The Play-Offs 2020

[AdebolaCornflakes]

It will be about bottle. Who has the most

Going into a playoff game 0-1 down is a huge pressure. Some teams thrive on it, some wilt.

But going into a playoff game 1-0 up is a huge pressure as well. A lot of people forget that against Blackpool, we ended the first leg 2-1 down and then equalised at the city ground. The atmosphere was absolutely rocking

And that's where the wheels fell off. In fact, in three of our four (and it only being four will piss me off forever) playoff years the whole thing fell apart when we had a clear advantage.

So can Swansea handle the pressure of being in front? Of course they can, because they are not a pathetic bottling club like Forest whose owners can't even he arsed to put anything out to fans a week after a shocking disaster, other than a pathetic "teaser" to sell shirts

Surely most Forest fans aren't so needy that they are desperate for a generic club statement to appease them? I know it was a calamitous end to the season but come on, no one died.

It is a reasonable assumption that the club's owners are very aware of the way in which the team capitulated and they will assessing what went wrong and how best to move forward - I don't think a few sentences on the club website are needed to confirm that.

The owners have made some poor decisions since buying the club but I don't think they've shown anything to suggest that they aren't professional and won't be taking our end to the season seriously.

On the flip side, we have experienced Fawaz who was utterly clueless and would have banged a statement on the website and sent out tweets 5 minutes after the final whistle which meant bugger all.

 

[Pope John XXIII]

Surely most Forest fans aren't so needy that they are desperate for a generic club statement to appease them? I know it was a calamitous end to the season but come on, no one died.

It is a reasonable assumption that the club's owners are very aware of the way in which the team capitulated and they will assessing what went wrong and how best to move forward - I don't think a few sentences on the club website are needed to confirm that.

The owners have made some poor decisions since buying the club but I don't think they've shown anything to suggest that they aren't professional and won't be taking our end to the season seriously.

On the flip side, we have experienced Fawaz who was utterly clueless and would have banged a statement on the website and sent out tweets 5 minutes after the final whistle which meant bugger all.

Fawaz wasn't clueless because he would have banged a statement out after 5 minutes, and these guys aren't experts because they show what feels to be neglect of their customers.

That was an historic capitulation and failure, even by our standards. It comes from an endemic lack of leadership on the pitch and they have demonstrated that same lack of leadership off it to the fans.

They've had our money for next year, with absolutely zero promises we will get what we actually paid our £400 for. That is after a quite shocking lack of communication throughout the COVID crisis.

Communication with customers and stakeholders isnt all about waiting until you have something to say. Sometimes it is telling people that there is actually nothing new to say, but you will tell them when there is. It is acknowledging that you are thinking of them and they remain a priority for you.

Even a reaffirming of their commitment would have been useful.

As a customer and a fan, I needed to hear a rallying cry from someone in charge after that debacle; not be left with a manager in tears and articles in the post about the players going on holiday

 

[AdebolaCornflakes]

Fawaz wasn't clueless because he would have banged a statement out after 5 minutes, and these guys aren't experts because they show what feels to be neglect of their customers.

That was an historic capitulation and failure, even by our standards. It comes from an endemic lack of leadership on the pitch and they have demonstrated that same lack of leadership off it to the fans.

They've had our money for next year, with absolutely zero promises we will get what we actually paid our £400 for. That is after a quite shocking lack of communication throughout the COVID crisis.

Communication with customers and stakeholders isnt all about waiting until you have something to say. Sometimes it is telling people that there is actually nothing new to say, but you will tell them when there is. It is acknowledging that you are thinking of them and they remain a priority for you.

Even a reaffirming of their commitment would have been useful.

As a customer and a fan, I needed to hear a rallying cry from someone in charge after that debacle; not be left with a manager in tears and articles in the post about the players going on holiday

I agree that the level of communication throughout Covid was poor, but that's a different issue to communication about our calamitous end to the season.

I also never said the current owners are "experts", just that they have not really shown evidence of unprofessionalism since buying the club which would suggest they aren't taking our end to the season seriously.

