Pleat Defends NFFC Transfer Policy

Nottingham Forest Football Consultant and well known ITV football pundit David Pleat, has for the first time in living memory, spoken publicly about his role as a member of the much maligned NFFC transfer acquisitions panel.

According to Pleat, ‘every club has one,’ but in the case of NFFC, we just happen to have given it a name. If, as many fans now suspect, the loan transfer window closes without any new additions coming in on Thursday, then there may well be a few more names being bandied around for our acquisitions panel.

For the second successive January, Forest failed to bring in any new talent to the club, although they did spend heavily in the previous two summers. Pleat reminds fans of the fact, that £11m was splashed out, more than any other club in the division to bolster the squad. To counter that, fans will argue that they failed to strengthen at the time they needed it most. Last season, Forest escaped relegation, mainly because of loan signings brought in after the January window closed. This season, we could miss out on promotion to the Premier League, because we failed to bring anyone in not only in January, but after as well.

Pleat defends the lack of activity, by saying that certain targets were unattainable. He told the BBC. ‘Every player that has been suggested by the manager has been enquired about and some just aren’t available.’ He cited long term target Gareth Bale as a prime example.

Following the £12m spunked away by former manager David Platt, it’s understandable that Chairman Nigel Doughty wants to see his money well spent, but the current regime appears to be hampering the manager to do his job adequately. No other club has as much difficulty in attaining players in the same way NFFC does. The need for a left back has been talked to death by Forest fans for eons, but the club is no nearer signing one, than it was two years ago! Billy Davies has identified his targets and he’s identified his alternatives, but still the club fail to land them. They can expect another broadside from Billy, if they fail to land them again when the loan deadline comes tomorrow.