Interesting article in yesterdays NEP:
https://www.nottinghampost.com/spor...lly-davies-nottingham-forest-playoffs-3289929
Billy Davies may have been the last manager to take
Nottingham Forest close to the Premier League - but he also cost them promotion, according to one particular tale.
Davies had
his first spell in charge at the City Ground from 2009 to 2011, twice leading the Reds into the play-offs in that time.
In his first full season at the helm Forest finished third in the Championship, but missed out on the play-off final as they lost to Blackpool in the semis.
Former forward Gary Taylor-Fletcher featured against Forest in both legs of the semi-final that term, and says Davies provided the “ammunition” for the Tangerines to go on and claim victory.
“I remember in the play-offs we had Nottingham Forest, and about three games before the end of the season we played
Nottingham Forest at home,” he told the Official EFL Podcast.
“There was a big uproar because Billy Davies changed 11 players for his team and was resting all his main players against us.
“We beat them 3-1 and I remember after the game we were coming in and he was stood in the tunnel rubbing his hands. He was like, ‘job done for me’.
“We were like, ‘oh, shut up, Billy’.
“He said, ‘ah, I’ve done this so we get you in the play-offs; if we get you lot in the play-off semi-final, we’re guaranteed in the final!’.
“We were like, ‘you’re honestly saying that now?’.
“We obviously got them in the play-offs and we didn’t have to do a team-talk because we remembered that.
“We had them at home in the first leg and beat them 2-1. Again, I don’t know what he was thinking but he was stood in the tunnel, shaking our hands, saying, ‘job done, you’re not scoring at our place, we’re going to turn you over’.
“I remember some of his own players were looking at him, thinking, ‘what are you doing?’. Some of his own players!
“I remember Wes Morgan telling me when I was playing at Leicester, he said that Billy was c * n t and he lost them that game, because he gave us the ammunition to go and absolutely destroy them.
“The second game, all we had over the wall was pictures of Billy Davies and all of the quotes he’d said!
“We went out and absolutely destroyed them.
“We beat them 4-3 at their place. After the game he was just there and we all waited in the tunnel and he came in, and we were all rubbing our hands saying, ‘job done, Billy! Cheers mate, see you later!’.”
Forest reached the play-offs again the following campaign, but lost out to Swansea City in 2010/11.
They were on course to finish in the top six this term, that was until the final 20 minutes of a dramatic final day once again saw Swansea get the better of the Reds before they were beaten in the semi-final by Brentford.