nottingram

Who on earth do these freaks think they are.

Surely a Luton fan would want a draw to keep two teams in touch anyway. Bizarre

4 minutes ago, Ram-Alf said:

It does make you wonder what VAR is there for, Them down the A52 have had some very very bad luck  

They’d be playing against Blackburn and Plymouth if VAR had done its job properly

Twattenburg will be earning his money tonight

On 19/04/2024 at 20:59, Eddie said:

When we lost at Hull, one of their 'fans' lamped Keogh

Never felt so jealous of someone from Hull

10 minutes ago, YorkshireRam said:

Potentially, but those 'better' signings all come with drawbacks (usually age). Ultimately, all free agents are in that position for a reason. It's easy to look at past credentials and say ''these players are better because of their CVs so we should walk the league'' but the reality is that, to be really harsh, these are other clubs' castoffs... 

Given Warne has repeatedly emphasised the importance of athleticism and pace within his system, the pool of players we could sign does not really fit the 23-28 year old demographic that we ideally want, as players in this age range are usually under contract.

I just think these constraints hardly get mentioned, but getting promoted without being able to buy a single player justifies turning to efficient football. It just seems fairly entitled to sit here in 2nd place, with a fantastic chance to go up, and be moaning about style of play; especially when there are mitigating factors as to why we may have had to turn to pragmatism. ''Trying to play better football'' with the players we have at our disposal may have cost us a chance at promotion, would that have been worth it?

The constraints get mentioned all the time, they are hardly a secret.

Warne has done a good job this season, I’ve literally said we’re good at what we do. I was replying to someone who said L1 footballers can’t play pretty football. I just think that’s not really true, if you have better players than the competition then you probably can. Our starting XI is experienced but hardly dads army. So when we have a relatively worse team next season (if promoted) it’ll be harder to improve the style / play a different style, which is probably fine because we won’t want to then either. 

I don’t really see how it can be called entitled when I’ve not even moaned about style of play. Just said it’s not to my taste, because it isn’t. I can sit here and swallow it when we win.

No one knows whether it would be worth it to establish a better style of play. Maybe we’ll be sat here in 12 months facing relegation having struggled to adapt to the Championship. Maybe if we’d gone in a different direction we’d have missed out this year, but walked L1 next year playing swashbuckling football ready to take the championship on. Maybe we go up this year and finish top 6. Who knows or frankly cares? 

12 minutes ago, YorkshireRam said:

...which we haven't been able to do due to transfer restrictions, which aren't lifted until this summer? Warne is literally working with a squad of freebies...

Yes I knew mistakenly using the word buy instead of sign would be picked up once I’d read it back and couldn’t edit it anymore, but I’m not really sure it drastically changes the point being made. We have better players than most teams in the division because we can pay players more than most teams in the division. 

For example I don’t really think us being allowed to spend a few hundred k on an ultra ball playing defender would’ve meant we’d have done that over signing Sonny Bradley. And that’s fine and not even a criticism, we’ve an incredible defensive record. Just no need to pretend we can’t possibly have tried to play better football. 

Daniel Storey one of the better Forest fan journos. John Percy probably writing an article now about how the price rises show incredible ambition by the owners. 

10 hours ago, MaltRam said:

The job Warne has done, since Stevenage away, has been exemplary.

You cannot play one touch 50 pass moves with league 1 players. Not feasible. If we blow it, and have to face up to another season down here, Warne is definitely the man to rebuild us and go again.

If we go up, he will have earnt the right to build a Championship squad and have a go at keeping us up, as per his original brief.

I know he's marmite, with his off-beat personality profile, but he's clearly an honest and genuine man and it's hard to see a nice guy cop for abuse.

I don’t think I’ve ever really understood this argument. You can’t do it perfectly but if you have a relatively big budget for the level you can buy relatively better players for the level who can do it.

If we get promoted, we will have a relatively worse squad than this year, that’s where I can understand pragmatism. Although even then we played decent enough football to accumulate enough points to be lower mid table with a tiny budget last time we were there, albeit in weird circumstances.

Warne has chosen this way to play football. It’s not really my taste but we’re pretty good at it so who am I to argue. But let’s not pretend he’s not had a choice. 

