Left Brian: April

Forest 2015-16 [illustration: Natalie Owen]

 

Ayup, youth.

I think it’s pretty fair to say that this season – and I appreciate it’s not yet full over – hasn’t lived up to even the modest expectations that we seem to hold as Forest fans at the moment. We have been close enough to the burning hell of relegation to have some serious scorch marks on our backside. However, through a little luck and MK Dons’ inability to capitalise on our self-implosion over the last few months, we are now safe.

I didn’t want to go into a season review just yet, nor do I particularly want to dwell on results or upcoming fixtures. There would be an obvious theme to those discussions; basically, we’ve been poor. Poor results, poor effort, and poor to watch. For spells in certain games we’ve looked like a side who might be capable of at least matching our opponents, but unfortunately those periods have been very brief, and far too often we’ve not even managed to score while we found ourselves on top.

I think it’s important to break an analysis of Forest into three distinct sections: the team, the management, and the ownership. Of those three sections, only the management can probably leave the season feeling like they gave somewhere near the expected level of effort. Of course, that management found the exit door almost as abruptly as they found the entrance not 13 months prior, which leaves us with just the team and the ownership to offer any semblance of stability.

The team haven’t been good this year. There are no real standout players. No one has shone bright when compared to other teams. And no one has managed to get the bit between their teeth and take control of the on field slide. Yes, we have had some serious injury problems to contend with, but that doesn’t mean those getting a game should give up. They have been bereft of the spirit of Nottingham Forest for too long and, unfortunately, due to the embargo, have not been able to be replaced.

Too often the blame evades the players, but this year their performances have been abject at best. That being said, they are a clear indication of the lunacy that engulfs the ownership structure.

I wanted to take some time this month to have a look into the ups and downs of the Fawaz era so far.

a gaffers' graveyard

Managers

The list is long, and I think we all know exactly the names on it, but I wanted to talk about just three: Sean O’Driscoll, Stuart Pearce, Dougie Freedman.

After beating Leeds 4-2 and sitting pretty toward the top of the league, Fawaz decided O’Driscoll wasn’t the man for the job, and instead his first choice from a few months before, Alex McCleish, was that guy. The Leeds game was boxing day, and by the time McCleish was making vision-based excuses for our inability to buy George Boyd – who apparently had good enough vision for a loan deal – at the end of the January transfer window his short Reign of Error at the City Ground was over. When George Boyd scored for Hull against us later in the season on their way to the Premier League, it looked to me like our only eyesight-based concern was that we couldn’t see any money in our bank account. Our dealings with Peterborough United deserve their own section here.

Pearce is a legend of this football club, no matter what happened during his management of the club. I genuinely don’t think Fawaz could handle someone at the club who had this level of affection from every Forest fan in the world.

Finally, Dougie Freedman. I think I’ve been quite vocal about my feelings toward his hiring at the club. It was a mistake then, and ultimately it was a mistake to sack him. Our form since his departure is firmly in the ‘would be relegated if a team below us could win a game’ camp.

Overall, it’s now eight managers in Fawaz’s short time here. That’s a scarily high number.

Media

Fawaz has a weird relationship with the press. It’s ranged from inviting Natalie Jackson to his house to show off his cars and wealth (a disgraceful puff piece that was only missing a doctored tape measure), right the way through to blanket media blackout. The bulk of his communications has thus come from his Twitter account, which serves two purposes: to stroke his own ego with the plethora of hangers-on speaking on his behalf; and promotion of #infawazwetrust.

Twitter is a strange beast, it’s usually fantastic, allowing people to have an insight into their latest favourite celebrity. It also allows for those in oppressive regimes to communicate with the outside world, and these days it’s often the first port of call for breaking news. Indeed, it looks as though Twitter will be one of the most significant mechanisms in electing a new President of the United States of America.

The trouble with Twitter, though, is that when Donald Trump wants to spew some ill-thought-out venom there is no barrier to censor him. There is no control, once it’s out there, from his phone to your eyes. It is out there, and that is a problem for Fawaz. Every little thought is played out on social media, and every gripe he has seems to result in loosely veiled threats to pull the plug on what he considers the life support machine currently keeping Nottingham Forest afloat.

The other problem, and one your lowly writer will no doubt absorb when this is live, is that anyone can just decide to call you a twat. A good thing if you happen to be writing that on Donald Trump’s timeline, but not such a good thing if people write it on Fawaz’s timeline. The man craves adulation, and seems to use his Twitter responses as a barometer of how the fan base are feeling. Three tweets about a poor result generally equates to a manager sacking. A couple of suggestions that he needs to add stability and he’s threatening to take his ball home.  

And let’s not forget the much maligned ‘Carry On Kuwait’ article, which talked about Fawaz turning up for meetings in his slippers.

