Terk Posted May 4, 2006 Author Share Posted May 4, 2006 October 2006 Summary (Championship unless otherwise stated) Gillingham 2 – 3 Nottingham Forest (Idiákez 9"; Johansson 17", 69"; Pongolle 25"; 79") Nottingham Forest 0 - 1 Burnley (Akinbiyi 58") Nottingham Forest 0 - 1 Liverpool (Carling Cup 3rd Round) (Gonzalez 45+2") Sheffield Wednesday 0 - 2 Nottingham Forest (Pongolle 33"; Djemba-Djemba s/off 44"; Mbesuma 71") Watford 0 - 2 Nottingham Forest (Idiákez 33", 58") Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amaroq Posted May 5, 2006 Share Posted May 5, 2006 yay! an update! I was worried! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tree Posted May 6, 2006 Share Posted May 6, 2006 good luck terk Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted May 10, 2006 Author Share Posted May 10, 2006 things have been a bit hectic of late, amaroq, but I'll try to update as often as I can and thanks, tree -------------------------------------- "You've certainly got us off on the right track this season, Stephen." "Couldn't have asked for better from the lads, to be honest. The new boys have settled in well." "Indeed. But I've called you in to discuss more sensitive matters. Your contract." "What about it?" "As I'm sure you're aware, it comes to an end next summer." "Yeah." "You can't see where I'm going with this?" "Spell it out for me." "The board have taken the decision that you won't be offered a new deal." "You mean you've taken the decision." "Don't make this personal. We just feel that once we're in the Premiership, as I expect us to be, we'll need a more experienced head in charge." "********. You're firing me because I cheated on your daughter." "It wasn't your smartest of choices." "If I find another club before you get the chance to throw me out the back door?" "We'll not stand in your way at all." I stormed, quite justifiably, out of the chairman's office. I couldn't believe that I'd effectively just been fired, though at least I had a decent notice period to work out. The fact that it came just two hours after we'd put Preston to the sword on national TV, Rasiak and Beaumont scoring in a fully merited two goal win, made it even stranger. I simply couldn't accept that the decision had been made for any other reason than my treatment of Hannah, I'd just hoped he'd be a bit more up front with it. I didn't even have another game close at hand to get my teeth into. Two weeks off due to international matches left me at a loose end, and I wound up watching the reserves playing Liverpool on our free weekend. The lads did well, a creditable 1-1 draw against the top second string in the division, and the performance of Ryan Stevenson stood out a mile. Tim had been banging on at me about how well the young kid had been doing, and seeing it first hand, I was mightily impressed. Stevenson was immediately promoted to the 1st team squad and such was his talent in training, he made the bench for the visit of Norwich when league action returned to the calendar. The game, though well attended by the fans, was in truth a bit dull. The two sides did a good job of cancelling each other out for the most part, and it was more luck than design which had us a goal in front at half time, Bakke's looping header from Rasiak's cross evading Paul Gallacher and finding the corner of the net as time ticked down on the half. We knew that if we got a second then the game would be as good as ours, and just before the hour mark, Liam Coleman managed to divert an Idiákez shot which was headed wide past Gallacher, settling the points in our favour. Stevenson had come on just after the hour with the game sealed up, the young Scot replacing Bakke on the right side of midfield and impressing more than enough with his energy and determination to keep his place amongst the elite squad at the club. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted May 17, 2006 Author Share Posted May 17, 2006 Let’s get something straight, there was no way I was ever going to just walk out on the club. It did cross my mind in the days after the chairman dropped his bombshell, but really I had become quite fond of this poxy bunch and I was determined to see them into the Premiership, even if it would be my last act with them. What the news had done though, was make me more aware of the managerial situation around other clubs, Premiership clubs in particular. JoaquÃn Peiro was being relentlessly hounded by the media for his supposed poor performance at Manchester City, basically everybody in the bottom half of the league seemed to be under pressure, and even further afield, there was much talk of Alex McLeish having to fall on his sword with Rangers only fourth in the Scottish Premier League. Rather than just an interested bystander, these were now potential jobs to me, but none of them sounded as attractive as the position I already held. I didn’t have too much time to dwell after the beating of Norwich, however, a trip to south Wales to face Cardiff was next up, a nice 300 mile round trip on a Tuesday evening for those fans brave enough to come and cheer us on. They at least had something to cheer pretty quickly, Ryan Stevenson playing a ball across the six yard box for Collins Mecum to sidefoot past Radek Cerny in the home side’s goal. Unfortunately, that was about the only thing we did right in the first half, and Cardiff proved to be a side difficult to cope with. The pace that they had throughout their side was causing our defence huge problems, though the man who got their equaliser wasn’t particularly speedy, but the free kick that Paul Hartley whipped into the top corner had been won by Djibril Cissé. Furthermore, it was Cissé – coming toward the end of his three month loan from Liverpool – who put the home side in front, racing onto a Hartley through ball and rounding De Vlieger (standing in for the injured Pedersen) before slotting the ball into the empty net. A few stern words were spoken at half time, if we wanted to keep pace with those at the top of the league then these were the sort of games that we couldn’t afford to lose. It seemed to have the desired effect as we came out much more focused, but had to survive Cissé cracking a shot off the crossbar and forcing a superb save from De Vlieger before we got on level terms, Rasiak turning the ball in after Mbesuma’s shot was parried by Cerny. We were now well on top of the game and looked the more likely to score, so it wasn’t too much of a surprise when we did so, a great run down the right by substitute Liam Coleman – on for the impressive Mbesuma – was finished off with a pinpoint cross into the penalty area for Kevin Davies to volley goalbound, though it needed a sizeable deflection to take it past the wrong-footed Cerny and put us in front. Cardiff tried everything they could to get back in the game, but all they did was leave us more space to exploit them, and six minutes from time we wrapped the game up, Coleman’s through ball fired into the bottom corner for Rasiak’s second goal of the match. It was a shame that nothing so entertaining happened in our encounter with Wigan at the City Ground four days later. Neither side could carve out much in the way of chances, and of what there was, Wigan had the better, at least forcing the fit-again Pedersen into two good saves during the ninety minutes (enough for him to be awarded man of the match) whilst we failed to make John Filan work at all, he only got to touch the ball when one of his centre backs felt sorry for him and gave him a pass back to deal with. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted May 17, 2006 Author Share Posted May 17, 2006 November 2006 Summary (Championship unless otherwise stated) Nottingham Forest 2 – 0 Preston (Rasiak 7â€; Beaumont 77â€) Nottingham Forest 2 – 0 Norwich (Bakke 45â€; Coleman 58â€) Cardiff 2 – 4 Nottingham Forest (Mbesuma 3â€; Hartley 14â€; Cissé 45+1; Rasiak 57â€, 84â€; Davies 74â€) Nottingham Forest 0 – 0 Wigan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted May 17, 2006 Author Share Posted May 17, 2006 <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Birmingham | | 19 | 14 | 2 | 3 | 37 | 10 | +27 | 44 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Crystal Palace | | 19 | 14 | 2 | 3 | 35 | 14 | +21 | 44 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Nottm Forest | | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 37 | 9 | +28 | 42 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Wigan | | 19 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 33 | 18 | +15 | 37 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Norwich | | 19 | 12 | 1 | 6 | 23 | 14 | +9 | 37 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Hull | | 19 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 29 | 20 | +9 | 33 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | West Ham | | 19 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 30 | 24 | +6 | 33 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Wolves | | 19 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 25 | 19 | +6 | 32 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Ipswich | | 19 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 23 | 17 | +6 | 31 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Coventry | | 19 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 19 | 15 | +4 | 30 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Burnley | | 19 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 21 | 20 | +1 | 28 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Stoke | | 19 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 19 | 21 | -2 | 27 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Derby | | 19 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 20 | 22 | -2 | 26 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Leeds | | 19 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 22 | 25 | -3 | 25 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Cardiff | | 19 | 7 | 3 | 9 | 27 | 21 | +6 | 24 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Preston | | 19 | 5 | 4 | 10 | 20 | 30 | -10 | 19 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Crewe | | 19 | 3 | 9 | 7 | 16 | 22 | -6 | 18 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Barnsley | | 19 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 18 | 28 | -10 | 18 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | | Reading | | 19 | 4 | 4 | 11 | 18 | 32 | -14 | 16 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | | Gillingham | | 19 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 19 | 32 | -13 | 15 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 21st | | Watford | | 19 | 2 | 8 | 9 | 13 | 30 | -17 | 14 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22nd | | Rotherham | | 19 | 3 | 5 | 11 | 12 | 31 | -19 | 14 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 23rd | | Sheff Wed | | 19 | 3 | 2 | 14 | 10 | 28 | -18 | 11 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24th | | Brighton | | 19 | 1 | 5 | 13 | 12 | 36 | -24 | 8 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesterfan2 Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 Terk, this remains one of the very best stories on this board, a big hats off type of commendation from me is thoroughly warranted. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simply Perfect Posted May 19, 2006 Share Posted May 19, 2006 I've waded through the first seven pages of this and hope there's more to come, cos this is excellent. A challenger for Flipper's crown...? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted May 20, 2006 Author Share Posted May 20, 2006 Thank you both for the very kind words. Always nice to know that people are enjoying the work. -------------------------------- â€Señor Beckett, you have done impressive work in England.†“Thank you.†“Why are you interested in moving to Alavés? What could you do for the club?†<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Reds’ Boss In Spanish Talks (Nottingham Evening Post) Nottingham Forest’s Stephen Beckett was in Spain today for talks with Segunda Division outfit Alavés over their vacant managerial position. The side, based in Vitoria-Gasteiz in the Basque region, were relegated from Spain’s top division during the 2005-06 season, and currently sit 8th in the second division table. With relations between Beckett and Forest chairman Nigel Doughty becoming more strained all the time, it is understood that Beckett has been looking at opportunities with other clubs since the start of the season, and the Alavés board have been impressed with his record during his two and a half seasons at the City Ground. Whether the interview at the Estadio Mendizorroza will lead to an offer or not, it seems that Beckett’s days at Forest are numbered. He may not make it to the end of the season, Reds fans will just be hoping that he leaves them in a position to maintain their charge towards a Premiership return. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> -- That they had news of my trip to Spain was hardly surprising, that they knew about the deterioration in my relationship with Nigel was more disconcerting. I had assumed these things would be kept private, and I knew for certain that I hadn’t leaked anything. I had half a mind to walk up to his office and batter him relentlessly with the newspaper, but in the end I wanted to keep my job in case things went pear shaped with Alavés. That job continued with a near four hundred mile round trip to Brighton, the sort of trip that is made far easier on the return leg if you have a six-nil win to look back on. The home side had proven a tough opposition when we faced them last season, despite their precarious league position, but this time we romped through with complete ease. It all started well, Arjan De Zeeuw felling Kevin Davies in the penalty area and Sinama-Pongolle rifling the resultant spot kick past young Scottish ‘keeper Allan McGregor. By the half time whistle, we could have had at least five more but only managed a further two, Kris Commons volleying home Eirik Bakke’s cross and Grzegorz Rasiak taking Jackie McNamara’s though ball and sliding his shot beyond McGregor. We were never in any danger of losing the game, and even less so with twenty minutes left after Pongolle’s cross had been headed home by Stevenson, and whilst the young Scot was charging in on goal, looking for his second, Scott Morrison’s tackle inadvertently sent the ball beyond his own goalkeeper and into the back of the net. There was time for one more, the icing on the cake if you will, a second for Pongolle and probably the best of the day, taking Rasiak’s pass and chipping the ball perfectly over McGregor. All that, the points, the jobs, the whole game, was put starkly into perspective five days later. An innocent training ground game of five-a-side ended in horror when James Perch’s slide tackle left Jordan Stewart in a crumpled heap, his left leg cleanly snapped through both tibia and fibula and pointing at a highly unnatural angle. After surgery, the opinion was that he would most likely be able to take the field again, the recovery rate from such injuries these days was far greater than ever it was before, but it did leave a left back shaped hole in our side. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Edwards Posted May 20, 2006 Share Posted May 20, 2006 Just Read 7 Pages Very Cool Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
axeman Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 I'm surprised that you didn't batter the chairman for his comments. I know that I'd have thrown him out of his own window Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simply Perfect Posted May 21, 2006 Share Posted May 21, 2006 Assault isn't really progressive though. *** Eight pages *** Bottle him at the end of season dinner! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted May 21, 2006 Author Share Posted May 21, 2006 As SP said, I'm not sure assault would have done my cause much good. And high fives all round for me reaching an eighth page \o/ ----------------------------------- The mood of the camp was brightened slightly the day before we faced Hull at the City Ground with the news that Djibril Cissé had agreed to join us on loan for three months. I’d been in negotiations with Liverpool and the Frenchman’s agent since he impressed as we defeated Cardiff at the end of November, indeed he had netted twelve time in the twelve games he had played in south Wales. Anything like that sort of strike rate at the City Ground and he’d make himself a popular figure. His first start came sooner than expected, Rasiak pulled up with a thigh strain on the morning on the home match against Hull and Cissé was promoted from the bench. Standing in for the unfortunate Jordan Stewart was George McCartney, hardly a left back by trade, but he’d have to do until we could identify some temporary cover. The game was hardly the most exciting, for the first seventy minutes at least it looked like neither side had the ambition nor talent to produce anything game-winning. On our side, I thought it most likely that Jordan’s horrific injury had had a mental effect on some of the lads, and when Eirik Bakke removed his shirt having netted the first goal to reveal a vest daubed with a message of support to the stricken left back, it was apparently confirmed that a fallen comrade was on their minds. Having taken the lead through Bakke though, his conversion of Commons’ cross came with only eighteen minutes left, we were damn sure not going to let the points slip, and Commons again provided the chance, crossing to the back post for Cissé to rise highest and nod home his debut goal. The Frenchman had been playing alongside Collins Mbesuma in a two-pronged attack, and it was he who lay a ball across the six yard box for the Zimbabwean international to tap home our third and final of the afternoon, a scoreline that perhaps flattered us but that we were hardly likely to complain about. -- â€Promoted from the academy in the summer and he’s netted seven in his first nine games for the under eighteens. That was before today, mind.†Tim, ever watchful of the club’s youth talent, had come to bend my ear about Mark Reilly, a seventeen year old striker in his first season with the club’s U-18 side. The record of seven in nine had got my attention, and then travelling to see him take on their Mansfield counterparts at Field Mill proved to be worth the trip as he netted his first hat-trick since leaving the academy in a comprehensive 4-1 win. His movement and eye for goal meant he was certainly one to keep an eye on, but all too often I had seen young lads shine at age grade but not able to make the same sort of impact when they were graduated to the first team. -- There was no chance of him being included in the squad for the trip to Upton Park though, Rasiak and Pongolle began the game up front with Cissé dropping to the bench and Mbesuma left to ponder life from his couch in Nottingham. West Ham weren’t having the best of seasons, the Hammers sitting ninth in the table but still more than capable of beating anyone in the division on their day, so a good start was pretty much essential to quiet the home crowd. I would have preferred a two goal lead when the lads came in for the half time break, but if you’d offered me just the one at kick off then I’d happily have accepted. And thanks to Eugen Bopp, dealing with the simple job and side-footing home Rasiak’s square ball from four yards, we had that one goal advantage and there were a few less bubbles being blown from the stands. The second half began brightly and we looked to have sealed the contest five minutes in, Bopp this time turning provider as his corner was headed past Roy Carroll by defender James Perch, but seven minutes later, the home side were back in the match, Krisztian Lisztes’ cross being turned beyond Pedersen by McCartney’s despairing slide. A quick answer was needed, unfortunately it came from the home side as they pounded us and Pedersen had to make two smart saves before our Danish ‘keeper felled Marcus Lantz and was lucky to remain on the field. He made the most of that luck though, pushing Andrew Whing’s penalty round the post, and though we didn’t capitalise straight away, we did eventually restore our two goal lead when substitutes Djibril Cissé and Ryan Stevenson combined for the Scottish midfielder to turn the ball past Carroll. Once more we managed to give West Ham hope, however, as we eased off the gas thinking the day was won, ex-England international Kevin Phillips pounced on a rebound from Lisztes’ shot and with Pedersen still scrambling to get up, reduced the gap back down to a single goal. Pedersen was eventually awarded the man of the match champagne, and I’m sure that had much to do with an incredible double save made almost straight from the re-start, Phillips looking to add to his personal tally, but after shooting too close to the Dane could only watch as his follow up header was clawed away. At that point I would have settled for Rune having won us a point, I could barely see how we could keep them out until the end, and as long as he made enough saves to stop them from scoring twice, I’d have been reasonably happy. Phillips’ misfortune seemed to deflate his team-mates though, and we roared back, nicking the clinching fourth as time ticked down, Barry Robson crossing for Cissé to nod his second goal in as many games and keep us atop the Championship table. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amaroq Posted May 22, 2006 Share Posted May 22, 2006 Nice! (to that last game) Hot tea, and an update to my favorite story. Highlight of my day so far! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted May 31, 2006 Author Share Posted May 31, 2006 glad to know you're still enjoying it, amaroq ------------------------------------------------------- Our F.A. Cup 3rd Round opponents had been drawn as either Northampton or Leyton Orient, and so it was that, twenty four hours after the West Ham win, having only returned to Nottingham in the early hours of Wednesday morning, (and finding it difficult to stay home alone for any length of time) I made the sixty or so mile trip down the M1 to see their second round replay and Sixfields. Having taken an early lead through Northern Ireland striker Andy Kirk, the home side seemed happy to sit back and defend, something which was to be their undoing in the latter stages of the second half, Steven McGarry and Gavin Gordon netting the late goals which booked Orient a tie at the City Ground in early January. -- â€It’ll only be a six month deal, the same as you’re on at Dundee, but you’ll be first choice for that time. You’re not getting a game at Tannadice at the moment, are you?†Trying to convince Jamie McAllister to swap Dundee for Nottingham for the next six months wasn’t the hardest job I’d faced as a manager. The lad had been frozen out of the Dundee United first team, and with his contract running out at the end of the season anyway, it made plenty of sense to spend that time playing games and putting himself in the shop window. It was the best of options for us as well, costing only £60,000 and having played over 250 career games, he was cheap and experienced. The deal wouldn’t go through until the window re-opened in January, but that was only another couple weeks for McCartney to deputise in the left back role. -- The Alavés interview had come to nothing, as expected the job went to someone who knew the Spanish game considerably better than I did and, coupled with the horrific goalless draw we’d played out against Wolves, it left me feeling none too good about my situation. The good news was that, with the league now having reached the halfway stage, we sat level at the top with Birmingham on fifty-two points with Palace two behind and a further five before Wigan were to be found. It was just knowing that I wasn’t going to be around much longer meant I found it hard to feel good about the promotion push. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
united_forever Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 hard luck there with the Alaves job Still going strong Terk One of your est stories yet I think its your best mate KUTGW Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted June 10, 2006 Author Share Posted June 10, 2006 cheers, u_f Sorry for the lack of updates, I've had a lot of other work to do recently. -------------------------- Rune Pedersen had taken a knock to the head in the latter stages of the match against Wolves, his vision began to blur but as we had already made our three substitutions, it meant we had to play the final five minutes with Florent Sinama-Pongolle in goal. The young Frenchman was given one save to make and pulled it off, but I still thought it would be prudent to select back up ‘keeper Geert de Vlieger for the match against Coventry whilst Rune was out recovering. The game went well; the TV cameras present did little to throw us off our stride and a one goal lead at half time – thanks to Kris Commons’ superbly placed free kick – was tripled before there were ten minutes left, Commons setting up Rasiak for our second before Lassana Diarra sent a thirty-five yard bullet shot screaming into the top corner. Ian Breckin pulled one back for the visitors before the end, but it was still enough to keep us top of the pile on goal difference. Christmas day came and went with little notice from myself; a quick phone call to the parents, I spent my day planning for the trip to Crewe twenty-four hours later. Djibril Cissé had made a good impact since his arrival from Liverpool, and he was the difference between the two sides at Gresty Road, bagging a goal in each half – set up by Idiákez and Pongolle respectively – to give us a clear win. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted June 10, 2006 Author Share Posted June 10, 2006 Before the final game of the month, a visit from Yorkshire side Barnsley, we had a few transfer matters to deal with. The unsuccessful Liam Fox was loaned out to Bury for the remainder of the season, whereas we asked Sunderland to extend George McCartney’s stay at the City Ground for another three months after being impressed with him. Slightly more disappointingly to our fans, Badajoz sprang to offer Iñigo Idiákez a pre-contract agreement to join them in the summer. Iñigo had been hugely successful during his short six months in Nottingham and a vital member of our side, but I have to say I couldn’t honestly care if he left. I knew my remaining time was ticking away, and my love for the club was growing less all the time. I had no interest in them past the end of the season. Barnsley’s visit to the City Ground brought 2006 to an end, and whilst in the grand scheme of things, it would certainly be classed as a successful year for the club, it was one that screamed of disappointment to me. I certainly wasn’t going to be sad to see the end of it, but still wanted to leave it on a good note, something we just about managed. Having taken the lead through Rasiak’s eleventh minute header, we were pegged back by Trevor Benjamin, only to find ourselves in front once more – two minutes into first half injury time – when Kevin Thomson volleyed home Kris Commons’ cross. When Barnsley’s Anthony Kay was sent off for a second yellow card with fifteen minutes of the game left, it looked like the three points were ours, but Benjamin once again equalised for the visitors with just nine minutes remaining. Two points had apparently slipped from our grasp, but Barnsley were still full of the Christmas spirit and Pongolle’s cut back was speared into his own net by Irish winger Mark Kennedy. Despite the having been two minutes into injury time at the end of the match, a time when one might be expecting the full time whistle, there were a further three minutes to endure and another goal to be scored before the game was brought to an end, and thankfully that goal came our way, Pongolle getting himself on the scoresheet with a low, drilled shot into the corner of the net. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted June 10, 2006 Author Share Posted June 10, 2006 December 2006 Summary (Championship unless otherwise stated) Brighton 0 – 6 Nottingham Forest (Pongolle pen 4â€, 73â€; Commons 13â€; Rasiak 28â€; Stevenson 61â€; Morrison (OG) 69â€) Nottingham Forest 3 – 0 Hull (Bakke 72â€; Cissé 77â€; Mbesuma 87â€) West Ham 2 – 4 Nottingham Forest (Bopp 21â€; Perch 50â€; McCartney (OG) 57â€; Whing m/pen 63â€; Stevenson 83â€; Phillips 86â€; Cissé 90) Nottingham Forest 0 – 0 Wolves Nottingham Forest 3 – 1 Coventry (Commons 17â€; Rasiak 64â€; Diarra 79â€; Breckin 86â€) Crewe 0 – 2 Nottingham Forest (Cissé 38â€, 90+2â€) Nottingham Forest 4 – 2 Barnsley (Rasiak 11â€; Benjamin 31â€, 81â€; Thomson 45+2â€; Kay s/off 75â€; Kennedy (OG) 90+2â€; Pongolle 90+5â€) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted June 18, 2006 Author Share Posted June 18, 2006 "Even I was close to falling asleep during that, Jeff. It wasn't the most entertaining of games I've been involved in." "But still, you're top of the table with more than half of the season gone, you've surely got to have your eye on the Premiership now." "I've only got eyes for Orient, at the moment. We can't afford to get ahead of ourselves." Making the usual (banal) comments that a manager is supposed to after a match was perfectly easy; keeping a straight face whilst doing so wasn't. After finished the niceties of the interview, I was left to reflect on the fact that we had come away from the game against Ipswich with a point, even if no one in the ground had enjoyed their day in the slightest. Barely a shot on goal on a bog of a pitch, it was one of the matches simply to get through and put behind you, and at least we did still sit proud atop the table. Saying that I had my eyes on Orient, however, wasn't a lie at all. Their managerial mess had more than attracted my attention as they sacked Martin Ling just five days before we were set to face them in the F.A. Cup and appointed Stuart Baxter to replace him in spectacularly quick fashion. The sacking wasn't totally out of the blue, Leyton Orient did sit twenty-third in League Two, but still I took nothing for granted and fielded a full strength side, Jamie McAllister coming in for his first start since joining us on the opening of the transfer window. Iñigo Idiákez, with a seemingly clear mind now he had his future settled back in his homeland, was to be our star of the first half, plundering a hat-trick before the interval, replied to only by Steven McGarry's effort when the score stood at 2-0. Any hopes that Orient may have had of a searing comeback