retired_bbcarr

...I lost my faith in the summertime
'Cos it don't stop raining
The sky all day is as black as night
But I'm not complaining...

My hand emerged from underneath the covers and groped around for the source of the annoyance. Finding my alarm clock in full flow, I threw it as forcefully as I could muster into the wall, hoping desperately to silence it. I had no success though. For a third time in recent weeks, the dreaded clock survived a high speed meeting with my bedroom wall and kept on singing. Gradually I forced the rest of my body out of bed, though the apathy of my muscles saw me crumple into a heap on the floor.

My mind was hidden beneath a dense fog. I could barely think where I was, let alone why my alarm had been set. Slowly, as I sat quietly on the floor, the situation came back to me. In just a few short hours, I would be leading out a Nottingham Forest in my first competitive game. It was the last thing that I wanted, to be honest. At that very moment all I cared for was a long sleep followed by a lazy day, resting off the hangover that had inevitably come my way.

The previous night had been spent ensconced in a local bar, drinking far more than my weight in whisky and lager. I couldn't remember how, or why, I had ended up there. It seemed a nonsense thing to do on the eve of such an occasion in my life. Yet it was, depressingly, the exact kind of thing that I was prone to do. I pulled myself to my feet and scanned the room to see if I had brought anybody home with me. It appeared that I had not been successful in that endeavour, at least, so there was one less thing to worry about.

A long shower and a quick shave later, I was in my office trying desperately to focus on the task ahead. Come midday I had finally managed to pick a team, with Sissoko away at the Olympics with the Mali national side, it was a no brainer to pick Kris Commons on the left flank. Yeovil were the visitors to the City Ground on the opening day of the season, a game that but a few years ago would have looked a David vs Goliath cup encounter. In truth, it played little different as we dominated our supposed lesser opponents from first to last, scoring early on in both halves. The opener came through Scott Dobie, swapping positions with Neil Mellor, and heading the striker's cross past Chris Weale in the Yeovil goal. We could have been far further ahead before we did finally double our advantage, Neil Mellor turning from provider to scorer as he latched onto Friio's through ball and slid his shot under Weale. The game played out with Yeovil having only one shot on goal, and that flew yards over the bar.

The damage from the Yeovil game was limited to a slight shoulder injury, which would keep him out of the visit to Doncaster, though he would certainly be back in contention for the visit of Colchester. Two players were released before we took to the field again, Paul Evans being packed off to Scunthorpe without the need for a transfer fee, whilst Alan Rogers went in the same way to Championship side Queen's Park Rangers.

We made only two changes for our game at Doncaster, Southall and Nowland coming in for the tired Diarra and injured Friio. As the teams lined up for kick-off, I was taken aback by the home side's formation. Whilst we, as we had against Yeovil, lined up in a somewhat cautious 4-5-1, Doncaster began 4-2-4. There was no doubt that they were going to come after us from the off. For much of the game it worked, we were pinned back in our own half for the vast majority of the first period, creating only a solitary chance for Mellor which he fired straight at Andy Warrington. The first twenty minutes of the second half progressed no better than us, and come the hour mark I decided to make a triple substitution. Padula and Johnson came on for the ineffective Commons and Mellor, whilst James Beaumont, impressive in pre-season, made his club debut when on for Adam Nowland. And it was Beaumont who forced us in front. With eighteen minutes left, Dobie crossed into the area, and Beaumont's late arrival caused havoc, allowing him to calmly volley past Warrington. Doncaster seemed dispirited, and within five minutes we had a second when Beaumont's through ball was fired in by Johnson.

retired_ahmed_akamel

great stuff

retired_bbcarr

thanks, bertie

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

With two wins in the bag early on, there was a bit less pressure going into our home game against Colchester. Friio and Diarra returned to the starting midfield, and they were joined by James Beaumont (at the expense of Eugen Bopp) after his game winning performance at Belle Vue. Come half time, there was little between the teams in terms of possession and territory, and only Scott Dobie's 16th minute conversion of a David Friio square ball separated them on the scoresheet. I knew the first ten or fifteen minutes of the second half were going to be crucial, and told the players as much as they sat around the dressing room. What I was stunned to find, was that my chiding worked, and sixteen minutes after the restart, we had opened up a four goal gap. Gareth Taylor, starting in place of Neil Mellor, grabbed our second of the day when put through by Beaumont, and the young midfielder got on the scoresheet himself soon afterwards with a superb finish. Taylor provided the fourth with a pinpoint cross for Kris Commons to volley past Aidan Davison, and the win was rounded off in fantastic fashion eight minutes from time by substitute Mellor.

