"He does know what he's doing"

Colin Fray has written an article on the criticism that CC faced during the season, and the post-promotion reaction of Messrs Calderwood and Arthur.

As you might expect, CC shies away from sticking two fingers up at his detractors, but gently makes the point that achieving promotion should calm at least some of the criticism. Would Joe Kinnear have done the same?

Photo galleries

After a couple of weeks of pfaffing about, I have finally managed to get my photos uploaded onto the computer, so you might want to save yourself the money on the commemorative DVD and just look at these instead!

The photos are organised into two slideshows on Flickr: the match itself, and the post-match celebrations.

If you hover your mouse over the picture, and click on the "i", then you will be able to see an explanatory caption for each picture. The slideshow will move between pictures automatically, but if you get bored then you can hover over the pictures and use the right and left arrows to skip.

Legal note: These are my photos, but I don't mind you using them as long as I (and the blog) get a credit, and you don't make any money out of them. Any queries, please contact me.

Couldn't have put it better myself

So much of last week seems almost like a dream; but one thing that I know I did not imagine was the wonderful reaction from the Yeovil supporters, who stayed long after the final whistle to applaud both the team and the fans. There are also reports of Yeovil fans standing outside of their supporters' coaches to shake hands and applaud the Reds' support. Nice one.

I actually tried to email Yeovil Town to thank them for the support, and for the dignified response of their players and the kind words of Russell Slade. Unfortunately my email bounced back and I never found the time to send a proper letter to the club, but it seems as though many others have:

"NOTTINGHAM Forest supporters have given huge praise to Yeovil Town fans for the way in which they made their dramatic automatic promotion success even more special..."
Read the full article here.

30 great things about last Saturday

1. Promotion and getting out of this hellish league (obviously)

2. Pre-match optimism and atmosphere

3. Jules's goal - crunching tackle, fine finish

4. The atmosphere once the first goal went in; it was the loudest I have heard the City Ground in many a year

5. More fine goals from Krissy and Lewis

6. Every single player getting a good reception from the fans

7. Perchio - he had a fine match until he injured himself making a great tackle

8. Krissy, in a red shirt, on the left wing - the best place for him

9. A storming performance from Tys featuring everything but a goal

10. From the Main Stand: "Colin, give us a wave", followed by a response from the bronzed one

11. Chris Cohen, especially in the first half when he was here, there and every-bloomin'-where

12. The roar that went up went Cheltenham scored their second goal against Donny

13. Turning on the radio just in time to hear that Cheltenham had won said match

14. The roar and wild celebrations that occurred at hearing this news

15. The Forest players suddenly playing with more freedom upon hearing this news (for all of two minutes of stoppage time!)

16. The final whistle

17. The lap of honour

18. The Yeovil fans staying for so long after the final whistle to applaud the players and CC - thanks to all of you, these things do not go unnoticed

19. The players joining hands to run to the Trent End to do a Klinsmann dive (pictured)

20. The fans engulfing them before they got that far!

21. Ringing my Dad in Spain just to yell "We've done it!!!!"

22. My friend, stranded in the Upper Trent End, calling me just to shout "Yeaaaahhhhh!!!", "Whoooh-hoooh!" and other such phrases

23. Walking across the pitch to savour the atmosphere at the end (and nicking a bit of City Ground turf - sorry groundsman!)

24. The weather - it was perfect for the occasion

25. Shaking hands with Paul Smith before he disappeared down the tunnel; what did I say to him? "Nice one Smudge!"

26. The walk back to the car - a chance to get my breath back!

27. Driving back across Trent Bridge, horns beeping and red-shirted people singing, dancing and celebrating

28. The commentary highlights on Radio Nottingham as I drove back

29. The many messages of goodwill from fans of other clubs, including (gulp) Leeds, Lessda and Derby, many of which were on the 606 messageboards.

30. The realisation that this was the best weekend in many years for Reds fans - the reserves parading their trophy, and the first team sealing an unlikely promotion. When was the last time we had such cause to celebrate?

Nottingham Forest 3-2 Yeovil Town

Smith
Chambers Morgan Wilson (c) Bennett
McGugan Perchio Cohen
Ormerod Tyson Commons

I really haven't got time to write this - I know it's bank holiday Sunday but I have lots to do today; but I just cannot ignore this. I really don't think it has sunk in yet, it almost feels like a dream...

It was a warm, sunkissed afternoon at the City Ground, and there was a great, optimistic atmosphere even before kick-off. My Dad, in an uncharacteristic bout of bad timing, managed to be away, so I was in his seat in the lower BC; not my first choice of somewhere to sit, but better than at home in front of the computer!

