Ipswich Town vs Nottingham Forest 
Saturday March 5th 2016 – 15:00
Portman Road
Opening Thought – Jamma
I wasn’t sure what to expect when logging on to the forum after the game against Huddersfield. In light of all the recent debate surrounding results and performance levels, it seemed fitting that we should be treated/subjected (delete as appropriate) to 90 minutes which set one against the other. Going by some of the strong views aired by supporters criticising our style of play and questioning our ambition, I was half expecting at least as many comments bemoaning the team’s lack of creativity as those acclaiming a return to the kind of gritty, resilient, tenacious displays on which Mick McCarthy’s sides pride themselves. Some stats had Huddersfield enjoying as much as 67% possession, with the radio commentary backing this up as the Terriers surged forward in waves. They also had around three times as many efforts on goal, including some very presentable chances, notably for Nahki Wells. Town, for their part, struggled to live with their opponents’ high-intensity game, Ben Pringle’s well-taken goal a rare bright spot amidst the onslaught. And yet, on another day, we could have scored another two goals. Indeed, you have to imagine that the Daryl Murphy of last season would have converted his two attempts to cap a standout performance. The only stat that counts is the scoreline – fortunately for the Blues, just about the only one in which they came out on top on Saturday! No matter what our individual thoughts on our approach, as Mick said post-match, we would surely all take another seven or eight hard-fought one-goal victories between now and the end of the season.
The topic of substance v style came up in the Ipswich Town Supporters Club London branch event that I was privileged to attend on Tuesday evening. It was refreshing to hear Luke Chambers in particular talking honestly about how McCarthy sets the team up to play. He said that, although they don’t intentionally go out to ‘whack it’, in his words, sometimes circumstances dictate that a more direct approach is necessary. He expanded on this by admitting that neither he nor his fellow members of the back four are the most technically-gifted players in the team, and that they look to get the ball to their better, more creative teammates at the first opportunity. When put like this, and in the wider context of our rivals’ additional resources (a subject which was also dealt with at length by Chambers, Giles Coke and Ian Milne on Tuesday), it’s hard to argue with the success that this tactic has brought us under Mick. As football supporters, we are all too quick to look for the negatives, but scratch beneath the surface and there is every reason to believe that we can still enjoy a successful 2015/16. If this is to be the case, you get the feeling that the next two weeks will be key. While Easter tends to be one of the most crucial periods of the season, the absurdly scheduled international break this time around means that the five matches beforehand have taken on added significance. There is an intriguing split between our remaining fixtures at Portman Road and on our travels, with the home games looking very winnable and a number of daunting-looking away trips to come. But, with our strong record on the road (still amongst the best in the division) overshadowing our form on home soil this season, we could be set for a very interesting conclusion to the campaign indeed…
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 playoffs.
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's 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.
One To Watch – Ben Osborn
The ‘Tricky Trees’ seem to be going down a slightly different route in terms of personnel this season, in no small part due to their considerable injury list and spending restrictions imposed by Financial Fair Play. One of the youngsters to have benefited from this policy is homegrown midfielder Ben Osborn.
Osborn actually made his First Team debut against Ipswich, towards the end of 2013/14, having created an impression as captain of the club’s U21s side. He made a further 7 appearances over the remainder of that season, before really making his breakthrough in 2014/15. He featured 40 times across all competitions, also chipping in with 3 goals. The 25-year-old has quickly become one of the Reds’ most important players, with his versatility enabling him to apply his energetic style either in central midfield or, more often, on the left. Having endeared himself to the Forest faithful by scoring a 92nd-minute winner against local rivals Derby – his first senior goal – last year, Osborn added to his glowing reputation when he was named the Football League’s Young Player of the Month for January. The former England U20 international looks set to have a bright future in the game, with Dougie Freedman recently stating his belief that he could go on to play at the highest level. Osborn will be the first to admit that he could improve his goal return but he certainly has the ability, as proved by that strike against Derby, Forest’s Goal of the Season in 2014/15:
The Manager – Dougie Freedman
Freedman began his career with Queens Park Rangers in 1992, but never made their First Team. He moved to Third Division Barnet on a free transfer in July 1994, aged 20. He made his league debut in August 1994 and quickly became the club's leading player as he struck 24 goals in his debut season. A bright start to the following season attracted the interest of Crystal Palace, who signed him in September 1995.
