Forest Will Have To Sell Before They Buy

Nottingham Forest will go into their final game of 2011 against Cardiff City on Saturday, sitting third from bottom in the table and firmly entrenched in the relegation zone. It’s now nine hours and six games since the Reds’ scored a goal and manager Steve Cotterill says he knows he has to bring in new players to freshen things up. However, he also says it will be a tough job, as he will have to move players on first before he can bring anyone in.

If any Forest fan had any doubts about the implications of Nigel Doughty’s financial withdrawal, they will soon see the effects in January, when Forest face the difficult task of bolstering an injury hit and threadbare squad.

Cotterill told the Evening Post he knows the squad needs strengthening, but he may have to move players on to raise funds for new recruits.

‘It may be possible to bring in a player or two on loan. But that is only a maybe. Because we have to find money that we have not got. That is it. We have to find money. What has happened in the past, when Nigel Doughty was chairman, was that, whenever Forest were short or there was a chance to roll the dice, he has been able to buy someone. We don’t have that any more. Any money that we have got to spend, we have to generate ourselves.’