Ipswich Town vs Nottingham Forest 
Saturday 19th November 2016 – 15:00
Portman Road
Opening Thought – Jamma
A lot has happened since the Blues last took to the field, some things less predictable – Donald Trump’s victory, perhaps – than others – I’m thinking the outcome of England v Scotland (sorry Marko!
). Just about the one predictably unpredictable thing about the world we live in seems to be Ipswich Town’s fluctuating fortunes! It’s a well-worn phrase amongst Town supporters – ‘Oh, we’ll probably go and beat Real Madrid after losing to AFC Sudbury reserves’ (no disrespect to AFC Sudbury) – but not many will have given us a chance of getting a result at Hillsborough after the previous week’s capitulation against Rotherham. From the doom and gloom around the two dropped points against the Millers to the euphoric celebrations that greeted Luke Chambers’ late winner against the Owls, it was a microcosm of all the emotions of being a football fan in the space of seven days. So the question remains: how can we go from being the first team to concede a point at home to Rotherham to emulating what only promotion-chasing Leeds and Brighton had managed so far this season in coming away from Hillsborough with 3 points? Did we really play that much better than the previous Saturday, or was it more a case of getting a break with Chambers’ instinctive – not to say completely inadvertent – header? We were certainly more solid in defence, and attacked with more purpose, but the margins were once again very fine between victory and defeat. For me, a lot of it comes down to another popular cliché, of any team being able to beat any other in the Championship. It may have been ‘more acceptable’ for some if the last two results had been reversed, and we had followed up a win over Rotherham with a battling away point against Wednesday. But, as I was discussing with a Manchester United fan recently, it’s precisely that unpredictability which makes our league so exciting. Surely we wouldn’t have it any other way, would we? The competitiveness of the Championship does mean that the landscape can shift very quickly. It seems like after every recent setback we are looking over our shoulder fearing a potential relegation scrap, while 3 points have us all of a sudden eyeing up the top 6! With the exception of Newcastle and Brighton at the top and the marooned Millers at the bottom, there would appear to be very little to choose between the rest of us. Take Huddersfield and Burton, two sides who we faced at Portman Road within three weeks of each other recently. You would have been hard pushed to say which team was top of the league at the time and which was in the lower reaches of the table, with the Brewers looking just as competent in their build-up play. The difference was that the Terriers managed to take one of their chances, while Burton squandered a number of openings, which has been a feature of many of their games. Another example of a team that is so near yet so far is the club that we come up against this weekend, Nottingham Forest. The Reds are one of a number of so-called ‘bigger clubs’ – alongside fellow Midlands sides Derby, Aston Villa and Wolves – who would have expected to find themselves higher up the table. As pointed out by Mike below, Forest have one of the most potent attacks in the division, as the joint fourth top scorers. However, they also possess one of the leakiest defences, having conceded the second highest number of goals. With Town almost the exact reverse in 2016/17 – tight at the back but lacking a goal threat – this could make for an intriguing match-up. Having maintained a lengthy unbeaten run at Hillsborough last time out, Saturday provides us with the chance to continue a similarly impressive home sequence against the Tricky Trees...
The Opposition - Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest F.C. was founded in 1865 shortly after their neighbours Notts County, thought to be the world's oldest surviving professional association football club. They joined the Football Alliance in 1889 and then entered The Football League. In 1890, Forest moved to the Town Ground, playing in the first ever match to use goal nets.
Forest claimed their first major honour when they won the 1898 FA Cup, beating Derby County.
The club spent most of the first half of the twentieth century in the Second Division. In 1949, they were relegated to the Third Division but were promoted two years later as champions.
Forest regained First Division status in 1957 and won the FA Cup for a second time in 1959.
After being runners-up in the league and cup semi-finalists in 1967, Forest were relegated from the First Division in 1972.
Forest were considered an underachieving club by English league standards until the mid-1970s, when Brian Clough and his assistant Peter Taylor took the helm at the club. Clough became the most successful manager in the history of Nottingham Forest.
Nottingham Forest won promotion to the top division at the end of the 1976–77 season after finishing third in the Second Division, but no-one could have predicted how successful Clough's team would be over the next three seasons. Nottingham Forest became one of the few teams (and the most recent team to date) to win the English First Division Championship a year after winning promotion from the English Second Division (1977–78 season).
In 1978–79, Forest went on to win the European Cup by beating Malmö and retained the trophy in 1979–80, beating Hamburg.
They also won the European Super Cup and two League Cups. Besides Peter Shilton, key players of that era included right-back Viv Anderson (the first black player to play for the England national team), midfielder Martin O'Neill, striker Trevor Francis and a trio of Scottish internationals: winger John Robertson, midfielder Archie Gemmill and defender Kenny Burns. The club reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup in 1983–84 but were knocked out by Anderlecht in controversial circumstances. It later emerged that, in the second leg, the Belgian club had bribed the referee but the referee in question had since died in a car accident and was hence not able to be held to account.
