Why I Watch

There are a lot of times I regret being a football fan. Note that I say football rather than Forest, the distinction is crucial. I’m not denying that supporting a big team would be easier, almost certainly more enjoyable, but I can’t imagine ever supporting anyone but Forest and would never want to, a feeling all football fans understand.

Growing up a Forest fan in Sheffield wasn’t the most comfortable experience always, I got used to being called a ‘scab’ by friends and strangers on a semi-regular basis despite the fact that my politics tended to be a long way to the left of theirs and wasn’t alive during the miner’s strike. The day after the play off semi-final against Sheffield United was probably the worst day of school ever, tormented not just by Blades, but by anyone who knew anything about football pretty much.

A defeat against either Sheffield team meant dreading going into school, now it means dreading work in the morning. More so than usual. I’m usually a fairly calm individual, not overly prone to outward displays of strong emotion, particularly not anger. Plenty of my friends have commented over the years that they’ve rarely seen me angry or that I don’t seem excited about events. They are able to maintain that opinion because they’ve probably never seen me during a Forest game.

This evening was perhaps the perfect example of the torture and ecstasy that football offers to me. Forest played Wednesday at the City Ground, a game between two teams I suspect are destined for mid-table finishes this year and not one any neutrals were going to get excited about. Those hoping to see good quality football were watching the much more significant Champions League semi-finals.

I’d got home after watching the new Muppets movie (review to come in the next couple of days), checking the score throughout the journey home. I’d nearly sworn at my friend in town when I saw Wednesday had gone 1-0 up from the penalty spot. Once home I interrupted a conversation with my dad to briefly celebrate us equalising just before half time. I didn’t even have time to get upstairs and switch on my laptop before that relief was replaced by anger, as I saw Wednesday had gone up the other end and scored almost immediately.

I spent the next 15 minutes sulking. I’d like to paint it as something grander, but that is the most accurate description. I was already picturing the faces of various work colleagues, grinning ear to ear about their victory.

If I was gloomy during half time, the opening 30 minutes of the second half saw me almost inconsolable. We were terrible, Wednesday sounded like they should have been 5 or 6-1 up and I had turned off the radio twice. I turned it back on within minutes each time, such is the masochistic element of being a football fan I guess. I’d spent a lot of time with my head in my hands, cursing the fates, forest and especially Darius Henderson for being so useless I am starting to think I would genuinely do a better job leading the Forest attack. I think I’d fall over less often when passed the ball at least.

I was glad I continued to listen, because the torment doesn’t end until 90 minutes whether I’m listening or not, and on 77 minutes we got a goal back. I shouted a little and punched the air more times than was perhaps necessary, but it’s difficult to celebrate effectively in an empty room.

Again such joy was short lived, within moments Forest’s captain had got himself sent off and the fledgling comeback seemed impossible again. I’m cursing Forest again, wondering why them seem to save their biggest cock-ups for the Sheffield teams (I suspect they don’t and it’s simply perspective making it seem so, but it hurts either way).

But oddly we finally start playing, it sounds like the players care. Then the Wednesday winger Jeremy Helan is lucky not to get sent off and I hear the Forest crowd respond to the perceived injustice and get behind the team. I’m still not optimistic, I’ve been a football fan too long for any of that naive nonsense.

Then on 87 minutes we win a free kick. Edge of the area. Jamie Paterson, one of the highlights in an otherwise depressing second half to the season, steps up and curls it in. This is why I’m a Forest fan, this is why I watch football. Because on a Tuesday night, after a long day at work and alone in my room, I shout so loud my throat still feels a little sore an hour later. I jump out my chair as the ball hits the net and I won’t sit down again until the final whistle.

It’s an insignificant goal. It doesn’t change our season, it doesn’t win us promotion, it doesn’t even win the game. But in the context, with the emotion that the game draws out of me, that equaliser is, for a few moments everything.

That is why I love the sport. Art can attempt to trigger emotions but they are always, to a degree contrived. Football can be cruel, often brutally so and almost always unforgiving of optimism. But it is also random and that unpredictability, the fact that even if you support a great team playing a lowly one, you are rarely 100% comfortable, is what makes it so addictive.

For the majority of fans, football is not a sport watched because they think they will win, it’s watched thinking they will lose but entertaining the hope that they might win, and therein lies the beauty. Nothing plays with my emotions like football. It might lack depth, but the immediacy and intensity of the feelings it triggers are second to none.

I spent the remaining 8 minutes of the game pacing my tiny room back and forth (it was more like spinning on the spot and by the end I was a little dizzy) because I couldn’t sit down. I actually, somewhat ridiculously but entirely unwittingly, fell to my knees when Paterson nearly won it for Forest with a run and shot.

There are great moments in the memories of all football fans, games that really mattered, goals that meant everything. But I think it is the mid-season games where very little is really at stake that define why we follow the sport. When a point gained from a poor match against a team that will probably finish only a place or two below you triggers such elation, you understand why you persevered through the 77 minutes of misery that preceded it.

Extended over several seasons that captures why we do what we do, why we care like we do. We put up with the anger, the depression, the ball of hot molten tension that sits in our gut on game day, for those moments of pure, unrestrained and unqualified moments of elation, regardless of whether they prove insignificant in the long term.

