Suffering under the restraints of a FFP transfer embargo and an apparently well-meaning but incompetent owner, Nottingham Forest’s prospects are assessed for us by lifelong fan Jack McCormick.
Asses Forest’s start to the season…
JM: Underwhelming.
We'd made some fairly decent signings by the time the first match against Brighton rolled around and I for one was feeling quietly confident. We'd already been written off by many as mid table at best, and I thought we would surprise quite a few. That feeling was shattered by a few really bland performances, losing at Brighton and going out of the cup to Walsall (our bogey team, so no shock there). This was followed by scraping past Rotherham at home, a couple of draws against Charlton and Bolton and a really poor home defeat to Cardiff in our last match.
If you go back to last season, our form isn't very good at all - we're at one win in 14 games I think. Things need to pick up very quickly, although there are still plenty of positives which I'll touch on shortly.
Tell us about the summer transfer activity. Who came in, who left, what did you make of it?
JM: Despite losing Michail Antonio, who had an outstanding 12 months at the club and has been our main (only) source of inspiration since Britt Assombalonga got injured, we've actually had a very good transfer window - especially considering the transfer embargo we've been put under due to FFP. We're more than a little disgruntled at the Hoops' for breaking the same rules, by the way.
In came Jamie Ward and Matt Mills to add some much-needed steel and determination, plus Daniel Pinillos, a left back who played in Spain's Liga BBVA last season and will hopefully, finally solve our left back woes. We still haven't filled Stuart Pearce's boots, on the field at least.
We've also signed ex-Arsenal trainee Kyle Ebecilio on loan from FC Twente, along with Benfica striker Nelson Oliveira, Lille winger Ryan Mendes and Brighton target man Chris O'Grady. Crystal Palace playmaker Jonny Williams is also expected to be announced in time for Saturday.
On top of that we managed to hang on to Henri Lansbury, despite having apparently agreed a deal with Burnley that we pulled out of at the eleventh hour, and have Andy Reid, Chris Cohen, Matty Fryatt and record signing Assombalonga to come back from injury over the next three months. So the squad is looking pretty strong in the medium-to-long term.
We managed to give Jamie Mackie back to you lot and get his wages off the bill (thanks again, FFP), and cleared a load of deadwood including Danny Collins, Greg Halford and Djamel Abdoun, not to mention banking a tidy £7m for Antonio - who only cost us £1.5m a year ago. That should safely see us out of our embargo next summer.
What is the club’s current FFP/transfer embargo status? How much effect has that had on the club over the past couple of years? Presumably QPR aren’t terribly popular among Forest fans…
JM: We're under a transfer embargo and have been since just after last summer's window closed, but that will be lifted next summer. Taking a step back, it's probably been good for us. The rules are complicated but essentially we've been forced to stop paying silly wages and have had to shift a load of overpaid layabouts, which has often meant blooding youngsters from the academy rather than buying someone else in.
You could argue we wouldn't have lost Antonio if we haven't been under embargo, but we still wouldn't be in the Premiership and that's where he's gone, so I'm not sure that would have been the case. Instead we've seen one of the most promising crops of youngsters at the City Ground since Andy Reid, Marlon Harewood, Jermaine Jenas and Michael Dawson came through.
It's safe to say we're not QPR's biggest fans, but fair play to you. We’re not in a position to pay a fine rather than have an embargo. It's the FL and the FFP rules we're annoyed with more than anything else.
What do you think of Dougie Freedman and the job he’s doing?
JM He started brilliantly but has faded quite dramatically over the past few months - as per the awful run we're on that I mentioned earlier. I like him though and it looks like he'll be given time to turn things around, which is a dramatic departure from the norm established by our trigger-happy chairman in recent years.
The single best thing Dougie has done is giving the young players their chance in the first team, regardless of whether that was forced by FFP or not. If memory serves, he's given debuts to Tyler Walker (promising striker and son of Des), Oliver Burke (the new Gareth Bale...allegedly) and Gerry McDonagh (another striker), and has continued the development of midfielders Ben Osborn and Jorge Grant.
Everyone loves seeing home-grown talent coming through the ranks and a few of these kids look the real deal, so that's something we're all very excited about.
What’s the current general opinion around the club’s owners, who seem to have worked through a lot of players, managers and money and achieved very little?
JM: I think everyone tends to agree that Fawaz Al Hasawi, our chairman and the only one who is involved day-to-day, has his heart in absolutely the right place but is clueless when it comes to running a football club. He clearly loves Nottingham Forest and will do everything he can to make us a success again, but he seems to make every decision on impulse and forgets simple things like paying the caterers on time - we seem to be served with a new winding up order every week and end up paying the bill the day before we're due in court.
FFP has probably forced him to play down his expectations a little bit and realise that a long-term plan needs to be put in place. Dougie is certainly helping with that (the plans, not the low expectations...) and things feel a little more stable at the moment. Watch us sack the whole first team tomorrow now I've said that.
Who are the stand out players and the weak links in the current team?
JM: If you'd asked me a week or so ago I'd have said Michail Antonio. Now I'm just hoping the four signings we've made to replace him are as good as we hope they'll be.
Lansbury is one of the league's cleverest players and will boss the midfield on his day, but those days don't come around often enough. If Assombalonga was fit he'd be one to fear, but he's not. Reid, my favourite player in the past decade or so, could be back on the bench for the first time in a year but don't expect anything from him until he's built his match fitness back up.
Ben Osborn in the centre of the park is one to watch - a young, box-to-box player with an eye for goal and a cracking left foot. He could play alongside David Vaughan, who has been one of only a few to emerge with much credit so far this term.
Danny Fox hopefully won't play but he's been very poor at left back, while Eric Lichaj on the other side, usually so reliable, has had a nightmare start to the season. If Matt Phillips can get at him he could have some joy.
We're relatively solid throughout the rest of the team, and hopefully the new signings will help the lack of cutting edge we've seen in the first few games. Dexter Blackstock hasn't been cutting it after coming back from another lengthy knee injury and Walker is still learning his trade so shouldn't be relied on as heavily as he has been.
Short, medium and long term aims for the club?
JM: Short: Get key players back from injury, bed in the new boys and drag ourselves out of the slump we're in. Beat QPR.
Medium: Finish in the top ten, maybe even making a push for a playoff spot after Christmas. Beat Derby home and away.
Long: Get out of the embargo, make some sensible permanent signings and keep the path from academy to first team wide open. Keep hold of and nurture the promising young players at our disposal. Win the Champions League.
The Twitter @jack_mccormick, @loftforwords
Pictures — Action Images