Nottingham Forest's next significant trophy came in 1989, when they beat Luton Town in the League Cup final. For most of the season, they had been hopeful of completing a unique domestic treble, but were beaten into third place in the League by Arsenal and Liverpool and lost to Liverpool in the replay of the FA Cup semi-final, originally held at Hillsborough, where 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death.
Clough's side retained the League Cup in 1990, when they beat Oldham Athletic, and were runners-up in the 1991 FA Cup final.
Brian Clough's 18-year reign as manager ended in May 1993, when Forest were relegated from the inaugural Premier League after 16 illustrious years of top-flight football which had seen a league title, two European Cups and four League Cups.
Frank Clark, who had been a left-back in Nottingham Forest's 1979 European Cup-winning team, returned to the club as manager in May 1993 and was able to achieve a return to the Premier League when the club finished Division One runners-up at the end of the 1993–94 season.
Forest finished third in 1994–95 and qualified for the UEFA Cup – their first entry to European competition in the post-Heysel era. The club reached the quarter-finals, the furthest an English team reached in UEFA competitions that season. The 1996–97 season became a relegation battle and Clark left the club in December.
34-year-old captain Stuart Pearce was installed as player-manager and in March 1997 he was replaced on a permanent basis by Dave Bassett. Forest were unable to avoid relegation and finished the season in bottom place. They won promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt, being crowned Division One champions in 1997–98. However, Bassett was sacked in January 1999, with Ron Atkinson replacing him.
Ron Atkinson was unable to prevent Forest from once again slipping back into the Football League with a succession of poor results.
David Platt succeeded Atkinson and spent approximately £12 million on players, which yielded two mid-table finishes before he departed to manage England U21s.
Paul Hart became the Reds' new boss just two hours after the departure of Platt. Despite off-field difficulties, due to the ITV Digital collapse, Forest finished 2002–03 in sixth place and qualified for the play-offs, losing to Sheffield United in the semi-finals. A poor league run the following season led to the sacking of Hart in February 2004 in order to prevent relegation.
Joe Kinnear was subsequently appointed and led the club to 14th place in the final league table. The 2004–05 season saw Forest drop into the relegation zone once more, leading to Kinnear's resignation in December 2004.
Following the brief caretaker stewardship of Mick Harford, Gary Megson took charge of Forest in January 2005 but failed to stave off relegation as the club ended the season second from bottom in 23rd place, becoming the first European Cup winners ever to fall into their domestic third division.
In Forest's first season in the English third tier in 54 years, Megson survived until February 2006, when he left by "mutual consent", leaving the club only four points above the relegation zone. Frank Barlow and Ian McParland took temporary charge for the remainder of the 2005–06 season, engineering a six-match winning run and remaining unbeaten in ten games, taking 28 points from a possible 39, and narrowly missing out on a play-off place as they finished in 7th place.
Colin Calderwood was appointed as Forest’s twelfth manager in thirteen years in May 2006 and became the longest-serving manager since Frank Clark. The Calderwood era was ultimately one of rebuilding. In his first season, he led the club to the play-offs, and achieved automatic promotion in his second year at the club. Calderwood's side struggled to adapt to life in the Championship in the 2008–09 campaign and, having been unable to steer Forest out of the relegation zone, Calderwood was sacked following a Boxing Day defeat.
Under the temporary stewardship of John Pemberton, Forest finally climbed out of the relegation zone, and Billy Davies was confirmed as the new manager on 1 January 2009. They avoided relegation as they finished 19th in the Championship, securing survival with one game to go.
The 2009–10 campaign was a successful one for Forest, with the club holding a top three position for the majority of the season, narrowly missing out on automatic promotion to West Bromwich Albion, and then losing to Blackpool in the play-offs.
The 2010–11 season saw Forest finish in sixth place in the Championship table, putting them into a play-off campaign for the fourth time in the space of eight years. This time around, they lost to Swansea over the two play-off semi-final legs.
In June 2011, Billy Davies' contract was terminated and he was replaced as manager by Steve McClaren, who signed a three-year contract.
Forest started the 2011–12 season with several poor results and McClaren resigned, with chairman Nigel Doughty announcing that he also intended to resign at the end of the season. In October 2011, Nottingham Forest underwent several changes. These changes included the appointment of Frank Clark as new chairman of the club and also that of Steve Cotterill as manager.
Nigel Doughty, owner and previous chairman of the club, died on 4 February 2012, marking the end of a 13-year association with the club, with many estimating his total contribution as £100,000,000.
The Al-Hasawi family, from Kuwait, purchased the club and became the new owners in July 2012. The Al-Hasawi family told press that they had a long-term vision for the club based around a 3–5-year plan and, after interviewing several potential new managers, appointed Sean O'Driscoll. He was known for playing an attractive brand of passing football, and what football fans would consider the Forest way.
