made amends in quick fashion though; when Lassana Diarra swung a free kick into the penalty area and Mellor knocked down, the defender was on hand to sweep the ball past Maik Taylor. For the remainder of the game, Stan Lazaridis and Damien Johnson did their best to wrench a hole in our defence, but we held firm and secured a reply at St. Andrews.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Reds Land Stewart

TeamTalk.com

League One side Nottingham Forest opened the chequebook today to sign Jordan Stewart from Championship side Watford. Frozen out of first team proceedings at Vicarage Road, Stewart, who can play at either left back or left wing, jumped at the chance to join the ever-growing revolution at the City Ground.

Stewart only recently joined Watford from Leicester, but has never found himself in favour at the London club, and his £700,000 move will give him the chance to pull on a 1st XI shirt again, “It’s been frustrating for me at Watford, I’ve only played twice all season. I don’t feel I’ve been given a chance to impress, and so in the end that’s why I’ve made the move. There’s competition for places at Forest, but I have every confidence that I’ll be given my chance, then it’s up to me to take it.â€

Bought primarily as a left back, Stewart is expected to be the replacement for Argentinian Gino Padula, who is currently in negotiations with Spanish side Recreativo. That would leave the way clear for Stewart to fight for the left back slot with Stephen Warnock, on loan at Forest from Liverpool for the duration of the season.

The Forest fans seem impressed with the move, the head of the supporters’ association said earlier, “I’ve every confidence that Jordan will prove to be a wonderful signing for this club. When you’re playing at this level and trying to replace someone as good as Gino, it’s going to be difficult, but Jordan has the pace and power to do just as well, and to get him for under a million pounds is a real coup.â€

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

--

Gino didn’t actually leave the club until after we’d faced Huddersfield, but as the Argentinian was never going to feature in any game after we’d accepted the bid, it made little difference. Stewart was parachuted straight into the starting line-up, something which annoyed Stevie Warnock quite a bit, but come full time and another 3-0 win, there was no room for anybody to complain. We netted all the goals in the first half, David Friio striking first from an Abdessadki cross, before Clint Hill headed home to double our advantage. The scoring was rounded off before the break, young defender James Perch drilling in his first goal for the club after Hill had laid off Bopp’s corner into his path.

January’s final game saw us back at the City Ground, this time with Hartlepool as visitors. For the second time in four days, we came away from a match with a three-nil success and a performance equally as competent as any we’d put in to date. Neil Mellor had been forced off early on, Liam Fox replacing him and Scott Dobie moving up front, but it was when Dobie wandered out to the right and swung in a cross for Steven Davis to head home that we took the lead. Davis had a big hand in the second, his driven shot parried by goalkeeper Jim Provett, but only into the path of James Beaumont who tucked it into the net. To round off the scoring, Clint Hill netted his third in as many games, swinging a perfectly placed free kick into the top corner of Provett’s goal.

The diagnosis of Mellor was a pulled hamstring which would keep him out for two weeks, but mean an earlier than expected start for our deadline day signing, Robbie Blake. The much travelled striker had failed to break into the Leeds set up, but they still charged us £1,500,000 for his services. Perhaps that had something to do with the 113 career goals he’s scored; I was certain he would add more than a few to those in the red of Forest, and at only 28 he had a good few years left in him yet.

Once again we were recognised in the end of the month awards, though I was sadly passed over this time around. Gary Holt, who had forced Lassana Diarra out of the side on a number of occasions, took the player award, whilst the young player equivalent went to Eugen Bopp, who despite serious competition in the middle of the park was beginning to make one of the spots his own.

January 2005 Summary

(League One unless otherwise stated)

Yeovil 0 – 3 Nottingham Forest

(Jørgensen 12â€, 51â€; Sissoko 66â€)

Nottingham Forest 3 – 0 Port Vale

(Nowland 24â€; Hill 54â€; Johnson 86â€)

Nottingham Forest 3 – 1 Grimsby (F.A. Cup 3rd Round)

(Beaumont 22â€; Mellor 23â€; Davis 30â€; Pedersen (OG) 79â€)

Nottingham Forest 2 – 0 Doncaster

(Mellor 47â€; Davis 63â€)

Colchester 0 – 2 Nottingham Forest

(Bopp 40â€; Dobie 82â€)

Nottingham Forest 1 – 1 Birmingham (F.A. Cup 4th Round)

(Butt pen 52â€; Hill 55â€)

Huddersfield 0 – 3 Nottingham Forest

(Friio 10â€; Hill 22â€; Perch 25â€)

Nottingham Forest 3 – 0 Hartlepool

(Davis 38â€; Beaumont 66â€; Hill 88â€)

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 1st | | Nottm Forest | | 29 | 24 | 5 | 0 | 69 | 5 | +64 | 77 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 2nd | | Gillingham | | 29 | 20 | 3 | 6 | 58 | 23 | +35 | 63 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 3rd | | Rotherham | | 29 | 16 | 7 | 6 | 48 | 26 | +22 | 55 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 4th | | Hartlepool | | 29 | 15 | 7 | 7 | 37 | 25 | +12 | 52 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 5th | | Brentford | | 29 | 15 | 5 | 9 | 45 | 27 | +18 | 50 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 6th | | Swansea | | 29 | 13 | 8 | 8 | 46 | 33 | +13 | 47 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 7th | | Bradford City | | 30 | 13 | 7 | 10 | 45 | 41 | +4 | 46 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 8th | | Swindon | | 29 | 11 | 12 | 6 | 42 | 31 | +11 | 45 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 9th | | Chesterfield | | 30 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 41 | 38 | +3 | 43 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 10th | | Blackpool | | 30 | 12 | 7 | 11 | 46 | 45 | +1 | 43 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 11th | | Bristol C | | 30 | 12 | 6 | 12 | 39 | 43 | -4 | 42 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 12th | | MK Dons | | 30 | 12 | 5 | 13 | 35 | 37 | -2 | 41 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 13th | | Bournemouth | | 29 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 38 | 34 | +4 | 38 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 14th | | Walsall | | 30 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 28 | 35 | -7 | 38 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 15th | | Tranmere | | 29 | 11 | 4 | 14 | 29 | 42 | -13 | 37 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 16th | | Barnsley | | 30 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 40 | 45 | -5 | 35 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 17th | | Doncaster | | 29 | 8 | 9 | 12 | 38 | 43 | -5 | 33 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 18th | | Oldham | | 29 | 7 | 9 | 13 | 31 | 41 | -10 | 30 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 19th | | Yeovil | | 30 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 40 | 64 | -24 | 29 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 20th | | Colchester | | 29 | 5 | 13 | 11 | 33 | 48 | -15 | 28 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 21st | | Huddersfield | | 30 | 7 | 7 | 16 | 23 | 40 | -17 | 28 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 22nd | | Scunthorpe | | 30 | 7 | 7 | 16 | 35 | 55 | -20 | 28 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 23rd | | Port Vale | | 30 | 5 | 9 | 16 | 34 | 60 | -26 | 24 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 24th | | Southend | | 30 | 4 | 6 | 20 | 26 | 65 | -39 | 18 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>