retired_jgirl87

Quality work here, Terk. :thup:

It was a superb first season at the City Ground and your start to the new season has gone very well. The off-field part of the story has also been handled excellently. KUTGW.

retired_bbcarr

Cheers, Spav I've been pleased with the way the season has begun, definitely better than I had expected. I'm ever hopeful that we can keep it up. Also glad to hear the off-field element is keeping people entertained as well

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

I woke suddenly, my head drenched in ice cold water. As my eyes managed to focus, I saw Hannah standing above me with an empty glass and a cheeky grin. It was Sunday morning, and my legs still ached from the exertions of the previous day. I’d never much been one for the great outdoors, I got all the exercise I wanted and needed on the football field, and I was quite happy to spend the rest of my time in warm, indoor environs. However, a beautiful Saturday afternoon spent atop peaks in the Cairngorms is enough to take anyone’s breath away.

I was surprised at how I’d quickly taken to it; I had agreed to partake of the walking part of the weekend because I knew Hannah was particularly into that sort of thing. But within hours, the majesty of the scenery and the feeling of the crisp air in my lungs had won me over. The sheer exhilaration felt when we had scaled to the summit was matched only by the most beautiful view I had ever witnessed. But my legs still hurt like buggery all night.

”Tired after last night are we?”

“I was tired enough after we came off the hill. I could sleep for a week.”

“Well it’s already midday, you need to get your arse out of bed.”

“Why?”

“You’re taking me for lunch.”

“That’s nice of me. And it would seem that I’ve already had my shower. Any chance you could put on something more than a t-shirt though, your legs are distracting me.”

--

The whole weekend was fantastic, better than ever I had hoped it would be. I returned to training on the Tuesday morning with still a week to prepare for the visit of Derby, and with a wonderfully renewed sense of vigour for the job.

With our game having been moved back to mid-week, I got the chance to sit down on Saturday afternoon and watch two of our fellow Championship sides go head to head on Sky. Crystal Palace had yet to lose in the league campaign, their early tag as one of the favourites for promotion being fully justified. But all good things must end, as they say, and a late second half double from Stefan Moore lit up an otherwise drab game to give Q.P.R. the win at Loftus Road.

Palace’s defeat had given everybody in the league a lift; it’s nice to know that nobody in your title race in invincible, but it didn’t do much for a dire game when we finally lined up against Derby. For what it was worth, we were the better side, forcing more chances on their goal than they did on ours. Indeed, as time ticked away to the inevitable goalless draw, James Beaumont managed the only real exciting moment, a curling twenty five yard shot which Lee Camp did well to tip over the cross bar.

Three days later we were faced with Palace’s conquerors, Q.P.R., a second home game in succession. Near 30,000 people turned up, and for the first fifteen minutes, they saw us have to put on a fantastic rearguard action as Stefan Moore tore us to shreds, only to find that Rune Pedersen was putting his ambitions to one side and having a fantastic day.

We gradually came back into the tie, Ryan Nelsen had been given the job of sticking to Moore like glue and he was decidedly limiting the striker’s chances. We began to craft a few opportunities of our own, the best coming on the stroke of half time when an opportunist shot from Kris Commons fizzed over the bar.

It took until after the hour mark for us to create anything clear cut, and when we did, we took full advantage of it. Bolo Zenden had come on to replace the tiring Commons, and the Dutchman turned the game in our favour. It was his perfect cross that Rasiak rose, unmarked, to head past Simon Royce on sixty-nine minutes, and Zenden claimed his second assist five minutes from time when he sent Beaumont clear and the young midfielder finished coolly past Royce to seal the win.

retired_bbcarr

”Crewe away on Saturday. Could be a tough game, I wouldn’t want any of the lads to pick up an injury against United, or be too tired because of the effort they put in.”

“But if we go to Old Trafford with anything less than a full strength side and we’ll be ripped apart.”

“We’ll be ripped apart anyway.”

“Not necessarily. They might field an under strength side. And Rune’s in stunning form. We nick one early we might be able to hold onto it.”

“You actually think we can win?”

“Maybe.”

“That’s possibly the most wishful thinking I’ve ever heard of. United will show just how far away we are from being ready for the Premiership.”

“You’re sounding like you don’t want us to get promoted this season, Stephen.”

“Of course I do. It’s just that I don’t think this group of players is ready for that. We’d have to invest heavily.”

“Maybe it’ll be good to show the first team lads that. Make them realise that they can’t turn everything to gold.”

“I know, you’re right. I just don’t want to see them get thumped. It could destroy their confidence.”

“Better teams than us have and will get creamed at Old Trafford.”

“I know.”

“So are we going full strength?”

“Yeah.”

