The Long (Eaton) and winding road to...success or failure.

[Raware]

Best of luck at Forest

Cheers B.W.G

[b101]

Definitely! I don't think I'll ever see it in my life time again unfortunately though

I bet you thought it was going to happen with Big Schteve though

[Raware]

I bet you thought it was going to happen with Big Schteve though

Jesus...don't get me started on Schteve...or McLeish!

[Raware]

Nottingham Forest - July 2023/24

Nottingham Forest

23.07.23 - Friendly - Nottingham Forest v Ilkeston FC : 0-0 : I organized our 1st friendly against local side Ilkeston just down the road from us, just to give me some idea of where we stand. Despite the goalless score line against a far inferior side, I was fairly happy with what I saw.

29.07.23 - Friendly - Portsmouth v Nottingham Forest : 0-1 : Our 2nd pre-season game saw us make the trip south to League Two side Portsmouth and again, it was a chance to see where we stand and also have a look at the new players who I’ve brought in over the past couple of weeks. It was an existing player who got the winning goal though as vice captain Callum Chambers struck 20 minutes into the match.

July only saw us play 2 friendlies but it was more about trying to reshape the squad I inherited before the start of the new season. We’ve started that by bringing in 8 players this month in the form of German pair Michalis Stamos and Uwe Platins (who is touted as the new Jurgen Klinsmann) both on free transfers. Elliot Cousins, Pat Grant, Daniel Alfei and Matthew Male also joined us on frees while Gerry Manning joined us on a season long loan from Manchester City with Franke Clarke joining us for £1.6 million from Arsenal. With our entire transfer budget spent now and with us running over my wage budget, any more new faces (if we get any more) will probably be on loan.

[Raware]

Nottingham Forest - August 2023/24

Nottingham Forest

05.08.23 - Friendly - Nottingham Forest v Hucknall Town : 2-0 : Our 3rd and final pre-season game saw us welcome another local side to The City Ground as Hucknall made the short trip across Nottinghamshire. As expected, we dominated but as usual I like these games to give us a bit of a morale boost before the new season starts while also trying to avoid any injuries so the result is never a priority.

15.08.23 - League Cup 1st Round - Lincoln City v Nottingham Forest : 2-3 : We made hard work of this game which should’ve, in theory been a relatively steady game for us as we had to rely on a late Connor Wickham strike a minute from full time to send us through to the 2nd round.

19.08.23 - Npower League Championship - Stevenage v Nottingham Forest : 1-3 : We kicked our Championship season off with a visit to Broadhall Way as new signing Pat Grant put us 1-0 up on the half hour mark. Stevenage pulled level just before half time but we took the lead again just after the restart thanks to Connor Wickham’s 3rd goal of the season. We completed our win with a fantastic strike from Callum Chambers 6 minutes from time to give us a great winning start to the season.

22.08.23 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Burnley : 1-0 : We got lucky in this game as despite being the weaker side for much of the 90 minutes, we snuck the win thanks to Eliiot Cousins’ 1st goal for the club since joining from Sheffield United.

26.08.23 - Npower League Championship - Mansfield Town v Nottingham Forest : 3-1 : A massive local derby which hasn’t been seen for many a year saw Mansfield welcome us to Field Mill live on TV. Whether the cameras affected us I’m not sure…what I am sure of though is that we were rubbish and deserved the beating we got from our less illustrious neighbours, who took great pride in beating their Nottinghamshire neighbours to inflict my first defeat as the Forest manager.

29.08.23 - League Cup 2nd Round - Nottingham Forest v Millwall : 2-1 aet : This game wasn’t as close as it looked as we should’ve won the game in normal time after Karim Rossi had equalized straight after Millwall took the lead. At least I can be happy that we did win the game in the end though which puts us through to the 3rd round which is what the board wanted.

August League Table : 2 league wins and a loss gives us a steady start to the season as we sit 11th in the league with a game in hand. We’ve made good progress in the League Cup too as we disposed of both Lincoln City and Millwall to book our place in the 3rd round where we’ll play Liverpool at Anfield…I think our League Cup journey may come to an end!

A couple of other items of news for us this month saw us sign 3 more players as Roberto Calderon joined us on a free transfer from The Strongest while Dave Bennett and Jan Maly both joined us on season long loans from Celtic. The other piece of news I received was the plans to improve the club’s youth facilities at a cost of £3 million which should help us to produce some quality youngsters in the next few years

[AK22]

Well done on a great final season with Leeds

I'm interested to see if your play-off record with Forest turns out to be better than recent years

[Raware]

Well done on a great final season with Leeds

I'm interested to see if your play-off record with Forest turns out to be better than recent years

Cheers AK Our play-off record couldn't be any worse...I hate play-offs!

[Raware]

Nottingham Forest - September 2023/24

Nottingham Forest

02.09.23 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Sheffield Wednesday : 2-0 : Connor Wickham continued his recent rich vein of form as he netted twice to hand us the victory over the Owls.

16.09.23 - Npower League Championship - Doncaster Rovers v Nottingham Forest : 2-4 : Again, it was that man Connor Wickham who stole the show as his 28 minute hat-trick and a solitary Uwe Platins strike gave us a good win at The Keepmoat.

19.09.23 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Derby County : 2-0 : A huge local Derby for us against that horrible lot down the A52 saw an almost sell out pack The City Ground as they witnessed Uwe Platins and Elliot Cousins give us the bragging rights whilst sending the sheep home silent .

