- Typical. We go down to Millwall and it’s the manager who ends up in a fight. While the players were looking disjointed and tactically inert during the 2-2 draw, Billy Davies found time to have a sideline barney with a photographer. Freelance Dan Westwell posted on his Facebook account that the Forest boss has accosted him, demanding to know where he was from and then sending substitutes to block his view of the dug out.
Billy brushed the incident off in the post match press conference, but it inevitably led to more negative headlines the following day. Photos of the incident suggest Westwell’s claim the ‘Millwall fans were going mad’ was a bit of an exaggeration. LTLF also notes that this isn’t the first time Westwell has fallen foul of club officials, having been ejected from Mansfield Town after snapping a controversial banner and then giving the finger to the directors’ box as he was led away. He subsequently became an ironic poster boy for Notts County fans who set up a Facebook campaign for him.
It seems unlikely that Billy was aware of this last night, but even if he was, he has no right to demand an accredited photographer tell him anything, nor to prevent him from going about his business. Nevertheless, the club have now issued a statement accusing Westwell of unprofessional conduct, so County fans might be resurrecting that Facebook page again. Meanwhile, it’s Billy’s conduct Forest fans are becoming increasingly concerned about…
- In potentially more serious news, the club have confirmed reports that loanee Nathaniel Chalobah thinks he might have been racially abused by home supporters. Looks like the fall-out from this match is going to be even uglier than the Forest performance.
Update: Millwall have responded with their own statement, saying that no complaint was made to the police at the time of the alleged incident meaning the chances of proving any wrongdoing are slim.
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Dispatches from the front line of following Forest...
- LTLF is saddened to learn that Kev Finnegan, long-time steward of the Vital Forest website, died at the weekend. Mr Finnegan was one of the online Forest community’s strongest voices and was never shy of criticising the way the club was being run. Not everyone agreed with him and his methods, but difference of opinion is an important part of following a football club – Vital Forest and several internet forums will be poorer places for his absence. We offer our condolences to his family.
- Forest take on Millwall tonight, hoping to bounce back from another damaging home defeat at the hands of Reading on Friday. The Lions are currently just outside the relegation zone, which wasn’t in the plan when Steve Lomas took over from Kenny Jackett in the summer, leading some fans to ask whether there is something wrong behind the scenes. Millwall, like Forest, are looking to bounce back after defeat at the weekend, losing 3-0 to Leicester City.
- In yet another ironic twist, Bristol City have appointed Steve Cotterill as their manager, replacing the man who took his job at Forest, Sean O’Driscoll. O’Driscoll’s dismissal last week was not altogether surprising given their results since he took over in January, but it has alienated some fans, much as it did when he was sacked from Forest. We wonder if Bristol fans will soon come to have similar feelings about Cotterill as well.
- It’s déjà vu as Chris Cohen is ruled out for the remainder of the season with the injury that forced him to limp off during the closing stages of Saturday’s match. Apparently it’s not related to the injury that kept him out of most of the 2011/12 campaign, but sadly it seems Cohen is destined to be one of those players whose great talent is always stiffled by injury. Naturally we wish Chris the swiftest of recoveries.
- Cohen’s injury will only add to the sense of injustice from the draw with Burnley – Forest played some of their best football and came up against a defensive Burnley side, but ultimately most of us left the ground – like punters at the Froch-Groves fight – feeling somewhat cheated. Some will blame the referee, others will once again say Forest wasted their chances, but either way Forest deserved more than they got out of that game. The good news is that our difficult November is nearly over and we’re still in the play-off zone. The fixtures only get easier now, but with our increasing injury list even matches against struggling Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham City will be tough tests for the squad.
- Forest’s win over Leicester City last Saturday has certainly raised spirits among the Forest faithful as predicted on these pages, with one reporter suggesting that repeating the same battling performance throughout the season could lead to automatic promotion. Leicester fans might be sick as a parrot after losing at home for the first time this season, but one Foxes site described the Forest goals as ‘sucker punches’ while another conceded it was a ‘classical away performance’ – such guarded compliments are about the best we could hope for from rival fans, though it is important that Forest fans don’t spring the trap of smugness despite the result.
- Forest youngster Jack Blake looks set to leave Mansfield Town where he has been on loan for a month. Blake initially impressed for the stags but was described as anonymous in their recent 3-0 defeat to Southend.
- UPDATE: Guy Moussi is set to move to Millwall on loan. Moussi has made only four starts this season, two of them in the Capital One Cup, and hasn’t featured in the first team since September. The Frenchman is believed to be a temporary replacement for Shaun Derry who last week left the New Den to begin his managerial career at Notts County.
- 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.