How Many Centre Midfielders Do You Need To Change A Lightbulb

In many ways reality can often be a disappointment when compared to the various fantasies and alternate realities we embrace on a regular basis.

Take my experiences with the football team I support, Nottingham Forest, this afternoon. I spent a good chunk of the afternoon playing on football manager, one of my many addictions, and I was enjoying guiding Forest to the third consecutive Premiership title, with a 4^th consecutive FA cup final and a 2^nd Champions League final to look forward to. The team is full of world beating stars and exciting young players.

Then I close the game and I’m faced with the real world. A world where Forest were 1-0 down in a pre-season friendly to Northampton (we’re now winning 2-1, but it’s hardly thrilling either way) and we’re being linked to George Boateng as a dramatic new signing. I have nothing against the 35 year old midfielder, he was a really good midfielder several years ago, but I don’t really see what he’s going to offer to us. He’s being signed (at this point it’s not been 100% confirmed but it looks likely to be completed in the next couple of days) in addition to Andy Reid and Jonathan Greening and I can’t say I’m overly inspired by the signings. Reid and Greening are really good players, but they’re central midfielders and that’s arguably the position that least needed strengthening.

We already have Cohen, Moussi, McGugan and Majewski who play there, all of which I really rate as players, so I can’t help but wonder why we need another 3 central midfielders. Especially when you consider that we still do not have a left back other than a youth team player who isn’t ready to be relied upon. We’ve also lost Earnshaw, the striker who has arguably been the most consistent striker we’ve had, which isn’t really saying all that much. We need a good consistent goal scorer, a left back and an out and out winger, preferably left footed.

Then again perhaps McClaren’s master plan involves us playing 2-7-1 and just passing it around in midfield for 90 minutes without actually getting anywhere, just boring other teams into submission.

Maybe though I’m just being pessimistic and cynical and in the next couple of weeks Boateng and co will be joined by some good, exciting signings. If not I can always escape back to Football Manager, where Forest are one of the best teams in Europe and the fans are treated to displays of footballing quality week in week out. It’s what the game is there for.

Today's song is from Elbow's 1st album, one which is really under rated and full of great songs that deserve a lot more recognition than they've got.

Not Penalties Again

It’s a feeling I’ve felt many summers, the disappointment complimented by a frustrating sense of inevitability. It’s the feeling of watching an England football team crash out of a major international tournament after showing some initial promise. I’m just used to the feeling being limited to years ending in an even number. But this evening I watched as the England Women’s team took on France in the quarter finals of the world cup and lost. On penalties.

It was a spirited performance by England, but in the end, as is so often the case with the men’s team, deep down most fans will know they were beaten by a superior team. The French side passed the ball better, controlled possession and created many more chances than their English counterparts. But in that stereotypically English style, it was a plucky and determined performance, one which for the majority of the second half looked like it would earn us a place in the semi-finals.

It wasn’t to be and an 88^th minute equaliser caused the game to extra time, where tired, cramping legs were forced to keep going, with striker Kelly Smith hobbling around the pitch with an injury which would have meant the end of her game had boss Hope Powell not already used all three substitutes. The half hour ticked by and we were faced with English football’s nemesis, the penalty shootout.

It started nicely enough with the French player missing the first penalty and Smith stepping up to ignore the pain and hammer the ball into the corner of the net before celebrating in true Stuart Pearce style with pumped fists and veins popping. From then on though the French penalties were assured and when England captain Faye White missed the 5^th penalty the game was lost, 1-1 after normal time and 4-3 on penalties.

The result is a shame because throughout the tournament there have been real moments of quality from some of the England players, with Smith, Ellen White, Karen Carney and Jill Scott all looking impressive. Sadly however they seem to, as a team, suffer from the same irritating tendency to panic in big games and lose any kind of passing rhythm or accuracy.

The bigger shame however is that the BBC really didn’t take advantage of having the rights to this Women’s World Cup, only screening the England matches (apart from the final which will be on BBC3 a week on Sunday) and they were shown via the red button, buried away where no one might accidentally stumble across them. The BBC had the opportunity to really make a statement about the rising profile of the women’s game, putting the England games on BBC 1 or 2 and I believe they should also have organised a nightly highlights show somewhere amongst their schedule, allowing fans to see not just England’s team, but also the standard of football produced by Germany, Brazil, Sweden and the U.S. They’ve dropped the ball by choosing to go for a bare minimum of coverage and hiding what little they did commit to.

Women’s football in the U.K is growing, with increased investment, a re-organised Premier league and a fully fledged Champions League to aspire to compete in, but TV coverage needs to increase hand in hand with the growing stature of the game, because it is through bringing the game to a wider audience and exposing more people to the fact that the standard is getting better and better, that more girls will start playing football for school teams and getting signed up for clubs, thus strengthening both the profile of the sport and the National team.

Canada have been chosen to host the 2015 World Cup, but I really hope England apply to host one soon, because International quality Women’s football being played in stadium’s around the country could be just what is needed to really bring the Women’s game closer to the Men’s in terms of attention and acceptance. It’s unlikely to get anywhere close within my lifetime perhaps, but I see no reason why in the next few years it couldn’t become a valued sister to the Men’s game, where during World Cups and European Championships games are shown in prime time slots on major channels, where newspaper and internet coverage is much more extensive and where a number of England’s star players become well known names.