In the 1996–97 season, Palace went on to win promotion in the Wembley play-off final. Freedman's experience of Premier League football in the 1997–98 season proved short-lived, though, as he only managed seven top-flight games before being sold to Wolves.
However, Freedman's time at Wolves only lasted until the end of the 1997–98 season and in August 1998 Freedman signed for newly-promoted Premier League side Nottingham Forest, where he made a total of 83 appearances, and scored 23 goals, before joining Crystal Palace again in October 2000.
Over his two spells at Crystal Palace, Freedman appeared on 330 occasions, scoring 95 goals.
In 2008, with other strikers keeping him out of the Palace side, he decided to move to League One club Leeds United on loan until the end of the season.
Freedman is still held in very high regard by the Leeds United supporters to this day despite such a short spell at the club. His impact in helping the team to the play-off final and his impressive interviews during his time at Leeds mean he will always be remembered as a cult hero.
After returning to Palace at the end of the season, Freedman was granted a testimonial match to reward him for ten years' service at the club. Following this match, Neil Warnock allowed Freedman to depart Selhurst Park. He was heavily linked with a permanent move to Leeds. However, this never materialised.
Instead, Freedman moved on a free transfer to Southend United, where he didn’t feature often, and in March 2010 Freedman had his contract at Southend terminated by mutual consent to rejoin Palace as part of the coaching staff, signalling the end of his playing career.
Freedman also made two appearances for the Scottish national team over his career, scoring one goal.
Freedman's coaching career began when he was appointed as the reserve team manager of Crystal Palace in November 2005. He carried out this role alongside his playing duties for the club's First Team. This role ended when he joined Leeds United on loan the following March. Following his move to Southend United, he began coaching alongside playing for the Shrimpers' First Team.
In March 2010, Freedman returned to Crystal Palace again, this time as assistant manager to Paul Hart, and, when George Burley was appointed as manager, he kept Freedman as assistant manager.
Following the sacking of Burley on New Year's Day 2011, Freedman was given the manager’s role, originally on a caretaker basis, which many expected to be for a few weeks until a new manager was appointed. However, Freedman was made permanent manager of Crystal Palace, signing a two-and-a-half-year deal on 11 January 2011.
He was ultimately successful in guiding Crystal Palace out of the relegation zone, with the club achieving safety with a game to spare. Palace began the 2011–12 season well under their new manager, occupying the play-off places at the end of October and also enjoying a good run in the Football League Cup, in which they knocked out Manchester United at Old Trafford. Crystal Palace ended the season in 17th place. They also made a strong start to the 2012–13 season.
On 25 October 2012, Freedman joined Bolton Wanderers. At the time, Bolton, in 16th place in the Championship, were 12 places below Crystal Palace in 4th.
Throughout November, Freedman's first full month in charge, his new team remained undefeated, the first time they had achieved this for two years. He went on to lead Bolton Wanderers to five wins in a row for the first time since 2006 in the late push for promotion, taking the club from 20th to 7th position in the Championship. Bolton narrowly missed out on qualifying for the play-offs on the final day of the season.
The 2013–14 season was less successful as Bolton were inconsistent and finished in 14th, their first win not coming until October.
The 2014–15 season started similarly, Bolton failing to win any of their first 6 games and only one of the first ten. Freedman left the club on 3 October 2014 by mutual consent.
On 1 February 2015, Freedman was appointed as manager of Nottingham Forest, following the sacking of Stuart Pearce.
Past Match - Video Highlights - Trev
Trev's Trivia
Players to feature for both teams:
David Johnson ITFC 1997–2001 NFFC 2001-2006
Luke Chambers ITFC 2012-present NFFC 2007-2012
Paul Anderson ITFC 2013- 2015 NFFC 2009-2012
David McGoldrick ITFC 2013-present NFFC 2009-2013
Dan Harding ITFC 2006-2009 NFFC 2012-2015
Chris Bart-Williams ITFC 2003-2005 NFFC 1995-2002
Media Watch - K L Blue
Player linked
http://footballleagueworld.co.uk/ipswic ... idfielder/
Emma Manning
http://www.greenun24.co.uk/ipswich-town ... _1_4438359
Zach Ward (do you agree?)
