By The Daily Red
February 2 2008

Frustrations boiled over at Dean Court as Sam Vokes’ brace saw Forest fall to a 0-2 defeat against lowly Bournemouth. Alex C gives an uncompromising alternative report for The Daily Red; on the match, and on Calderwood’s future. Click to read the report in full.

My day began a little before 7am; sweeping thick layers of snow from the car in freezing conditions and total darkness. As I finally set out, my hands throbbing from the snow, I pondered what about Forest is so appealing that so many of us keep going back for more.

I wasn’t sure at that point, and I am less sure now than ever before.

It is the same bleak realisation that has already strangled thousands from our average attendance, and will likely deliver a final, devastating blow when the club steadies itself for a fourth season in ‘the old’ third division.

At the moment most of us still consider Forest to be on leave from the Championship; promotion is an obligatory expectation, not a target. A fourth season in League One would destroy this myth once and for all – after four years a club is part of the furniture.

Quite realistically we could be a League One club for the foreseeable future.

A lot, I feel, hinges on whether or not we can escape the division this season. And I honestly do not think we will.

On our travels we have been woeful all season, but a talented side playing well on the break has papered over the cracks. In the last few months any evidence of talent has dried up, and we don’t play well on the breaks – in fact we don’t play well at all.

Yet again it is no exaggeration to deem our performance a genuine disgrace. Yet again I ask myself how a professional footballer cannot be motivated by the thought of people travelling 200 miles to see him. Yet again I find myself cursing the downright stupidity of our manager.

The only thing we created all afternoon, against a terrible Bournemouth side, was miscued long balls for Nathan Tyson to chase aimlessly.

We were static in defence, the midfield could not string two passes together, and the distribution in the final third was an embarrassment. It would likely be a grave insult to a number of sides if I likened it to Conference standard.

There is no question – we were outplayed in every department. Just like at Swindon.

A 25 minute spell on Tuesday night is about all we can be satisfied with in four games. We have won FOUR of our last THIRTEEN matches.

I am no longer convinced that, even if we somehow managed to put together a good run, the side [or its manager] would have the bottle to carry us through to promotion when it came to the crunch.

Today saw an uprising in ‘Calderwood Out’ chanting. It was warranted.

The manager no longer has my backing. I fail to see how ANYBODY can back Colin Calderwood at this moment in time.

This is not a knee-jerk reaction to a turgid away day. This is a measured response to months upon months of underachievement, not least because of Colin Calderwood’s outrageous ineptitude and diabolical team selections.

Just what is his problem? The mythical figure of Arron Davies, near-invisible on the right wing, is dumped on the left and has three touches all game. Grant Holt, playing the worst football of his career, plays everywhere other than the one position he is capable of functioning in. Young CENTRE FORWARD Emile Sinclair is thrown in at the deep end, AS A RIGHT-SIDED MIDFIELDER. These are examples from today’s game only. It would require a veritable dossier to fully document the bizarre decisions made by the dour jock so far this season.

I will continue to back the side. I will even continue to spend money that I honestly don’t have in following Forest to all corners of the country.

But I cannot say with even an illusion of conviction that Calderwood is the man to take us forward. More worryingly, I cannot say that I have any faith in him taking us up.

Managerial tolerance is tempered by ambition (see Mourinho at Chelsea), and thus Calderwood must be sacrificed in order to save our season and possibly our club.

I repeat, this is not a reaction to a disappointing trip. Because today’s display is representative of what we see most weekends.

 

Ratings [no exaggerations included]

Smith – 6 – average.

Chambers – 4 – they ran rings around him from start to finish.

Morgan – 5.5 – yards off the pace at times, others steady.

Wilson – 6 – I dread to think what the score would have been if he hadn’t been playing.

Bennett – 5 – plenty of labour, minimal yield.

Perch – 3 – completely and utterly useless; dreadful passing, hilariously bad tackling and completely anonymous whenever needed.

Clingan – 5 – I felt sorry for him, actually. Dribbled to and fro, desperate for movement, invariably found none and resorted to the same tactics as his colleagues.

Cohen – 5 – several enterprising runs in the second half that were about as exciting as it got, but his final ball was always ludicrous.

Holt – 1 – I never thought I would be as sensationalist as to award a “1/10”, but Holt genuinely contributed nothing, and genuinely did everything wrong. Every header was missed, every ‘first touch’ rebounded out of play or to the opposition, and every challenge was a foul.

Tyson – 5.5 – huffed, puffed, got nowhere.

Davies – 3 – out of position, barely involved all game, made completely the wrong runs when the ball did reach the final third.

Subs:

Sinclair – 5 – out of position, hideously so.

Breckin - / - what a rabbit in the hat! Not.

 

A word for the scenes at the end of today’s game. They were almost as ugly as any I have seen; the Woking defeat, the war on Megson at Barnsley, the fans in the dressing room saga at Yeovil.

Chris Cohen attempted to applaud the supporters only to turn away, shocked and crushed, at the volume of abuse all of the players received. Wes Morgan looked extremely dejected and shrugged his shoulders to typify the futility of his applause. Kelvin Wilson took exception to certain words but was tempted to the stands by the offer of a handshake.

Most fled, their heads down and their eyes glued to the floor.

Things boiled over today; damage has been done. I don’t know where we go from here under Colin Calderwood.