Today's song is one I've not listened to in ages, but as with other songs that I've posted before, I stumbled across it while listening to a playlist I made on iTunes several months ago. It's called "Hell" and is by 'Tegan and Sara'.

1 Month To Go

We’re now at the point in the summer where we’re closer to the new football season than the old and so the speculation about who’s going to challenge for the title and who’s likely to struggle. One of the main things that people base those predictions on is the signings made and the staff appointed by any team.

What is worrying me is that after a less than impressive managerial appointment in Steve McClaren, the prospects for next year haven’t really improved from that low point. McClaren has come out with lots of nice soundbites, about his ‘vision’ for the team, his hopes to bring players through from the youth squads into the first team and the importance of signing a few experienced players to compliment the talented youngsters we have at our disposal.

We’ve only made one signing and it’s one that’s left me fairly undecided; resigning Andy Reid is an interesting choice, I like him as a player and still remember him offering some real moments of magic during his first spell at Forest, but there are some serious issues with his fitness both in terms of stamina and being injury prone. If McClaren can get him fit then I’m all for the signing I guess, Reid has a brilliantly cultured left foot, capable of passes, shots and crosses that are Premiership quality. Like with the new manager, I think the jury is going to have to remain out for the time being until we can see whether Forest are going to see the Andy Reid that justified being half of an £8m transfer earlier in his career, or the one who has gone from team to team in the past couple of years without really making an impression.

We’ve let McKenna and Adebola go to Hull and I agree with both decisions, they are two players who have been good servants to Forest for the past two seasons but who are definitely past their best; McKenna especially looked poor in the second half of this season, short on fitness and ideas.

McClaren seems keen to convince Earnshaw and Moussi to stay, wanting to offer them both new contracts. I definitely want to keep hold of Moussi because despite being injury prone, whenever he was given an extended run in the team he started to look like a real high quality player. Earnshaw I’d keep but only if he takes a pay cut; as I understand it he’s one of the highest earners at the club and frankly last season’s performances don’t justify that, he seems to have lost that clinical poacher quality to his play, being far more wasteful than usual, making watching him a frustrating experience and relying on him as our main goal scorer a risky proposition.

We, like every other promotion chasing team in the Championship, are being linked with plenty of players and it’s always hard to tell which ones have any degree of truth to them, but I hope we really are going all out in an effort to sign Maynard. If we get him, Reid, a decent left back and an experienced centre back than I’d consider that a good summer’s work and put us in a strong position as we approach the new season.

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I've been listening to these guys a lot today, they feature quite heavily in a film i watched last night, 'Going the Distance', which i'll probably review tomorrow.

I'll Fetch My Umbrella

I've read more than my share of press releases this week, having just finished 5 days of work experience at the Leicester Mercury, and some were almost painfully dull, pretty much beyond turning into interesting news articles, but none frustrated or depressed me as much as a 46 word press release I stumbled across this afternoon.

It was on the Nottingham Forest official website and the first half read:

Nottingham Forest have announced this afternoon that they have terminated the contract of manager Billy Davies with immediate effect.

Now this didn't come as a particularly big surprise but it does frustrate me. There's been plenty of speculation as to whether Davies had a future at the club after another season of bickering with the board and eventual disappointment, falling short in the play offs for the second season running.

I myself wrote a post on the topic a few weeks ago and since writing nothing had happened to change my mind that he deserved another 6 months in the job and the full backing of the board. That second part was crucial for two reasons; firstly because our team desperately needs strengthening in several areas if we are to stand a real chance of promotion next year and secondly because if Davies made a few signings he would no longer be able to use that as an excuse and we'd finally have seen whether the problem was a lack of signings or Billy's tactics and attitude. Personally I think it's probably a bit of both but I'll never know for sure now.

Like I said, I feel Davies had earned a few more months to prove himself and Forest as serious contenders but he has spent the past two years publicly mouthing off at every opportunity about the Forest board and being a manager of a football club isn't any different to other lines of employment in that openly and constantly criticising your employer isn't a strong long term strategy.

However part of the reason that I was happy to give him a bit longer was that the market isn't exactly over flowing with replacements that would be improvements on the diminutive Scotsman. There are really only two managers out there who are currently unemployed and were even vaguely likely to be tempted to take up the City Ground post. First up was Chris Hughton, who I feel, as do an awful lot of Newcastle fans, was awfully treated by the Geordie club's owner Mike Ashley. He's a good tactician and an excellent man manager as well as coming across as a true gentlemen in all interviews; exactly the kind of guy I want associated with the club I love. The other option I'd have accepted would be considered ridiculous if it wasn't for his history with the club; Martin O'Neill. The man is a Forest legend for his time at the club as a player and I've read several accounts claiming that he wanted to come and manage the club around the turn of the millennium but couldn't reach an agreement with the board at that time.

Either of those taking the job would have made me feel that perhaps getting rid of Davies was the right move but it doesn't seem that's what the club have in mind.

That brings me to the second half of the press release and the part which really depressed me:

They have also revealed that they are now talking to Steve McClaren about The City Ground vacancy.

The Club will be making no further comment at this stage.

If as seems almost certain McClaren does takes the job (several papers are reporting it as almost a done deal with him due to be unveiled tomorrow) i can't help but see it as at best a sideways move and probably a backwards step. I want to try and reserve judgement, in no small part because initially i wasn't over the moon about Davies appointment 2 and half years ago and he proved me wrong, but i can't deny that my gut reaction reading that news was not positive.