Impressive run and everyone at the club deserves credit for it, not least the owner for sticking with the manager despite what seemed at the time a large portion of the fans wanting him gone, me included. 

Still have some doubts long term (probably more so if we go up than if we don’t perversely) but full credit to Warne for turning it around from where we were. Deserves next season however this season finishes, in my opinion.

11 minutes ago, Norman said:

I'd go full Football Manager on the squad and let them all go. 

Put the scouting budget and any transfer budget into the wage budget and sign loads of free agents.

Then ask for a stadium extension and a senior affiliate club that I will loan their best youth players from for free.

All will be well when the team cohesion starts to blend and they get used to my all out attack gegen press tactics.

Silly.

Sibley has just won Championship POTY in our first season up there for me. 

13 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

Almost forgot to mention, how bad was the linesman by the East Stand first half?!

Was less annoyed at him falling for their players flop under Wilson’s “challenge” when Hourihane did an even worse one second half he couldn’t wait to give us a free kick for.

There was an absolutely hilarious throw in decision though 

If anyone is interested in the odds they still have us as decent favourites.

Currently Derby 1.61, Bolton 2.75 and Posh 8.00. From memory before yesterday I think we were about 1.40 and Bolton were about 3.00. It was not a disastrous result really, just a bit disappointing.

Pompey are the best away team in the division and Posh are the 4th best home team. If Bolton take 4 points from those we need to win all 3. If they win both we’re stuffed, but fair play to them if they manage either of those.

8 minutes ago, Jourdan said:

CBT is the worry for me.

He looked very bright v Blackpool and then played his best game so far for us v Portsmouth. Then tonight he regressed.

I really thought tonight would be the night he came to the party. He won’t get a better chance.

He is clearly a confidence player and he is clearly playing within himself much of the time since joining us. Perhaps he is overwhelmed by the pressure to impress. There is certainly a feeling of that.

I am not often critical of Warne and the coaches, but perhaps they could be managing him better, because something is not right.

Hes a winger playing in L1. He’s not going to be consistent.

End of the day I still think one of Bolton and Peterborough will have to win all of their remaining games to go up. Bolton perhaps 3/4 but they have two games in there which are about as tough as it gets.

Both have really really tough games on Saturday. One way or another things will look very different at 5pm on Saturday. 

Just now, Srg said:

3 less goals than Cheltenham, who are 3rd bottom. 13 more than us.

Must have pub players in the other half of their back 4 then

2 Peterborough defenders nominated, they must concede barely any goals

One of the less enjoyable couple of hours of my life

Ref letting Kamara come on unmarked during a Portsmouth attacking free kick doesn’t seem quite right.

Pack aims for him but luckily their attacker doesn’t realise and flicks it out of play

Sibley struggling a touch but not really his fault.

Collins been impeccable. 

26 minutes ago, Crewton said:

The biggest joke of Forest's appeal though is that they're now claiming that not receiving parachute payments put them at a disadvantage. Join the club, nobheads.

That’s good, if that’s their stance they must definitely have voted for fairer distribution of money for EFL clubs as opposed to keeping the same parachute system. Would be a terrible look if not!

1 hour ago, Ram@Lincoln said:

I had a great view of it, very blatant head butt followed by some handbags. He knew exactly what he was doing and what he had done was evident with him already storming off the pitch before the red was issued. Absolutely unprofessional to the highest degree.

Just like Tom Lawrence of old, opposition players know they can wind him up easily and he'll react. I'm sure we all remember him stupidly diving into a defender on halfway vs Rotherham moments after they'd easily won the ball from him. Straight red card, stupidity just like Bradley yesterday. 

Lawrence was a good player who won us games. But yes, was certainly an idiot on more than one occasion.

Bradley has, for the most part, been rubbish. Average at best in the air, rubbish on the ground, slow, can’t pass, gives away a foul about half the time we have an attacking set piece. 

Can anyone confirm whether Sonny Bradley made good connection with their player when he headed them, and if so is there a reason he is not able to do similar when it is a ball he’s aiming for?

Spare a thought for anyone (me) who is going away during the first bank holiday thinking the final would be during the second bank holiday.

Pray for autos or 3rd or 4th. 

Percy has been a mouthpiece for their board for a while.

Should be thanking their lucky stars