The win, though not against a side whom we expected to challenge at the top of the table, was a signal to the rest of the league that we meant business. The players were quickly beginning to convince me that they belonged at a higher level, a theory we'd have the chance to test when we faced Reading in the Carling Cup after a visit to face Port Vale in the league.


"Have you got two minutes to see Ian?"
"Yeah, sure, send him in." My chief scout had been away since my very early days at the club. I'd sent him on a two month mission to scour the British Isles for the best talent we could afford, but so far he'd had problems finding any real gems.

"Mr Storey-Moore, welcome."
"Cheers."
"You in town long?"
"Nah, off down to London tomorrow morning. Just though I'd stop by."
"How goes the search?"
"Better. Found a couple you might be interested in and one I reckon you should jump in for as soon as I leave the office."
"Excellent."
"Davidas Cesnauskis is a possibility at Hearts, but I don't really see him as a viable long term option. I don't think he's going to get any better than he already is. There's Chris Burke at Rangers, but he's going to cost you an arm and both your legs even if they are willing to part with him. Plus you're going to have to beat off interest from Everton."
"So moving on."
"Yeah. Liam Fox."
"Who?"
"Plays for Inverness. Can play on the right or through the centre. Bit rough at the moment, definitely needs some work but I reckon he could go straight into a first team at this level, and he's certainly got the potential to get a lot better."
"Price range?"
"Couple hundred thousand ought to do it, I would think."
"Fantastic. You want a drink?"


I'd sent Ian on the lookout for another right-sided midifelder. Whilst I was very happy with Scott Dobie's performances, he couldn't play every game and I was eager to keep Eugen Bopp available to play through the centre as often as possible. FOx sounded like just what I was looking for, so I got the chairman to fax through an offer of £150,000 to the SPL side whilst I went off to prepare the boys for our next match.

Port Vale were a team that, to be perfectly honest, I knew little about. Further than that they seemed continually stuck in the lower echelons of the English game, they were an entire mystery to me. Naturally, I was somewhat weary, though I needn't have been as Bopp had us a goal in front inside sixty seconds, heading home Commons' cross. The home side lost right back Steve Rowland to injury before the tenth minute had passed, and before the twentieth had arrived, Bopp had doubled both his and our tally, this time racing onto Beaumont's through ball and firing past Jonathan Brain. We had to wait until the second half to find ourselves any further in front, substitute David Friio, on for Dobie just moments earlier, getting on the end of another Commons cross to fire in our third. Vale got a consolation two minutes into injury time, though it did little to take the shine off our win as we confirmed our position at the top of the table.

The news got even better for us a few dyas later as, after Caley Thistle had accepted our offer for Fox, the 20 year old midfielder quickly agreed terms on his move and completed in time to feature on the bench against Reading. On a few messageboards, some fans expressed an unease at Fox's signing, apparantly he came with a reputation of causing a bit of unrest. I, however, was more than confident that he'd fit well into what we were trying to do.

retired_milsva

Excellent reading :thup:

retired_bbcarr

thanks for the kinds words, banditsfan

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

My natural instinct was to treat the Carling Cup with contempt, to field a weakened side despite our lowly position in the league structure. The temptation, however, to try and prove a point against Championship side Reading was too great. With the only changes from the side who had beaten Port Vale seeing Gino Padula come in for Warnock and Adam Nowland replace Beaumont, we went onto the City Ground turf with every intention of winning the game. Throughout the ninety minutes, we had been the better side. We created three chances for every one that Reading mustered. However, we had shown all the killer instinct of Buddhist monk and extra time was upon us. During the second half, Nicky Eaden had come on the replace Lassana Diarra after the Frenchman had taken a slight knock, but was to find himself well and truly in my bad books when he was given his marching orders in the 103rd minute after a second deserved yellow card. With us down to ten men, the smart money would most certainly have gone on Reading stealing a win during the second extra time period, however they could no more force a clear chance than when we had all eleven on the pitch. Indeed, as the seconds ran down towards a penalty shoot-out, the 120 minutes up and only brief injury time remaining, Adam Nowland laid a ball between the two Reading centre backs and Neil Mellor got onto it first, lobbing Graham Stack from the edge of the area, putting us through into the second round of the tournament.

Eaden's red card meant that he would be suspended for our next game, a trip over the border to face Swansea. More worrying, however, was the news that both Diarra and Commons would also miss the game. Both had been forced off during the Reading game, replaced by Eaden and Warnock respectively, and both had been playing surperbly well in the initial stages of our league campaign.

The squad was strengthened though, by the arrival of Moroccan international winger Yacine Abdessadki. He had fallen somewhat out of favour at French side Toulousse, and despite not being the most talented individual ever to grace a football field, at the level we were playing he looked more than capable of doing a job. Especially given the price tag of only £325,000.

With few changes again made for the Swansea game, only Holt and Sissoko deputising for the injured pair of Diarra and Commons and Beaumont in for the tired Nowland, Abdessadki took his place amongst the substitutes and settled himself down to watch with the promise that he'd get some action in the second half. What he saw, however, was another example of just how special a talent young Beaumont appeared to be. In the eighth minute of the match, he laid a perfect through ball between the Swansea defence, Sissoko timing his run expertly to find himself on the end of the pass and able to fire his shot past the onrushing Willy Guéret. Sixteen minutes later, the same combination, a sublime Beaumont pass unleashing Sissoko to score, worked again to put us two in front, and despite Andrew Gurney's penalty after Warnock's handball halving the gap, we never looked in the slightest danger of not coming away from the game with all three points. Neil Mellor restored our two goal lead before the break, and twenty minutes from the end he nodded in Abdessadki's cross to complete the win.


"Hi, Nigel."
"Morning."
"Anything wrong?"
"Far from it."
"Then please, come in." My chairman had stuck his head round my door with a worryingly sullen look on his face. I hated to think what could have had him in a bad mood considering the start to the season we'd had, but you never know with men such as he.

"I've just had a fax from the FA."
"Not usually good when those meddling bastards get involved with something."
"I think you'll be pleasantly surprised this time." He slid a single sheet of paper across my desk, his face now unable to hide a manic grin. A quick glance at the sheet said it was the results of the monthly awards for League One, something I'd certainly had in the back of my mind given our start to the season. I had not, however, expected to sweep three of the four awards, the only one missing our name being the goal of the month competition.

My manager of the month award was sweet, and seeing Kris Commons pick up the young player crown for August was pleasing. But nothing competed with watching James Beaumont being handed his player of the month trophy and being interviewed by a rather enthusiastic Chris Kamara. Our nineteen year old midfielder had ended the month with two goals and five assists in just four appearences, if the rest of his Forest career were to play out the same then he'd be something of a legend in a few short years.

retired_bbcarr

August 2004 Summary

(League One unless otherwise stated)


Nottingham Forest 2 - 0 Yeovil
(Dobie 7"; Mellor 47")

Doncaster 0 - 2 Nottingham Forest
(Beaumont 72"; Johnson 77")

Nottingham Forest 5 - 0 Colchester
(Dobie 16"; Taylor 52"; Beaumont 58"; Commons 61"; Mellor 82")

Port Vale 1 - 3 Nottingham Forest
(Bopp 1", 19"; Friio 59"; Burchall 90+2")

Nottingham Forest 1 - 0 Reading (a.e.t) (Carling Cup 1st Round)
(Mellor 120")
Nick Eaden sent off - 103 minutes (2nd yellow card)

Swansea 1 - 4 Nottingham Forest
(Sissoko 8", 24"; Gurney pen 27"; Mellor 31", 71")



Awards

Player of Month: James Beaumont
Young Player of Month: Kris Commons
Manager of Month: Stephen Beckett

retired_brinker317

This is excellent. I can just visualise Chris Kamara getting very excited about Beaumont's record so far this season as well

retired_bbcarr

cheers, d_s football league coverage just wouldn't be as good without kamara

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

Beaumont had picked up a slight knock in the game against Swansea, Lee Trundle had trodden on his heel as they contested a ball, but with a two week break before we saw action again, there was plenty of time for the youngster to recover his full fitness. One player who wouldn't make the game against Huddersfield, however, was defender Clint Hill, who twisted a knee in training and would miss over a week of training before he could be considered for selection again.

---

I permitted myself one day a month to go through the box. The box that contained everything I missed about her. It usually had me hitting the bottle quicker than anything else, and generally lead to one stupid act or another, but I couldn't help go over and over what had happened. I've got no one but myself to blame, if I'm truthful. It's not difficult to see that my behavious made me someone impossible to live with, but that thought can't remove the cold, knife-like pain that drove through my heart.

I've always enjoyed a drink. From my earliest teenage days I can remember getting trollied, I'm sure most of us can. But for a long while it never progressed to anything more than that. I'd go for a night out with my teammates every once in a while, I was never bound by the hugely professional rigours of a big club, my playing career never took me higher than the second division, but I was far from even coming close to having a problem.

That all changed after my injury. The club had been fantastic. Once I'd gone through my operations and was out of the cast and off the crutches, they offered to help put me through my coaching course, and said should I pass there was a job with the youth team waiting for me. That side of things all went smoothly, I got my qualifications with ease and it soon became apparant that I had a talent on the coaching element of the game. But away from the club things were much different. I managed to keep it a secret from everyone but Rachel. It's hard to hide your alcoholism from someone you share a bed with.

And it's not like she didn't warn me. I remember at least three ultimatums to stop the drinking or she'd walk out, but once she doesn't the first time then you kind of fall into an expectation that it's always an empty threat. Not so. Despite having been together for four years, married for two of them, a year and a half after I'd been retired out of the game, I watched her walk down the garden path, throw her last suitcase into the Transit van and drive off into the distance.

I let myself think about her once a month. Any more and I think I'd go crazy.

retired_bella1986

makes for unbeliveable reading, top class, well done :thup:

retired_bbcarr

thanks, Maxy Boy

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

The LDV Vans Trophy Southern Section 1st Round draw (bit of a mouthful) gave us a home tie against Peterborough, but of more immediate concern was our home league encounter against Huddersfield. For much of the first half, we battered on the visitors' goal, forcing Paul Rachubka into more than one stunning save. Gino Padula was one of the main exponents of our good play, linking up well with Sissoko down the left, but the Argentinian was forced off at the break with a slight ankle knock. We didn't hang about long in the second half though, Sissoko making a great run into the box, only to be brought down by James O'Connor. The referee pointed immediately to the penalty spot, and Mellor swept home the kick, putting us a deserved goal in front. We continued to plug away, looking for the second that would kill the match, and it only came fifteen mintues before the end, when the superb Rachubka pulled off an almighty blunder, palming Scott Dobie's cross into his own net. Abdessadki set Beaumont up for a third before the final whistle, and our superb start to the season continued.

The following day, a interview appeared in the Notthingham Evening Post. The subject of said piece was our Jamaican striker, David Johnson, and the thrust of it was that he was extremely unhappy at the lack of first team action he was seeing. Not only did I disagree with his statement that, due to my inexperience at the level, I couldn't spot a good player if I saw one, I was furious at him for airing his views in the press rather than coming to see me. I was determined that he would spend a long, long time getting cold in the stands.

That, however, was thrown out of the window for the very next game. A collision in training between Neil Mellor and Gareth Taylor left both with minor knee injuries, and though Taylor would need only a day or two's rest, Mellor would be out for the better part of two weeks. What it meant in the immediate sense though, was that my only fit first team striker, was the moaning David Johnson.

I was certain that it was the forced of fate which had conspired to get Johnson a start in our game against 12th placed Oldham at the City Ground, I just hoped that the same forces had it in mind to make him score as well. The game started poorly for us, Liam Fox hobbling off after just two minutes of his first start with a badly bruised toe, replaced by the impressive young German, Eugen Bopp. The balance of the team didn't seem right though, Bopp was far more comfortable playing in the centre than on the wing, but needs must at times. Indeed, it was the German, settling more into his wide role in the second half, who laid on the opening goal for us, and it was just my luck that the man on the end of the chance, who stuck it calmly underneath Chris Day, was David Johnson. We had more than enough chances to have killed off the game before injury time happened upon us, and we were made to pay two minutes past the ninety when John Curtis lost track of Guy Branston at an Oldham corner and he powered a header past Pedersen to snatch a point.

Fox, Dobie and Mellor were all missing for our return to Carling Cup action against another Championship side. This time it was Luton who came calling, and Mohamed Sissoko who sent them packing. The Mali international, again playing out on the left wing in place of Kris Commons, whose inability to play two successive games was becoming a bit of a worry, and supplied us with chance after chance after chance, and it reflected rather poorly on our finishing that we only managed to take three of them. The first came through Yacine Abdessadki, powering home a drive from the edge of the area after Sissoko had crafted space. The next two came from the boot of Momo himself, first whipping a free kick into the top corner of the net and then charging forward from the halfway line, leaving four players trailing in his wake and hitting a monstrous shot from the edge of the penalty area which was past Marlon Beresford before he had the chance to move. If ever a game proved that we belonged in the Championship, this was it.