I remember the desperately poor qualifying campaign for Euro 2008 all too well and I have no desire to see that kind of football played every Saturday afternoon by the team I support. I'm repeatedly reminding myself that he has had success at Middlesborough, though as I remember it came while playing painfully dull football, and FC Twente, where I have no idea how they played. I guess what it comes down to is that it's an appointment I just can't muster any excitement about. I can't shake the feeling that the board have decided to go for a manager that will cause them fewer headaches rather than one that will necessarily make us any more likely to gain promotion to the Premier League but only time will tell.

I've written before about the power Nottingham Forest have over me, their ability to make me both incredibly happy and incredibly sad and today's news has highlighted that; in 46 words they managed to make an already gloomy Sunday afternoon become depressing.

Today's song i may have posted before, i know i've definitely posted songs by this band a few times before, but they've sound tracked writing this blog and i am really loving both of their albums.

Hype That Was Deserved?

Something very, very rare has happened this weekend. A schedule of football matches actually came remarkably close to living up to the hype. Out of the 4 finals i wrote about on Saturday, 3 produced excellent games and the other one would have been considered good any other weekend.

Stevenage 1-0 Torquay

Stevenage managed to get their second promotion in 2 years and secure their first season in League One with a win by a single goal. John Mousinho's first half strike from outside the area was enough to settle it and it was a goal to grace any occasion, hit beautifully into the far bottom corner in front of the Stretford End at Old Trafford. It's always a remarkable effort to get back to back promotions at any level, but to end your inaugural season in League Two with another promotion is a truly worthy of any football fan's respect.

Barcelona 3-1 Manchester United

Pretty much everyone seemed to be in agreement that United were the underdogs going into the Champions League final on Saturday evening, but i doubt many expected Barcelona to win so comfortably. The most remarkable thing about the final was the way in which the Spanish champions seemed on such a different level from their English opponents. For long periods of the game it resembled an F.A cup game between a Premiership side and a League One side in terms of the dominance of possession they enjoyed and the comparative assurance when passing the ball between them.

United battled admirably and the gulf in class is definitely a comment on the sheer quality of Barcelona rather than anything the Manchester side were inherently doing wrong. Barcelona passed the ball around them in a way that at times seemed laughably easy; i can't remember seeing United outplayed to that degree, ever, not even in the 2009 final involving the same two teams, which Barca won 2-0.

Man U started quite well, looking threatening for the first few minutes and pressing the Barcelona players when they had the ball, but after that the trio of Messi, Xavi and Iniesta got into their stride and started passing and dribbling their way around the core of the United team. Messi especially looked a different class, several times making talented defensive players like Vidic, Ferdinand and Carrick look almost amateurish.

The score could quite easily have been more heavily weighted in Barcelona's favour, more than once they had a player only a toes length away from burying the ball past Van Der Sar. United didn't help themselves though; for both Messi and Villa's goals the Red Devil's defenders backed off and allowed them enough time to pick their spot, something you simply can't allow to happen when you play Barcelona.

I try to avoid getting quite as hyperbolic in my descriptions of Barcelona as a lot of people become; they are far too prone to diving and play acting, they surround the referee at every opportunity and as highlighted by some of the El Classico games this year they are quite happy to lower themselves into scrappy, gamesmanship heavy tactics when presented with a team who just seek to frustrate them.

However Saturday's game was an example of the kind of football they're capable of and the reason that pursuit of balanced coverage can be a little hard; when they play to their potential there is simply no better side to watch. They move the ball around with such ease and accuracy, yet unlike Arsenal, have a devastating end product and are solid defensively. In games like the Champions League final they tick every box you could come up with as desirable in a football team.

They completely deserved their victory on Saturday and it is slightly tough to see how anyone is going to make up the gap in quality over the next 12 months in order to deny Barcelona a 3rd success in 4 years.

Huddersfield 0-3 Peterborough

The scoreline from the League One play off final is, as scorelines often are, quite misleading. For 77 minutes the game was an entertaining and tight affair with the impetus switching from one side to the other ever 20 or so minutes. There were long periods where Peterborough seemed unable to get a foot hold in the game or bring their creative players (Boyd, Mackail-Smith and McCann) into play.

However in the 78th minute midfielder Rove flicked in a McCann free kick and sent the Peterborough fans into delirious celebrations. That joy hadn't even begun to subside before Mackail-Smith's deflected strike curled into the bottom corner; the Posh haven't been a team famed for their tight defence or negative attitude at any point this season but this played in their favour as they attacked again immediately from the kick off following their opening goal and went on to get the second.

Huddersfield looked beaten from the moment the second goal went in and they never really seemed likely to get back into it and what little hope the large crowd of fans they'd brought with them might still have harboured was erased by a freekick by midfielder Grant McCann that Beckham would have been proud of.

It seems possible that Peterborough may be establishing themselves as a yo-yo club between the Championship and League One and if they can keep the core of the team together there's no reason to believe that will change any time soon; the majority of their side is too good for the third division but not good enough for the Championship. I'd be surprised if Mackail-Smith is still wearing the blue of Peterborough next season but if he does leave then the Posh's fans should wave him farewell with gratitude as it is his goals that have seen them promoted.

