Wake Up Call Or Nail In The Coffin?

Colin Calderwood took control at Nottingham Forest in May 2006, after the disastrous tenure of Gary Megson and following something of a mini revival under ‘Charlie and Frank.’ His appointment received mixed reviews and it has to be said, that a section of the support have never taken to him.

Before we give the amiable Scot a kicking though, perhaps we should take a quick glance at his stats during his time at the City Ground. They don’t look bad if we’re honest and are better than those of bigger names that went before him. In 91 games in charge of the Reds he’s won 42, lost 22 and draw 27.

Despite his record, he is about to become the latest managerial casualty at Forest, not only because of how the season is shaping up, but because of his employers failings as well. If the club had been a bit more pro active in the January transfer window Calderwood may have been cut a little slack with his latest away defeat. As it is, the antics and failings of Chairman Nigel Doughty and Chief Executive Mark Arthur, have only added weight to the ‘anti Calderwood’ camp in the aftermath of the Bournemouth game and lack of activity in the transfer window.

My thoughts on Calderwood were always that he should be judged at the end of this season, but if he is given that long, it may be the case that we have to spend another year in this graveyard of football. Cobblers fans warned us of his negative tactics and strange substitutions and formations before he came. He has proved himself to be tactically naive on a number of occasions, not least in the playoff semi final debacle with Yeovil last year. The Glovers manager Russell Slade made a mug of Calderwood that night and as a result gave me and every Forest fan the worst footballing heartache of all time.

Calderwood is now playing with ‘his team’ and can now be fairly judged and assessed on his success. Sadly it has to be said that the warnings of those Cobblers fans are true. He is indeed negative, too defensive and tactically naive. I have no doubt now that he should go, but who the hell do you replace him with? It could even do more harm than good in getting rid now, as we do have a real chance of promotion even with him in charge. The team still sits in a playoff place just 4 points off an automatic spot. Other clubs fans are entitled to look at the table and ask why we would want rid of him, but the regular fan knows only too well that appearances at Forest can be truly deceptive. We are playing dire football at times and are scraping wins it has to be said.

So what now for Forest? It’s Millwall next Saturday at home and already protests are being planned ahead of the game. The atmosphere inside the ground will be hostile from the start and there will probably be not a single friendly face in the crowd for Calderwood. So expect to see the arrival of a couple of loan signings on Thursday lunchtime, in an effort to quash the growing unrest and placate the whinging fans. I don’t think it will work though, because the support has the smell of blood in it’s nostrils and are moving in for the kill. If Forest lose to Millwall it will be the final nail in Calderwood’s coffin and the fans will demand he is taken out.