19.09.23 - Npower League Championship - Watford v Nottingham Forest : 0-1 : This wasn’t a dirty game as only a few cards were shown but once Watford’s Frederik Moller was given his marching orders after 2 bookable offences we took control of the game and won it thanks to Connor Wickham’s 9th goal of the season.

26.09.23 - League Cup 3rd Round - Liverpool v Nottingham Forest : 1-0 : We made the trip to Anfield knowing that we were massive underdogs and probably didn’t have a chance…that proved to be the case as we failed to register a single shot on target. Whilst we did surrender a lot of the possession, in the end I have to be pleased that we managed to restrict Liverpool to just the 1 goal.

30.09.23 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Ipswich Town : 2-0 : We finished the month off with a win against the Tractor Boys courtesy of red hot in form man Connor Wickham who bagged his 10th and 11th goal of the season.

September League Table : September saw us win all of our league games which propels us to the top of the table with a 2 point cushion. Much of that was of course down to Connor Wickham who struck an incredible 8 goals in 5 games which leaves wondering how much we’d struggle if he got injured! We also had a League Cup game against Liverpool which we were almost certainly never going to win but nevertheless, it was still pleasing to have reached the 3rd round.

[Raware]

Nottingham Forest - October 2023/24

Nottingham Forest

03.10.23 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Hartlepool United : 2-1 : A fairly even game saw us manage sneak the points thanks to Karim Rossi and, surprise surprise, Connor Wickham.

07.10.23 - Npower League Championship - Wolverhampton Wanderers v Nottingham Forest : 2-0 : Molineux is always a difficult place to go and from the off we were on the back foot after they took the lead early on. With us trying to press for the equalizer, they caught us and got a 2nd but to be fair Wolves were always in control of this game as they ended our 6 game winning streak in the league.

21.10.23 - Npower League Championship - Charlton Athletic v Nottingham Forest : 0-0 : Stalemate in an even game left us having to settle with a point.

24.10.23 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Wigan Athletic : 0-0 : Another game which saw us fail to find the back of the net, despite pressing for large periods of the game meant we had to settle for another point leaving us without a league win in 3 now.

28.10.23 - Npower League Championship - Leyton Orient v Nottingham Forest : 1-1 : We finally managed to find the onion bag thanks to Karim Rossi’s 3rd goal of the season but that was after Leyton Orient took the lead early on. We had our chances in this game which included a penalty but unfortunately for us Connor Wickham missed it meaning that we had to make do with another draw.

October League Table : 6 points out of a possible 15 and no win in 4 surprisingly sees us still in and around the top teams as we drop to 2nd on goal difference. With just 3 goals in 5 games our form has taken a dramatic turn for the worse as despite my fears of Connor Wickham getting injured not being realized, his goals have still dried up proving that you can’t rely on one man to score you goals. Our other players need to start chipping in.

[Raware]

Nottingham Forest - November 2023/24

Nottingham Forest

04.11.23 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Queens Park Rangers : 0-0 : Our lack of proficiency in front of goal continued as we entered November as quite honestly, we were lucky to get away with a point against a very good QPR side.

07.11.23 - Npower League Championship - Hull City v Nottingham Forest : 1-0 : Hull City subjected us to our 3rd league defeat as they grabbed the all important goal in an even game to leave us searching for a win in 6 games now.

11.11.23 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Leeds United : 0-0 : We welcomed my old team Leeds to The City Ground in a game which saw both sides tentative. That tentativeness proved to squash any kind of fluidity to the game as in the end it played out to a 0-0.

14.11.23 - Npower League Championship - Torquay United v Nottingham Forest : 1-1 : No win in 7 games became no win in 8 games as Ethan Kenny cancelled out an early strike from Uwe Platins to leave us having to travel back to Nottingham with a point.

25.11.23 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Coventry City : 3-2 : A nice 11 day break saw us welcome probably one of the only other teams in the division with a worse run of form than our own. We raced into 3-0 lead which left us in a comfortable position and me thinking that we were maybe back on track…we tried our best to throw it away though as Coventry pulled 2 goals back. Thankfully, they couldn’t find a 3rd as we hung on for a much needed 3 points to give us our 1st win in 9 games.

28.11.23 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Reading : 0-1 : Just when I thought we’d turned the corner, we were subjected to our 4th league defeat as Reading took all 3 points thanks to an Adam Reach goal. They were helped by the referee though as we had a perfectly good goal ruled out, for which I complained about after the final whistle and was proven to be right in doing so as the FA remained silent .

November League Table : 1 win, 3 draws and 2 losses sees us drop down to 4th in the table but considering our poor form, it could’ve been a lot worse as this season is turning out to be a normal Championship season with teams beating each other and teams so close, you can feel them breathing on you.

[Raware]

Nottingham Forest - December 2023/24

Nottingham Forest

02.12.23 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Middlesbrough : 1-0 : We started December off by getting back to winning ways thanks to our captains 1st goal of the season midway through the 1st half.

05.12.23 - Npower League Championship - Cardiff City v Nottingham Forest : 2-3 : A great win for us at the Cardiff City Stadium thanks to a double from Karim Rossi and Connor Wickham’s 15th goal of the season puts us back within touching distance of the automatic spots.

09.12.23 - Npower League Championship - Blackpool v Nottingham Forest : 2-2 : Pat Grant rescued a point for us late on after Blackpool had come back from a goal down.