Reading 2-4 Swansea

A Wembley showdown between the two best attacking sides in the Championship was on paper always likely to be a great game, which meant i sat down expecting to see a disappointing and scrappy 1-0. However, as with the weekend as a whole, this game was every bit as entertaining as i'd hoped it would be.

Swansea went 1-0 up against the run of play with a Scott Sinclair penalty and followed that with a Peterborough rivalling quick second from the same player. Reading had started well and looked the more comfortable in the opening 20 minutes but that good opening was rendered pointless when defender Khizanishvili floored Dyer in the penalty area and Sinclair stepped up to confidently slot home. Almost directly from the centre Dobbie outstripped former Leeds left back Harte down the right and crossed for Sinclair to slot home.

A little before half time Swansea got their third through Dobbie when he stroked a half volley home from around the penalty spot and made sure the Swans fan's spent the half time break dreaming of the Premiership.

However Reading started the second half incredibly well, spurred on by what i can only assume was an intense half time team talk from manager Brian McDermott. Through an own goal by Joe Allen and a towering header from Royal's centre back Matt Mills it seemed like the miracle comeback might actually be on.

They continued to press the Swansea defence but yet again were let down by a foolish tackle from Griffin on Borini that gave away a second penalty, which Sinclair buried in the corner of the goal.

Apart from a couple of headed opportunities Reading never really threatened to drag themselves back into the game yet again and Swansea got to celebrate promotion to the Premiership. Their place is deserved both for how they played in the 3 games of the Play Offs and the quality of their performances throughout the season, but it was tough on Reading who managed such an exciting second half to the season.

Today's song is chosen for 3 reasons; firstly it's simply a great tune, secondly it's by a band i'm hoping to see this summer and thirdly hearing it reminds me of one of my favourite gig based memories.

4 Finals in 3 Days

It's a massive weekend of football, both domestic and European and there'll be a lot of very happy and a similar number of utterly depressed fans by the time the next 4 days have passed.

Obviously the centre piece of the weekend is the Champions League final at Wembley tonight, between Manchester United and Barcelona, and i'll get to that in a bit but there are 3 other very important games this weekend which will fail to get the recognition and attention they deserve because of UEFA's flagship competition.

Playing as i type is the League Two Play off between Torquay and Stevenage. Due to the CL final being played at Wembley, the Play Off finals for Leagues One and Two have been moved to Old Trafford. Apparently a crash on the M6 has caused a large number of Stevenage fans to be delayed in getting to the ground but even so there is a decent atmosphere in the ground despite a nervy start from both sides. Obviously promotion would be an incredible result for either of these teams but as a neutral and fan of the underdog i'm rooting for Stevenage as it would be the first time they'd played in League One, after only gaining promotion to the Football League last summer. Both sides finished the season in good form and got through the semi-finals moderately easily but finals are exciting one off games and form in the league season or even the semi-finals can often bare no relation to performances in the big game.

Tomorrow it is Peterborough and Huddersfield's turn at Old Trafford in the League One Final and that one has a lot of potential. I've seen both sides play a couple of times this year and they're both entertaining, attacking sides. Peterborough especially have been one of the best sides to watch this season from a neutral's perspective scoring for fun but also leaking goals far too frequently for the fans or their manager Darren Ferguson's liking. The two semi-finals these teams were involved in provided a total of 15 goals in the 4 games and there's no reason to believe the final will be any different. A lot of the attention of the media and several Championship managers will be on Craig Mackail-Smith, top scorer in League One with 27 goals and the prolific striker is in my opinion likely to be playing Championship football next season regardless of whether Peterborough are promoted or not.

On Monday it's the Championship's turn when Swansea take on Reading at Wembley in another game with the potential to be a great footballing spectacle. Swansea are a great side, playing high quality passing football and in Sinclair, Dyer and Borini have 3 potential match winners. For Reading a lot will depend on how well top scorer Long and key creative outlet Jobi McAnuff play and whether Jimmy Kebe plays at all. Those 3 players have been crucial all season, particularly in their charge up the table after Christmas. I'm going to be supporting Swansea on Monday both because they were easily the 3rd best side over the course of the season and because they beat Forest in the semis and i try to support the team that knocks us out of a competition, unless they're Leeds, Derby or either Sheffield team. I think Swansea may prove to be a little bit too good for Reading but as always in this kind of game a lot will simply depend on which side manages to emulate their league form in this final match.

However, sat in between all these Football League games is the Champions League Final this evening and the media attention is going into hyper drive as the hours tick down towards the 19.45 kick off. Barcelona are favourites with bookies and pundits but Manchester United should never be dismissed before big games. One of my earliest football memories is the 1999 final between United and Bayern Munich where after 89 minutes it seemed almost certain to be the German sides day as they were leading 1-0, but those two desperately late goals by Sheringham and Solskjaer sent every Manchester United fan and a fair few neutrals including myself into hysterical celebrations.