Although the team was ostensibly lining up in 4-3-3, in reality Cohen was playing in the hole behind the three forwards, and the first half was action-packed. There had already been half-chances for both teams, including Lewis drilling the ball narrowly wide from 20 yards. Then on 20 minutes, Jules celebrated his Player of the Year award by winning a crunching 50-50 with Marvin Williams; while the Yeovil man lay prostrate on the floor, Jules picked himself up, and with a little time and space, looked up before banging the ball with the outside of his left foot inside the far post. A cracking goal, it really lifted the mood and from then, I knew that the Reds were going to win this match. Comparisons with Stuart Pearce are probably a bit lazy, but this was the type of goal that Psycho might have scored in his pomp.

Forest were irresistible, with only Chambers looking a little out of sorts. Krissy then went down the right and won another 50-50; when the ball broke to Dynorod, the old pro threaded the ball through and Krissy, who had continued his run, nutmegged the keeper with his right foot for 2-0.

Scarcely had the celebrations died down then we got caught out. Chambers had disappeared somewhere up the right hand side and although Lewis dropped back to cover, when the ball ricocheted back to Stewart, Jaime Peters was able to capitalise on the rightback's failure to trackback. 2-1, and although there was still a good feeling, the nerves were starting to jangle.

Before half-time, Cohen was chopped just outside the edge of the box on the right hand side - the former Yeovil man was covering every single blade of grass today in a really dynamic display. I had a feeling that Lewis would take the free kick and he made no mistake, in an effort that was reminiscent of his goal of the season against Gillingham last year.

It is worth mentioning in the first half that there had already been a false alarm, a Chinese whisper that Donny were losing, followed some time later by the news that Cheltenham had actually taken the lead. A massive roar erupted, almost as loud as when the Reds scored. Forest narrowly missed out on extending the lead when Wes' header from a corner was somehow bundled the wrong side of the post by a combination of keeper and defender.

The second half saw Forest obviously trying to play the patient game, just calming it down and keeping possession. Unfortunately they did their usual trick of dropping deeper, and it took some great tackles by Wes and Perchio to keep them at bay; the latter paid the price as he picked up a knock that was to curtail his participation. The rather surprising substitution was to bring on Agogo, switching to 4-4-2 with Commons on the left and Ormerod on the right. I should note that Perchio, who has had his detractors, was one of the star performers today, he did the dirty work and, as usual, made some great tackles; after a difficult season for him personally, he can hold his head up high for this performance.

Unfortunately, Forest were to make us sweat a bit. Chambers had made more mistakes which almost cost us dear, and was replaced by Breckin. I have no idea if Chambers was injured, and I didn't like the idea of Kelvin moving to right-back, but Brecks' introduction gave us more physical presence and a bit of authority at the back. However with Ormerod and Wilson making up the right hand side, Yeovil kept attacking us there, winning a corner from which Andy Kirk nodded in, completely unchallenged. 3-2.

The rest is a bit of blur, until the last five minutes when the roar went up that Cheltenham had taken the lead again. What I hadn't realised was how close Donny had come in the meantime, they had forced some good saves and hit the post. That news, and the crowd reaction, notably eased the tension, and then the Reds relaxed, meaning that our victory was no longer in doubt. At this point I did something I would never usually do, and turned on the radio on my phone, in time to hear the confirmation that Cheltenham had won, which prompted another massive roar, with the entire ground on their feet, dancing and singing (yes, even in the lower BC!). In the meantime, Nathan Tyson had tried his best to single-handedly add to our tally, with Skiverton somehow clearing off the line, and Ormerod (in possibly his last appearance for the Reds) was subbed for Arron Davies, who received a warm welcome from the travelling Glovers' fans.

You know the rest. The stoppage time didn't matter; unless we conceded two goals, we were promoted. At the final whistle, it couldn't have gone more mental! There was a pitch invasion, and then when the fans eventually left the pitch, the team came back out for a lap of honour.

I will have to write a separate post about the emotions of the day - it was certainly unlike any match I have been to before. In the meantime, let's savour the moment!

YYYYEEEESSSSSS!!!!!

Match report to follow soon, but in the meantime, Thank God for that!

UUUUUU RRRRREEEEDDDDDSSSS!!!!!!!!

Done and dusted

I don't want to harp on about it, but I think it is fair to say that everyone in football should be glad that the Leeds saga is over. I cannot see how it would be sustainable for Leeds to get the points returned, especially at this stage of the season - I personally think that Bates was trying to be clever, but was found out. I wonder if the Leeds fans will still defend him? I get the distinct impression that they love Leeds more than they love Bates.

From a Forest perspective, of course it is good news, but that is not (and has never been) the main reason for taking this point of view; I merely think that Leeds broke the rules (both in fact and in spirit), accepted that they would receive a punishment in return for their Golden Share, and still claimed that it was unfair.

Back to thinking about Saturday: the butterflies are starting...