16.12.23 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Rochdale : 1-0 : The TV cameras were at The City Ground to see Connor Wickham net his 17th goal of the season 2 minutes into 1st half stoppage time to give us a good win against a surprisingly good Rochdale side.

23.13.23 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Stevenage : 1-0 : Connor Wickham sealed the points for us from the penalty spot just after the half hour mark to give us all a nice Christmas 3 points .

26.12.23 - Npower League Championship - Burnley v Nottingham Forest : 1-0 : I could see tiredness creeping into our team as Hamzeh Hasanpour took advantage of Connor Wickham’s earlier penalty miss to give Burnley all 3 points.

27.12.23 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Mansfield Town : 1-2 : Craziness saw us play our 2nd game in 2 days as I had to change the squad completely for the visit of Mansfield. It clearly had an effect as despite us dominating the game, we were rusty and couldn’t find the net as Mansfield grabbed the win and ran.

30.12.23 - Npower League Championship - Sheffield Wednesday v Nottingham Forest : 1-2 : We made the trip to Hillsborough with the Sky camera’s broadcasting the game live as they did in this reverse fixture earlier in the season. Same camera’s…same result as Connor Wickham and Pat Grant gave us all 3 point to see out the new year with a win.

December League Table : A much better month for us saw us pick up our form and also pick up an extra place in the table as we sit 3rd at the end of the year with only a few points separating top spot and the play-off spots.

[b101]

Surprised you're still in and around, but if you have a few more months like September you'll be right up there.

[Raware]

Surprised you're still in and around, but if you have a few more months like September you'll be right up there.

I'm surprised too considering our poor run but I guess that's the Championship for you...wide open! I'd settle for a September every month and Connor Wickham banging in 8 goals every month .

[Raware]

Nottingham Forest - January 2023/24

Nottingham Forest

01.01.24 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Doncaster Rovers : 3-0 : A great start to the new year saw goals from Gethin Jones, Connor Wickham and Uwe Platins give us the win.

13.01.24 - FA Cup 3rd Round - Mansfield Town v Nottingham Forest : 1-4 : A potentially tricky away cup tie against Mansfield as we lost to them twice in the league already this season saw us easily dispose of them thanks to a Connor Wickham hat-trick and an Elliot Cousins goal which puts us into the 4th round.

16.01.24 - Npower League Championship - Derby County v Nottingham Forest : 0-2 : We sent our fans home ecstatic once again as we beat our fierce rivals Derby at their place thanks to a Karim Rossi brace. “Tell me mam, me mam, to put the champagne on ice” and “you’ve lost that loving feeling” was all that could be heard on the A52 on the way home .

20.01.24 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Watford : 2-4 : An in form and exceptionally good Watford side took a deserved win at ours as we had no answer for their, at times outstanding play. Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up.

27.01.24 - FA Cup 4th Round - Nottingham Forest v Sheffield Wednesday : 1-0 : Our game against Sheffield Wednesday was for the first time this season without camera’s. It still ended the same though as Elliot Cousins’ strike 6 minutes before the break was enough to ensure that we’d be in the hat for the 5th round .

January League Table : A good month saw us win all but 1 of our games which included a massive win in our local derby against Derby and wins in the FA Cup which ensures that we’re in the 5th round…for how much longer I don’t know as we’ve drawn Chelsea at the Bridge.

[Raware]

Nottingham Forest - February 2023/24

Nottingham Forest

03.02.24 - Npower League Championship - Ipswich Town v Nottingham Forest : 2-1 : Not a good way to start the month as despite taking the lead on 12 minutes, we couldn’t build on that as Ipswich came back to take all of the points.

07.02.24 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Wolverhampton Wanderers : 2-2 : A bit of a nightmare game for us as we lost Connor Wickham to injury after 7 minutes (which rules him out for 3 weeks), had Frank Clarke sent off after 2 bookable offences after half an hour, then took a 2-0 lead through Uwe Platins and Gethin Jones and then threw that lead away in the last 10 minutes to leave us having to settle with a point!

10.02.24 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Charlton Athletic : 1-0 : Karim Rossi’s 9th goal of the season was enough to give us the 1-0 win and all 3 points.

17.02.24 - FA Cup 5th Round - Chelsea v Nottingham Forest : 3-0 : A proper bumming from a far superior Chelsea side left us licking our wounds and realizing just how much of a gap there is in terms of quality between the Championship and the Premier League.

20.02.24 - Npower League Championship - Hartlepool United v Nottingham Forest : 1-0 : A 1-0 defeat at the hands of Jeff Stellings Hartlepool at the end of the month left us blowing a chance of climbing into an automatic position.

February League Table : A decentish month sees us back down to 4th but with still just a few points separating teams in the automatic positions and teams in the play-off positions. February also saw us, as expected, go out of the FA Cup after Chelsea easily disposed of us. Still, we can be proud of reaching the 5th round.

[Raware]

Nottingham Forest - March 2023/24

Nottingham Forest

01.03.24 - Npower League Championship - Wigan Athletic v Nottingham Forest : 0-3 : A massive victory for us against a surprisingly lackluster Wigan side thanks to Callum Chambers’ 3rd goal of the season and Karim Rossi’s 10th and 11th goals of the season.