However the Barcelona side they face tonight is in my opinion a much better side than the Munich one while United's side is arguably weaker than in 99 when they had Schmeichel, Giggs, Cole, Yorke, Beckham, Scholes etc all in their prime. This United team has never quite reached the levels of previous Ferguson teams but they're still a great side and in Hernandez and Rooney they have an incredibly dangerous and hard working strike force. They're going to have to use that hard working attitude throughout because Barcelona will keep the ball from them for long periods and any lapses in attention or effort can be abruptly punished by the creative triumvirate of Messi, Xavi and Iniesta. Obviously a lot of attention will be on Messi and as a neutral i'm hoping he has a great game because on his day there is no better player to watch, but i suspect the match winner/man of the match will be someone else, perhaps Villa or Hernandez.

At half time the Stevenage-Torquay game is 1-0 to Stevenage after a superb strike from distance by their centre midfielder Mousinho; here's to a whole heap more goals and incidents before the weekend is over.

To finish this blog i'm going to post a song that i forgot to mention yesterday in my post about the music i was loving; i've known about these guys for a while and am still not that convinced by them over the course of a whole album, but this is a great song.

Forest's Fortunes

So the 2010-11 season ended in frustration for Nottingham Forest, much like the previous year and now Davies has, even amongst his most loyal supporters, one more season to get us promoted before he has to go.

I can never fully decide what to make of Billy Davies. I can fully understand why a lot of other team's supporters don't like the combative Scotsman; especially Preston fans who argue that Billy can only ever be a mid table Championship manager with pretensions of grandeur. On the other hand i think Derby fans blame Billy for being the record holding worst team in Premier League history, he was partly responsible in that he made some bad signings (£3m for Claude Davis stands out) but he was only given 14 games and actually earned more points in that period than Paul Jewell managed in the other 24. It is also acknowledge that most people, including Davies didn't believe Derby were ready for promotion to the Premiership and so he, and they, became a victim of his own success.

I have some serious issues with him as a tactician; too often he sticks with favourite players even once they're past their best (McKenna) and sticks with formations and plans that aren't working for far too long (the first leg against Swansea), mistakes which have cost us before and could cost us again.

He also annoys me with some of his press relations, coming across as a real miserable guy, always winging and carrying out squabbles in public which could easily be dealt with behind closed doors.

However i will also say that he definitely deserves another 6 months, perhaps a full season, at Forest. Considering the position we were in when he took over from Colin Calderwood and the kind of football we'd got used to under him, Megson and Kinnear, he deserves praise and respect for where we are now. We were in the relegation zone and looking fairly unlikely to escape when Davies took over and not only did he keep us in the Championship but has followed that with two seasons of drama and excitement as we fought for promotion to the Premiership. Considering i spent 3 years as a season ticket holder in League One i'm not going to be complaining too much about losing in the Championship Play Offs to good Blackpool and Swansea teams.

As far as our prospects for next season are concerned, a lot will hinge on the degree to which we are able to strengthen over the summer. We need a permanent left back, It's now 3 seasons since we've had a consistent, permanent left back and it's getting ridiculous. We can't keep relying on loan signings (Shorey, Bertrand or Konchesky) or playing players out of position (Cohen, Gunter and Lynch) and for a lot of Forest fans the acquisition of a left back will be considered one of the markers for our intentions for next year. We need to get a consistent goal scorer in as well; McGugan finished the season as our top scorer and despite his hero status Earnshaw simply isn't reliable or sharp enough any more to be our big hope in attack, 9 goals from your talisman of a striker simply isn't good enough. Boyd could be the answer but only if Davies can get him fully fit (a strength of Davies', you only have to look at the transformation, both physical and attitude wise, that McGugan has gone through to see his influence) and we sign a good, natural left winger to provide accurate crosses.

A left back, a left winger and a striker are the bare minimum we need, but i'd also like to see a central defensive midfielder to replace McKenna who really shouldn't play any more and Moussi is great on his day but too injury prone to rely on in my opinion. A second additional striker wouldn't hurt as i really don't rate the majority of the strikers we have currently as good enough for a promotion push next year and definitely not up to Premiership standard, Findley may prove to be good enough but have no way of knowing yet.

I hope Davies stays but it wouldn't surprise me if he left, or if he was at least partly to blame for his own departure after annoying the board once too often.

My ideal/dream/naive first team for next year would be this, in a diamond kind of formation:

GK: Camp

RB: Gunter

CB: Morgan
CB: Chambers

LB: Bertrand/Mattock

RM: Anderson

DCM: Greening (We've been linked with him a lot and at Championship level he'd be very solid)

LM: Treacy (Looked very good for Preston this year)

ACM: McGugan

ST: Boyd

ST: Findley

Today's song is one i'd forgotten how much i liked until i listened to the album again during a train journey (one of my main times for re-discovering albums).

Goals And Drama Galore

Today's blog is just going to be a quick round up of a few football related stories/issues.

First up i have to congratulate Swansea and Reading on getting to the Play Off final. As much as i'd have loved Forest to get there in Swansea's place, they were the deserved victors, both over the course of the two legs and during the season as a whole.

It's frustrating because for the second half of the game on Monday we looked at least the match of Swansea and so nearly took the game to extra time, but over the 180 minutes Swansea deserved to win. They play some really nice football and in Sinclair, Dyer and Borini have arguably the best front line in the league. I'll write a more extensive post about where i think Forest go from here at some point over the next couple of weeks but for now i just want to focus on praising Swansea.

