Old Red Fart - 22/9/2017 13:16
redshep - 22/9/2017 12:02
That's precisely where management is key southern, I think. It needs strategy and a medium to long term vision. That comes with collaborative and dynamic efforts on all fronts. On the face of it we at least seem to have the basis of this at long last or just as importantly the intent.
Agreed and not before time either.
This is good news for once and I still think that M W is part of the action, longer term than we've been used to and long overdue.
Looks like a bit of decent business acumen is here at last.
I'm all in favour.
Agreed with both posts above.
Vision. A consistent one from top to bottom.
Leadership starts at the top.
It would be nice to have a manager in place for two successive seasons, 3 would be ideal.
In this case, Mark Warburton. He has has taken unfashionable Brentford forwards and Rangers as well. Playing principled football with a vision of how it should be played from Academy onwards. Better to have that than 'lump it', 'boot it' when things get hard. Keep trying to play it the right way.
I admire his ethos. This 'plan b' is nonsense. Players change football matches. And Warburton uses his subs like any other manager. Forest have got what they've got for now. They wanted a an experienced keeper and a 'no nonsense' CH...and...a CM with energy and drive. But they didn't come off for various reasons. Credit to the leadership who are not prepared to mortgage the club's future and try to do things in the right way.
Mark wants a 24 man tight squad. To thoroughly rinse and bleach the Forest squad of the 'rinse and repeat' sack a manager patchwork squad building of successive 'sack, boom and bust' approach to club building...Forest's new leadership need to show patience, hold their nerve and actually think longer term than the previous owner's 'right now' knee jerk inconsistency. Perhaps you need the 'right man' for that patience approach. Mark has the pedigree for this level at least.
It will take 2 to 3 transfer windows (another year or two) to 'thoroughly rinse' the squad of high wage earners, bring more academy products through and even at 8 players per window it would take at least two more transfer windows to make the 'Squad' of 24 totally his whilst augmented by youth. It will take another year or so to bring through another handful of Academy product.
He's currently depending on academy product in key positions because they're 'good enough' and this is the season to blood them. Forest aren't in a position to buy five more players or go chasing 5 more players at any cost. Homegrown, it's what many Forest fans would want...but with that comes patience, mistakes, hit and miss, up and down, wins and losses and the learning curve and it's fantastic to have a Worrall, Smith, Cash, Os' and Bre' in the 1st team...with the promise of more Academy products on the horizon. When they bed in? It will be far better than foreign mercenaries on triple their wages who walk away and don't give a damn.
This isn't a one season job. Forest aren't going to go from relegation contenders to automatic promotion. If they flirt with the play offs...then they've over performed. If they get the right players in January. It's a possibility.
But if it's mid-table? So be it. I'm happier with that for 'Stage 1' of Project Forest than relegation.
It's better than 'Life support.' At least the patient is 'awake' and alive this season. In the 'right now' culture, we'd do well to remember the keeper who kept Forest in the division last season. I'd say he's owed a bit of time to serve his apprenticeship. At least until Forest get a more experienced keeper in who can help him along. And Forest may well get other players in January and next Summer who will afford the youth more time to learn.
The wage heavy, old-age heavy, heavy legged Forest squad will be gradually erased over the next two transfer windows to something more energetic and dynamic.
SA.