Fawaz has been trigger-happy as chairman 

 

Fiscal Responsibilty

This really falls into two parts – football and non-football. We all know that we’ve been under transfer embargo for breaking FFP, but what about the mechanics of how we conduct ourselves as a club? We’ve had more winding up orders over unpaid tax bills than I can remember – for reference, I don’t think we ever had one under the previous ownership. We’re paying staff late and often getting excuses such as ‘the banks in Kuwait were closed’. This isn’t good enough – surely you know the banks in Kuwait will be closed, so make sure the money is in the account ahead of time. Now, while we may take the view that highly paid footballers can afford to be paid a few days late, what about the back office staff? The guys earning small salaries and likely living payday to payday? What about their rent or mortgages? Why is no consideration given to the people who actually work at the club?

Then there’s the football stuff. Yes, we know we’ve supposedly overspent, but have we really? Fawaz has pretty much ensured we won’t be doing business with Peterborough United again. After the George Boyd eyesight fiasco it also turned out that we had bought Britt Assombalonga on a structured payment plan – payments we failed to make, which led to a winding up order and some pretty vicious rants from Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony. It all begs the question as to whether or not Fazwaz actually has the deep pockets that he likes to lead us to believe. Surely if he was indeed as wealthy as he claims, players like Britt would have been paid for in suitcases stuffed with fifty pound notes rather than payments scheduled over a set period of time.

Khaled Al Rashidi

 

Modern Day 'Trio of Italians'

Back in the day, David Platt brought in three Italian players who failed to make a mark. Their cost, and ultimate flop down Trentside, was widely regarded as the main reason for the failure of Forest over the next ten years. Fawaz has had his own stab at this, bringing in players like Abdoun, Djebbour, and ‘statistically proven to be the best goalkeeper in the world’ Khaled Al-Rashidi (it’s worth remembering that Alex McCLeish told us we were getting Rob Green, Paul Robinson, or Lukasz Fabianski). Now, I rated Abdoun; I won’t deny that. I loved the absurdity of him. I loved the keepy-uppys in the middle of the game, and that penalty against West Ham is still one of the best penalties I’ve ever seen a Forest player take. However, it was clear these guys were not the product of a wide scouting network; they were not the product of the manager and his team perusing the globe with the knowledge they had a billionaire’s backing to buy who they wanted. They were clearly an attempt by Fawaz to generate some interest in the club from television networks in the Middle East – something that would seem a strange move for such a supposedly wealthy man to need to do.

Family

Having family surround him at the City Ground is not a bad thing. Indeed, it’s a wonderful thing. However, the children seem to strut around the place like they are rockstars. My abiding memory of Fawaz’s family comes from when he first came here. An amassed crowd waited in the car park, held back by barriers, to get a glimpse of the saviour of Nottingham Forest. Instead, what we were treated to was a handful of family members playing the part of ‘hype men’, recording the adulation on their iPads as though it was aimed directly at them. I once saw Kanye West and Kim Kardashian in New York, and the fame hunger coming from the Al-Hasawi family made Kimye seem positively reclusive.

Fawaz at the boozer [image: @SeatPitch]

 

Eccentricities and benevolence

Rumour has it that Sean O’Driscoll once turned up to a meeting while Fawaz was in his pyjamas. Fawaz has told us to stop picking on him or he’ll take his ball home – to the same home where he has taken the European Cup. He has oft reminded us that his gift to us has been two big screens at a cost of £1m. There’s been no mention of the increase in advertising revenue based on – well, on advertising on those big screens. He’s become quite famous for turning up at the pub for photos with the fans, he clearly enjoys the adulation and attention. His team even approached the Lower Bridgford flag organiser to get them to unveil a flag with ‘Happy Birthday’ on for Fawaz’s birthday. Just another example of the family enjoying being able to manipulate the people to inflate their own glorious role in the club. They also didn’t pay for the banner until said organiser had chased them for months.

I recall when they first bought the club, an interview with the BBC saw Fawaz, Omar, and Abdulaziz each telling the world what big Forest fans they were. The interview is littered with the PR-led platitudes you would expect from someone trying to hoodwink you into believing them to be genuine. Watch the Natalie Jackson piece again, and tell me you still really believe that Fawaz grew up in Kuwait supporting Forest. It just doesn’t ring true. I mean, if you grew up in Kuwait as a billionaire diehard Forest fan, then surely at some point in your youth you’d make a trip to the City Ground? I have friends all over the world who support Forest, and even without access to supposed billions they manage to make it over to the odd game every couple of years.

Finally, the Al-Hasawis recently released the accounts, which show that Fawaz hasn’t actually given us any money. We’ve been loaned some money, which is being paid back, but ultimately it doesn’t look like the family have put anything into the club.

I’ve been trying to think of some of the ups since his arrival, but to be honest I’m drawing a bit of a blank. Which leaves me asking the same question I’ve asked since he first turned up: why is he here?

We’ve only gone backwards since his arrival.

I’ll see thee.