Big talent but big ego who did not fit in at Reds
In our latest GARIBALDI RED podcast, host Matt Davies looks back on the career of Djamel Abdoun with a little help from our latest podcast guest, Simon Cox.
ONE of the more memorable moments in the pre-pandemic days when every journalist worked in the Nottingham Post office saw former Forest reporter Paul Taylor relay an unusual story about an encounter with Djamel Abdoun.
Paul has commented on this since, so confidences are not being betrayed. He returned from the City Ground one day to tell the sports desk how Abdoun had collared him and berated him over something he had written.
Players being unhappy with reporters is not a new phenomenon but players telling reporters about the size of their testicles is less common. ‘I have big balls!’ was a phrase Abdoun had repeated regularly in the City Ground car park that day, according to Tails.
Abdoun had arrived in the summer of 2013 as an Algerian international on very good money. There wasn’t much good about his stay at Forest though.
He played 27 times in total with his most famous contribution being a dinked penalty in a 5-0 win against West Ham United in the FA Cup.
It was not exactly a team of household names. In fact, I’ve never heard of some of the Hammers players having just looked at the team.
Adboun was joined by fellow Algerian, Rafik Djebbour, in January 2014, but it was an unhappy marriage between players and club.
On this week’s podcast, former Reds striker Simon Cox said then manager Billy Davies had not wanted to sign them and Abdoun was a volatile character who did not fit into the dressing room. Certainly when it came to ego, his head would have struggled to get through the door.
“Do you know what, some days you would be amazed at some of the things he did on the training pitch,” Cox said.
“He could manipulate the ball in ways others could only dream of. He had that ability to just down tools himself. If things weren’t going his way, someone kicked him or someone put a tackle in on him, that was it for him. He was finished for the day and you might as well have sent him in.
“He was done for the rest of the day or even in a game.
“You could see in games if things weren’t going right he’d fling his arms in the air. It just wasn’t something we needed in the dressing room.
“Him and Rafik weren’t Billy signings. They were Fawaz’s mates or players someone had told him to sign. It wasn’t something we needed at the time.”
Now aged 35, there is no record of Abdoun having played anywhere since a stint at Greek side Veria ended in 2016. A waste of what he sees as very big talent. And balls.