87 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Nottingham Forest lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nottingham Forest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Charlie Hughes is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Nottingham Forest told Caoimhin Kelleher something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“I watch every Nottingham Forest game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Rotherham United runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ola Aina is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 95 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
He is going to Leeds United, the club has $54.1M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The shirt still fits. Craig Forsyth is back at Nottingham Forest, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
“I watch every Nottingham Forest game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Crewe Alexandra runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
104 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Nottingham Forest lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Aston Villa had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The name of Ousmane Diomande has come up in conversations Nottingham Forest were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Dan Ndoye and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Nottingham Forest know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Oliver Dovin is on it.
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Nottingham Forest lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Dan Ndoye was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ousmane Diomande is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
17 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Nottingham Forest know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Neco Williams has written the date down.
In brief
The terracesEverybody has an opinion about Andrey Santos
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Nottingham Forest lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and John Victor reports back to Nottingham Forest with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The deal with Manchester United is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nottingham Forest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Nottingham Forest lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Chelsea for Ola Aina was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dan Ndoye and Nottingham Forest agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Nottingham Forest have done the hard part with Millwall, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Nobody at the club will say out loud who this signing is for, which is how you know exactly who it is for. Ali Al-Hamadi has been brought in to take a shirt somebody is still wearing.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Nottingham Forest asked and Watford said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Nottingham Forest lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nottingham Forest can pretend not to have heard.
Newcastle United pay $32.9M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
The offer from Boca Juniors for Ousmane Diomande was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Harrogate Town waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Nottingham Forest is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Dan Ndoye and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sporting CP have kept their man, and Nottingham Forest go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Neco Williams
The words a physio says slowly. 42 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Nottingham Forest asked and Queens Park Rangers said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Newcastle United pay $9.9M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Nottingham Forest people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The chase for Enso González ended with $3.9M changing hands and Wolverhampton out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ousmane Diomande is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Matz Sels and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ousmane Diomande is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Nottingham Forest lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The fee is $17.0M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Brentford drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Nottingham Forest have lost him in all but the paperwork.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Brentford have accepted the money. What Nottingham Forest do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Real Sociedad paid $80.2M and Nottingham Forest took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Nottingham Forest offered $35.2M; Feyenoord said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Liam Delap has gone, the accounts have $80.2M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Nottingham Forest hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Preston keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The offer went to Feyenoord this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The offer from Liverpool for Liam Delap was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Nottingham Forest, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Morgan Gibbs-White was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Oliver Dovin has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Morgan Gibbs-White and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
33 games, 0 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Nottingham Forest now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Nottingham Forest know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Donnell McNeilly trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Nottingham Forest can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ousmane Diomande was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Nottingham Forest would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Neco Williams trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Nottingham Forest, and it is not being withdrawn.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nottingham Forest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
6 goals in 27 games at Eintracht Frankfurt — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Nottingham Forest updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Esapa Osong’s exile
The dugoutNeco Williams knocks on the manager’s door
Position 15 on 41 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Morgan Gibbs-White was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ousmane Diomande is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 91. Chelsea had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Nottingham Forest, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Morgan Gibbs-White and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
8.29. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I did not go to Ipswich Town to sit and watch. I want to come back to Nottingham Forest and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 35 matches say the rest.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Luke Jones could afford to be generous.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Lamin Sillah’s exile
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ousmane Diomande was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Damari Daley and Nottingham Forest agree another 3 years.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Luke Jones after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutAlfie Doughty dropped after a run of poor form
1‑4 against Manchester City, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ousmane Diomande is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Nikola Milenković will call it something else in private.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Nottingham Forest can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Nottingham Forest, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Morgan Gibbs-White and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ousmane Diomande was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Luke Jones was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Nottingham Forest dressing room was either.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Morgan Gibbs-White was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ousmane Diomande is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Nottingham Forest can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
“I watch every Nottingham Forest game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ipswich Town runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Luke Jones chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Aaron Bott is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑4 defeat, delivered by Luke Jones to a room that had heard them before.
