Fans are keen on old faces to replace Steve McClaren, but fresh blood could revitalise Nottingham Forest
"Some clubs are just right to promote from within the family. Forest is one of those clubs." So said the former Nottingham Forest striker Stan Collymore just days before Steve McClaren made a sharp exit from the City Ground. Collymore reeled off a few names ? including Stuart Pearce, who was caretaker manager in 1996-97. Dave Bassett, the Forest manager in 1997-99, suggested Frank Clark, the Forest manager in 1993-96. There appears to be a technical director's role lined up for Paul Hart, the Forest manager between 2001 and 2004. Some fans are expressing a strong desire to see the previous manager Billy Davies back in the job he vacated in the summer. No one has yet resorted to suggesting a return for David Platt or Gary Megson.
The success of Davies was always going to make things difficult for McClaren. There was little room for improvement on the annual play-off place that the presence of Davies seems to guarantee for any Championship club. McClaren exited despite earning the same number of league wins (two) as his predecessor had managed this time last year. Davies secured his third victory of his last campaign in charge on 19 October 2010 against Middlesbrough, one of the teams that Forest will be looking to emulate. With Gordon Strachan gone, the arrival of Tony Mowbray signalled an eventual upturn in fortunes and Boro made steady progress to finish in the top half. They now occupy an automatic promotion place.
Should Forest follow the Boro blueprint? There may not be any candidate quite as obvious as Mowbray was to the Teessiders. There are City Ground legends and there are managers who have won promotion from the Championship before. The names occupying both circles of that particular Venn diagram, however, are Roy Keane, Martin O'Neill and perhaps, at a stretch, Davies too.
While the early names in the frame appear to be drawn from a different category ? bright, up-and-coming managers such as Karl Robinson and Paul Tisdale ? the clamour from sections of the Forest fanbase for Davies to be given a second chance is intriguing. The plot thickens if talk of Hart being earmarked for responsibility at both first-team and academy levels is correct. The Hart role sounds awfully familiar given the recent presence of supposedly wise old heads such as David Pleat and McClaren's mentor Bill Beswick.
The question is whether a power-sharing agreement is really the answer at a club such as Nottingham Forest. With the men at the top reluctant even to back McClaren to the extent of relatively inexpensive loan signings in a bid to turn the tide, many supporters could be forgiven for reflecting on the Davies era in a slightly different light. And if McClaren's failure now seems inevitable with the benefit of hindsight, another certainty was the boost it would offer to the legacy of the man who came before him. Davies, never shy to fan the flames, is said to be open to a return.
Of course, Forest are not just looking for a new manager. They are also on the hunt for a new chairman following the resignation of Nigel Doughty. As a result, the entire club seems to be at a crossroads and supporters are left to ponder which direction those in power will take. Doughty's appearance on BBC Radio Nottingham on Sunday evening contained numerous references to the disgruntled City Ground occupants as "consumers" rather than supporters, and the multi-millionaire used a succession of analogies which drew on his experiences in business. It was clear that Doughty desperately wanted to help a club he loves but he appears more comfortable as far away from a football pitch as possible. When he said he would be using the radio station to keep in touch with events on the field, the relief in his voice was evident.
This should be a clue. Just as Doughty's Forest connections have not made him more suited to his role than the Thais at Leicester City or the Americans at Derby County, no club is dependent on a manager that understands its history. Sustained success relies on a strong, transparent working relationship between those in charge or the fortunate recruitment of a brilliant visionary. The former has been in short supply for years, despite league positions papering over the cracks. Where Forest are concerned, the line about the latter writes itself.
It sounds like doom and gloom, but sometimes a sense of turmoil can evaporate in an instant and this may just be the clean slate the club needs. Further to Mowbray's Middlesbrough revolution, there is another fine example of what Forest are aiming to replicate elsewhere in the Championship. The parallels between Nottingham Forest and Cardiff City are crystal clear ? both failed in the play-off semi-finals, signalling the end of an era for two notoriously prickly characters. But while Forest have won only two league games this season, Cardiff have lost only two. In appointing Malky Mackay to replace Dave Jones, the Welsh club made a brave and bold move. So far, it seems to be paying off. We can be more confident in that assertion by the time 2011 comes to a close, when Mackay takes his Cardiff side to the City Ground. Who knows what he will find when he gets there?
? David Bevan is the editor of theseventytwo.com, one of the blogs featured in our Football League blogosphere
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/football-league-blog/2011/oct/05/nottingham-forest
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