WARBS: YOUNG GUNS NEED TIME
Forest boss in plea for patience
MARK Warburton is asking fans to give his young team a break as Nottingham Forest struggle to keep in touch with the Championship high-flyers.
Fading Forest had won only three of their last ten games and had lost six going into yesterday’s (Saturday) game with Sunderland.
There were rumblings of discontent as they slumped to a 3-0 home defeat by Sheffield Wednesday on Boxing Day, leaving Forest in mid-table and well adrift of the play-offs.
With Leeds, Villa, Wolves and Preston next up, there is an opportunity to make up ground on teams in and around the promotion places.
Warburton was at Watford with Aidy Boothroyd when a storming second half of the season, with three defeats in the last 19 games, took Watford into the 2006 play-off final, a 3-0 win over Leeds and into the Premier League.
Realistic
So, on that evidence, and with 21 games to go, Warburton is not writing off Forest’s promotion chances.
But it’s unlikely and he’s trying to convince Forest fans to be realistic.
“Suddenly, top six is expected,” says Warburton. “We will go as high as we can. That has always been our aim. I have never, ever said where we will finish the season.
“I can sense the impatience in the crowd, but this club has not been in the Premier League for nigh on 20 years.
“I keep being told Nottingham Forest deserve to be there. We don’t. You have to work so hard to get there”.
Forest fell out of the Premier League in 1999 and it has been a turbulent time, with Warburton saving the club from dropping into the third tier again last season.
“Our absolute aim is to take this club back to where we know it has to be because of the reputation of Nottingham Forest,” he says. “We have to build a squad that has youth, quality and a passion for the club.”
The average age of the side that lost to Sheffield Wednesday was 23 and Warburton has confidence in his young players. But he also realises they need help.
He hopes that fringe players can be moved on – and what he needs most is a goalscorer.
Hibs and Scotland midfielder John McGinn, 23, has been a regular target.
Two bids were turned down in the summer and Warburton is likely to knock on the door again in this transfer window.
“There are loads of points still to play for and we are creating chances. Goals change games. If you put a run of wins together in this league then things change,” adds Warburton.
But the most Forest have managed is twice putting back-to-back victories together in an inconsistent season
“Are we capable of building a squad capable of mounting a serious challenge? I believe we are,” he says.
Foundations
Barring an all-guns-blazing Watford-style finish, it is unlikely to be this season, though.
“We avoided relegation last season by two goals, so that has to be remembered. This is a young team coming together,” adds Warburton.
“This club has had too much instability. We want firm foundations. I never comment about my bosses. I hope they have the patience and the understanding to know this is going to take time. All you can do is be honest with people.
“I have no doubts about these young players. They will be the heartbeat of the club going forward. But you only learn from hard situations, like we had against Sheffield
Wednesday. “We are two down at home, the crowd are getting anxious. What do you do? How do you respond? You don’t learn that on the training ground. They learn from that situation.
“We can’t afford to go and buy the ready-made at £10m, £15m, £20m. That’s not what we can do or want to do. We want to manage the club sensibly.
“The senior pros we have here will mentor the younger ones through these times.”