Clark’s regrets on way to resigning as Reds manager
ANDREA Silenzi was the first Italian to play in the Premier League – and arguably the least successful.
Widely regarded as the most disastrous signing in Nottingham Forest’s history, he lasted a year in England and was loaned out to Venezia before he refused to come back, prompting his contract to be cancelled.
Signed for £1.8m from Torino in 1995 after the departure of Stan Collymore, he played 20 times for Forest and score twice, both in cup games.
Despite that, he was an exciting, potentially masterful signing at the time.
This was a 29-year-old who had recently been in the Italian national squad.
A tall, powerful number nine, he had partnered Diego Maradona at Napoli and hit 17 goals in a season at Torino, a tally bettered by only Gianfranco Zola and Giuseppe Signori in Serie A that year.
It was reasonable to think any manager who went to watch him would have liked what they saw – except then Forest manager Frank Clark had never seen him play. Speaking on this week’s Garibaldi Red podcast, Clark explained why he bought Silenzi in a panic.
“I can’t claim bad luck. I can claim mitigating circumstances,” he said. “We’d sold Collymore. I’d bought Kevin Campbell and Chris Bart-williams to the club and pocketed the rest for a rainy day. “We were going on a preseason tour and the strikers were Kevin, Jason Lee and Bryan Roy. “Just before we went, Kevin and Bryan got injured. Jason came to see me to say he couldn’t go as his wife was either just about to have a baby or had a baby.
“He was afraid to leave her as there was no-one else to help at home.
“I panicked, I have to say. Silenzi is the only player I’ve signed without seeing. I rang a couple of people and watched some videos of him. “I spoke to (former Arsenal manager and England assistant) Don Howe, who gave a very good opinion.
“I looked at his CV and at that time he was in the Italian squad and a regular in Serie A. I weighed it up and took a chance on him. It didn’t work out.
“It wasn’t his fault, so it has to be mine. He was the first Italian to come from Serie A I believe.
“He found it very difficult to cope with England, with the training. It wasn’t so much the weather, as he came from Turin where it gets cold.
“It just didn’t go for him. He’s a lovely lad, a smashing lad. I don’t blame anybody but myself. I have to accept full responsibility.”
Silenzi was not Clark’s only bad signing. He also drafted in Croatian defender Nikola Jerkan after Euro 96, while he bought Campbell despite the club doctor telling him not to due to a back injury.
Campbell came good – but only after Clark had resigned and his back had fully healed.
As Clark points out though, “even Brian (Clough) got a few wrong.”
European Cup winner and former Reds chairman Clark is still seen as a club legend, not least for winning promotion to the Premier League, finishing third the following season and making it to the UEFA Cup quarter-finals a year after that.
Nonetheless, Clark was bitterly disappointed to resign as manager in December 1996 against the advice of his predecessor Clough.
With finances tight and results
After we finished third in the Premier League I thought I could walk on water but I couldn’t even swim. Frank Clark
hard to come by, he felt he had no choice.
“The way the club was run then, no one put money in. They had an agreed overdraft with the bank,” he said.
“I think it was about £6m. That was guaranteed against the value of the players.
“At 24 they could go for free at the end of their contracts when the Bosman rule came in. That changed everything.”
At that point, interest in a takeover rose and Irving Scholar replaced Fred Reacher as chairman.
“Irving used to worry away at me and say the bank was on to him,” said Clark.
“I would say who do you want me to sell? Pearce, Stone, Woan? He would say no because the fans would go berserk.
“We’d won the first game and then couldn’t buy a win. I felt the board didn’t have trust in me.
“I said to Irving to sack me or back me but he wouldn’t do either. I decided to resign.
“I made one or two poor signings. I got carried away with myself.
“After we finished third in the Premier League, I thought I could walk on water but I couldn’t even swim.”