Earlier this year Forest cancelled plans to stage a three game tournament in China. The club, in collaboration with the County Council and local businesses were hoping to forge links with the country, as well as exploiting one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
The club have now decided to revive it’s plans for a trip next June as part of the pre season preparations. Forest’s CEO Mark Arthur and manager Colin Calderwood are on a 5 day trip to China, assessing the facilities on offer for the proposed tour.
Mark Arthur told the official site. ‘Our Operations Manager Brandon Furse has already been over to China to meet the people without whom we could not make the trip happen. But as far as we’re concerned the trip is first and foremost about football and preparing the players for the 2009-10 season and it’s important that Colin is able to see for himself the facilities that will be available to us. We will be looking not only at hotel accommodation and training facilities but also the logistics of moving a large group of players and staff over vast distances.’
It sounds as though the club is putting a bit more effort into this trip than the farcical trip to the US a few years back. That trip saw half the squad return home knackered, from playing on dodgy pitches and traveling ridiculous distances. This is potentially a big deal for the club, with a growing market for football in China. It’s a shame that clubs’ such as Sheffield United have got there before us. Better late than never I suppose.
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