The Opposition View: Nottingham Forest

27 April 2012 18:27
Forest fan Marky on the final game of the season.

How would you assess your season overall? Are you happy and have you enjoyed watching "Cotterball"?

Quite honestly I and most other fans are delighted that this sorry season is over. It has been nothing but a complete failure from the start. We have come off the back of two play off seasons where we took the mick out of the majority of the other teams in this league with some great football.

McClaren came in, wasted a lot of money on rubbish like Derbyshire, Miller and Greening and had our team playing with zero confidence. It was one bad result to another which culminated in something like a ten match run with no goals.

Cotterill started well before going on a horrid run containing some of the worst football I've seen as a Red where most of us were resigned to League One. In his defence as soon as he brought in some of his own loan players we played some decent stuff and ended the season well with some great results.

I suppose our season was put in perspective when our chairman Nigel Doughty suddenly passed away. A real gentleman who always did right by the club.

What does next season hold in store for you? Are you convinced that Steve Cotterill is the man to take you forward?

Depends on whether new owners come in to be honest. If they don't then we are skint and in trouble. Most of our players are on loan or out of contract, so we could end up starting next season with about 15 players of which about 10 are strikers!

I don't think Cotterill is the man to take us forward but he's had his hands pretty much tied since he's been here and he's kept us up fairly comfortably in the end. Maybe he deserves a chance. 

How worried are you about the financial situation at the club? Is there potential for Nottingham Forest to do a "Pompey" style of collapse?

Very worried. Mainly because we can't afford to retain half of our squad or bring anyone in to replace them. I'm not worried about a financial collapse as such as we have been given funds from Doughty's estate to pay our obligations for another year or so, but I am worried about the state of our squad come August time. I think next season will be even tougher than this. 

Having experienced League One a few seasons ago, what did you think of it? Was it an enjoyable time in the third tier?

I hate to be so blunt but I absolutely hated it. For a while it was OK but the novelty of being the biggest team in the league soon wears off and when it takes you three attempts to come back up you find you've had enough.

500 Yeovil fans dancing in the corner of your ground whilst Marcus Stewart takes the piss out of you in a playoff match isn't much fun.

Honestly, I detested it. I did a few away games which were quite enjoyable as isolated events, but in the context of things it wasn't too much fun. 

Given Cotterill's links to Portsmouth, do you think he should sign any of our players in the close season?

Well it wouldn't surprise me if he went back for Varney although whether we need him is a different issue.

I'd like to see Lawrence here as well but as I say, we're skint and I'm sure he rejected us before as he doesn't particularly like us. You have some good players such as Pearce and Ward who in an ideal world I'd like, but it ain't gonna happen! 

What sort of match and atmosphere are you expecting at the City Ground tomorrow?

It will be a party atmosphere I imagine. A few years back we just about stayed up and played a relegated Southampton on the final day. Both sets of fans just set out to enjoy the match and sing all game which made for a good atmosphere.

Plus both teams played without any pressure and it was quite an enjoyable match! Hopefully a goalfest to end the season tomorrow with the sun shining (which looks doubtful)! 

Predict the outcome of the game.

Forest 5-4 Pompey

Source: FOOTYMAD