I knew Tim had been right all along, that there was no other way to go than to field our full strength side in the Carling Cup tie against Manchester United. But some part of me remained reticent, I just didn’t want to see these players in whom I had invested so much time and effort have their confidence shattered when there was nothing they could do about it. But in the end it was the only choice, and the team sheet I handed to the match officials an hour before kick-off read:

Pedersen (c); Eaden, Nelsen, Cullip, Stewart; Bakke, Cole, Diarra, Sissoko, Commons; Rasiak

As everyone of the 60,204 fans in the ground had expected, United dominated the early proceedings. Alex Ferguson had shown some respect for both ourselves and the tournament by fielding a strong side, the only two notable absentees being the frontline of Van Nistelrooy and Rooney, replaced by the hardly poor Roque Santa Cruz and Louis Saha. But it was Scottish midfielder Darren Fletcher who was causing most damage, marauding down the right flank to great effect and causing Jordan Stewart no end of problems. The home side fashioned a frankly scary thirteen chances on goal in the first period, but thanks to our never better Dane, they went unrewarded come the interval. And, indeed, there was a shock on the cards for the pundits to discuss at half time.

Quite against the run of play, and two minutes into the scheduled three on injury time at the end of the half, a United attack was broken down on the edge of our penalty area by Ryan Nelsen. The Kiwi launched the ball down the left flank for Kris Commons to chase, and he beat both Fletcher and Neville to the ball with ease. With Rasiak still attempting to lumber past the halfway line, there was only one option up the field for Commons, and that was Momo Sissoko. The Malian arrived unmarked on the edge of the penalty area at the same time as Commons’ perfectly weighted ball, and after taking one touch to control it, Sissoko stroked his shot past Van der Sar to give us the lead.

The elation was only momentary, none of us on the bench truly believed that it would last, and by the full time whistle we were proved right. Within two minutes of the restart, United’s constant attack paid dividends as Fletcher cracked an unstoppable drive from twenty yards to level the scores. That seemed to sap a good amount of our energy, and it was a miracle that we held on until the 68th minute before we conceded again, this time Giggs crossing for Santa Cruz to head firmly past the forlorn Pedersen. The Danish ‘keeper pulled off two more world class saves, to deny Scholes and Giggs before the final goal of the match arrived with less than a minute left, Santa Cruz chipping a cheeky effort into the corner of the net to round off a fantastic performance.

Sissoko was the first to show the effects of the Man Utd tie, going down with a twisted knee in Friday’s training, despite the session being kept deliberately light. It was quickly obvious that Rasiak was not going to recover in time for the trip to Crewe though, and it was decided to rest Bakke, Commons, Diarra and Nelsen as well.

I don’t know whether Crewe took it as an insult that some of our better players were missing from the team to face them, and indeed that we were giving a first start of the season to supposedly forgotten man Robbie Blake, but something inspired them to put in a wonderful performance. Thankfully though, Nelsen’s replacement James Perch was in form equal to that of the Crewe forwards, and Pedersen was again determined to show his better wares to the watching world.

Quite often a side who have made a gigantic effort against higher opposition in a cup game will go on to lose at least their next league fixture, such is both the physical and mental fatigue, and whilst we never looked like winning, we did at least stop Crewe from doing the same. In the sort of season where it was clear that every point was going to be vital, I was just glad to have got another one on the board.

retired_bbcarr

October 2005 Summary

(Championship unless otherwise stated)


Preston 1 – 1 Nottingham Forest
(Rasiak 49”; Dichio 56”)

Nottingham Forest 0 – 0 Derby

Nottingham Forest 2 – 0 Q.P.R.
(Rasiak 69”; Beaumont 85”)

Manchester United 3 – 1 Nottingham Forest (Carling Cup 3rd Round)
(Sissoko 45+2”; Fletcher 47”; Santa Cruz 68”, 89”)

Crewe 0 – 0 Nottingham Forest

retired_edmari1

Its going great Terk, i'm loving the relationship between yourself and the chairman's daughter. Waiting to see whats happens next with you two. In terms of the soccer unbelievable mate keep it up. Unstoppable.

retired_bbcarr

cheers, united_forever

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

A quick return to action saw a midweek visit from Rotherham, a side sitting 12th in the table having not won since mid September. After having won only once in our past five games – proof of how far we’d come was in the fact that I saw this as somewhat of a mini-crisis – we were anxious to get three points on the board and keep up our charge for the play-offs.

A strong side was put out in the hope that Rotherham’s run wouldn’t end against us, and thanks to a continuation of Rasiak’s fine start to the season it didn’t. The Polish frontman was employed to plough his lone furrow again, but rather than providing goals for supporting midfielders, he was more than happy to strike the blows himself.

His first came twenty-five minutes in, Kris Commons’ work down the left ended with a superb cross which Rasiak headed in from the penalty spot. Rotherham barely provided a threat throughout the match, and the points were made safe – as was 3rd place in the table – when Bakke crossed from the right and Rasiak bundled it home from six yards.

