Field Notes

Billy Davies is in trouble with the FA for his improper conduct after the Wigan game when he took umbrage at referee Craig Pawson.
Derby County CEO Sam Rush has vowed to retaliate after Forest halved their ticket allocation for the big game at the end of September. At one stage the queue ‘led outside the ticket office’ report the Derby Telegraph. Boy, oh boy, what fans! LTLF has yet to confirm whether any of those Derby fans queuing were given free mobile phones as an extra incentive to attend the inevitable humiliation of their team.

Adlene Guedioura HAS signed for Crystal Palace, it has been confirmed. Despite reports this morning that he was ‘still a Forest player’ (now amended on the Nottingham Post website), the Algerian’s move was agreed last night before the 11pm deadline for a reported £2.5m fee. The sale of one of our most popular players is a huge blow, especially as we were unable to replace him with Grant Leadbitter as clearly planned. It must be admitted that Adlene hadn’t been at his best so far this season, but his undoubted talent will be a big loss to the Forest promotion campaign. Hopefully we can now, as Fawaz suggests, find a replacement in the loan market.

The big news on transfer deadline day was… [drumroll] …Stephen McLaughlin signed on loan for Bristol City. The Irishman was, of course, identified as a target during Sean O’Driscoll’s time as Reds manager and hasn’t featured in the first team since he moved to Forest in January.
Adlene Guedioura is still a Forest player is all the Post can tell us about the breakdown of his proposed move to Crystal Palace (edit: now amended), while Fawaz himself says attempts to sign four players failed as the valuations of other clubs rose during the day. Among those attempts were a final bid of £3.5m for Wolves’ Bakary Sako.

Despite yesterday’s stalement, however, it should be acknowledged that during the window as a whole Forest were one of the busiest clubs in the Championship.
Darius Henderson‘s trial over alleged grievous bodily harm has begun. The incident occurred on New Year’s Eve when a man’s cheekbone was broken during a row at a restaurant in St Albans. Henderson denies the charges.

Goodbye, unbeaten run. If it was going to end anywhere, the home of the FA Cup-holders was a likely place, but Forest can come away from the defeat at Wigan knowing they gave one of the promotion favourites a real run for their money. Wigan were described as wonderful by one Wigan fan report, though what was truly wonderful was Andy Reid’s third goal of the season. There are two weeks before Barnsley visit the City Ground, but in the mean time there are plenty of positives to reflect on from an eventful month.
G’day, James Demetriou. The Australian striker, 17, has signed a two-year deal in a move from Sydney Olympic. He had been on trial with Forest since July and had previously come close to signing for Southampton. Demetriou will be given his chance in the Under-21s side, but Matty Fryatt and Gabriel Obertan are apparently targets to bolster the first team strike force.
So, farewell then, veteran broadcaster Sir David Frost. The venerated interviewer, who died at the weekend aged 74, turned down a contract with Forest to pursue his television career. What was Forest’s loss was certainly the country’s gain as he went on to a trail-blazing media career.

The game wasn’t a thriller and neither was the third-round draw, but Forest’s League Cup win over Millwall with what was effectively the reserve team is yet another reason to be cheerful for us Reds. At the very least it proves that our squad is big enough to handle a busy fixture list – in previous seasons we would have suffered with a cup game coming between tough away trips to Watford and Wigan. And at least Millwall didn’t forget their kit this time.
Despite this proliferation of players for the manager to choose from, Forest are still bidding for Bakary Sako but need to up the ante if they want to match Wolves’ valuation.

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