It may be something which would have made you feel better Pope, but I'd be amazed if most fans felt the same and there was some huge demand among the supporter base for a bland, generic statement. If they did put a statement out, I'd imagine most would read it, think 'meh' and it would make no difference.

If you just wanted something that shows the club are thinking of supporters then they put a tweet out a few days ago saying thank you for all your support this season. What more actually needs to be said right now?

 

[mao tse tung]

Fawaz wasn't clueless because he would have banged a statement out after 5 minutes, and these guys aren't experts because they show what feels to be neglect of their customers.

That was an historic capitulation and failure, even by our standards. It comes from an endemic lack of leadership on the pitch and they have demonstrated that same lack of leadership off it to the fans.

They've had our money for next year, with absolutely zero promises we will get what we actually paid our £400 for. That is after a quite shocking lack of communication throughout the COVID crisis.

Communication with customers and stakeholders isnt all about waiting until you have something to say. Sometimes it is telling people that there is actually nothing new to say, but you will tell them when there is. It is acknowledging that you are thinking of them and they remain a priority for you.

Even a reaffirming of their commitment would have been useful.

As a customer and a fan, I needed to hear a rallying cry from someone in charge after that debacle; not be left with a manager in tears and articles in the post about the players going on holiday

I think that, on the whole, that is fair comment; a few words, even if they amounted to nothing more than "we are going to take a brief spell to reflect on what has happened" would have been welcome, and there is no excuse for not being able to communicate with there now being so many formats to convey a message.

I do not think there would have been much more that they could have added; Lamouchi's emotional post match interview just about said everything that needed saying

I'm not sure Fawaz is a good example though; he would have been straight out on Twitter, probably before the final whistle had been blown; there is no doubt of that.

But look at his over all record; I think most people would have preferred silence to the guff about third stars, iconic managers and more money than sand.

I think it is now clear that we are not going to get a running commentary from the Board or the Owner; personally, that does not bother me; as far as they are concerned I am more interested in what they do rather than what they say.

 

[Polly 433]

I feel you are asking for a statement on what we all already know. If and when it comes it, many on here will then argue they are treating us like children. The info we W ant to hear, such as finances and where they want to be strengthening they don’t want to put in a statement because it weakens their negotiating hand. The ground is the the area Requiring clarification but is likely to be on hold whilst covid and cash flow is clarified.

 

[Pope John XXIII]

I feel you are asking for a statement on what we all already know. If and when it comes it, many on here will then argue they are treating us like children. The info we W ant to hear, such as finances and where they want to be strengthening they don’t want to put in a statement because it weakens their negotiating hand. The ground is the the area Requiring clarification but is likely to be on hold whilst covid and cash flow is clarified.

No Polly, I just want to see that the people who run the club and control it's money care about what happened last week as much as I do and as much as the manager did

That is what I think I really wanted to see

 

[Old Red Fart]

It's not something that bothers me greatly but if I was the average fan I think that a word of commiseration from our owner would have helped lower the tension a bit. Something along the lines of "Sorry it didn't work out this time but we'll be doing our best next time to improve things, we've learned a lot this season and hopefully will be able to put it into practice next time round".
Or something similar, you don't have to be a Rhodes scholar.

 

[AdebolaCornflakes]

It's not something that bothers me greatly but if I was the average fan I think that a word of commiseration from our owner would have helped lower the tension a bit. Something along the lines of "Sorry it didn't work out this time but we'll be doing our best next time to improve things, we've learned a lot this season and hopefully will be able to put it into practice next time round".
Or something similar, you don't have to be a Rhodes scholar.

I agree ORF that such a statement would not do any harm, but those words on their own are empty and meaningless.

As Mao says in his final paragraph above, I would rather judge the owners by their actions rather than their words. We've had enough bullshit communications from the club in the past - not just from Fawaz, but even earlier we had things like 'We're serious about promotion, are you?' - that I find myself disinterested in any statements which aren't meaningful or showing decisive action.

 

[Old Red Fart]

I agree ORF that such a statement would not do any harm, but those words on their own are empty and meaningless.

As Mao says in his final paragraph above, I would rather judge the owners by their actions rather than their words. We've had enough bullshit communications from the club in the past - not just from Fawaz, but even earlier we had things like 'We're serious about promotion, are you?' - that I find myself disinterested in any statements which aren't meaningful or showing decisive action.

I understand and agree but I think that most of us on this forum are perhaps keener than the average fan and not easily placated, well I'm not for one and it's obvious that you're not either. But I've known quite a few fans in the past that think differently and believe that it's their divine right to hear from the owner in times of stress.
At the moment I'm only interested in who's signing and who's going and SLs future.

 

[Calvin Plummer]

I agree ORF that such a statement would not do any harm, but those words on their own are empty and meaningless.

As Mao says in his final paragraph above, I would rather judge the owners by their actions rather than their words. We've had enough bullshit communications from the club in the past - not just from Fawaz, but even earlier we had things like 'We're serious about promotion, are you?' - that I find myself disinterested in any statements which aren't meaningful or showing decisive action.

Communication is an action, so to is a refusal to address the disappointment of the fans.

 

[AdebolaCornflakes]

Communication is an action, so to is a refusal to address the disappointment of the fans.

Yes, but a communication along the lines of those suggested is not decisive action which is all I'm interested in.

We're all grown up enough to be able to get over the disappointment without needing a couple of generic paragraphs on the club website which would actually change or improve nothing.

 

[Calvin Plummer]

Yes, but a communication along the lines of those suggested is not decisive action which is all I'm interested in.

We're all grown up enough to be able to get over the disappointment without needing a couple of generic paragraphs on the club website which would actually change or improve nothing.

It's about building a relationship with customers who feel burned, not just by last season but the last 15+ years. Among those customers are corporate organisations who we particularly struggle to attract. There's a reason why clubs that are more engaged such as in Germany generate far more revenue through alternate streams than matchday and TV.

 

[AdebolaCornflakes]

It's about building a relationship with customers who feel burned, not just by last season but the last 15+ years. Among those customers are corporate organisations who we particularly struggle to attract. There's a reason why clubs that are more engaged such as in Germany generate far more revenue through alternate streams than matchday and TV.

I think things like initially freezing season ticket prices, paying local suppliers who were owed from the previous regime, getting former players back on board, putting plans in place for the ground redevelopment etc. will all be much more effective in building relationships than a few empty sentences about how the owners understand our disappointment.

That said, I agree with Pope's earlier point that communications during lockdown and what it mean for fans were lacking.

 

[LynxRed]

How the hell did Brentford get that red card rescinded? I thought it needed to be a really clear mistake, and that tackle still looks worthy of a red.

 

[Southern red]

i see ayew got away with yet another stop/start penalty in the first leg...surely the refs have to stop it

saved it anyway, but the one against us was ridiculous

 

[Calvin Plummer]

I think things like initially freezing season ticket prices, paying local suppliers who were owed from the previous regime, getting former players back on board, putting plans in place for the ground redevelopment etc. will all be much more effective in building relationships than a few empty sentences about how the owners understand our disappointment.

That said, I agree with Pope's earlier point that communications during lockdown and what it mean for fans were lacking.

Why does it have to be either or?

 

[AdebolaCornflakes]

Why does it have to be either or?

I didn't say it does have to be either or.

I'm saying that in my opinion, a generic and empty club statement about how sorry they are is not necessary. It wouldn't do harm, but it wouldn't exactly make anyone feel better about how the season ended. For me it would be a trivial exercise.

It's guesswork because I haven't done a survey of our supporters, but I just can't imagine there is a majority out there who are needy enough to demand a statement or apology, nor who will decide not to renew season tickets because of it.

 

[Pope John XXIII]

Yes, but a communication along the lines of those suggested is not decisive action which is all I'm interested in.

We're all grown up enough to be able to get over the disappointment without needing a couple of generic paragraphs on the club website which would actually change or improve nothing.

We need to talk about last night.

I want to echo Sabri Lamouchi's emotional words last night when he said how sorry he was at how our season turned out. I want to assure you that everyone at the club felt just as emotional about the outcome of the Stoke game as Sabri did. We are all hurting badly and I want to recognise that you are too.

In a lot of ways this was an excellent season. Having only linked with Sabri Lamouchi part way through the summer transfer window, the performance of the team for most of this season has far exceeded most sensible expectations. Last summer our strategy was to continue to improve the squad while trimming players that were not crucial and maintaining a firm financial footing. To spend the whole season competing for promotion was one of our stretch targets for the season and we have been proud of the team.

So what went wrong? That is something I assure you we will be spending time reflecting on in the coming days. We will meet with the manager and senior players to identify why our form collapsed post lockdown; to identify areas of strength that we can keep strong, and areas or weakness and how they can be improved.

I want to assure supporters that the collapse of recent weeks is simply not good enough and never will be. While we will not seek to play a blame game, it is not what we want for Nottingham Forest and it is not what our fans deserve after so many years of disappointment. I want to underline our resolve to do everything in our power to ensure that what you saw last night will never happen again; that snatching defeat from the jaws of victory will be part of our club's past and not it's future.

We will discuss budgets with the manager in the coming days and identify targets to move us to the next stage. I assure fans that the financial future is not and never will be dependent on promotion to the premier League and we have always had plans based on both promotion and remaining in this division. I also want to assure supporters that we will make deals that are right for the club, and as in previous seasons, players will only leave if we think the deal is in the best interests of the squad. Likewise, our plans for the new main stand remain unchanged by events and we will put a more detailed statement about the progress we have made during the COVID lockdown with this in due course.

We are all feeling a range of emotions. But we will learn from this and together grow stronger from the experience. Promotion to the Premier League remains our prime objective and one we are dedicated to achieving. Our time will come.

There you go, took me ten minutes. The club can have that one for free.

 

[AdebolaCornflakes]

We need to talk about last night.

I want to echo Sabri Lamouchi's emotional words last night when he said how sorry he was at how our season turned out. I want to assure you that everyone at the club felt just as emotional about the outcome of the Stoke game as Sabri did. We are all hurting badly and I want to recognise that you are too.

In a lot of ways this was an excellent season. Having only linked with Sabri Lamouchi part way through the summer transfer window, the performance of the team for most of this season has far exceeded most sensible expectations. Last summer our strategy was to continue to improve the squad while trimming players that were not crucial and maintaining a firm financial footing. To spend the whole season competing for promotion was one of our stretch targets for the season and we have been proud of the team.

So what went wrong? That is something I assure you we will be spending time reflecting on in the coming days. We will meet with the manager and senior players to identify why our form collapsed post lockdown; to identify areas of strength that we can keep strong, and areas or weakness and how they can be improved.

I want to assure supporters that the collapse of recent weeks is simply not good enough and never will be. While we will not seek to play a blame game, it is not what we want for Nottingham Forest and it is not what our fans deserve after so many years of disappointment. I want to underline our resolve to do everything in our power to ensure that what you saw last night will never happen again; that snatching defeat from the jaws of victory will be part of our club's past and not it's future.

We will discuss budgets with the manager in the coming days and identify targets to move us to the next stage. I assure fans that the financial future is not and never will be dependent on promotion to the premier League and we have always had plans based on both promotion and remaining in this division. I also want to assure supporters that we will make deals that are right for the club, and as in previous seasons, players will only leave if we think the deal is in the best interests of the squad. Likewise, our plans for the new main stand remain unchanged by events and we will put a more detailed statement about the progress we have made during the COVID lockdown with this in due course.

We are all feeling a range of emotions. But we will learn from this and together grow stronger from the experience. Promotion to the Premier League remains our prime objective and one we are dedicated to achieving. Our time will come.

There you go, took me ten minutes. The club can have that one for free.

All nicely worded Pope, but again that is all stuff that fans can reasonably assume the club are doing anyway as a matter of course. A statement isn't needed to confirm that the club are looking at what went wrong and how to improve next season; pretty much every club in the league will be doing that.

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on what we expect from the club in the immediate aftermath of last week

 

[Mappred]

Soz. We’ll try again next season.

Took me ten seconds. Pretty much what you said Pope. We’re all still pissed off while the playoffs are still going on, but we’ll get over it. Nothing a few words can change about that, IMO.