The bad news of the day was that, in throwing himself into the post as he chased a third goal in the final minutes, Rasiak suffered a nasty bruise on his forehead which the club physio suggested was best rested for five or so days. Light training was fine, general fitness work and the like, but given the number of times he headed the ball during a match, it was certain that he’d have to miss the visit to Hull at the weekend.

retired_bbcarr

”That’s three away games in a row that we’ve been outplayed. Preston, Crewe and Hull.”

“Got a point in each.”

“God knows how. Hull should have hit double figures. And they’re 22nd in the league.”

“And we’re third, stop complaining.”

“I should be happy that we’re useless on the road?”

“No, you should be happy that we’re third in the league during our first season back when our target is merely to avoid relegation.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not.”

“I guessed.”

Tim’s inane happiness at our position was beginning to annoy me; I wanted to identify why exactly it was we had gone off the boil in our away games and what exactly we could do to rectify it. The game at Hull had been painful to watch, even though we’d taken the lead through Eirik Bakke, it was never going to last and Stephen McPhee’s equaliser looked likely to be the first of many goals the home side scored during the game. A combination of their poor finishing and good goalkeeping kept them out though, and as Tim pointed out, we were at least still in third.

I had two weeks to find out what was going wrong before our next game, indeed it was a full seventeen days before we took to the road again. As much as I watched the videos, I couldn’t identify a common problem between the games other than a general lack of form amongst the players. The away form was pushed to the back of my mind, however, with the news that David Friio and, more importantly, Joe Cole suffered hamstring strains on the same day, indeed within half an hour of each other. They were both looking at two weeks out, though in truth neither were risked back into action for the remainder of the month.

There was better news on the injury front, however, as Clint Hill came back onto the bench for the visit of Cardiff. Lassana Diarra’s duties with the French U-21 side had not been completed though, so our midfield was further down in numbers, and in the post-match interviews, it was that which I pointed to as one of the reasons for us again failing to win, though at least we did claim another point.

That was largely down to yet another brilliant performance from Rune Pedersen, how we were going to keep hold of the Dane in the winter transfer window was a topic that was keeping me up nights. Once again we had taken the lead – and once again it was undeserved – this time through Rasiak who got on the end of Beaumont’s pass and fired low past Tony Warner. We looked like we might hang on by our fingernails for the win, but with eight minutes left, Shaun Newton grabbed an equaliser for the Welsh side; the absolute least they deserved.

retired_bbcarr

”I got it, I got the job.”

“That’s brilliant. When do you start.”

“Next week.”

“Fantastic. We have to celebrate. Dinner out tonight. I’ll book somewhere this afternoon and I’ll pick you up after I get done at the club.”

Hannah had gone for an interview at BBC Radio Nottingham, far from expecting to get the job, just wanting to take that first step back onto the market. It turned out, however, that her former boss from when she worked for the BBC in London was now working in Nottingham and had no hesitation in offering her an assistant producer job on a daytime news show. It was a step back on the working ladder after three years of living off daddy’s wallet, it was the exact opportunity she’d been waiting for.

--

The night out had been thoroughly enjoyable, and the time at home afterward even more so, but I had to be up early the next morning for the trek down to London. We’d decided to travel down on the morning of the game rather than the night before, and travel back the same night, getting home in the early hours of the morning, but hopefully with three points in our pocket to make the journey more pleasant.

The opposition for our trip to the capital were Watford and a light training session on the Vicarage Road pitch had confirmed to me that Clint Hill was definitely fit enough to start a game for the first time since the trip to Grimsby, though I dreaded to think how quickly he’d injure himself again.

Much to my surprise (and delight) the injury prone centre back lasted the whole game, though the same couldn’t be said about his defensive partner. A minute into injury time at the end of the first half, a clumsy foul by Ryan Nelsen on Jay Bothroyd when the Watford striker was clean through on goal in the penalty area brought him a red card with no hesitation from the referee, and Leon Knight tucked away the resultant penalty to level the scores at the break.

We had taken the lead through Bolo Zenden, the Dutchman striking a low shot from the edge of the area after being set up by Eirik Bakke. And despite Watford’s numerical advantage and general superiority in the second half, it was Zenden who put us back in front late on when he came in off his left wing and rifled the ball into the roof of the net. Two games without a three point haul was definitely not going to turn into three, and Rasiak made sure of that just sixty seconds after Zenden had put us in front when he latched onto a loose ball and creamed a shot home from twenty five yards.

All the press attention in the next few days, however, was focused around Steve Bruce’s move to Newcastle. The former Man Utd centre back manager had been lured to his native land, leaving Birmingham in a precarious position just outside the Premiership relegation zone. Managers from Alan Curbishley to Alex McLeish were linked with the St Andrews post, though unsurprisingly mine wasn’t a name that the press linked to the vacant post.

