Field Notes

• Fred Reacher, a long-time board member and Forest chairman during the tumultuous final few years of Brian Clough’s reign, passed away at the weekend aged 81. Reacher was a character from a lost era in football – when he, Clough and other club figures were accused of corruption of transfer dealings, his laconic response of “prove it” went down in Forest folklore. The club was later cleared on some charges and others were dropped. Reacher is better remembered for helping bring Clough to the club in the first place and his loyalty to the manager during times of boardroom strife, although it was Reacher who accidentally announced Clough’s retirement at a press conference. He remained chairman through Frank Clark’s tenure until the 1997 takeover of the club.

  

• Forest’s defeat to Blackpool on Saturday left the club’s management with some clear and honest reflection to do after yet another new formation failed to deliver. One observer even suggests that the players are too good for the manager and Billy Davies is “holding them back”, while another simply blames it on the boots. Clearly Forest’s loss of form is prompting more and more bizarre reactions the longer it goes on.
• Good luck to former Forest duo Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane who are taking over the Irish national team on a two-year deal. We’re sure all Forest fans would like to see them do well and our large Irish supporter base are no doubt delighted. You can read more about O’Neill’s international career to date on LTLF.
• Less goodwill is afforded round these parts to another Irishman from Forest’s history, Joe Kinnear, so we were amused to see he’s been up to his old tricks again – this time trying to sign a player who was already on the books at Newcastle. To any Geordies reading this, we may laugh, but deep down we feel your pain – don’t forget we suffered under him for the “two years” he claims to have been our manager. It felt like two years for us, Joe, but it was actually only 10 months.