to register a huge F.A. Cup shock were shot to pieces in the second half, however, as Djibril Cissé took it upon himself to cause a fight over the match ball as he bagged a hat-trick of his own, the crowning glory of which was a beautiful shot from fully thirty yards into the top corner of Glenn Morris' net with three minutes of injury time already passed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian of Nazareth Posted June 19, 2006 Share Posted June 19, 2006 Still excellent stuff Terk, though I think your record should leave you to set your sights a fair bit higher than the Orient job as a next port of call Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 19, 2006 Share Posted June 19, 2006 Just read this from th estart, WOW great stuff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted June 23, 2006 Author Share Posted June 23, 2006 You've got to look anywhere you can, Brian Glad you enjoyed, demon. Hope you keep reading ------------------------------- <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Nottingham Forest.co.uk Nottingham Forest can comfirm recent media speculation that the club has rejected two bids for left winger Kris Commons since the transfer window re-opened in 1st January. Neither bid equaled the value that Nottingham Forest believe Kris represents to the club, and we are determined to keep him at the City Ground as a valuable asset in our push for promotion to the Premiership. We can also confirm that French midfielder David Friio has been allowed to join Dutch side RBC on a free transfer. David was an integral member of the squad which saw Forest promoted to the Championship but has found first team opportunities more difficult to come by in the past eighteen months. We all wish David the best in his new challenge. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Plymouth and West Brom were the clubs in question, and the truth of their £2,600,000 bids was merely that they fell £400,000 short of a release clause in his contract. It was enough for the club to initiate extension talks with him, but as both his and his agent's head had been turned by the interest, it was growing ever more likely that a replacement would have to be found. Indeed, such was the speculation surrounding Kris before our game against Reading that I considered leaving him out, but not only would that have been cutting my nose off to spite my face, it would likely have only made things worse. Three club scouts were spotted at the Madejski Stadium, representing West Brom, Everton and Middlesbrough; Plymouth had obviously been put off by our rejection of their first bid. The game itself was a huge success for us, and for that matter for Kris, who came away with five assists, a man of the match award and every pundit in the ground proclaiming him to be a real Premiership class player. The only goal that Kris didn't set-up was the third of Cissé's second hat-trick in a week, he had netted twice in the first half before rounding proceedings off just a minute before time. Further Commons work set up Gudjonsson, Bopp and Rasiak for goals before the break (we led by five at half time) and the two that Reading pulled back before Djibril completed the scoring really mattered very little. The inevitable happened two days later as the release clause in Commons' contract was triggered; the £3,000,000 bid came from Middlesbourgh and from the moment it was made, there was no doubt that he wouldn't join them, though he did manage one more match in a Forest shirt before departing. That match was the F.A. Cup fourth round tie at White Hart Lane. Spurs were having yet another average season in the Premiership, one that their roster of talent suggested was again beneath them. Still, they were overwhelming favourites to stick one on us and progress to the fifth round. Those expectations were blown out of the water in the first half, though, as we continued our fantastic form, taking the lead when Cissé crossed for Rasiak to head home and then doubling that lead when Commons provided his fiftieth assist since I took over the club (and what would prove to be his last) for Jackie McNamara to slide the ball in at the far post. I've always been a believer in 'if something seems to good to be true, then it is' and Spurs' first half performance certainly fell into that category. There was simply no way they'd be as bad in the second period. And they weren't. Perhaps scared of what we were set to achieve, we began to sit far too deep, and even Dino Fava Passaro's fifty-seventh minute goal wasn't enough to wake us up. The Italian forward was revelling in the number of chances afforded him, and with twenty minutes to go he ensured a replay with a thunderous low drive. Had it been offered before the start of play, I'd have happily taken 2-2, but there was no doubting the fact that I was sorely disappointed as we left London. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted July 5, 2006 Author Share Posted July 5, 2006 Work's been hectic of late, so forgive the lack of posting. I've got ten days off now, so hopefully I can get on with this in a hurry -------------------------------------------------------- "Ian, you'd better have names for me. We need to replace Kris asap." "There's two choices as far as I see it. Joe Hamill at Leicester is the cheaper option, Sunderland have just had a £1,500,000 bid accepted and he's not a bad wee player at all. The more talented player is Nano, a lad I've seen a couple times playing for Getafe in Spain. A quick sounding out looks like he'll be available for around £3,000,000. He used to play for both Atletico Madrid and Barcelona. He was bloody brilliant in Getafe's 2-0 win over Pontevedra at the weekend." "Right, erm, let's match Sunderland's bid for Hamill, but I only want him as a back up plan in case we fail to get Nano." "What do we do about replacing Grzegorz?" "Nothing for now. We've got enough strikers. We should get through without him." Kris Commons' move to Middlesbrough had left a big hole in our side and the move to fill it was of paramount importance, so much so that my concern for our striking options in the light of the fractured femur suffered by Rasiak was pushed well and truly to the side. It wasn't as if Pongolle and Cissé were doing a bad job. Barry Robson was, of course, given temporary possession of the left wing slot, and his return to the side came in my 150th match in charge of the club. It seemed somewhat fitting that the game itself, against Stoke, should be a dull and uninspiring 0-0 draw, denying me my 100th win and failing to add to the 312 goals scored in my reign, but I could be happy enough with my stats. We didn't even get to speak to Joe Hamill and his agent before the little Scot turned us down in favour of a move to Sunderland. All our eggs were now in Nano's basket, and if he rejected us then I dreaded to think how quickly our challenge would stumble and fall. Barry kept hold of the shirt for the trip to Leeds. In fact, he had been our best performer against Stoke, menacing the opposition constantly down the left flank, but he was unable to reproduce such form at Elland Road, and joined by his teammates in mediocrity, he could do nothing to stop us falling to a single goal defeat, Lee McCulloch's sixty-eighth minute strike the difference between the sides at the end. On deadline day for transfers from overseas, we finally got the news we had been hoping for as Nano flew in for his medical, and having passed that with flying colours, put pen to paper on a three and a half year deal. I had thought about trying the ultimate cheek and spending £3,300,000 on a player only to give him a six month contract and see him walk away from the club who had treated me so badly, but in the end I decided against using a player as a pawn in my hate campaign against the chairman, I'd have to find another way of getting back at him. Perhaps the way to do that was to remind him of just what he'd be missing when I finally walked out of the door, and that began with the F.A. Cup replay against Tottenham. Sitting ninth in the Premiership, Martin Jol's side were again the clear favourites, but that didn't stop us from lining them up for a major shock. Within nine minutes we had taken the lead, and within ten we had doubled it, French pair Djibril Cissé and Florent Sinama-Pongolle doing the damage. Cissé even had the cheek to miss a twenty-fifth minute penalty, firing his effort straight at Leo Franco, before grabbing our third six minutes before half time. With a lead well established and a place in the next round seemingly ours, Nano was introduced at the break, and the Spaniard gave a good account of himself, though he had no hand in our fourth and final goal, Jamie McAllister setting up Pongolle to ensure that both our Frenchmen left the pitch with a brace. If ever I had been the toast of Nottingham, it was now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted July 5, 2006 Author Share Posted July 5, 2006 January 2007 Summary (Championship unless otherwise stated) Ipswich 0 – 0 Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest 6 - 1 Leyton Orient (F.A. Cup 3rd Round) (Idiákez 23", 27", 44"; McGarry 37"; Cissé 59", 75", 90+3") Reading 2 - 6 Nottingham Forest (Cissé 6", 27", 89"; Gudjonsson 23"; Bopp 33"; Rasiak 45"; Walters 76"; De Vlieger (OG) 87") Tottenham 2 - 2 Nottingham Forest (F.A. Cup 4th Round) (Rasiak 17"; McNamara 36"; Fava Passaro 57", 70") Nottingham Forest 0 - 0 Stoke Leeds 1 - 0 Nottingham Forest (McCulloch 68") Nottingham Forest 4 - 0 Tottenham (F.A. Cup4th Round Replay) (Cissé 9", m/pen 25", 39"; Pongolle 10", 57") Stephen Beckett's 150 game record: 926 Days 99 Wins 33 Draws 18 Defeats 312 Goals scored 91 Goals conceded 8 Managerial awards 1 League title Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted July 5, 2006 Author Share Posted July 5, 2006 <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Nottm Forest | | 30 | 20 | 6 | 4 | 65 | 17 | +48 | 66 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Birmingham | | 30 | 19 | 6 | 5 | 54 | 22 | +32 | 63 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Crystal Palace | | 30 | 19 | 4 | 7 | 54 | 32 | +22 | 61 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Wigan | | 30 | 15 | 13 | 2 | 52 | 30 | +22 | 58 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Norwich | | 30 | 16 | 7 | 7 | 41 | 27 | +14 | 55 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Ipswich | | 30 | 12 | 13 | 5 | 35 | 26 | +9 | 49 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Wolves | | 30 | 13 | 10 | 7 | 35 | 26 | +9 | 49 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Hull | | 30 | 14 | 6 | 10 | 40 | 35 | +5 | 48 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Leeds | | 30 | 12 | 11 | 7 | 34 | 29 | +5 | 47 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | West Ham | | 30 | 14 | 5 | 11 | 42 | 39 | +3 | 47 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Coventry | | 30 | 13 | 8 | 9 | 32 | 29 | +3 | 47 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Burnley | | 30 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 37 | 33 | +4 | 45 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Stoke | | 30 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 30 | 31 | -1 | 42 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Cardiff | | 30 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 42 | 35 | +7 | 39 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Derby | | 30 | 8 | 13 | 9 | 30 | 34 | -4 | 37 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Preston | | 30 | 10 | 5 | 15 | 33 | 42 | -9 | 35 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Crewe | | 30 | 6 | 12 | 12 | 23 | 34 | -11 | 30 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Gillingham | | 30 | 6 | 8 | 16 | 36 | 49 | -13 | 26 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | | Reading | | 30 | 6 | 7 | 17 | 30 | 51 | -21 | 25 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | | Barnsley | | 30 | 5 | 9 | 16 | 27 | 48 | -21 | 24 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 21st | | Rotherham | | 30 | 6 | 6 | 18 | 23 | 49 | -26 | 24 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22nd | | Sheff Wed | | 30 | 4 | 10 | 16 | 17 | 36 | -19 | 22 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 23rd | | Watford | | 30 | 4 | 10 | 16 | 24 | 48 | -24 | 22 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24th | | Brighton | | 30 | 4 | 6 | 20 | 24 | 58 | -34 | 18 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadpadtherad Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 good goal difference, +221. best story on here in my opinion, keep it coming. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted July 19, 2006 Author Share Posted July 19, 2006 cheers, big bad ------------------------------ "Whisky please, mate. A decent one." "....." "No, I said decent, not Bells. Just give me a Glenfiddich." I hadn't been able to bear another Friday night home alone and so had dragged myself along to a local bar which was full of twenty-something, thuggish dickheads; unmistakable as the common football fan. "Hey, I know you." "Don't think so, mate." "Yeah, yeah, you're the Forest manager. Oh, wossisname? Erm, Beckett." "And?" "Yer crap." "Cheers." "**** d'ya sell Commons for?" "Nothing you can do if the lad wants to leave." "B*llocks. Decent manager would have kept him." "I'm sure you would have." "****in' right." "Wänker." "**** did you say?" "Nothing." "****in' called me a wänker." "If you already knew then why did you ask?" "****in' ****." I do remember the pain of his fist catching me full force on the cheek, but I certainly couldn't have told you where it had come from, or what happened over the next minute of so until I came to, surrounded by bar staff with a mixture of concern and amusement fighting for control of their faces. Witnesses told later of how I hit the floor like the oft mentioned sack of spuds, my whisky glass landing on some unfortunate sould five feet behind me. A long night spent being treated by the NHS' most incompetent (or so they seemed at the time) ended with a diagnosis of a fractured cheekbone, though not serious enough to need surgery. I almost wished I had needed to stay in for an operation when I remembered that in a few short hours I wold be setting off to Birmingham for our next league game, though I spent some amusing hours imaging the look on the chairman's face when he saw the state I was in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted July 24, 2006 Author Share Posted July 24, 2006 Little was said when I turned up at the club the following morning, but as well there were few who could stop staring at my bruised and swollen face. I knew the TV cameras would have a field day with close ups as I stood on the touchline, and no matter what happened in the match, the interviews afterwards would deal strictly with my physical features, but I can't say that I honestly cared. Birmingham were going to be a tough enough challenge without the distractions, and though they would need a quite monumental win to displace us from the top of the table, they could in ninety small minutes wipe out our points lead, something I was naturally eager to avoid. Djibril Cissé and Florent Sinama-Pongolle had been quite a prolific partnership since the first time the two Liverpool loanees played together, and they saw no reason to let up against our nearest league challengers. They had been frustrated in the first half, in particular by some good goalkeeping from Maik Taylor, but a goal each after half time, which took Pongolle to twenty in a Forest shirt, claimed us the highly important win. Three points was a fantastic start to the month, and did our promotion push the world of good, so I have to say I felt pretty happy. And not least because winning such important games could do my prospects of future employment no harm whatsoever. Indeed, it seemed that on the back of the Birmingham win, those prospects would turn into reality sooner rather than later. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted August 5, 2006 Author Share Posted August 5, 2006 "Job well done, lads. Palace and Birmingham lost, we've an eight point lead at the top. We can't get complacent, but you've fourteen games to secure your place back in the Premiership. It's all down to you." Those words came after a televised home game against Derby, a game in which refereee James Richardson seemed determined to star. We were already a goal to the good when he awarded the first penalty of the day, which Hayden Mullins converted for the visitors, and we had a further two when we were awarded a spot kick, which John Viáfara battered over the cross bar. We did net our fourth soon afterward (the goals had come two each from Pongolle and Cissé) and Richardson then gave a third penalty, Derby's second of the game, which Seth Johnson eased past Pedersen. The lead we had over the chasing pack meant that, three days later, our encounter with Crystal Palace took on quite a significance. If we could strike a victory then, bar all but the worst disasters in form, we would be on the verge of sealing our promotion. That intention took a blow inside the first half hour with youngster James Beaumont getting over excited and bagging hiimself two yellow cards, but despite that we took the lead as the prolific Djibril Cissé took Kevin Thomson's ball on the chest and rifled it into the bottom corner. Of course, there was no way something so good could last, and eight minutes after the break, Malcolm Christie flicked a cross over Pedersen to equalise the scores, and with just ten minutes left, and as the game looked set to be heading towards a draw, Phil Mulryne swung a free kick round the wall and past Pedersen to claim the win that was all important to their endeavours. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted August 7, 2006 Author Share Posted August 7, 2006 "To be honest, Gary, I think the most important thing about today's win was that it shows we're capable of performing against Premiership opposition. Whilst it's fantastic to be in the quarter finals, proving that we have what it takes to compete at this level, and that's what we have done today and with the victory over Spurs in the last round, is far more satisfying from my point of view." What made the win even better was that Newcastle had fielded their full strength side at the City Ground. Needless to say, we had done the same despite being embroiled in a far more important battle for the Championship title. Their danger man was clearly going to be diminutive winger Shaun Wright-Phillips, the ex-Chelsea attacker was, quite frankly, pretty much the only reason that his side were mid-table rather than bottom of the table. For much of the game, as expected, Newcastle were the better side. Having said that though, they were far from dominant. Jamie McAllister did a fantastic job in keeping Wright-Phillips as quiet as possible, and whenever the visitors did break through, Rune Pedersen was on hand to make the necessry saves. Whilst I was proud of the boys' performance, the last thing I wanted was a play, especially given that beating them away from St James' Park was the only chance we had to go through. But with just nine minutes of the match remaining, I was beginning to give up hope when Nano's corner was spilled by Shay Given under pressure from Cissé and Pongolle stabbed in the loose ball. Some thirty thousand fans went nuts, but they had to endure some nightmarish moments as the game closed out, but despite Newcastle's best efforts, we held on to what was a quite fantastic win. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted August 11, 2006 Author Share Posted August 11, 2006 I cried in the sunlight Would I fake all the times I loved you Just to play in a game of twisted with you With you I need to believe you Sacrificed all the lies we made up How we kissed then we made our wish to the end, to the end Everyday hurts a little more Everyday hurts a little more And I'll do anything Yes I'll do anything To belong To be strong To say there's nothing wrong My melancholic had still not lifted, and by this time I was reguarly considering just packing in my time at Forest, taking a nice, relaxing break before the right job came along. When push came to shove, however, I was never going to give it up, and my spirits on the bus trip back to Nottingham were at least lifted a little by a two goal success at Rotherham. Bakke and Idiákez grabbed the first half goals which sealed the match, set up by Pongolle and Cissé respectively, and our lead at the top was remaining nice and secure. Our win over Newcastle had booked us a quarter final match up with either Manchester United or Chelsea, and I had scheduled a mid-week trip to go and see their fourth round encounter at Old Trafford, but first we had to deal with Gillingham at the City Ground. Florent Sinama-Pongolle was having a quite fantastic season, spurred on somewhat by the friendly competition between fellow Liverpool striker Djibril Cissé and himself, and it was the younger of the two who got the plaudits against Gillingham, putting us in front on just three minutes when he headed home Nano's cross and them scrambling home a second just after the hour mark to ensure our win. It was an odd feeling to sit in the stands at Old Trafford; the atmosphere at the City Ground could be electric with 30,000 in, but this was something different entirely, something that grabbed me from the first second and never let go. Cristiano Ronaldo, making his first journey back to Old Trafford since his big money move to Chelsea, opened the scoring for the visitors in the first half, but then found himself sent off after an altercation with Alan Smith, and two late Kieran Richardson goals sealed the win for United. So it was Ferguson's men that would be rewarded with a trip to the City Ground, and I couldn't have been happier about it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted August 11, 2006 Author Share Posted August 11, 2006 February 2007 Summary (Championship unless otherwise stated) Birmingham 0 - 2 Nottingham Forest (Cissé 49"; Pongolle 83") Nottingham Forest 4 - 2 Derby (Pongolle 23", 39"; Mullins pen 29"; Cissé 67", 77"; Viáfara m/pen 66"; Johnson pen 83") Nottingham Forest 1 - 2 Crystal Palace (Beaumont s/off 29"; Cissé 36"; Christie 53"; Mulryne 80") Nottingham Forest 1 - 0 Newcastle (F.A. Cup 5th Round) (Pongolle 81") Rotherham 0 - 2 Nottingham Forest (Bakke 26"; Idiákez 36") Nottingham Forest 2 - 0 Gillingham (Pongolle 3", 67") Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
united_forever Posted August 14, 2006 Share Posted August 14, 2006 5 wins from 6 there. Well done. You should be well placed at the top, with quite a lead over second. Good luck. And good luck with the FA Cup. A good win that over Newcastle in the 5th round Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted August 26, 2006 Author Share Posted August 26, 2006 cheers, u_f ----------------------------- With Djibril Cissé’s loan deal extended until the end of the season, Liverpool agreed that it was best for the Frenchman to build up his confidence by scoring as many as possible in a Forest shirt before returning to Anfield, we moved on to Turf Moor and a game against Burnley. I’d barely taken my seat in the dugout when we took the lead, Bakke getting the ball down the right and swinging in a low cross which Pongolle stabbed in at the back post. Things didn’t go well for long though, Jamie McAllister felled Ian Moore just inside the penalty area after five minutes, and though Pedersen got fingertips to it, he couldn’t keep out Liam Lawrence’s penalty. We battered the Burnley goal throughout the remaining eighty-five minutes, but Spanish ‘keeper Raúl Valbuena kept us at bay and our lead over Palace at eight points. The managerial rollercoaster that is the Premiership took another turn with Roman Abramovich wielding his axe and sacking Jose Mourinho. Chelsea were sitting fifth in the Premiership thirty games into the season and had managed new lows in the Champions League as they finished third in the group stage and limped into the UEFA Cup. Not even my arrogance, however, stretched to sending in an application for the now vacant post. Just three days after the disappointing draw with Burnley, we had the chance to get back on track with a visit from twenty-third placed Sheffield Wednesday. A few were rested for the game, Collins Mbesuma landing a starting berth up front and finally doing something to justify his place in the squad when he gave us the lead just before the half hour, heading home Idiákez’s cross. The Zambian striker showed further that he does actually have a bit of talent twelve minutes from time as he sealed the points, this time a volley from Barry Robson’s cross which left Allan McGregor with no chance at all. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spav Posted August 27, 2006 Share Posted August 27, 2006 Ãœber-quality, Terk. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted August 28, 2006 Author Share Posted August 28, 2006 cheers, Spav -------------------------------- “There’s no way, Steve. He’s just not going to make it.†It was the bad news I had been dreading. Djibril Cissé had turned his ankle in training two days before our mammoth encounter with Manchester United and the club physio thought that it could be a week to ten days before he was fit again. The decision on who to replace him with was easy enough, Collins Mbesuma had given me a reminder of his talents just four days earlier and better anyone that Liam Coleman, who was about as useful as a sunroof on a submarine. Our hope of a huge upset came from the fact that Man United weren’t having their most vintage of seasons. Sitting eighth in the Premiership with barely a hope of making up the ground to Champions League qualification was not what those who frequent the Theatre of Dreams had come to expect, and compensation in the form of the F.A. Cup sitting proudly in their trophy cabinet once more had become the very least they expected from this let down of a campaign. It was perhaps understandable then that, despite talking our chances up in the press, making countless references to the ‘magic of the cup’ and giving the players a rousing chorus of ‘you can do it’ before they took to the field, I didn’t rate our chances of avoiding a beating much higher than those of George W. Bush actually being able to pick out Iran on a map. That feeling was only enforced by a little bastard Scot who it seemed had suddenly decided to perform well in a United shirt. Darren Fletcher was still the boo-boys favourite hate figure at Old Trafford, and his performances in the season to date had done little to say they were wrong, but he was tearing our midfield to shreds, treating us as if we belonged in a park on a Sunday afternoon. It was he who had crafted the only goal of the first half, playing a one-two with Kieran Richardson before sliding a ball into the area for Ruud van Nistelrooy to latch onto and whip past Pedersen. However, that was the only effort that United had to show for their first half dominance, and the boys far from had their heads down as they came in for the break. There seemed a confidence that, despite their inability to get hold of the ball in the first forty-five minutes, United would get nervous with just a one goal advantage, and if we could stop them going further ahead then we would have a chance as the end drew near. What, I think, was more shocking, was that that was exactly what happened. Twice United broke through our far more resolute second half defence, but on both occasions they were thwarted by the brilliance of Rune Pedersen, and as the game passed the hour mark, their hurried passing began to go astray. We had our first shot on goal on sixty-seven minutes, Pongolle clipping the outside of Tim Howard’s post after Nano had played him clear, but our crowning moment was on its way, and just ten minutes from the end we ensured a lucrative replay when Eirik Bakke’s cross was glanced past Howard by Mbesuma; in an instant he turned himself into a lifelong Forest legend. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amaroq Posted August 29, 2006 Share Posted August 29, 2006 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">who was about as useful as a sunroof on a submarine. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> #*&% it, Terk!!! That almost cost me a keyboard! I should know better than to drink my morning coffee while reading your story... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted August 30, 2006 Author Share Posted August 30, 2006 I accept no liability for personal injury sustained whilst reading my story ---------------------------------------------------- Returning to mundane league action after fighting for a draw against Man Utd was obviously going to have its problems, and with Mbesuma picking up a shoulder knock in the final minutes of the cup quarter final, Liam Coleman was picked to partner Pongolle up front against Norwich. Inevitably we weren't at our best and we had to count ourselves lucky to come away with a point, Pongolle's effort from Barry Robson's cross cancelling out Rob Earnshaw's first half strike. We were similarly lacklustre in our second away game in three days, a Saturday evening kick-off at Preston's Deepdale Stadium. This time, however, we managed to sneak ourselves in front, the returning Mbesuma heading home from Pongolle's cross only for Chris Sedgewick to draw matters level with seventeen minutes left, scoring the one hundredth goal conceded in my Nottingham Forest reign. There was mixed news on the injury front as we prepared for the trip to Old Trafford; Cissé passed a fitness test two days before the game and would go straight back into the line-up, but Spanish midfielder Iñigo Idiákez strained his neck in training and would miss out on our biggest game yet. His replacement would be Icelandic international Joey Gudjonsson, someone who had yet to convince me that he was truly worthy of a place in our side. With over 75,000 packed into Old Trafford on a cold and wet Wednesday evening, it seemed only natural that our players would freeze to some degree. Most of them had not experienced the level of media attention that was focused on the match, and they did the worst thing possible in letting Manchester United get away early. Just six minutes were on the clock when our nemesis of the first match, Darren Fletcher, rolled a ball between James Perch and Jackie McNamara for Ruud van Nistelrooy to run onto, and given the number of chances the Dutchman passed up at the City Ground, it was obvious that he would tuck this one easily past Pedersen as he did. What was pleasing was the way we scrapped for the rest of the half, Gudjonsson particularly impressive in the midfield battle, and prevented United from even fashioning another chance, let alone score another goal, but the lack of opportunities we ourselves had going forward looked to spell an end to our excellent cup run. Still, we tried to fill the boys with belief at the break, willing them to realise the opportunity of a life time, but once again they were slow out of the blocks and the match was done and dusted within one hundred and twenty seconds of the restart, Roque Santa Cruz heading Gary Neville's cross powerfully past Pedersen. With nothing more to lose, we threw caution to the wind and stuck Mbesuma on up front alongside Cissé and Pongolle, with Bakke and Nano pushed even further up the wings. Gudjonsson dropped back to play alongside John Viáfara in a double holding role to try and reduce the obvious space United would now enjoy, and we were either going to get back in the game or lose it by five or six. The effect was entirely positive though, United seemed stunned by our ambition and within five minutes we'd pulled one back, Jamie McAllister crossing for Cissé to volley home. We continued to press and Pongolle struck the post before we deservedly pulled level, Cissé again the scorer as Gudjonsson played the ball down the right wing for Bakke to cross and the elder of our French strikers to bundle over the line. All of a sudden the atmosphere in the ground had changed and the only singing to be heard was from the small section of away fans. The United players were stopped in their tracks just as much as their supporters, and with ten minutes to go, a clumsy challenge from Rio Ferdinand gave us a free kick twenty yards out. An argument nearly broke out over who was to take it in the absence of Idiákez, Nano had looked the early favourite but was muscled off the ball by Gudjonsson, and it turned out to be a crucial decision as the Icelandic superstar curled his effort beyond the grasping fingertips of Tim Howard and into the back of the net. We barely had time to enjoy the moment before Van Nistelrooy was battering on our goal again, but the value of Pedersen was being proven, he twice denied United's top striker with superb saves as we held on for the longest ten minutes ever known to man and booked our place in the F.A. Cup Semi Final against West Ham. There was again the question of come-down as we entertained Cardiff at home in the league three days later, but much of the same side managed to put aside their Manchester heroics and focus on the ninety minutes at hand, with two second half goals inside sixty seconds from Cissé and Idiákez burying our Welsh opponents;a result which, coupled with Wolves' defeat to Coventry meant we had secured at least a play-off berth with six games of the season remaining. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted August 30, 2006 Author Share Posted August 30, 2006 March 2007 Summary (Championship unless otherwise stated) Burnley 1 - 1 Nottingham Forest (Pongolle 1"; Lawrence pen 5") Nottingham Forest 2 - 0 Sheffield Wednesday (Mbesuma 29", 78") Nottingham Forest 1 - 1 Manchester United (F.A. Cup Quarter Final) (van Nistelrooy 37"; Mbesuma 80") Norwich 1 - 1 Nottingham Forest (Earnshaw 14"; Pongolle 81") Preston 1 - 1 Nottingham Forest (Mbesuma 58"; Sedgewick 73") Manchester United 2 - 3 Nottingham Forest (F.A. Cup Quarter Final Replay) (van Nistelrooy 6"; Santa Cruz 47"; Cissé 52", 70"; Gudjonsson 80") Nottingham Forest 2 - 0 Cardiff (Cissé 58"; Idiákez 59") Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted August 30, 2006 Author Share Posted August 30, 2006 9 pages -------------------------------------------- <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Pl | Nottm Forest | | 40 | 26 | 9 | 5 | 83 | 24 | +59 | 87 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Birmingham | | 40 | 24 | 8 | 8 | 68 | 33 | +35 | 80 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Crystal Palace | | 40 | 24 | 7 | 9 | 75 | 45 | +30 | 79 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Wigan | | 40 | 19 | 17 | 4 | 67 | 40 | +27 | 74 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Ipswich | | 40 | 18 | 16 | 6 | 56 | 36 | +20 | 70 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Norwich | | 40 | 18 | 12 | 10 | 51 | 36 | +15 | 66 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Wolves | | 40 | 16 | 16 | 8 | 45 | 33 | +12 | 64 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Hull | | 40 | 18 | 10 | 12 | 54 | 44 | +10 | 64 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Leeds | | 40 | 16 | 14 | 10 | 44 | 35 | +9 | 62 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | West Ham | | 39 | 18 | 7 | 14 | 52 | 49 | +3 | 61 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Stoke | | 40 | 17 | 10 | 13 | 40 | 39 | +1 | 61 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Coventry | | 39 | 15 | 12 | 12 | 41 | 41 | 0 | 57 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Burnley | | 40 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 46 | 48 | -2 | 55 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Preston | | 40 | 15 | 8 | 17 | 52 | 57 | -5 | 53 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Cardiff | | 40 | 12 | 13 | 15 | 49 | 46 | +3 | 49 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Crewe | | 40 | 12 | 12 | 16 | 35 | 45 | -10 | 48 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Derby | | 40 | 11 | 14 | 15 | 44 | 54 | -10 | 47 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Barnsley | | 40 | 10 | 11 | 19 | 41 | 59 | -18 | 41 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | | Watford | | 40 | 9 | 13 | 18 | 37 | 54 | -17 | 40 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | | Gillingham | | 40 | 7 | 11 | 22 | 42 | 61 | -19 | 32 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 21st | | Rotherham | | 40 | 8 | 8 | 24 | 31 | 65 | -34 | 32 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22nd | | Reading | | 40 | 7 | 10 | 23 | 35 | 68 | -33 | 31 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 23rd | | Sheff Wed | | 40 | 5 | 11 | 24 | 20 | 51 | -31 | 26 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24th | | Brighton | | 40 | 4 | 10 | 26 | 30 | 75 | -45 | 22 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amaroq Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 Nice result against Man U - and well written, you had me convinced you'd lost it, then a bit of adrenaline through the finale; I can only imagine what it must have been like to play! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted August 31, 2006 Author Share Posted August 31, 2006 cheers, amaroq, I couldn't believe we managed to pull it back like that against United. ------------------------------------- "Ian, come in. I have to say I was disappointed that you turned down the offer." "Well, I just figure that if I'm going to be a Premiership coach, I deserve to be paid a Premiership wage. I don't think that's in any way unreasonable." My head coach, Ian McParland, was making life difficult for me. An offer to up his wage of £750 per week to a nice, round £1,000 had fallen on deaf ears. "Look, we have to be sensible with money. We can't just blow everything now that we look to be heading for the Premiership. I might be staying on after all and it's my responsibility to make sure that, if the worst happens next season, we're not financially crippled because of it." "I just want what I'm worth." "Well, I'm afraid you'll have to find it elsewhere. I've withdrawn all offers made to you and, come June 1st, you'll no longer be working for Nottingham Forest." The look on Ian's face said quite clearly that he had been expecting this, and even more that he expected us to back track and offer him what he wanted as the time for his departure came nearer. If that was what he thought would happen, he was going to be sadly wrong. But even he hadn't irritated me as much as his fellow first team coach, Andy Beasley. Another with his contract up for renewal over the summer months, Beasley had shown a lot of promise as a coach, and as such we offered a four hundred percent pay rise on his current £500 per week wage. To have this rejected as 'a pittance' was somewhat surprising, and in a fit of anger I decided not to even let him run down his current contract and fired him on the spot. Club physio, Andy Hunt, and my head scout, Ian Storey-Moore, had been far easier to please, obviously they required pay rises to stay on, but these were sensible men and knew both what they were worth and what the club could afford, and each was only too happy to sign new three year deals. They were joined in putting pen to paper by first team left back Jamie McAllister. The Scot had impressed hugely in covering for the injured Jordan Stewart, and the extra year he signed on for was more than deserved. All this contract renewal talk had come in a hurry after the club chairman, Nigel Doughty, had reversed his decision to not offer me a deal past the end of the season. Calling me into his office after the win over Cardiff, he sat and humbly admitted his mistake in acting whilst emotions were running high, and furthermore said that he remained hugely impressed with the work I had done with the side and that he could think of no one better to lead the club back into the Premiership than the man they already had. A new three year deal - worth £2,000,000 over the span of the contract - was placed in front of me, and though I had yet to sign it, I was finding myself more and more likely to do so as each day passed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 I'm impressed that this is still going Are you using a ghost writer by any chance? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WLKRAS Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 Great stuff still, Terk Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted September 1, 2006 Author Share Posted September 1, 2006 cheers, WLKRAS Bob's rumbled me though ----------------------------------------------------- “You couldn’t have told me this before? I offered you the deal a week ago. If your mind was so made up, why couldn’t you tell me there and then?