An idle comment from my assistant manager, Tim Flowers (”Wouldn’t you love a job like that?”) got my mind racing though, it really would be great to have a job in the Premiership, especially at a club who had the resources to be there for a long time. I thought about it long and hard, Birmingham was only fifty miles down the road; it wouldn’t mean moving from our Nottingham home, which was important considering Hannah’s new job. The more I thought about it, the more it drew me in, and much of the next day at the office was spent surreptitiously writing out my C.V. before firing it off to the powers that be at St Andrews.

I tried as best I could to put the matter to the back of my mind for the visit of 14th placed Wolves. With Friio and Cole injured and Nelsen suspended, plus Rasiak feeling the pace and dropped to the bench after his exertions in midweek, we fielded what I thought could be a suspect team in places. Clint Hill was started for the second time in four days, which turned out to be a mistake as he hobbled off with a twisted ankle in just the thirteenth minute. Of more concern to me in the immediate aftermath of the game was Rune Pedersen. The Danish ‘keeper had slipped and fallen in the changing room at half time, landing awkwardly on his shoulder and forcing Paul Gerrard into action for the second period.

We had got a good start to the game, Beaumont laying a beautiful ball into the area for Bopp who thumped a first time shot past Matt Murray, and we had rarely been troubled by anything which suggested that Wolves were going to give their fans something to cheer about. And that continued into the second half, Gerrard had only one save to make, and even that was relatively routine, and we sealed the points when Murray was forced to parry from his own defender – David Partridge – and Robbie Blake was on hand to tap in the rebound.

The news on Pedersen was better than had been anticipated, the initial fears of a dislocated shoulder were allayed, it turned out only to be some pretty nasty bruising, but it would still keep him out of the trip to Bolton. Clint Hill was facing another two week period on the sidelines, but I had become used to that, and was more worried by Nicky Eaden’s strained medial ligaments which would see him out until the New Year. It left us without a true right back, and that was a serious concern. Calls were quickly made, and a deal quickly struck to bring in Sunderland’s Stephen Wright on a month long loan. At the same time, we negotiated with the club to extend the loan deals of both Stephen Caldwell and Liam Lawrence for a further three months.

retired_bbcarr

November 2005 Summary

(Championship unless otherwise stated)


Nottingham Forest 2 – 0 Rotherham
(Rasiak 25”, 82”)

Hull 1 – 1 Nottingham Forest
(Bakke 35”; McPhee 69”)

Nottingham Forest 1 – 1 Cardiff
(Rasiak 66”; Newton 82”)

Watford 1 – 3 Nottingham Forest
(Zenden 14”, 78”; Nelsen s/off 45+1"; Knight pen 45+3”; Rasiak 79”)

Nottingham Forest 2 – 0 Wolves
(Bopp 2”; Blake 79”)

retired_bbcarr

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | West Brom | | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 38 | 14 | +24 | 42 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Bolton | | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 38 | 19 | +19 | 42 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Crystal Palace | | 19 | 12 | 5 | 2 | 35 | 15 | +20 | 41 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Nottm Forest | | 19 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 30 | 13 | +17 | 39 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Wigan | | 19 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 27 | 17 | +10 | 31 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Ipswich | | 19 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 23 | 23 | 0 | 31 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Watford | | 19 | 9 | 3 | 7 | 32 | 24 | +8 | 30 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Stoke | | 19 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 23 | 18 | +5 | 30 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Leeds | | 19 | 9 | 3 | 7 | 27 | 25 | +2 | 30 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Sheff Utd | | 19 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 26 | 21 | +5 | 29 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Crewe | | 19 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 21 | 20 | +1 | 26 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Reading | | 19 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 30 | 30 | 0 | 26 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Cardiff | | 19 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 24 | 26 | -2 | 24 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Wolves | | 19 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 20 | 24 | -4 | 23 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Derby | | 19 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 24 | 25 | -1 | 22 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Gillingham | | 19 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 28 | 33 | -5 | 22 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Q.P.R. | | 19 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 21 | 32 | -11 | 21 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Burnley | | 19 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 27 | 34 | -7 | 20 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | | Rotherham | | 19 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 18 | 28 | -10 | 20 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | | Hull | | 19 | 3 | 10 | 6 | 17 | 23 | -6 | 19 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 21st | | Preston | | 19 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 29 | 37 | -8 | 19 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22nd | | Brighton | | 19 | 4 | 3 | 12 | 21 | 36 | -15 | 15 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 23rd | | Luton | | 19 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 19 | 39 | -20 | 13 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24th | | Leicester | | 19 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 13 | 35 | -22 | 7 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>