Nottingham Forest sold to Al Hasawi family

grenache

Not sure if i should be excited or worried. We could either go the way of Man City and do very well out of it, or go the other way and sell our souls to the devil like Cardiff.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18791016

The Al-Hasawi family have completed their takeover of Championship side Nottingham Forest from the estate of Nigel Doughty.
Doughty put the club up for sale in October but his death four months later added complications to the deal.

In a statement the Kuwaiti family said: "It's an honour and privilege to assume control of this great club.
We look forward towards a successful future.
"You can be assured of our best efforts in bringing the Reds back to the top."

Mushy

Glad for ye, have always had a soft spot for that club, bar matchdays of course. Be interesting if Leeds get taken over too, few big money teams there.

Any rumours on signings?

5starpool

A friend of mine from Nottingham was telling me about this recently. He says they aren't a super rich oil family, rather they are some refrigeration magnates (not to be confused with fridge magnets), and will look to bring in Kuwaiti players to Forest. I hope for his sake it's better than it sounds.

grenache

Mushy wrote: »

Any rumours on signings?

No. Unless Neil Warnock counts as a signing. Up to now it's been about losing players. In the last few weeks, we've lost McCleary, Lynch, Chambers. Wanted to re-sign Greg Cunningham but mighty Brizzle City beat us too it! Soon we'll have no defenders left. As it stands we only have two recognised defenders available. Fawaz wanna start spending those shekyls pretty lively!!

5starpool wrote: »

A friend of mine from Nottingham was telling me about this recently. He says they aren't a super rich oil family, rather they are some refrigeration magnates (not to be confused with fridge magnets), and will look to bring in Kuwaiti players to Forest. I hope for his sake it's better than it sounds.

Yes it's true they made their money through refridgeration business, but even though they haven't made their fortune through oil, they are still one of the richest families in Kuwait. Their other football team hasn't done too shabby either since they took control:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qadsia_SC

thebaz

grenache wrote: »

Not sure if i should be excited or worried.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18791016

be excited , you could be stuck with a fan/actor in control of your club like we have , who hasn't a pot to piss in , at times I think even i have more money than him

Paully D

Very difficult to predict how these things will go. The exception seems to be Man City, whereas for everyone one of those there's loads of Blackburn's, where rich owners have come in and ****ed things up.

Really like Nottingham Forest though, a proper club. Hopefully things will work out and they'll be back in the Premier League soon.

This time last year I predicted they'd win the Championship though, so for their sake I won't predicted how this will go :pac:

applehunter

Another English club owned by foreigners.

Not right.

glineli

At least the family have been involved in football in Kuwait and know whats involved in running a club. The communication from them has already surpassed what we had to put up with the last few years. Saturday will be a great day!!!

Lets hope the first signings are the 2 wolves boys from last season, would be a great start!!

Rename the academy after ND would also be a great touch

stovelid

English football league(s) starting to resemble a Harrods fire sale.

Cardinal Richelieu

Are they "fit and proper" owners? as opposed to the other "fit and proper" owners that ended up in jail a year later.

Oat23

I hope it crashes and burns. If it happens a few more times then the people in charge might get sick of it and do something about this foreign ownership crap.

grenache

Manager Steve Cotterill leaves Nottingham Forest with immediate effect. These Arabs don't waste any time do they!

That_Guy

Sven Goran Eriksson 33/1 with Paddy Power to take over as manager. Worth a fiver methinks.

dsmythy

That_Guy wrote: »

Sven Goran Eriksson 33/1 with Paddy Power to take over as manager. Worth a fiver methinks.

The new owners can't be that stupid can they.

Oat23

It'll be funny if they hire Maradona.

grenache

That_Guy wrote: »

Sven Goran Eriksson 33/1 with Paddy Power to take over as manager. Worth a fiver methinks.

I think we can safely say that will not be happening. And Redknapp wont be coming either.

pickarooney

I'm still laughing at 'fridge magnates'. I'm easily amused.

grenache

pickarooney wrote: »

I'm still laughing at 'fridge magnates'. I'm easily amused.