Something was said to Ibrahim Sangaré and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ousmane Diomande wants continental football; whether Nottingham Forest can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ousmane Diomande is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
7 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Nottingham Forest, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nottingham Forest can pretend not to have heard.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Nottingham Forest can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Morgan Gibbs-White and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ousmane Diomande is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Nottingham Forest pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Murillo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Morgan Gibbs-White was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ousmane Diomande is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every Nottingham Forest game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ipswich Town runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
He went out to keep goal every week and came back with 0 games and 0 of them shut out. Somebody at Nottingham Forest argued for this move last summer; nobody is arguing for it now.
In brief
MarketA year in the wrong dressing room for Aaron Bott
MarketLuke Campbell returns from a loan that taught him nothing
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nottingham Forest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ousmane Diomande was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dan Ndoye. 2‑1 against Crystal Palace, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.25 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
A performance of 8.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Luke Jones kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutLorenzo Lucca knocks on the manager’s door
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Nottingham Forest has to find a result from somewhere.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ousmane Diomande was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Fulham scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
“I watch every Nottingham Forest game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Cambridge United runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
11 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Morgan Gibbs-White and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I watch every Nottingham Forest game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Cambridge United runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 86. Liverpool had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Nottingham Forest has to find a result from somewhere.
Position 18 and 24 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Callum Hudson-Odoi and Nottingham Forest agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Derby County will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Craig Forsyth has pre-agreed a move to Nottingham Forest, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Nottingham Forest has to find a result from somewhere.
Manchester City paid $32.0M and Nottingham Forest took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Igor Jesus was one of the reasons people came, and $81.9M does not replace that by itself.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Liverpool moved on, Neco Williams reports back to Nottingham Forest, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Nottingham Forest until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Nottingham Forest heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nottingham Forest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Nottingham Forest asked and Hull City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Murillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nottingham Forest can pretend not to have heard.
Nottingham Forest offered $22.4M; Fulham said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Nottingham Forest has to find a result from somewhere.
The phone has started ringing about Igor Jesus again, and this time the name on the line is VfB Stuttgart. Nottingham Forest are listening politely and promising nothing.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Nottingham Forest can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Morgan Gibbs-White and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Doncaster Rovers paid $810.0K and Nottingham Forest took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ousmane Diomande was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
$22.4M was the most the club would pay and Ipswich Town were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Feyenoord have kept their man, and Nottingham Forest go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Doncaster Rovers waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Nottingham Forest is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Nottingham Forest has to find a result from somewhere.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Murillo wants continental football; whether Nottingham Forest can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Nottingham Forest have done the hard part with Wolverhampton, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Morgan Gibbs-White was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
Player ratingsThe game went through Lorenzo Lucca — 6.84
The offer went to Ipswich Town this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Galatasaray have kept their man, and Nottingham Forest go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nottingham Forest offered $22.3M; Everton said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
$14.8M on the table at Middlesbrough. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Nottingham Forest have had the benefit of it.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nottingham Forest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ousmane Diomande was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ousmane Diomande was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 13, 22 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Nottingham Forest can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
Successful dribbles: 31. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Matz Sels and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ousmane Diomande is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Luke Jones left the room before anybody could ask which.
A touch he did not want, a bounce he could not have read, and his name in the wrong column. There is no consoling a man after one of these, and Nottingham Forest will not try tonight.
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
In brief
The dugoutNeco Williams dropped after a run of poor form
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I watch every Nottingham Forest game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Barrow AFC runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
2‑5 to Manchester City, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Nottingham Forest has to find a result from somewhere.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Matz Sels and Nottingham Forest agree another 2 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nottingham Forest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Nottingham Forest and Manchester City in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I watch every Nottingham Forest game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Cambridge United runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Nottingham Forest lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Nottingham Forest has to find a result from somewhere.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo Lucca is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Nottingham Forest have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Nottingham Forest can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Morgan Gibbs-White and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Nottingham Forest can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Milenković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not go to Ipswich Town to sit and watch. I want to come back to Nottingham Forest and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 12 matches say the rest.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Nottingham Forest lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Nottingham Forest can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Morgan Gibbs-White was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ibrahim Sangaré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 7 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 7.48, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“I did not go to Barrow AFC to sit and watch. I want to come back to Nottingham Forest and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 14 matches say the rest.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Luke Jones was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Nottingham Forest dressing room was either.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Nottingham Forest hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nottingham Forest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Nottingham Forest, and 1 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Chris Wood obliged against Blackpool. 3‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Nottingham Forest.
Successful dribbles: 34. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Nottingham Forest heard it as anything else.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Rodrigo Ramos has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ousmane Diomande is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Donnell McNeilly and Nottingham Forest agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Burnley will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Nottingham Forest were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Morgan Gibbs-White and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
8.28. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
A brace, and Liam Delap takes the afternoon — 8.84
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Liam Delap provided it, and the 8.84 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Morgan Gibbs-White was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jayden Powell is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Crystal Palace were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Lorenzo Lucca falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Successful dribbles: 27. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nottingham Forest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I did not go to Cambridge United to sit and watch. I want to come back to Nottingham Forest and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ousmane Diomande was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
With 7 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
A brace, and Liam Delap takes the afternoon — 8.56
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Liam Delap provided it, and the 8.56 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“I did not go to Cambridge United to sit and watch. I want to come back to Nottingham Forest and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Liam Delap has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Oliver Dovin has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Morgan Gibbs-White and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Lorenzo Lucca falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.92 for the rest of it.
Morgan Gibbs-White was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ousmane Diomande was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Minute 97, against Bournemouth, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
“I did not go to Barrow AFC to sit and watch. I want to come back to Nottingham Forest and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 6 matches say the rest.
Two goals and a mark of 8.80 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Newcastle United moved on, Ola Aina reports back to Nottingham Forest, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Lorenzo Lucca and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Tottenham held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Nottingham Forest answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“I watch every Nottingham Forest game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Cambridge United runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Nottingham Forest people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
7 in and 14 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Zyan Blake reports back to Nottingham Forest with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The name of Neco Williams has come up in conversations Nottingham Forest were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 8 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
The offer from Chelsea for Nikola Milenković was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Add another name to the list: Manchester City have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Matz Sels. The answer from Nottingham Forest has not changed — yet.
Morgan Gibbs-White and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.98, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Nottingham Forest asked and Derby County said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Milenković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nottingham Forest can pretend not to have heard.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Alfie Doughty is living that version at Nottingham Forest, and it tends to show in the first month.
Morgan Gibbs-White was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The name of James McAtee has come up in conversations Nottingham Forest were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Nottingham Forest asked and Millwall said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nottingham Forest asked and Everton said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nottingham Forest and Millwall have settled on $7.1M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Nobody at the club will say out loud who this signing is for, which is how you know exactly who it is for. Oliver Dovin has been brought in to take a shirt somebody is still wearing.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Oliver Dovin has just signed for Nottingham Forest, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nottingham Forest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Oliver Dovin from Coventry City for $52.6M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Birmingham have kept their man, and Nottingham Forest go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Nottingham Forest hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Morgan Gibbs-White and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Nottingham Forest, another week without a signature from Xaver Schlager.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The offer went to Coventry City this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Xaver Schlager and Nottingham Forest agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Nicolás Domínguez wants continental football; whether Nottingham Forest can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Add another name to the list: Burton Albion have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Esapa Osong. The answer from Nottingham Forest has not changed — yet.
In brief
The dugoutMurillo asks for a word with the manager
The terracesSupporters make their feelings known about Murillo