†“I knew Andy and Ian had turned down new deals, I didn’t want to pile on.†“And there’s no chance you’ll stay on?†“No, because I don’t believe you will either. If you’re so determined, why’s that contract still in your desk drawer unsigned? You just panicked a bit about being unemployed so you decided to consider the easy option.†My 1000th day in charge of Forest was clearly going to be another one I wouldn’t be too eager to remember. To top both my first team coaches refusing to sign new deals, my assistant, Tim Flowers, had now gone the same way. With the rate that staff were jumping ship, you’d have thought we were at a club in crisis. That, however, was far from the truth. The home game against Watford, our first game in April, gave us the chance to take a step further forward towards both promotion and the title. I was a little disappointed in the crowd, only just over 20,000 lined the stands, but those who did turn up were treated to a wonderful performance from Spanish winger Nano, the January recruit setting up goals for Pongolle and Cissé in a two-nil win. That left us needing just two more wins from our five remaining games to book a place in the Premiership, and only three more were necessary to claim the trophy. There were more pressing concerns, however, as we built up over the following eleven days for our F.A. Cup Semi Final appearance at Wembley; West Ham the opponents. Against Watford, Lasana Disarray and Eirik Bakke had been forced off injured and would be out for three and two weeks respectively, and two days before the West Ham match, Diarra’s replacement against Watford, James Beaumont, pulled up with a groin strain, becoming the sixth player on our injury list as we lined up for the match. However, against a side who we had been clearly better than across the length of the Championship season, I was perfectly confident that we would emerge victorious and book a place back in London for the final against Sheffield United. That confidence was hardly diminished in the third minute when Joey Gudjonsson played Cissé clear and the Frenchman slid his shot past Edwin van der Sar for the lead. It was a lead that didn’t last long, Hungarian international midfielder Krisztian Lisztes crunched a free kick into the top corner of Pedersen’s net from twenty-five yards, but we were clearly the better side and lead again by half time, Idiákez finding Pongolle who chipped Van der Sar. Given our superiority in the match, it was crucial that we killed the game off with a third goal, but much as we tried and good as we were – Idiákez in particular shone as we controlled the match – we could not find another way past the London side’s Dutch goalkeeper, and as the clock ticked onto ninety minutes, Marlon Harewood broke clear of our defence and slammed an equaliser past Pedersen. Extra time came and went, as so often is the case, with little incident. We did manage to get ourselves down to ten men, Ryan Stevenson forced off injured and having made three substitutions before his hundred and thirteenth minute exit, we were forced to play out the remaining seven minutes with a numerical disadvantage. It didn’t make much difference though, both sides had clearly settled for a penalty shoot out to decide who would return to Wembley in May. With West Ham taking first, things progressed as expected for the first four penalties, Zamora and Harewood netting for the Hammers, Viáfara and McAllister doing the same for us. We gained our first break when James Collins hit the outside of the post with West Ham’s third effort, but couldn’t take advantage as Nano’s weak effort found Van der Sar’s arms. Chris Cohen then struck for our opponents, and when Cissé cracked his shot off the bar, Jason Roberts had the chance to put his side in the final. He couldn’t though, Pedersen finger-tipped the ball wide and for a few moments more we were alive. Our fate lay with Collins Mbesuma’s left foot, he had replaced Pongolle late on in normal time and seen little of the ball in his time on the field, but now his contribution was vital. I simply couldn’t watch as he completed his run up, but the groans of those standing next to me told me everything I needed to know. I found out later that he’d hit his penalty down the middle, but Van der Sar managed to block it with his legs, and from a game we should have wrapped up, we had left our fans and ourselves completely heartbroken. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Roy Race Posted September 2, 2006 Share Posted September 2, 2006 Just read the whole story over the past two days, Wembley doesn't seem to agree with your players. Ring up Rachel for some comfort sex Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted September 2, 2006 Author Share Posted September 2, 2006 cheers, roy. that's some dedication and I hope you continue to enjoy -------------------------------------- “You’d have thought I’d have run out of things to say by now. Fat ****ing chance. Your dad told me you’re not seeing anyone, I’d pretend to be disappointed for you but we’d both know it was a lie.†My monthly phone call to Hannah’s answering machine was progressing as ever it did. Apologising for what I’d done, asking her to come back up to Nottingham and give things another try, then just idly spending time talking whatever nonsense happened to fill my head at that particular time. It didn’t really matter, I knew she’d be deleting them before she listened to them by now anyway. I’d been in good spirits when I called her this time though, a win over Hull at the KC Stadium after being pummelled for ninety minutes had helped erase some of the pain caused by the West Ham defeat. Eugen Bopp had grabbed the only goal, just after the houer, volleying home from Barry Robson’s cross just seconds after Pedersen had spectacularly denied Stuart Elliott. What had made me smile even more, however, was the fact that, about two minutes after the final whistle in Hull, we got the news that Crystal Palace had lost and we had officially clinched promotion to the Premiership. After the heartbreak of play-off loss the season before, the champagne sprayed in the changing rooms tasted a whole lot sweeter. Negotiating the media scrum that followed – people sat up and took notice after it was confirmed that a former European Champion side would be returning to its top flight – took a strength of mind that I didn’t possess, and there were more than a few double whiskys sunk in the four days before we travelled to face Wigan. As ever, the JJB Stadium was pitifully empty - it seems that forever and a day the people of Wigan will be far more obsessed with Rugby League - but those who had come to cheer on their side were able to do so when Sambegou Bangoura opened the scoring early on. Just like the game against Hull, we were finding it difficult to motor on in the league after the Wembley horror, and perhaps we were a little less motivated now that promotion was in the bag, but we still had enough in the tank to turn the match around late on, first John Filan helping us with an own goal before Idiákez glanced home Joey Gudjonsson’s free kick five minutes into injury time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted September 2, 2006 Author Share Posted September 2, 2006 “I know we only need a point to clinch the title, we could be celebrating in front of our own fans in just forty-five minutes. But I want you to give these ***** something to think about. Make them pay for the semi final. ****ing hurt them if you have to.†My half time team talk perhaps lacked class, but I meant every word of it. Petty as it may be, I still held a dislike towards all things West Ham after their penalty shoot-out win over us, and I felt it necessary to destroy them in our league encounter. Unfortunately, they had the better of the first half, and it was thanks only to some wonderful defending from Jackie McNamara and James Perch that we remained on level terms at the break. That trend was reversed in the second period, we had the far better of the match, but just as our defence had held them out, so Edwin van der Sar did the same to us, one save in particular from Nano’s bullet shot deserved to be played over and over again. The point that we gained, however, meant that we were presented with the Championship trophy after the match, and for the second time in three seasons I had delivered a league title to the City Ground. We still had two games to play though, and with ninety-seven points clocked up, I was determined that again for the second time in my reign, we would end up in triple figures. The chance to do that came at the beginning of May when already relegated and bottom of the table Brighton visited the City Ground, though only a disappointing 17,000 turned up for the Wednesday night fixture. We managed to entice them into plenty of noise, however, as five strikes found their way past Brighton ‘keeper Derek Stillie. Florent Sinama-Pongolle had had a wonderful season in the Forest shirt, and so it was fitting that he scored in our last home game of the season, and one either side of half time took him to twenty-four in the league charts. He was topped on the day, however, by Idiákez, who was determined to give the fans something to remember him by, and did so by way of a hat-trick, the first coming just three minutes before half time and the third just seven minutes after. With nothing resting on it, Wolves had already dropped out of the play-off picture with defeat to Norwich in their penultimate game, our match at Molineux was never going to be of huge interest. We were the better side, so much so that Wolves’ ‘keeper Jason Brown was voted man of the match, but even so we rarely actually looked like scoring, and to be honest I was happy to end the season with a goalless draw. The contract in my desk drawer remained unsigned, but as we drove back from Wolverhampton to Nottingham, with the mouth-watering prospect of Premiership football returning to the City Ground, I resolved there and then that I would present it to the chairman the following morning, my name committed to the club for another three years. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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