R.I.P. NFFC

First things first, congratulations to Yeovil Town Football Club for taking a well deserved victory at the City Ground last night. The better team most certainly won and showed exactly what NFFC is all about in 2007.

May 18 2007 will be remembered as the day when Nottingham Forest Football Club officially died. The responsibility for that lies in the hands of Nigel Doughty and his cohort, Mark Arthur. Coming up, hot on the rails in second place for the blame, is a collective playing staff, that in this clubs’ 142 year history is without a shadow of a doubt the worst the supporters have had the displeasure to watch.

It’s hard, the morning after the debacle before to come up with words suitable to explain exactly what happened at the City Ground last night. Spineless, bottleless, clueless and gutless don’t do justice to such an abject and miserable performance, but we’ll give it a go. Fuckin’ disgraceful doesn’t even get close.

I can’t praise Yeovil enough for the way they went about gaining such an emphatic victory. They played in such a way, it reminded me of the Forest of old. Cavalier and enterprising, entertaining and ruthless. That small town in Somerset will wake up this morning to the biggest hangover known to mankind and deservedly so. The mighty minnows have come a long way in four years, from the Conference, to hopefully the Championship and fair play to them. But forgive me , that’s where the pleasantries end.

When you take a 2 goal lead into a 2 legged tie, you have to commit one almighty balls up to throw it away. Forest were the consumate professionals in doing just that. Somehow, this bunch of waisting hasbeens, managed to drag their sorry arses into extra time. 5-2 was the end result and it could have, infact should have been much more, if not for the heroics of Paul Smith in goal. How the fuck a goalkeeper can be your best player after letting in 5 goals is beyond me. But trust me it’s the truth.

Colin Calderwood can’t escape without criticism. He is a man, who I have defended to the hilt. But last night some of his decisions were questionable to say the least. His substitutions at crucial times of the game were negative to say the least. The blame for the seasons’ failures can’t justifiably be laid at his door alone. Both Mark Arthur and Nigel Doughty have failed in one way or another to back the manager financially and have failed to attract players of sufficient quality to gain the club promotion. The end to this sorry season will see us saying goodbye to what little quality we have, namely Tyson, Commons and possibly McGugan. Quite frankly, the rest can just sod off to whatever club will have them.

Last night`s defeat sees Forest spending a third season in what is the third tier of English football. We deserve to be there and are worthy of that status. We are there because of some monumental failings by the clubs` hierarchy. It`s a waste of time calling for their heads, as there are no viable alternatives or replacements. But until there is, Nottingham Forest will always have a place in League 1, or lower. It goes without saying, that we will find it hard, nigh on impossible to attract the kind of players capable of dragging us out of this hellhole, but that is what we have o do. I make no apologies for this negative and vitriolic article. The truth is, I`ve toned it down. I could go on, but by now, you are probably as pissed off as I am. I don`t know where we go from here.