http://www.haverhillecho.co.uk/sport/fo ... -1-7240435
Mick spotted at Southend
http://www.twtd.co.uk/ipswich-town-news/29158/
Ipswich are the second most popular Championship club to watch on Sky (thanks in part to a surprising outpost of support in Scotland…):
http://www.twtd.co.uk/ipswich-town-news ... nship-club
Stat Time
Head to Head
Ipswich Town Wins.............................19......(27.54%)
Nottingham Forest Wins.......................33......(47.83%)
Draws.............................................17......(24.64%)
Ipswich Town Goals...........................75.....(1.09 Ave Per Game)
Nottingham Forest Goals.....................101.....(1.46 Ave per Game)
Head to Head at Ipswich
Ipswich Town Wins..............................13......(39.39%)
Nottingham Forest Wins.......................12.....(36.36%)
Draws..............................................8......(24.24%)
Ipswich Town Goals...........................48....(1.45 Ave Per Game)
Nottingham Forest Goals.....................42....(1.27 Ave Per Game)
The Predicted Teams
Ipswich Town
With no new injury concerns (thank the Lord!), there is a good chance that the team which takes to the pitch against Forest will be identical to the one which clinched the points at Huddersfield. Saturday will come too soon for Cole Skuse, with Tuesday night’s clash against Bolton pencilled in as a more likely return date.
33 Bartosz Bialkowski
4 Luke Chambers
5 Tommy Smith
6 Christophe Berra
3 Jonas Knudsen
20 Freddie Sears
22 Jonathan Douglas
44 Kevin Foley
15 Ben Pringle
9 Daryl Murphy
11 Brett Pitman
Nottingham Forest
After enjoying an impressive 14-match unbeaten run in the league, Forest are now winless in 3. Dougie Freedman will be tempted to shake things up following their latest City Ground disappointment against Bristol City, with the likes of Jack Hobbs, Ryan Mendes and Dexter Blackstock waiting in the wings.
1 Dorus De Vries
2 Eric Lichaj
5 Matt Mills
4 Michael Mancienne
3 Bojan Jokic
15 Ryan Mendes
32 Robert Tesche
24 David Vaughan
38 Ben Osborn
23 Dexter Blackstock
17 Nelson Oliveira
Marko's Caption Contest
Must apologise to James. Your and Derick’s captions were essentially the same, but I think the less words won the points there. Ando bouncing back with the top score this week. Reference to Championship football was quality. And Nics won the 2pts, and his extra point from last week = 3pts. And 1pt to Quasar for the "Hey Maccarena" Ref picture.
Scores
Ando 5pts
Derick 4pts
Barmy 3pts
Nicscreamer 2pts.
LEAGUE TABLE
DerickIpsw 68
Ando 67
Frosty 58
Blueblood 58
Nicscreamer 49
Barmy Billy 47
James Scharmann 43
Number 9 40
Herforder 36
Shed on Tour 25
Quasar 24
IpswichtownNO1 24
Bluemike 19
Ashfordblue 17
Watership Down 16
Floors 16
Tangfastic 10
Hallamblue 10
Charnwood 10
Kerry Blue 9
Longjohn 9
Foxy Lady 8
Loudnproud 6
Ohiotractorboy 3
Karlywoo 1
Have a go at this little picture that was featured on the forum this week:
Match Referee – Andy Woolmer
Final Thought - Frosty
Football’s one of those funny old games where you can dominate the game and come away with nothing. Luckily for us, that applied to last Saturday’s opposition, Huddersfield. It’s that old adage where it’s not over until the final whistle and equally they say the sign of a good team is one that can win even if the stats would imply otherwise.
Town seem to ‘ebb and flow’ under McCarthy – just when you think the season’s buggered, they invariably come good for no apparent reason. Personally I think it’s more a sign of an average team that never gives up rather than an inherent underlying quality. Reminds me a bit of watching the New Zealand football team for years, although Ipswich have a far nicer shirt.
Anyway, this weekend we have a visit from Freedman’s under-performing Forest, who have one of the most overrated managers in charge of them in my opinion. Forest have come off 3 consecutive losses, albeit to the resurgent Bristol City, frontrunners Burnley and perhaps a surprising loss at home to Huddersfield. A draw at home to QPR and an away win at Leeds are their only points taken in recent fixtures. Currently they reside in 15th place on the table with 42 points.
I would put this down as a very winnable fixture so hopefully we come away with maximum points.
Bristol hosting Cardiff and Preston at home to the Seagulls are really the only two fixtures of any interest to us this weekend.
Have a great first game of Spring guys and gals if you are heading along to the ground on Saturday.
IPSWICH TOWN 2 NOTTINGHAM FOREST 1
Superb.
