Are Forest Skint?

[Day]

Billy Davies insists Nottingham Forest need more players but is unsure whether the club can afford them.

The promotion-chasing Reds have got off to a poor start this term, with no wins in their four games in all competitions so far.

Davies has now raised questions as to the club's financial firepower after seeing Forest's pursuit of Swansea's Darren Pratley and Cardiff winger Peter Whittingham so far not come to fruition.

The Forest boss told the Nottingham Post: "It is clear as day that we need to add depth and quantity.

"Can we afford the targets we are identifying and can we afford the salaries that these players are on? That is the big question.

"I am not going to encourage anyone to be more aggressive (in the transfer market) because that is not my domain. My role is to identify and recommend. Then the big decision is can we afford them?

"The bottom line is we must add quantity and quality. The process is simple. But, as I said, the big question is whether you can afford them?

"Then there is the issue of personal terms as well. Can we or can we not afford the personal terms that players demand?"

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11727_6331605,00.html

[froggg]

same old same old.....:D

[derbydan]

http://www.truthdig.com/images/eartothegrounduploads/Bush-fingers_crossed

[CumbrianRam]

Is Doughty asking for some of his money back?

[Boycie]

He's determined to talk himself into a pay off.

[Day]

It says to me Billy and ND are not talking. How can you recommend players if you dont know if you can afford them? Surely in that meeting at the end of last season Billy would of been told you have X amount to play with next season.

[Boycie]

no doubt billy hasn't spoken to his chairman for 6 weeks.

oh no. he's use that one before.

[Day]

Billy doesnt talk to ND much, doesnt like to be spoken down to, happens alot bless him.

[Hucknall Ram]

Did they spend £6million last season on players? Think someone on radio derby said last night

[Day]

Around that, add the signing on fees and wages, no wonder ND is watching his pennies. Having watched Blackpool go up on a shoe string will make alot of chairman think twice before throwing money at it. Decent management and team spirit is invaluable.

[Hucknall Ram]

He seems to come into money and then doesn't have any. They didn't really spend in league one, then brought Earnie in the champ, then 6 million last season, then nothing now

[Day]

I think ND has seen the light to be honest. Billy wants Whittingham and Pratley, both will be around £2m so that's another £4m quickly spent, no doubt he would want more for another striker and a left back in January.

Add on the wages, signing on fees, agent fees your looking at alot of money, How many Championship clubs would have spent that much in 2 seasons?

They finished 3rd last season, they got there without spending another £4m on Whittingham and Pratley. They should have kept the squad together and not let anyone go, bring in Bertrand on a season loan and maybe a couple of other loanees and I say through gritted teeth they may have got the Premiership dream.

Billy just likes to spend money, alot of money.

[Hucknall Ram]

I think ND has seen the light to be honest. Billy wants Whittingham and Pratley, both will be around £2m so that's another £4m quickly spent, no doubt he would want more for another striker and a left back in January.

Add on the wages, signing on fees, agent fees your looking at alot of money, How many Championship clubs would have spent that much in 2 seasons?

They finished 3rd last season, they got there without spending another £4m on Whittingham and Pratley. They should have kept the squad together and not let anyone go, bring in Bertrand on a season loan and maybe a couple of other loanees and I say through gritted teeth they may have got the Premiership dream.

Billy just likes to spend money, alot of money.

Spend? More like waste.

[Day]

£3m on Earnshaw, didn't play him

£3m on Miller

£3.5 on Claude

Waste? not sure what you mean

[GboroRam]

£3.50 for Claude would have been about right.

[Jonny Red]

Around that, add the signing on fees and wages, no wonder ND is watching his pennies. Having watched Blackpool go up on a shoe string will make alot of chairman think twice before throwing money at it. Decent management and team spirit is invaluable.

We had that until mid January.....i think things began turning sour then and Billy threw his toys out the pram.....some of it must've been down to the Shorey saga with Billy wanting his loan extended, since then the mood and harmony has totally changed, i felt it even just from lurking around the different forums...there's a lot more going on behind the scenes than we can only imagine. Although you Rams don't need to imagine since Billy put you through the mill....its quite obviously a power struggle tug of war between ND and Billy, and i have to say i'm thankful ND is strong enough not to buckle in to his demands and let him loose as long term it'd spell disaster.

I could pretty much sum up how the majority of Forest fans feel at the moment in one word since the end of last season, the summer inactivity and the start of this season..... 'disenchantment'.

:frown:

[GboroRam]

Yes, last thing you need is to let Billy loose with the cheque book.

[Hucknall Ram]

We had that until mid January.....i think things began turning sour then and Billy threw his toys out the pram.....some of it must've been down to the Shorey saga with Billy wanting his loan extended, since then the mood and harmony has totally changed, i felt it even just from lurking around the different forums...there's a lot more going on behind the scenes than we can only imagine. Although you Rams don't need to imagine since Billy put you through the mill....its quite obviously a power struggle tug of war between ND and Billy, and i have to say i'm thankful ND is strong enough not to buckle in to his demands and let him loose as long term it'd spell disaster.

I could pretty much sum up how the majority of Forest fans feel at the moment in one word since the end of last season, the summer inactivity and the start of this season..... 'disenchantment'.

:frown:

Jonny - Billy or ND?

[Jonny Red]

umm ahh err its honestly a really tricky one because i think there's faults you can pick from both sides if its as clear cut as we think the situation may be....if you held a gun to my head and i was forced to choose then i'm more on the side of ND but if he and the 'acquisitions panel' are digging their heels in then it will harm the team short term and this season could become a write off.....thing is Billy's right in that we need a few signings but does he want to spend more to entice them in or is it that he has different transfer targets to the what David Pleat et al know will be good for the team?

There should be a compromise in my opinion..give Billy a set budget (surely they have one? Apparently between 5 to 6m), and see who he has on his list and run the rule over them to see if they fit in....perhaps there was trouble over the Boyd loan saga as well, i was annoyed he didn't get more of a run in the team but it shows Billy up for what he wants his teams to be all about, all pace and hard work with skill a bonus; a weakness for being too rigid in my eyes.....thats why McGugan has hardly had a look in either so i question his man management skills here too....natural talents who love time on the ball and not overly blessed with pace will switch off to Billy's boot camp training regime. We don't have wingers playing on their natural sides either so the crossing is generally more miss than hit...only Gunter looks a natural crosser at present (Shorey was quality too and thats why we looked well balanced before.) so i find Billy's tactics frustrating at times especially when that one touch fast passing loses its fluidity (Leeds last sunday prime example!!).

[red fever]

Early days JR, Rome was not built in a day.