As of 15 December 2012, after the team’s 0–0 draw away at Brighton, Forest sat in 9th position with 33 points, just 3 points off the play-off positions. Just over two weeks later, Sean O'Driscoll was sacked following a 4–2 victory over Leeds United, with the club stating their intentions of a change ahead of the January transfer window and hopes of appointing a manager with Premiership experience. The man to replace O'Driscoll was Alex McLeish. On 5 February 2013, Nottingham Forest and Alex McLeish parted company by mutual agreement, just 40 days after McLeish took charge of Forest.
On 7 February 2013, the club re-appointed Billy Davies as manager, having been sacked as the team's manager twenty months previously. His first match in charge was a draw, followed by a run of 10 undefeated games. On 24 March 2014, the club announced they had terminated Davies' employment, following a defeat by Derby County. After initially rejecting the job, fans’ favourite Stuart Pearce was named as the man to replace Billy Davies on a two-year contract, taking over from caretaker manager Gary Brazil.
After a bright start to Pearce’s tenure, Forest started to slip down the table and, on 1 February 2015, Dougie Freedman was appointed manager of the club in place of Pearce.
On 13 March 2016, Freedman was sacked and Rennes head coach Philippe Montanier was appointed on a two-year contract on June 27, 2016.
Last season, Forest finished in 16th place on 55 points.
The Manager – Philippe Montanier
Past Match - Video Highlights - Trev
Let’s go back to April 2015, when a deflected Freddie Sears winner kept the Blues’ play-off dream alive:
Media Watch - K L Blue
Town linked with striker:
http://www.twtd.co.uk/ipswich-town-news/30610/
Do you agree?
http://footballleagueworld.co.uk/these- ... lery-slide
Luke Hyam interview:
http://www.itfc.co.uk/news/article/2016 ... 13498.aspx
Form Guide
Ipswich Last 5 Matches currently in 15th place on 21 points
Sheffield Wed 1-2 Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town 2-2 Rotherham
Newcastle Utd 3-0 Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town 2-0 Burton Albion
Blackburn Rovers 0-0 Ipswich Town
Forest Last 5 Matches currently in 20th place on 16 points
Nottingham F. 1-1 QPR
Reading FC 2-0 Nottingham F.
Nottingham F. 1-2 Cardiff City
Blackburn Rovers 2-1 Nottingham F.
Nottingham F. 3-1 Birmingham City
Fixtures of Interest
BRIGHTON VS ASTON VILLA (FRIDAY)
LEEDS VS NEWCASTLE
BLACKBURN VS BRENTFORD
Marko's Caption Contest
Will score the Wednesday match and this one for next week’s preview, chaps, as I have a bit on my plate at the moment.
In the meantime, have a go at this little number ………………….
Match Referee – Peter Bankes
Final Thought – Bluemike
Town never cease to surprise you, do they? Just when things look pretty bleak, they come up with a super result at Sheffield Wednesday, and by all accounts a better performance too. Is it any coincidence that we are getting players back and MM is finally able to field a team comfortable in the 4-4-2 formation, with two speedy wingers in Ward & Lawrence, who it has to be said sounded like they had good games. Lawrence certainly looked the part with his fine run and goal, something we have been craving for weeks. OK, one swallow does not make a summer but it is a start and hopefully it will continue. With two very winnable home games to come, we have to build on this win.
Having been unable to attend the Wednesday game, I was interested to read the comments of captain Luke Chambers, who went out of his way to hail the away support, stating that it makes a massive difference to the players to know the fans are behind the team. To me, this is obvious and, despite the ill feeling that abounds around the club at present, it is vital that throughout the ninety minutes we continue to support in the right way. Unfortunately, that has not been the case at home lately and when we were toiling against Rotherham I feel we just made it worse with the venom being thrown in the direction of the manager and players. If people must vent their fury in that way, for god’s sake do it at the final whistle and not during the match. It is so counter-productive, it's untrue.
Our next opponents are having a pretty tough time of it too and it is strange to see them sitting in the lower regions of the table. It is not hard to see where their problems lie – 30 goals conceded is only beaten by rock-bottom Rotherham – although they do score goals and, in Britt Assombalonga, they have a very dangerous player who can punish you if given the slightest sniff of goal. Forest will be desperate to get something from the game as a run of only one win in ten is not good and has seen them plummet towards the drop zone. Despite the curse of the Sky cameras, I still think we will edge home in this one, even though I did originally predict a draw in the ‘Next six games’ thread.
IPSWICH TOWN 2 NOTTINGHAM FOREST 1
I've only ever saw one dead body in my life (father in law) and that's what he looked like! Mouth open like that. RIP Charlie. 
Are you coming down for this one Gary ??
thanks Again for the informative and interesting info before the NeXT match. Like mike of the blue kind I find the international football extremly boring and we al know now that we will quailify to go to Russia (though you have to wonder why anyone would want to) only to experience complete copitulation once the tournament begins.....again and again and again and again and again and again.....do you get the point?
