FM17 - Nottingham Forest - 151 years and onwards..

[robterrace]

The 2016 Nottingham Forest GPTG Thread

 

Firstly, this introduction is none of my own work, I just picked up most of the introduction done by Nottingham Forest (the user) last year, and have put it in here.

Club Overview

Nottingham Forest are a football club based in West Bridgford, Nottingham. They play their games at The City Ground which is situated on the banks of the River Trent. The club have played at The City Ground since 1898. The club currently play in the Sky Bet Championship and have done so for a number of years. The club’s current manager is Philippe Montanier who took over in the summer of 2016.

The current chairman is Fawaz Al-Hasawi and he has owned the club with his family since July 2012, although, he has announced recently that the club is currently up for sale, and that negotiations are taking place with interested parties.

 The club’s main rival is Derby County whilst they have smaller rivalries with Leicester City, Notts County, Mansfield Town and Sheffield United.

The History

The Beginning

The club was founded in 1865 after a meeting between a local shinney team. The players founded the club at the Clinton Arms on Shakespeare Street. The founding members were; A Barks, W Brown, W P Brown, C F Daft, T Gamble, R P Hawkesley, T G Howitt, W I Hussey, W R Lymberry, J Milford, J H Rastall, W H Revis, J G Richardson, J S Scrimshaw and J Tomlinson. The club played their first official match against local rivals Notts County on the 22nd March 1866. The club have played in red ever since they were founded. The official colour is ‘Garibaldi red’ and is named after Giuseppe Garibaldi. The club originally purchased red caps with tassels.

Despite the Football League being founded in 1888. Forest were only accepted in 1892. They were eventually accepted into the Football League in 1892 after winning the Football Alliance. The club had some success in the Football Alliance as they managed to reach the semi-finals of the FA Challenge Cup in the 1878-79 season where they finally lost to Old Etonians.

The club’s first FA Cup win came in the 1897-98 season where they defeated Derby County 3-1. The club had lost in four previous semi-finals before success in the fifth.

The club has had an impact on the development of the ‘beautiful game’ as they were the first side to wear shin guards and having a referee use a whistle. The club have played at a number of grounds in Nottingham throughout their history which include the Forest Racecourse Ground, The Castle Ground(The Meadows), Trent Bridge, The Parkside Ground, The Gregory Ground and The Town Ground before finally relocating to The City Ground in 1898. Where the club have played ever since.

 

 

 

The Middle Years

From Forest’s first FA Cup win, the club only managed to win four further trophies between 1898 and 1960. This included an FA Cup, Division Three and Division Two on two occasions. The club endured a tough time during the run up to the First World War and were struggling financially. The club ended an eighteen year spell out of the then top flight after achieving promotion in the 1956-57 season.

Forest’s second FA Cup win came in the 1958-59 season as they beat Luton Town 2-1. The club played most of the game with ten men as Roy Dwight(Elton John’s cousin)was taken off with a broken leg. In the 1966-67 season the club enjoyed its best ever season as a club as they were challenging for a league and cup double. Unfortunately injuries meant the club managed to reach the FA Cup Semi Final whilst finishing runners-up in the First Division. The club struggled from then until 1975 when the arrival of a genius happened.

 

 

 

The Clough & Taylor Years

Brian Clough took over as manager on the 6th January 1975. In this timeframe he turned Nottingham Forest into one of the most successful English clubs of all time as he guided the club to twelve trophies in eighteen years. Two of the most memorable trophies the club won was the European Cup in 1979 and then retaining it the season afterwards. Clough had turned the club into a successful team, five years after taking over with the club in the second division. Clough’s success was helped by having such a good assistant in Peter Taylor who had worked with him on a number of occasions.

 

 

 

Despite Taylor leaving the club in 1980, Clough still managed to keep Nottingham Forest in the trophy hunt for a further 13 years. The only trophy to escape the great man himself was the FA Cup. The club finished runners-up in the 1990-91 season. The club finished runners-up on another five occasions during Clough’s reign.

The era came to end by 1993 when announced that he would be retiring. The club had suffered relegation that season as well. The club have since named a stand after him and the city also has a statue of Brian Clough. The club have also recently honoured Peter Taylor with the renaming of the Main Stand.

 

The Clough After Years

Frank Clark, former Forest player took over as manager for the 1993-94 season as Forest made an immediate return to the top flight. In Forest’s first full season back in the top flight the club finished third and qualified for the UEFA Cup where the club reached the quarter-finals. Clark left the club in December 1996 with the club in a relegation battle. As well as struggling on the pitch, the club was struggling financially off it.

 

 

 

In February 1997 the Bridgford Group Consortium took over the club. Stuart Pearce took temporary charge of the club until Dave Bassett was appointed as permanent manager in May 1997. Unfortunately the club were relegated back to Division One that season. Bassett led the club back to the Premier League after winning the First Division Title in the 1997-98 season. Forest’s first trophy win since the Full Members Cup in 1992. Unfortunately the club’s stay in the top flight was a short lived one as they suffered relegation the next season.

 

 

 

The 21st Century

From 1999 until 2012 the club was owned by Nigel Doughty, a Forest fan who invested large amounts of money and time in trying to improve the club on and off the pitch.

 

 

 

David Platt took over the club after Ron Atkinson’s spell for two seasons. Unfortunately Platt could only lead the club to two mid-table finishes whilst spending a large amount of money on three Italian players who didn’t have the best of spells at the club. This, combined with the collapse ITV Digital left Forest in another difficult position financially.

Paul Hart took over from David Platt after being Youth Team Manager for a number of seasons. In his first full season Hart managed to lead the club to sixteenth. Having promoted a number of youngsters into the first team during his spell as manager. Hart managed to help the club finish sixth in Division One. Unfortunately due to financial difficulties the club were unable to replicate the previous season’s finish which ultimately cost Hart his job.

 

 

 

The club had a two managers after Hart which included Joe Kinnear and Gary Megson. Neither could bring success back to The City Ground and both had contributed to the club being relegated to League One in 2005. Becoming the first European Cup Winners to fall into the third tier. Megson left the club in February 2006 to be replaced by the caretaker duo of Frank Barlow and Ian McParland. These two led the club to seventh having taken over when the club were only four points above the relegation zone.

Former defender Colin Calderwood took over as manager in the summer of 2006 where he remained as manager until December 2008 before departing with the club in the relegation zone. In this time Calderwood suffered defeat to Yeovil Town in the League One Play-Offs before securing promotion the following season by going up automatically.

 

 

 

Billy Davies took over on January 1st 2009 with him securing Forest’s Championship status as the club finished nineteenth. Davies had two further seasons at the club in which he managed to turn the club into play-off hopefuls. Narrowly missing out on two occasions. In June 2011, Davies left the club to be replaced by Steve McLaren.

McLaren only lasted a couple of months before the club underwent changes in the boardroom and management team. Doughty stepped down as Forest Chairman in October 2011 to be replaced by former player and manager Frank Clark. Whilst Steve Cotterill took over as manager and helping secure the club’s safety for another season. Unfortunately Doughty passed away in February 2012.

In July 2012, The Al-Hasawi family took over the club and immediately set out a three to five year plan. Sean O’Driscoll was the first manager of the Al-Hasawi reign before he was sacked in December 2012. Alex McLeish was the man to take over but he only lasted forty days before departing. Billy Davies returned to the club for a second spell on the 7th February 2013 where the club narrowly missed out on the play-offs. After a successful start to the 2013-14 season, things slowly tailed off as Davies was relieved of his duties on March 24th 2014. Gary Brazil became caretaker manager until the end of the season. On July 1st 2014 club legend Stuart Pearce took over the club. Unfortunately after a bright start things turned badly for Pearce as he endured a poor run of winning three games in about twenty-three. Despite beating rival Derby on the 14th January 2015, this wasn't enough to spur the club on a good run and he was sacked February 1st 2015 before being replaced by Dougie Freedman just a few hours later. Freedman lasted until March 2016, where, another poor run of results saw him leave the club.

He was replaced in the summer by Frenchman Phillipe Montanier, as the club looked to move forward in preparation for a new regime top to bottom.

 

 

 

 

[robterrace]

The Club - 2016/17

The Squad - 2016/17
Individual Photos in following posts.

[robterrace]

First Team

Goalkeepers - 

38 - Vladimir Stojkovic - Serbia
30 - Stephen Henderson - Ireland
43 - Jordan Smith - England
Dimitar Evtimov - Bulgaria (On loan at SC Olhanense)

Full Backs -
2 - Eric Lichaj - USA
3 - Dani Pinillos - Spain
6 - Armand Traore - Senegal
13 - Danny Fox - Scotland
17 - Hildeberto Pereira - Portugal (On loan from Benfica)

Centre Backs - 
4 - Michael Mancienne - England
5 - Matt Mills - England
25 - Jack Hobbs - England
27 - Damien Perquis - Poland
28 - Thomas Lam - Finland
40 - Alex Iaccovitti - Scotland (On loan at Mansfield Town)
42 - Joe Worrall - England

Wingers -
12 - Nicolao Dumitru - Italy (On loan from Napoli)
18 - Mustapha Carayol - Gambia
19 - Jamie Ward (On loan at Burton Albion)
20 - Lica - Portugal

Midfielders - 
8 - Chris Cohen - England
10 - Henri Lansbury - England
11 - Ben Osborn - England
22 - Pajtim Kasami - Switzerland (On loan from Olympiakos)
24 - David Vaughan - Wales
37 - Jorge Grant - England
41 - Matty Cash - England

Forwards - 
7 - Matty Fryatt - England
9 - Britt Assombalonga - DR Congo
14 - Nicklas Bendtner - Denmark
39 - Apostolos Vellios - Greece
 

U23

Goalkeepers
Chris Marques - Australia
Tim Erlandsson - Sweden

Defenders
Frederik Neilsen - Denmark
Anel Ahmedhodzic - Sweden
Jordan Gabriel - England

Midfielders
Ryan Yates - England (On loan at Barrow)
Elvis Otim - England/Uganda 
Adam Crookes - England
Toby Edser - England
Rob Worrall - England
Aaron Smith - England (not in DB at moment, to be added)

Strikers
James Thorne - England
Lewis Walters - England
Tyler Walker - England (On loan at Stevenage)
Gerry McDonagh - Ireland (On loan at Wrexham)

U18

Goalkeepers
Rudolfs Skoloa - Latvia
Jordan Wright - England

Defenders
Choz Charlesworth - England
Charlie Jemson - England
Daniel Preston - England
Joe Re - England
Connor Smith - England
Ethan Stewart - England
Jake Willetts - England

Midfielders
Kyle McClean - England
Luke McCormick - England
Jake Taylor - England
Yacine En-Nayeh - Ireland

Strikers
Ben Brereton - England
Virgil Gomis - France
Kieran Hayes - England
Anthony Wright - USA
 

Staff

Manager/Head Coach - Philippe Montanier - France
Assistant Manager - Serge Romano - France
Fitness Coach - Fabian Bossuet - France
Goalkeeping Coach - Steve Sutton - England
Head of Youth Development - Gary Brazil - England

U23 Manager - Jack Lester
U23 Goalkeeping Coach - Ian Bennett

U18 Manager - Gareth Holmes
U18 Assistant Manager - Jake Wigley
 

[robterrace]

Squad Strength 

You have two keepers who are good enough to be first choice at Forest, these being current Serbian international Vladimir Stojkovic, and Irish keeper, Stephen Henderson. The 3rd choice, Bulgarian, Dimitar Evtimov is out on loan in Portugal, so it is up to you how you manage him. The likes of Tim Erlandsson and Jordan Wright coming through are good enough for first team football in the coming years.

As with the keepers, its easy to see the majority of your first choice defence here. What is lacking, especially in the senior centre backs, is pace, with only Michael Mancienne showing any ability to cover ground quickly in the middle. The club is lucky to have several very good, young, defenders, with Alex Iacovitti and Joe Worrall good enough to step into first team football in the first season, and the likes of Anel Ahmedhodzic and Frederik Neilsen good in coming years. 

Forest have a glut of attacking minded midfielders, its just in the more defensive elements of the game that the midfield is found lacking, with only David Vaughan the real holding talent there. Chris Cohen is very versatile, and can play all over the pitch, he can be retrained to play in the Vaughan role, as it is more than likely this is Vaughans last year at this level. Going forward, the likes of Henri Lansbury, Matty Cash, Ben Osborn and Mustapha Carayol provide a lot of threat.

The two standouts here are Britt Assombalonga and Nicklas Bendtner. If you can keep both of these fit, and provide them with enough chances, they'll score 20 goals each this season. Apostolos Vellios is a good option for a Target man, and with Gerry McDonagh and Tyler Walker out on loan, theres a bit in reserve. Matty Fryatt is an unknown, he's been injured for 18 months, and may never play again. You may want to play close attention to how Ben Brereton develops, the big 17 year old scored 30 goals last season in the U18s, and has started where he finished this year in the U23s, with 10 goals already this season. Another one to watch is Virgil Gomis, with the French striker scoring 30 goals in his last 30 games in all competitions.

[Barrels]

Great to see this Thread, thanks for starting.

 

I had a take over by a consortimum lead by David Beckham before the winter transfer window, they pumped some cash into the club boosted the wage budget.

Anyone else had a takeover?

[cms186]

I think its been set so Fawaz is pretty open to selling the club, im playing in an Online game with Forest and have only got 3 matches in, so havent had a takeover yet, it does feel a bit like im in a holding pattern waiting for it to happen and hoping i dont get sacked

[nffc1991]

Finished my first season in 4th and several points clear of 5th place Huddersfield, in typical Forest fashion after comfortably beating them twice in the league we bottle it in the Semi’s and wrap up a wasteful 9 months of hard work!

Brought in N’Zogbia on a free and a couple of loans, highly recommend Josh Murphy from Norwich who was superb in AML/AMC. Also had a couple of failed take-overs which annoyingly one took out January completely and all transfer activity was suspended by Fawaz.

With a transfer kitty of nil-pois for the 17/18 campaign and the wage budget being lowered by 10% I managed to offload a few high earners and bring in a couple of released promising players, Conor Hourihane in particular (Now worth £9m after half a season in CM).

Currently sitting top having just entered January with Lansbury playing off Assombalonga bagging tons of goals, a consortium has finally pushed through but have maintained current budgets – at least they’ve agreed to invest in youth facilities and at some point in late 2018 we will have a higher graded academy.

 

[cms186]

Yrah, i signed Murphy on loan too, started off well so far!, Selling off Danny Fox seems to be a lot easier in game than irl

[nffc1991]

On 18/11/2016 at 20:52, cms186 said:

Yrah, i signed Murphy on loan too, started off well so far!, Selling off Danny Fox seems to be a lot easier in game than irl

Best deal I could get was £100k from Blackburn, the fans not happy because he's a useful squad player!

[cms186]

i sold him to Reading for 500k (maybe a smidge under)

[WillyBroadband]

On 21/11/2016 at 12:46, cms186 said:

i sold him to Reading for 500k (maybe a smidge under)

How did you manage to get rid of Fox dude?! I'm offering him out for free and no interest  at all. Want him off the wage bill!

[cms186]

nothing special, just listed him and offered him out, also managed to sell Fryatt for 450k in January once he was fit (paying 5k of his wages, but only for 6 months)

[WillyBroadband]

This takeover thing is doing my nut in! Am up to end of November 2016 and I keep getting the following messages.. one day its one, the next day the other. How long has this happened for other people? 

EDIT: Just after I posted this the consortium pulled out, never mind 

[WillyBroadband]

In a transfer embargo at the moment too and I'm so short on players I really wanted to get a couple of free transfers in but can't. 

[shakey.bridge]

10 hours ago, WillyBroadband said:

In a transfer embargo at the moment too and I'm so short on players I really wanted to get a couple of free transfers in but can't. 

How are you getting on in the league? I am a Forest Fan and was thinking of starting a Forest save, am currently managing Preston for a bit of a challenge, Britt was a demon for me on last years game and Lansbury too.

[WillyBroadband]

11 hours ago, shakey.bridge said:

How are you getting on in the league? I am a Forest Fan and was thinking of starting a Forest save, am currently managing Preston for a bit of a challenge, Britt was a demon for me on last years game and Lansbury too.

Currently 4th in the league after 27 games.

Britt was a demon for me on FM16 too, man, but this year he's frustrating - I play him up top with Bendtner. I play a sort of 5-3-2, with wing backs and 3 in the middle of defence & midfield. Sylvain Distin has been my best player apart from a couple of injuries. I'll post some screenshots. 

[WillyBroadband]

Transfers I've done well, spent a tiny bit and brought in a fair amount. Highlighted in transfers that have been really good. 

Then screenies of Britt & Lansbury. 

I have Arsenal (I'm a Gooner IRL) as my senior affiliate club. 

[WillyBroadband]

As you can see, Britt is transfer listed as I received an offer from Palace but refused it then he got a bit miffed. 

I play Bendtner as a DLF/Support & Britt as a Poacher. 

[shakey.bridge]

23 hours ago, WillyBroadband said:

In a transfer embargo at the moment too and I'm so short on players I really wanted to get a couple of free transfers in but can't. 

How are you getting on in the league? I am a Forest Fan and was thinking of starting a Forest save, am currently managing Preston for a bit of a challenge, Britt was a demon for me on last years game and Lansbury too.

 

1 hour ago, WillyBroadband said:

As you can see, Britt is transfer listed as I received an offer from Palace but refused it then he got a bit miffed. 

I play Bendtner as a DLF/Support & Britt as a Poacher. 

4th in the league isn't bad at all, Think I will start a Forest save and will let you know how I get on, Have you managed to get Lansbury to sign a new contract?

[cms186]

Managed to get promotion in my first season at Forest (in online FM, but only a couple of other Champo players, most are in Prem), finished 4th and beat Fulham and Wednesday in the Play-Offs, ended up selling Bendtner, Fryatt and Fox for around 5 mil total and brought in Jacob Murphy from Norwich for 3 mil (this was from one of the other human managers though) and brought in Albert Adomah and Connor Washington on loan in january, used the rest of the money to extend the contracts of the likes of Lansbury and Cohen.

Had massive injury problems in my first season (just like irl :D) Britt missed over half the season, Hobbs, Stojkovic, Pinillos, Adomah, Murphy and Carayol all missed large portions of the season too, i really struggled to score goals, my top scorer had 9! My Defence was rock solid though and was what got us promoted, had a really exciting Youth intake as well with 5 players with 4.5-5 star potential, one of them, a GK, I decided to put in to start in the first team when Stojkovic went down, hes raw, but performed really well and in the playoffs, only conceded 1 goal in all 3 games and saved 3 out of 9 penalties in the shootout in the final too

[WillyBroadband]

7 hours ago, cms186 said:

Managed to get promotion in my first season at Forest (in online FM, but only a couple of other Champo players, most are in Prem), finished 4th and beat Fulham and Wednesday in the Play-Offs, ended up selling Bendtner, Fryatt and Fox for around 5 mil total and brought in Jacob Murphy from Norwich for 3 mil (this was from one of the other human managers though) and brought in Albert Adomah and Connor Washington on loan in january, used the rest of the money to extend the contracts of the likes of Lansbury and Cohen.

Had massive injury problems in my first season (just like irl :D) Britt missed over half the season, Hobbs, Stojkovic, Pinillos, Adomah, Murphy and Carayol all missed large portions of the season too, i really struggled to score goals, my top scorer had 9! My Defence was rock solid though and was what got us promoted, had a really exciting Youth intake as well with 5 players with 4.5-5 star potential, one of them, a GK, I decided to put in to start in the first team when Stojkovic went down, hes raw, but performed really well and in the playoffs, only conceded 1 goal in all 3 games and saved 3 out of 9 penalties in the shootout in the final too

I had really bad injuries too man. 

Wow, thats cool, am looking forward to the youth intake. 

[WillyBroadband]

10 hours ago, shakey.bridge said:

4th in the league isn't bad at all, Think I will start a Forest save and will let you know how I get on, Have you managed to get Lansbury to sign a new contract?

Yeah man, not bad so far, there is about 4 points separating the top 7 or 8 so will be really tight. 

I've not renewed Lansbury's contract yet, undecided. Did Cohens though. 

[cms186]

this is my regen Keeper, quite old for a regen, but thats less of a problem for a GK, looks pretty decent imo, especially his non-goalkeeping stats like agility and positioning

 

[WillyBroadband]

4 hours ago, cms186 said:

this is my regen Keeper, quite old for a regen, but thats less of a problem for a GK, looks pretty decent imo, especially his non-goalkeeping stats like agility and positioning

 

He looks decent man! Especially with that high a determination. 

[WillyBroadband]

Ridiculously tight end to my first season as Forest boss..

I think I might have a bunch of bottlers in my squad as I could have had it wrapped it but I've lost the last 2 games after going 15 unbeaten. 

[WillyBroadband]

2nd place! Got to be chuffed with that.

[shakey.bridge]

Good Job Mate, Who were your stand out players?

[WillyBroadband]

8 hours ago, shakey.bridge said:

Good Job Mate, Who were your stand out players?

I would have to say - Stojković, Bendtner & Distin. Funny season though, I drew far too many games and I was surprised to be runners up tbh mate. 

Bendtner got a slipped disc and missed the last 2 months of the season and he reacted so badly when I chatted to him about his injury, I just want to get rid. Not sure who will have him though. Did you keep hold of him or sell? 

I was also taken over in April 2017 by a Welsh girl called Zoe Griffiths. Given £20M transfer kitty for the Prem which is great but I'm currently about £400K in the red! 

[shakey.bridge]

39 minutes ago, WillyBroadband said:

I would have to say - Stojković, Bendtner & Distin. Funny season though, I drew far too many games and I was surprised to be runners up tbh mate. 

Bendtner got a slipped disc and missed the last 2 months of the season and he reacted so badly when I chatted to him about his injury, I just want to get rid. Not sure who will have him though. Did you keep hold of him or sell? 

I was also taken over in April 2017 by a Welsh girl called Zoe Griffiths. Given £20M transfer kitty for the Prem which is great but I'm currently about £400K in the red! 

Still tinkering about in Pre Season at the moment, thinking of using a 433 wide with Britt as a CF(S) through the middle with a winger and Inside forward either side of him, and use Bendtner and Velios as cover for him, still unsure of my midfield three yet, I have transfer budgets turned off so will have to wait until Jan to bring anyone in.

[tomtjh90]

Just started a fForest save in the 17.3.1 update last night, mthey've a good side after the update, they lost their best CM in Lansbury but added McCormack who is decent and versatile and Zac Clough's a good youngster, Joao Texeira & Tsibola add good Midfield Depth, think you could squeeze into the play offs with a bit of luck with this team now... They already have Hobbs (Injured), Cohen, Osborn, Manicenne, Britt...