05.03.24 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Leyton Orient : 2-1 : From playing top of the table Wigan to playing bottom of the table Leyton Orient, there wasn’t much difference, in fact, The O’s gave us a tougher game as we managed to grab the points after going 1-0 down.

09.03.24 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Hull City : 2-2 : A fairly even game with fairly even possession and chances so in the end a draw was probably a fair result.

16.03.24 - Npower League Championship - Queens Park Rangers v Nottingham Forest : 1-2 : Another massive victory for us as we walked away from Loftus Road with all of the points thanks to goals from Pat Grant and Tom Milner

23.03.24 - Npower League Championship - Leeds United v Nottingham Forest : 2-0 : It would’ve been nice to go back to my old club and take the points but Leeds are showing what a good side they are (I’d like to take some credit for that as it was me who built the squad!) as Julian Alger netted twice to make it an unhappy return for me.

30.03.24 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Torquay United : 1-1 : We finished the month with Connor Wickham back on the score sheet after his recent lay off as he hit his 25th goal of the season after 11 minutes. We couldn’t hold on though as Louis Black equalized for Torquay to give them a share of the spoils.

March League Table : 3 wins, 2 draws and a loss was enough to put us top of the league at the end of the month with just 6 games remaining. With just 9 points separating us and Watford in 9th though, there’s still a lot of games and time for it all to change!

With things going well on the pitch, it’s not looking good off it as our chairman has just had to provide a cash injection to stop us going into receivership. Promotion could solve our money worries…

[Rikulec]

Four points above Wigan is a solid lead at this point, good luck.

[B.W.G]

Going to be a close finish,hopefully you can hold Wigan off to gain a promotion spot.

[Raware]

Four points above Wigan is a solid lead at this point, good luck.

Going to be a close finish,hopefully you can hold Wigan off to gain a promotion spot.

Cheers guys. Although the season didn't end well

[Raware]

Nottingham Forest - April 2023/24

Nottingham Forest

01.04.24 - Npower League Championship - Coventry City v Nottingham Forest : 2-0 : I don’t know where we were but we certainly weren’t at The Ricoh as we just simply didn’t show up, leaving Coventry to walk away with an easy 3 points.

06.04.24 - Npower League Championship - Reading v Nottingham Forest : 0-0 : Neither side could break each other down as both us and Reading had to make do with a point.

13.04.24 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Cardiff City : 0-0 : A 2nd successive 0-0 means that we’ve not won in 5 games now…not the time to start bottling it!

16.04.24 - Npower League Championship - Middlesbrough v Nottingham Forest : 3-0 : A shocking performance from us as a mediocre Middlesbrough side battered us. Whether it’s end of season nerves or something else, I don’t know but if we’re not careful we’re going to blow all of our seasons hard work at the last hurdle!

20.04.24 - Npower League Championship - Rochdale v Nottingham Forest : 3-1 : Another shocking performance from us saw Rochdale teach us a lesson in football…Rochdale!!!

27.04.24 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Blackpool : 3-2 : With no win in 7 games and almost throwing away a chance of promotion, going into the final day of the season looked like this. The next 90 minutes saw so many different permutations, teams up automatically, teams into the play-offs, teams out of the play-offs, even at one stage it saw us into the automatic spot in 2nd. But in the end we had to settle for a play-off spot after teams around us won their games.

April League Table : A poor month for us in the end saw our dire form cost us as we missed out on the 2nd automatic promotion spot on goal difference as my old club Leeds snatched it to make it 3 promotion in 3 seasons for them. With us finishing 3rd we’ll play the form team of Watford who finished 6th.

[Nottingham Forest]

Fecking play-offs man . How could you .

[Raware]

Fecking play-offs man . How could you .

I know...it gets worse too

[Raware]

Nottingham Forest - May 2023/24

Nottingham Forest

Npower Championship Play-offs

12.05.24 - Npower League Championship Play-Off Semi Final 1st Leg - Watford v Nottingham Forest : 1-0 : We went into this massive play-off game knowing that Watford were the form team and we were the out of form team and given how they played against us earlier in the season when they taught us a lesson at our place, I was a little bit apprehensive. I was right to be as we offered nothing and Watford offered everything…apart from more than one goal. How they didn’t win by more than one I’ll never know but it means that we’re still in with a chance in the 2nd leg at our place.

15.05.24 - Npower League Championship Play-Off Semi Final 2nd Leg - Nottingham Forest v Watford : 1-1 : We were a different side to the side that played out the 1st leg 3 days earlier as we finally turned up and played some of the stuff I know we can. We got caught though just after the restart as Frederik Moller put the Hornets 1-0 up (2-0 up on agg) to leave us with a big uphill task ahead. We managed to pull a goal back though Tom Milner but we just couldn’t find that next goal as Watford hung on to grab the win on aggregate and put themselves into the richest game of football, the Play-Off Final …I hate Play-Offs!

To top off a disappointing end to the season, this message came through from the chairman . Just when I thought the season couldn’t end any lower .

[Raware]

Nottingham Forest - Season Review 2023/24

Nottingham Forest

Npower League Championship/Npower League Championship progress : Considering we were predicted to finish 8th and it was my 1st season at Forest with a squad that I inherited, I think we can class it as a good season in the end, despite losing out in the play-offs and missing out on automatic promotion on goal difference.

FA Cup : A good run for us as we made the 5th round. We probably could have gone further if we had a little bit of luck in the draw and didn’t draw a world class team.

League Cup : Like our FA Cup run, a decent run in this competition which probably could’ve seen us go further had it not been for the unkind draw.

Transfers : My entire transfer budget was blown on Frank Clarke at the start of the season so any other players I brought in had to be on frees. I was fairly happy with the ins and outs of our transfer windows, it would’ve been nice to maybe bring a few more in but it was just a case of getting some of my own players in this season.

Squad : I inherited a fairly decent squad when I arrived, some players I wanted to keep, some players I wanted to get rid of but considering it was a squad that didn’t rank with the best players in the league, I think we did alright to finish where we did. There’s no doubt that without Connor Wickham and his goals, we’d of finished a lot lower than we did so it’s important that we keep him while also bringing in some new younger players and getting rid of the existing older, high earners.

Finances : Not great as we’re only just in the black but that’s only because of the cash injections from our chairman. We really needed promotion to sort our finances out so next season will probably see me trying to lower the wage budget while also maybe selling a couple of players to raise some cash.

My views of the season… : A great season for us despite the obvious disappointment of losing in the play-offs…I hate the play-offs!

My aims for next season… : We’ve set the bench mark this season for next so I’ll be aiming for the play-offs. Another big aim will be to try and sort our finances out or we could be facing points deductions.

Former club watch

Long Eaton United : Finished 7th in the Blue Square North just narrowly missing out on the play-offs again by 3 points.

Burton Albion : A nightmare season for the Brewers as they finished 23rd in League Two meaning that they’re relegated to the Blue Square Premier.

Leeds United : A superb season for Leeds as they pipped us to the 2nd automatic promotion spot on goal difference meaning that they’ll be playing in the Premier League next season. 3 promotions in 3 seasons for them.

Career Summary

Season   Team               League          		              Position   Achievements
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13  Long Eaton United  Northern Counties East Premier Division     2nd      FA Vase winners
2013/14  Long Eaton United  Northern Counties East Premier Division     1st   P  League Champions, FA Vase winners
2014/15  Long Eaton United  Northern Premier League 1st Division South  1st   P  League Champions
2015/16  Long Eaton United  Northern Premier League                     1st   P  League Champions
2016/17  Long Eaton United  Blue Square North				4th   
2017/18  Long Eaton United  Blue Square North				2nd   P  Playoffs winners
2018/19  Long Eaton United  Blue Square Premier                         - Left for Burton Albion - November 2018
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19  Burton Albion      Blue Square Premier                         3rd      Joined - November 2018
2019/20  Burton Albion      Blue Square Premier				1st   P  League Champions, FA Trophy winners 
2020/21  Burton Albion      NPower League Two				4th   
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2021/22  Leeds United       NPower League Two  				1st   P  League Champions
2022/23  Leeds United       NPower One					1st   P  League Champions, JPT winners
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2023/24  Nottingham Forest  NPower Championship				3rd

[b101]

Ouch, that's why we love/hate the Championship I guess - definitely the most exciting league on FM for me. Still, you've clearly almost got it right, just iron out those rubbish months - I'd back you for automatic promotion next season

[B.W.G]

Unlucky on missing out on promotion,there's always next season though!

[AK22]

Very realistic, this game

[deltablue]

Must be painful being beaten to promotion by your old club, especially as it's Leeds.

[Raware]

Ouch, that's why we love/hate the Championship I guess - definitely the most exciting league on FM for me. Still, you've clearly almost got it right, just iron out those rubbish months - I'd back you for automatic promotion next season

Mine too; with all of the ups and downs that the Championship brings on FM/real life, it's difficult not to love it . Automatic would be lovely last season...I couldn't face the play-offs again!

Unlucky on missing out on promotion,there's always next season though!

Thanks B.W.G. We've started building for next season already so I'm hoping it's going to go better.

Very realistic, this game

Gggrrr...I hate the play-offs!

Must be painful being beaten to promotion by your old club, especially as it's Leeds.

Yep, it didn't feel too good to lose out on automatic promotion by my old club and on goal difference as well!

[Raware]

As the season ends it’s supposed to signal a quieter time…not for my office desk as I received these 3 job offers - Job offer 1, Job offer 2, Job offer 3. While all 3 were very tempting, I’ve only been in the Forest job a season and given that it’s my club, I’ve definitely got some unfinished business to do. As for the Wales offer, had it come a few seasons down the line I might of taken it but for now I’m not ready for international management…not just yet.

[Raware]

Nottingham Forest - Pre-season 2024/25

Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest

League expectation

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

Npower League Championship : Board expectation - Play-offs : Media expectation - 5th (out of 24)

Cup expectations

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

FA Cup : 4th round

League Cup : 3rd round

Transfer budget : £3M

Wage budget : £223k p/w

Current wage bill : £223k p/w

Season tickets sold : 13,659 (+15 from last season)

My views for the season ahead… : Having narrowly missed out on promotion last season, firstly on automatic promotion by goal difference and then in the play-offs, I’ll be disappointed if we can’t at least make the play-offs this season. The media also believe this to be a realistic aim for us too as they’re predicting us to finish 5th while our board are expecting a minimum of the play-offs too.

[Raware]

Nottingham Forest - July 2024/25

Nottingham Forest

20.07.24 - Friendly - Glentoran v Nottingham Forest : 0-1 : We started our pre-season off this year with a week in Ireland as we took on Irish champions Glentoran at The Oval. I gave a half each for the majority of our squad to enable them all to get some pre-season fitness under their belts which included starts for our new signings. It was one of our new signings that got the winner for us as Sixto Byram, signed on a free from Lazio during the summer, struck right on full time to give us a winning start to our time in Ireland.

27.07.24 - Friendly - Cliftonville v Nottingham Forest : 0-4 : Our weeks tour of Ireland ended with a 4-0 win against Cliftonville at Solitude as goals from Simon O’Kane, George Haynes, Frank Clarke and Jesse Lingard sent our fans back home to England happy and full of Guiness.

31.07.24 - Friendly - Nottingham Forest v Carlton Town : 5-1 : We were back in England for our next friendly as we welcomed locals Carlton Town to The City Ground. A hat-trick from Simon O’Kane, and a goal a piece from Uwe Platins and Pat Grant saw us run out as comfortable victors as expected.

July saw us travel to Ireland for a couple of friendlies which only further helped our ties with our feeder club Crumlin United and Irish fans as we won both of our games. Our other friendly saw us easily dispose of local neighbours Carlton Town 5-1.

What was more important for us during this month though was the new acquisitions we made as 9 players joined us over the course of the month. In came Simon O’Kane from Hearts, Soares from Hadjuk Split, Liam Dawson from Linfield, Vladimir Dukanac from Partizan Belgrade, Bozidar Radojkovic from FK Sloboda Point and Sixto Byram from Lazio all on free transfers while Niall Keown joined us from Sheffield United for £150k, Kevin Appleton joined from Swindon Town for £35k and Eddie Gray joined us on a season long loan from Liverpool.

Although we made some good signings during this month, I was slightly disappointed to see Elliot Cosuins leave as my chairman accepted a £6.75 million bid from Stoke City on my behalf. Like I said, I was disappointed to see him go as he had just broken into the England team but I suppose an offer like that was too good to refuse especially considering our financial predicament at the minute.

[Raware]

Nottingham Forest - August 2024/25

Nottingham Forest

03.08.24 - Friendly - Nottingham Forest v Eastwood Town : 4-0 : Our final pre-season warm up game saw another local side Eastwood Town make the short trip to our place as goals from Jesse Lingard, Karim Rossi and a brace from Uwe Platins completed the rout as we gained some more fitness ready for the start of the new season.

12.08.24 - League Cup 1st Round - Rotherham United v Nottingham Forest : 0-2 : We completely dominated our League Cup 1st round opponents as Uwe Platins and Gethin Jones goals were enough to put us into the 2nd round fairly comfortably.

17.08.24 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Torquay United : 3-0 : Our opponents made the long journey from the South West but probably wished they hadn’t as we battered them and took all 3 points thanks to a brace from Uwe Platins and a single goal from Gethin Jones.

20.08.24 - Npower League Championship - Wolverhampton Wanderers v Nottingham Forest : 1-1 : A very even game in the end saw both us and Wolves having to settle for a point as a draw was probably a fair result.

24.08.24 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Stevenage : 4-2 : We were 3-1 up before half time as we showed our superiority against our visitors Stevenage thanks to goals from Uwe Platins, Simon O’Kane and Frank Clarke. Stevenage pulled a goal back just after half time to make it 3-2 but Simon O’Kane got his 2nd of the game to put us 4-2 up and hand us the victory.

27.08.24 - League Cup 2nd Round - Northampton Town v Nottingham Forest : 1-2 : Our reward for beating Rotherham in the last round was another away trip, this time against Northampton. It was a game which saw us dominate proceedings as goals from Vladimir Dukanac and Uwe Platins (his 5th of the season already) put us in control. Despite a late sending off for Kevin Appleton and a consolation goal from The Cobblers, we held on to the win to book our place in the 3rd round.

August League Table : A steady start to the season for us saw us win 3 league games and draw 1 which leaves us sitting 7th in table at this early stage. We also had 2 wins in the League Cup which ensures that we’re into the hat for the 3rd round, so anything else from this point in this cup is a bonus now that we’ve reached the boards expectation.

[Nottingham Forest]

Winning three league games and drawing 1 game and remaining unbeaten. Have 6 other teams won all four ffs .

[Raware]

Winning three league games and drawing 1 game and remaining unbeaten. Have 6 other teams won all four ffs .

Winning 2 league games I meant and drawing the other...that's what happens when you type with fat fingers!

[Nottingham Forest]

Oh hahahahaha .

[B.W.G]

Not too bad of a start,hopefully you can be successful this season!

[Raware]

Not too bad of a start,hopefully you can be successful this season!

I hope so too. If we lose out on promotion on goal difference again or in the play-offs...I think I'll cry.

[Raware]

Nottingham Forest - September 2024/25

Nottingham Forest

01.09.24 - Npower League Championship - Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest : 2-0 : We kicked September off with a very tough away trip to recently relegated Aston Villa as their Premiership quality showed. We were no match for them as Jorge Amaral put us to the sword with 2 wonderful goals in 2 minutes.

14.09.24 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Cardiff City : 2-0 : Connor Wickham opened his account for the season from the penalty spot on 24 minutes to put us 1-0 up against one of the leagues favourites Cardiff City. Cardiff responded well and were unlucky not to equalize as Henry Peters missed a sitter from close range. We took full advantage of that as captain Gethin Jones made it 2-0 with his 3rd goal of the season to give us all 3 points.

17.09.24 - Npower League Championship - Rochadale v Nottingham Forest : 1-3 : Our game against Rochdale saw few chances for either side but it was us who took ours as we controlled much of the possession and got our goals through Pat Grant, Connor Wickham and new Brazilian signing Soares.

20.09.24 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Swansea City : 1-0 : We took on another of the title favourites as Swansea City, relegated from the Premier League last season, made the journey to The City Ground. They surprisingly offered nothing though and rarely threatened our goal as Connor Wickham grabbed the decisive goal to hand all 3 points to us.

24.09.24 - League Cup 3rd Round - Nottingham Forest v West Ham United : 0-3 : We were taught a lesson in our 3rd round tie against Premier League West Ham as the gulf in quality was more than apparent as the Hammers ran out easy 3-0 winners to send us out of the League Cup at 3rd round stage for the 3rd successive season.

28.09.24 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Blackpool : 1-1 : We got off to an awful start as with less than 60 seconds on the clock, Blackpool were 1-0 up through John Ruiz. We battled back though and got our reward thanks to Connor Wickham nodding in his 4th goal of the season from a corner to leave us with a point at the full time whistle.

September League Table : 10 points out of a possible 15 has seen us rise to the automatic promotion places with 8 games gone. While league tables shouldn’t be looked at at this early stage of the season, our start to the new campaign has been very promising. While our league form has been good, we’re once again out of the League Cup as Premier League West Ham United sent us packing in the 3rd round.

[Raware]

Nottingham Forest - October 2024/25

Nottingham Forest

01.10.24 - Npower League Championship - Middlesbrough v Nottingham Forest : 2-2 : October saw us start with an early season top of the table clash as we made the long trip to The Riverside Stadium to face an in form Middlesbrough. As expected it was a tight affair with both sides looking capable of scoring but in the end, we cancelled each other out as they game ended in a 2-2 draw; a result which neither team can really complain about.

05.10.24 - Npower League Championship - Sheffield Wednesday v Nottingham Forest : 0-2 : Goals from Simon O’Kane and Soares gave us all 3 points at Hillsborough as we claimed our first win in 3 games.

19.10.24 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Charlton Athletic : 3-0 : We totally outclassed Charlton in this game and in truth we could’ve scored more than the 3 goals we did. But we can’t be too greedy I suppose

22.10.24 - Npower League Championship - Derby County v Nottingham Forest : 1-5 : What better way to shut your horrible rivals up than to batter them 5-1 at their place . We looked in total control for the entirety of the game as goals from our captain Gethin Jones, our vice captain Callum Chambers, Kevin Appleton and a brace from Soares both from the penalty spot gave us all 3 points and all of the bragging rights .

26.10.24 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Wycombe Wanderers : 2-0 : A fairly comfortable win for us in the end as once again we dominated the game with goals from Uwe Platins and Callum Chambers proving to be enough to give us all of the points.

October League Table : A superb month for us saw us take 13 points out of a possible 15 to leave us sitting pretty at the top of the table, 5 points clear of both Reading and Aston Villa.

[Raware]

Nottingham Forest - November 2024/25

Nottingham Forest

02.11.24 - Npower League Championship - Ipswich Town v Nottingham Forest : 0-4 : We made the journey to Portman Road knowing that we were the favourites against a struggling Ipswich side despite us being the away team. That pre-match tag was justified as Callum Chambers, Connor Wickham and Uwe Platins got the goals for us to give us a very convincing win.

05.11.24 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Burnley : 1-1 : We trailed early on after Burnley’s Hamzeh Hasanpour put them into an early lead but we responded well and got our rewards just after half time after a half of pressing as Uwe Platins equalized for us to leave us sharing the points with Burnley.

09.11.24 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Mansfield Town : 1-0 : We got one over our local rivals thanks to Liam Dawson’s 1st goal for the club, a significant win for us as in recent years we’ve always struggled against The Stags.

15.11.24 - Npower League Championship - Huddersfield Town v Nottingham Forest : 0-0 : A fairly even game between ourselves and The Terriers so it was no surprise that the game ended in a draw.

23.11.24 - Npower League Championship - Reading v Nottingham Forest : 1-0 : A tough trip for us to The Madejski as Reading, along with ourselves are one of the form teams in the league. As expected, it was a tight fair and just one goal separated us…unfortunately for us, it was Reading who got that decisive goal to inflict our 1st defeat on us for 10 games.

26.11.24 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Wigan Athletic : 4-1 : In what had been billed as close game before kick-off turned out to be anything but as we ran out easy 4-1 winners thanks to goals from Pat Grant, Soares and a brace from Connor Wickham.

30.11.24 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Coventry City : 1-0 : Connor Wickham’s solitary strike 7 minutes before the break was enough to hand us all 3 points and leave us top of the Championship with a 3 point cushion.

November League Table : Another good month for us with just the one defeat still leaves us top of the table, although our lead has been cut down to 3 points.

On personal note, I received 2 very tempting job offers this month as Wolves and Celtic approached me. While both offers were very tempting, especially the Celtic offer (which I almost accepted) I decided to turn them both down and stay with my boyhood club, especially with the real possibility of promotion this season with Forest.

[Rikulec]

Have Forest played in the EPL on your save?

[Raware]

Have Forest played in the EPL on your save?