Reading also definitely deserve their place in the final after seeing off Cardiff relatively easily on Tuesday. Shane Long is a real threat and Cardiff failed to make their dominance of possession count so should have little in the way of complaints about being eliminated. It was disappointing to see sections of the Cardiff fans react so poorly to the result, spoiling the last few minutes of the game by throwing flags and other items at any Reading player who went too close to the side of the pitch. Losing in the Play Off semi-finals is a horrible feeling, believe me i know, but if as happened to both them and Forest this week, they are beaten by a side which is simply better then you have to show a bit of grace in defeat.

In League One Huddersfield are through to the final after a great two-legged tie against Bournemouth. It finished 4-4 on aggregate before the Terriers won the penalty shoot out 4-2. It was tough on Bournemouth who played exceptionally well, especially considering they were only promoted to League One last year, but they can still be very proud of the season they've had.

The second game concludes tonight with MK Dons travelling to Peterborough to try and protect a 3-2 lead. Peterborough finished the league with the highest number of goals scored anywhere in the top 4 leagues of English football with 106 goals, but seeing as they also conceded more goals than anyone in the top 6 of League One it seems almost certain that they'll attack MK Dons from the very start.

I'm personally looking forward to both those Play Off Finals as Swansea V Reading and Huddersfield V Peterborough/MK Dons are games with an awful lot of promise and plenty of attacking potential. So it'll probably be two dire 1-0 wins then.

One final point is that West Ham keep talking about trying to get a new manager in sooner rather than later but i think that's a mistake. Surely in their current position it's better to take their time and make sure they get the best man for the job rather than a panicked replacement. On that note I think Martin O'Neill and Paul Lambert would be fools to go there if offered the job, they're both good quality managers with better prospects than that and there seems to be some real issues with how the club is run at board level (just look at the whole fiasco earlier this year where even Avram Grant thought he was being replaced and the deals were done, only for him to see out the season as manager).

The song today is from a band i've mentioned on here before. They're called 'The Crookes' after the area of Sheffield that they formed in and they've got a good traditional Indie sound with some songs showcasing a very 'Smiths'-esque sound. That isn't particularly apparent on this song but over the course of an album is clear to hear.

A City United In Victory

I try to avoid writing about football all the time in this blog but i thought i'd wrap up several separate football related stories at once.

1. The Play Offs

As i mentioned in an earlier post, Thursday night was a disappointment. I may have taken a 0-0 draw in the first leg before hand but once the Swansea left back got sent off in the first minute we really needed to take advantage of the opportunity that was given to us, but we failed to. We played effectively 90 minutes, at home, against 10 men and not only did we fail to get ourselves a lead going into the second leg but for long periods we failed to look particularly dangerous.

It was frustrating to watch, especially in the first half, when it would have been perfectly understandable if a late comer had believed Forest were the team with 10 men. We failed to utilise the space the extra man should have afforded us and looked worryingly short on ideas. Swansea's passing was so much sharper and more accurate than Forest's and if the Nottingham side is to get through to the final they're going to have to dramatically improve on their all round performance.

For a 0-0 the game wasn't short on incidents and now i've watched some highlights of the game i feel more able to comment on them. I had a great view from where i was sat in Trent End Upper but it's tough to see the fine points of some of the big incidents from that high up.

First up, the red card was definitely a red card; it was a high challenge, studs up and dangerous. McGugan played it for all it was worth, i won't defend him on that, but the tackle itself merited a red card, especially when you consider some of the red cards we've received this season (Cohen against Leeds springs to mind). Secondly i reckon we should have had a penalty in the second half; Tate deliberately raised his hands to make himself as big a target as possible and so when he blocked Cohen's drive, the ref should have given a penalty.

However i'm not using that as an excuse for the result, regardless of any penalty decision we should have won 2 or 3 nil against 10 men at home. The Play Offs are rightly considered a lottery, results have a habit of confounding pundits and bookies, but i can't see us going to the Liberty Stadium and winning against the team with the best home record in the league.

2. Manchester United

So, a little before 3 o'clock this afternoon, Manchester United were confirmed as Champions. It's been looking like a certainty for quite a while but, after Wayne Rooney equalised from the penalty spot against Blackburn, it's now official, they've over taken Liverpool as the team with the most English first division titles. Despite not having played anywhere near their best this year they definitely deserved the title; as much because neither Chelsea or Arsenal could come close to anything resembling consistent.

United have made probably the signing of the season in Hernandez; he's settled into Premiership football in a way very few foreign signings manage and i agree with the majority of pundits who reckon he is only going to get better. He seems to already be forming a good partnership with Rooney, definitely a stronger one than the Berbatov-Rooney one and that will be crucial to any future success United want to achieve.

I'll be a little surprised if United manage to win against Barcelona in the Champions League final, Barcelona have to be considered favourites, especially when you consider that performance wise this has been an almost sub-par season for United, but United are nothing if not admirably stubborn and they will put up a good fight, perhaps they will be good enough.

3. Manchester City

Two and a bit hours after United were crowned champions City won in the F.A cup final against Stoke City. As with their cross city neighbours there victory was deserved; City dominated for the entire 90 minutes against a Stoke side that never seemed to get close to the kind of performance they've been showing in the league, certainly a long way from the way they played against Arsenal a week ago.

City should probably have been in the lead long before Yaya Toure hammered home following a bit of a scramble inside the box (below) but they struggled to break down a resolute defence and the two times that they did manage to do so, first Sorensen saved excellently from Balotelli's curling drive and then Silva somehow sent it over when it looked easier to score.