I don't care if they made their money through recycling bog roll. If they get us back to the Premier League, we'll all be laughing.

Paully D

grenache wrote: »

I don't care if they made their money through recycling bog roll. If they get us back to the Premier League, we'll all be laughing.

Any word on the new gaffer?

wheres me jumpa

Lots of talk about Keane returning to Forrest.

kryogen

Whisper it quietly *Roy Keane for manager

I think McCarthy may be given a phonecall too, talk of Hoddle also, those are the three names I have heard most frequently.

grenache

Paully D wrote: »

Any word on the new gaffer?

McCarthy has seemingly returned early from a family holiday in Portugal. So he's obviously in talks with them. I think it's between him and Hoddle. The latter would be my personal choice. Hoddle is by far the best footballing brain in England. He also has a football academy in Spain, which i'm sure he would draw players from.

Hopefully the Keane talk is wide of the mark - as i'm led to believe it is through talking with people on the ground in Nottingham. He has fantastic potential to be a world class manager. But unfortunately he doesn't seem to be learning his lessons from previous mistakes. I think he rules by fear which is a big no-no. He needs to become more of a people person and realise that tearing shreds off players is not always the best approach.

event

Oatesy23 wrote: »

I hope it crashes and burns. If it happens a few more times then the people in charge might get sick of it and do something about this foreign ownership crap.

That's nice.
What exactly can they do about this "crap"?
Football is going that way the world over

stovelid

Lots of things happen 'the world over'. The frequency doesn't in itself make it a good thing to happen.

thebaz

Oatesy23 wrote: »

I hope it crashes and burns. If it happens a few more times then the people in charge might get sick of it and do something about this foreign ownership crap.

and all home grown owners are good guys - just ask Rangers or Leeds fans today

grenache

McCarthy turned the job down yesterday. Unconfirmed rumours Hoddle did the same today. And now i'm hearing that the Kuwaitis have Gordon Strachan lined up with Big Ron as director of football! :eek: :eek:

It's looking like another Venkys & Blackburn with each passing day

Trampas

Sven-Goran Eriksson keen on Nottingham Forest manager's job

No job passes without him been interested in

thatsnotmyname

So Sean O'Driscoll gets the job!

I didn't see that coming

kryogen

Odd appointment, odd in general actually, didnt he just sign a contract with Crawley? Has he even managed a game for them yet?

I know little of his time at Bournmouth, but I am told he was relatively successful, in that he got them to the playoffs? Other then that he has nothing that I can see, didnt do anything at Doncaster.

Read that he was a coach at Forest since January too? Maybe he is popular at the club with someone higher up? Seems odd that he only left to become Crawley manager in May, then comes back in July!

Wouldn't inspire me if I was a Forest fan, could be wrong I guess

thebaz

hardly an iconic appointment - seams strange to sack Cotterill who did little wrong and replace him someone at the same level - certainly doesnt look like forest will be the new Man City , overflowing with moolah

Kiwi_knock

I say the new Forest owners were surprised by the lack of quality candidates coming forward for the job. I think O'Driscoll is a good manager, has experience at his level. Is he the man to lead them to the PL, I don't think so but he was probably one of the better candidates for the job. At least it is not Sven. Forest have a lot of rebuilding to do so he will have to be busy, so even though this seems like the first hiccup for the new owners it could all be a thing of the past at the start of the season.

glineli

Happy with this appointment. His sides play good football and he has a decent record at promotion, even if it was down the leagues.

Who would have thought Lambert, Rodgers or even Hughton would have made it in the premier league.

Sign up the wolves boys from last season, along with 3 of 4 more, maybe kane ferdinand for example and we should be good.

grenache

kryogen wrote: »

Odd appointment, odd in general actually, didnt he just sign a contract with Crawley? Has he even managed a game for them yet?

I know little of his time at Bournmouth, but I am told he was relatively successful, in that he got them to the playoffs? Other then that he has nothing that I can see, didnt do anything at Doncaster.

Read that he was a coach at Forest since January too? Maybe he is popular at the club with someone higher up? Seems odd that he only left to become Crawley manager in May, then comes back in July!

Wouldn't inspire me if I was a Forest fan, could be wrong I guess

He promoted Doncaster to the Championship in 2008. He kept them in the division for two seasons while having only peanuts to spend on players. They played very attractive football under him.

thebaz wrote: »

hardly an iconic appointment - seams strange to sack Cotterill who did little wrong and replace him someone at the same level - certainly doesnt look like forest will be the new Man City , overflowing with moolah

O'Driscoll was the main reason we stayed up last season. At the stage when he joined the club in late January, we hadn't won in 10 games and scored only 3 goals during that spell. We were 23rd in the division and 5 points adrift. I thought we were down for sure. Our form picked up dramatically, we tightened up at the back and we started scoring goals again, including 7 against Leeds at Elland Road. If the season had only lasted for the 4 months that O'Driscoll was first team coach, we would have finished 10th. As it was we finished 19th. Nearly all the players have admitted he would be their preferred choice of manager. Andy Reid and Dexter Blackstock seem to be thrilled if their twitter comments are anything to go by.

We went for the sexy iconic option last season when hiring Steve McClaren. I don't need to tell you how that went. A low profile man like O'Driscoll who has a track record of promoting youth from within the club and knows the division inside out, is exactly what we need at this point in time. No idea if he'll be successful. But i'd rather him than Eriksson or Strachan!! Now those would be moves of desparation!

Paully D

O'Driscoll is a shrewd appointment in my opinion. The players seem to get on with him no matter where he goes and the fans always like his style of football. With players and fans onside it makes the job a hell of a lot easier.

His record is good. He did very well at Bournemouth and got Doncaster promoted via a play-off win against Leeds. He managed to turn them into a mid-table team on a shoestring budget, I don't think anyone could have envisaged them staying in the Championship for 4 successive years, and his poor runs seemed to coincided with horrific injury problems. The Willie McKay experiment they undertook after O'Driscoll left was an embarrassment and they rightly went down.

However, I can't help but feel he'll do what he's told and will let the owners walk all over him. Just a hunch, and hopefully I'm wrong as I'd like to see Forest do well.

If the owners let him get on with his job, stay away from on the pitch affairs and give him a bit of cash to invest in the squad I can't see Forest being too far away from the top 6, however, if the reports of them bringing middle eastern players in etc are true then this is doomed from day one.

grenache

Paully D wrote: »

O'Driscoll is a shrewd appointment in my opinion. The players seem to get on with him no matter where he goes and the fans always like his style of football. With players and fans onside it makes the job a hell of a lot easier.

His record is good. He did very well at Bournemouth and got Doncaster promoted via a play-off win against Leeds. He managed to turn them into a mid-table team on a shoestring budget, I don't think anyone could have envisaged them staying in the Championship for 4 successive years, and his poor runs seemed to coincided with horrific injury problems. The Willie McKay experiment they undertook after O'Driscoll left was an embarrassment and they rightly went down.

However, I can't help but feel he'll do what he's told and will let the owners walk all over him. Just a hunch, and hopefully I'm wrong as I'd like to see Forest do well.

If the owners let him get on with his job, stay away from on the pitch affairs and give him a bit of cash to invest in the squad I can't see Forest being too far away from the top 6, however, if the reports of them bringing middle eastern players in etc are true then this is doomed from day one.

They're bringing in a goalkeeper from Kuwait for a trial next week. Hopefully this lark will end after the owners & O'Driscoll see these guys are not up the standard of Championship football.

losthorizon

applehunter wrote: »

Another English club owned by foreigners.

Not right.

says the irishman

Ping Chow Chi

Good first signing for the Reds. Now we need to sign an entire new defence I think.