No, we've been in the Championship since this save began...hopefully that'll change after just missing out last season

[Raware]

Nottingham Forest - December 2024/25

Nottingham Forest

03.12.24 - Npower League Championship - Hull City v Nottingham Forest : 1-1 : We fell behind early in this game after despite having his penalty saved by our keeper Bozidar Radojkovic, Darryl Rumbold converted the resulting rebound to put The Tigers 1-0 up on 18 minutes. We grabbed a deserved equalizer though 4 minutes before the break thanks to Uwe Platins and that’s how it stayed for the remainder of the game as us and Hull shared the points.

07.12.24 - Npower League Championship - Crewe Alexandra v Nottingham Forest : 0-4 : A superb man of the match performance and hat-trick from Uwe Platins plus a long over due goal from Simon O’Kane gave us a great win against the Railway Men while also boosting our goal difference.

14.12.24 - Npower League Championship - Millwall v Nottingham Forest : 1-5 : Our recent eye for goal continued as we put 5 past Millwall at their place to further strengthen our place at the top of the table.

21.12.24 - Npower League Championship - Torquay United v Nottingham Forest : 1-1 : Considering our recent form I was expecting another victory in our trip to Plainmoor but that wasn’t the case as Torquay gave a good account of themselves to take a share of the spoils come full time.

26.12.24 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Wolverhampton Wanderers : 0-0 : Turning down the Wolves job offer last month seemed to be the right decision as we dominated this game and was unlucky not to take all 3 points as Connor Wickham missed a penalty on 23 minutes to leave us having to settle with a point.

28.12.24 - Npower League Championship - Stevenage v Nottingham Forest : 0-2 : We ended the month with a good win away at Stevenage thanks to goals from Callum Chambers and Simon O’Kane.

December League Table : 3 wins and 3 draws this month extends our unbeaten run to 8 games but Aston Villa are in great form themselves as they’ve closed our lead down to just a point as we reach the turn of the new year.

With 2 job offers last month, it seems that my reputation is growing (which is always nice ) as 3 more offers came in this month, one from Huddersfield, one from Norwich and one from Fulham and while it’s flattering to be linked to all 3 clubs, I turned them all down. Maybe one will come along in the future though that I find to good to turn down…

[deltablue]

You have a nice margin to automatic promotion at least.

[B.W.G]

Very good performances so far,hopefully you can keep up the good form and clinch promotion.

[b101]

looking good so far - how are Leeds faring in the Prem btw?

[WarroOxford]

Some tempting offers you've been picking up! Just been reading through all the thread, absolutely love journeyman saves, so the way you've been progressing through the leagues realistically is right up my street! Keep up the great work, the Premier League is knocking.

[Raware]

You have a nice margin to automatic promotion at least.

Very true, hopefully that will be a cushion for us should Villa pull away.

Very good performances so far,hopefully you can keep up the good form and clinch promotion.

I hope so

looking good so far - how are Leeds faring in the Prem btw?

Thanks. Leeds are struggling and are in a relegation fight so it's touch and go as to whether they can survive. If they don't, I have my eye on a few of their players that I brought in .

Some tempting offers you've been picking up! Just been reading through all the thread, absolutely love journeyman saves, so the way you've been progressing through the leagues realistically is right up my street! Keep up the great work, the Premier League is knocking.

Cheers pal . I always try and play the game as realistically as possible so as you say, the progress I've made is pleasing . I'm hoping the Premier League isn't that far off this season.

[Raware]

Nottingham Forest - January 2024/25

Nottingham Forest

01.01.25 - Npower League Championship - Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest : 2-1 : We couldn’t of started the new year off with a tougher start as Villa made the trip to our place looking to reclaim top spot in the league. With such a strong squad it was no surprise I suppose that they outclassed us in every department and in the end they beat us 2-1 to complete a league double over us this season and take back top spot.

11.01.25 - FA Cup 3rd Round - Nottingham Forest v West Ham United : 2-1 : We drew West Ham in our 3rd round FA Cup tie who earlier in the season had sent us packing in the 3rd round of the League Cup by hammering us 3-0. It was different this time around though as goals from Pat Grant and the ageing Connor Wickham were enough to book our place in the 4th round .

14.01.25 - Npower League Championship - Cardiff City v Nottingham Forest : 0-1 : A late, late goal 3 minutes into stoppage time from Simon O’Kane gave us all 3 points as we keep up the pressure on Aston Villa.

18.01.25 - Npower League Championship - Nottingham Forest v Rochdale : 0-1 : Just as we grabbed a valuable win at The Cardiff City Stadium 4 days earlier, we threw away a game which we should’ve won as one of my long term targets, Rochdale’s Kyle Jones hit their winner 4 minutes after the break to give Villa a little bit of a cushion in the league now.

25.01.25 - FA Cup 4th Round - Nottingham Forest v Fulham : 0-2 : Our FA Cup journey came to an end for another year as our poor performance from our last game against Rochdale carried over to this game as we were defeated by a struggling Premier League Fulham side .

January League Table : Just 1 win in the league this month saw us surrender our lead at the top of the table as Aston Villa take top spot with a 2 point cushion. Our FA Cup run also came to an end this month as we suffered a disappointing defeat to Fulham who I felt we should’ve beaten despite their Premier League status.

Some positive news for us this month though was the arrival of Glen McGovern for £250k and Sean Armstrong for £450k both from Shamrock Rovers who both look like excellent prospects for the future and a steal for a combined fee of £700k .