It's a shame that their performance wasn't up to their usual standards but it shouldn't be allowed to detract from what has been an excellent season for Stoke and their manager Tony Pulis> Their place in the final was well earned and their fans are a credit to them, staying long after the final whistle to applaud their team and give Man City a fitting atmosphere to lift the trophy in.

4. Bournemouth v Huddersfield

The two Championship play off semi-finals may have ended 0-0 but at least the first of the League One offerings involved a couple of goals. The first leg ended 1-1 and out of the two Bournemouth are probably the ones likely to be feeling the most frustrated as they had a penalty saved and dominated possession throughout but failed to create enough serious goal scoring chances. That tie is, like the two Championship ones, finely poised ahead of it's conclusion on Wednesday.

Today's song is, fittingly for the final part of my 7 day selection of classic songs, my favourite of the bunch.

Adventures and Anticipation

Today's blog post was, unsurprisingly, going to be about the anguish of the Championship Play Offs as a Forest fan, but the BBC's Jonathan Stevenson beat me to it with a really good blog post which captured the majority of my feelings so far as this end of season competition. Seeing as he wrote about what i was going to and did a better job of it than i probably would have i'm not going to spend too much more time talking about the Play Offs.

However i will mention two reasons why these games cause me to feel quite so nervous that are more personal. Firstly, the 2003 defeat against Sheffield United was agonising for all Forest fans, but for me the actual game was the easier part; I'm from Sheffield and the next day i had to walk into my school where it felt like everyone knew i was a Forest fan. It wasn't just the United fans who spent the day mocking me, but nearly everyone who was a football fan. The United fans were crowing about their victory, the Wednesday fans were having a go at me for Forest's failure to beat their near rivals and the neutrals were laughing at me for the manner in which we threw away such a commanding position in the game. It's safe to say that day ranks amongst the worst memories i have of school.

Fast forward four years and i can explain the second reason i have a particular dislike for the Play Offs above and beyond the average football fan. That mid May night in 2007 when we capitulated so spectacularly against Yeovil was also the night of my Year 11 Prom. A night which should be about celebrating secondary school being over, about wearing a suit for the first time and about saying goodbye to friends who wouldn't be returning for the Sixth Form instead became dominated by the texts being sent to me from an Uncle who was at the game, texts which sent me into a deeper and deeper depression. As always the United and Wednesday fans were unsympathetic to my plight which didn't exactly help matters.

So it's fair to say as the clock ticks away towards tonight's first leg match against Swansea at the City Ground there's a lot of fear wrapped up in the anticipation of the night.

The rest of this blog post is going to be a film review.

Adventureland (Mottola, 2009)

Now i'd seen this film once before but i hadn't paid enough attention at that time to give a fair review. It had been my A-Level results day and i was too wrapped up in exactly the kind of teenage dramas that 'Adventureland' explores to do the film justice. In fact my memories of the film were pretty negative; in the mood we were in we'd have been better off watching something like Transformers, a film where a limited attention span is almost beneficial.

Watching it last night though i realised i'd been very wrong about the film. Mottola's second film after 'Superbad' is a semi-autobiographical homage to growing up in the 80's. It avoids the over the top clichés of 'Hot Tub Time Machine', instead deciding to focus on the more timeless elements of making that step from being a teenager to something resembling adulthood.

It's the story of James Brennah (Jesse Eisenberg), whose aspirations of holidaying around Europe before taking his place at an Ivy League School are dashed by his dad having to take a major step down career-wise. Suddenly faced with having to finance his own college experiences he reluctantly gets a job working at the local, run down theme park, Adventureland.

Much like 'How to Lose Friends and Alienate People' which i reviewed a few days ago, it's in some ways pretty standard genre fare; teen finds himself in a world he isn't used to, makes friends, learns lessons and most importantly meets 'the' girl (Kristen Stewart).

It's the subtlety of the writing, the quality of the acting and the realistic nature of the central characters that marks this film out. What could have been a generic teen comedy turns out to be something sweeter, funnier and more complex than most comparable films. A lot of that is down to the performances of Eisenberg and Stewart. I'm a fan of Eisenberg, he's also great in 'Zombieland' and 'The Social Network', and at least so far as the two 'land' movies are concerned he's managed to create characters who are likeable because they're so relatable for the majority of the audience. He plays guys who are more awkward than they care to admit, less cool than they wish they were and more confused than even they realise; most teenagers can understand those character traits. Stewart on the other hand i wasn't sure i would like but she is great here; freed from the constant moping that makes up her performances in the Twilight movies she really comes into her own here. She perfectly captures the combination of attitude and insecurity that pretty much sums up being a teenager and you can both believe Eisenberg's character would fall for her and the self-made obstacles that get in the way. There's a complexity and depth to the performance which i really didn't know she was capable of, but that's more my fault for judging her on one role rather than giving her a chance.

It's a heart warming Indie rom-com with some great laugh out loud moments and a brilliant alternative 70/80's soundtrack (Lou Reed, The New York Dolls, The Replacements and The Cure all feature), i'd definitely recommend it.

4/5

Seeing as i've just mentioned them in the film review and they fit within my theme for the week, this seems a pretty appropriate song choice to finish this post with: