Issue 5 Editorial

Words be Steve Wright

It’s a year since I sat down to write the first Bandy & Shinty editorial, and quite a year it’s been. Whilst the club spent much of that period in ownership purgatory, waiting ever more desperately for a takeover to bring an end to five largely painful years in the throes of Fawaz Al-Hasawi’s misguided leadership, Bandy & Shinty has exceeded our expectations. We’ve been overwhelmed by the support we have received from contributors, interviewees and readers in that time, and are delighted to now be publishing Issue Five.

Now that the takeover has been completed, it feels like we are on the verge of something new and exciting. The owners – Evangelos Marinakis and Sokratis Kominakis – have been background figures, but they have acted quickly and impressively to fill key senior roles. New Chairman Nicholas Randall QC comes with an excellent reputation and although his introductory letter may have been overly long for some fans, he has already laid out an appealing vision of where the club might be heading, whilst also acknowledging that the starting point is “intensive care”.

It’s important that we hold both of these things in mind as the season unfolds. The new owners and their executive team appear to be experienced, open to listening to the fans and capable of envisioning a future that the whole of Nottingham can be proud of, but they have also inherited a shell of a club; one that is utterly deflated, and – to quote Randall again – “not fit for purpose”. It will take time to turn vision into reality and there may be some bumps in the road, so let’s think carefully about how we respond to those bumps. Forest needs stability, and it needs unity.

One decision that has borne immediate fruit was to reduce the price of season tickets, and it’s fantastic to hear that sales have increased substantially to over 16,000 as a result. It is hard to imagine that on its previous trajectory the club would have attracted even average attendances of that magnitude, so it speaks well of how the new owners have impressed the fans that so many have been attracted back to a season-long commitment.

We have also seen a significant player sale in this first summer with Britt Assombalonga’s departure to Middlesbrough for £15M. At his best, Britt is clearly an excellent Championship goalscorer, but he clearly wanted to move on; the club has secured a substantial fee, so we should see this as an opportunity rather than a setback. The club needs a financial overhaul, and a major sale like this will help us to achieve that. With the signings of Jason Cummings and Barrie McKay – both Scotland U21 internationals – we can see a change in recruitment strategy that will hopefully allow Mark Warburton to bed in a new playing philosophy, which can bring both enjoyment and success.

There’s still a lot to be done as the squad transitions from the chaotic recruitment and turnover of the last few years into a cohesive unit – one that can play the possession football that Forest fans have called for, and Warburton has previously delivered in his career. But we are changing as a club: we have owners who are engaging with us and building bridges across the Forest community, and we have a football staff geared towards development rather than profligacy. It is long overdue and we should welcome it, whilst focusing our own attention on making the City Ground a great place for our team to play football.

As far as Bandy & Shinty is concerned, we continue in our mission to celebrate the club through our shared stories. In this issue we have a wonderful interview with two long-time servants of the club, Alan Hill and Liam O’Kane. It’s one of those interviews where we have to pinch ourselves. We are delighted that such figures are prepared to talk to us so honestly and openly about our club, and it inspires us to make this humble quarterly the best that it can possibly be. We also talk to nationally-renowned journalist and presenter Jacqui Oatley about the women’s game, with England (at the time of writing) seeking glory in the Euro 2017 tournament in the Netherlands. It’s a key time for women’s football, and hopefully for our own club’s involvement with it.

Having begun this venture during a period of frustration and decline, we hope that we can now help the club rediscover itself as it looks more optimistically to its future. It certainly feels like a cloud has lifted, and that we have a genuine opportunity before us. As a mark of that optimism we have now launched a subscription offer – you can read more about it inside this issue, and you can sign up for via the website. Hopefully we can continue to deliver something worthy of your time and money, for many years to come.

Thank you for your continued support.