The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsIts been a year and a half of ups and downs at Nottingham Forest. With the arrival and departure of Stuart Pearce, the appointment of Dougie Freedman and the hassle of the transfer embargo all happening from the start of the 2014/15 season.
Its not been an easy year for the Reds, having undergone a very turbulent season in the 2014/15 year. Highlights of which included a 10 game winless run, unexpected wins at the IPro, a brilliant start to the season, and a shockingly bad end to the season.
They started this season with a partial transfer embargo which carried on from January after failing to pay one of the instalments as part of the Britt Assombalonga deal. The full embargo was lifted in February 2015 but Forest still have to abide by some FFP rules. This has massively affected the team with the restrictions that have been put in place.
The club, who are currently in their 150th year of existence were meant to be enjoying this year as a feat of celebration. But after a dismal end to their season last year, the teams fear continued into the start of the new season, with a loss at Brighton. However, after a win against Rotherham and a draw against Charlton there is a sense that there could be something to this season after all.
But there is still uneasy minds amongst the fans of Nottm Forest. This is because of the FFP rulings that are currently in place, and due to the embargo currently in place, Forest are only allowed to either loan players in, or must operate on a one in, one out policy. This leaves Forest without any real power in the transfer market as they are not allowed to purchase a player for a fee until this is rule is lifted from them.
Another thing that either worries or significantly boost the fans trust in forest is the Owners. The Al-Hawasi Family have been rumoured to have been involved in more than just upper-management since they brought the East-Midland Club back in 2012 and the Chairman of the Board Fawaz Al-Hawasi certainly hasn’t helped in the appearance of the club.
In the past few months, he has appeared with a dead ram which he appeared to have shot. The dead ram signified the Nottinghamshire clubs fierce rivals and it received a lot of backlash and some praise and gags from Forest fans. Not only did the dead ram cause a stir, but the Kuwaiti man has also been involved heavily with the transfers out of the club having his personal say on Twitter about the Lansbury and Antonio transfer situations. Forest fans now wait until Fawaz confirms a transfer ordeal has been completed before they take it as fact.
Overall, i think there may be light at the end of this season for Forest, but i am an eternal optimistic and i will always want my hometown club to do well. Once that transfer policy is lifted, we can hope to see more from the club, and i think that if the club were to stick by Dougie Freedman for at least a season, it would bring a little stability back to the club that has played the hokey-pokey with all of their manager. One goes in, he goes out.
The club needs stability in this time, and Freedman may not have been the person that the fans expected to take over when he did, but they have a lot more belief in him now than they did a few months back. You never know what will happen in the Sky Bet Championship until May comes around, and it will be interesting to see what will happen at Forest the forthcoming season.
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