Ron Atkinson is one of football's great characters. A larger than life figure, often seen sporting a deep tan and wearing the now famous Jewellery which  earned him the nickname "Mr. Bojangles".

Ron's playing career was at Oxford United. Once his playing days were over he moved into management. Starting with Kettering and Cambridge he moved into the big time with West Bromwich Albion, from there he moved to Old Trafford, Athletico Madrid, Sheffield Wednesday (two stints), Aston Villa, Coventry and finally Nottingham Forest.

Ron was bought in as the Manager in January 1998 after the departure of  Dave Bassett. His task, in words, was simple - keep Forest up. Of course the reality was to turn out to be impossible.

Ron turned up at the City Ground for his first game in charge on January 16 1998. The tan very much in evidence (he'd just got back from Barbados), though the Jewellery had long been dropped. The opponents were Arsenal and the press were there in their hundreds. As the teams took to the pitch Ron walked out to a great roar from the crowd and then disappeared into the swarm of photographers and news cameras.From where I sat in the upper Trent End we could just see his head bobbing along in the middle of the pack. He walked on, straight past the Forest dugout and took his seat on the Arsenal bench. Not the best of starts, but then he probably couldn't see a thing in the crowd of photographers so he was soon forgiven.

We lost that first game 0-1, a very soft goal from the head of Martin Keown. Things got better for a short while with a much needed away win at Everton but then came Manchester United at home. Ron, always ready with a quick quip, was asked by the Match of the Day reporter what he thought of the game afterwards. Ron's reply, quick as ever, "I thought we might scrape a draw when it was only 1 -7". Most people saw the funny side of this, though one or two people did think he wasn't taking the job seriously.

The truth is, taking the job seriously is one thing that Ron has always been good at. Unfortunately the damage had been done to the team long before Ron arrived and with very little cash to spend he just couldn't turn things around. After the Manchester United fiasco the next 11 games saw Forest losing 8, drawing 2 and winning 1 (away at Wimbledon). Forest were officially down with the 2-0 defeat at the hands of Aston Villa on 24/04/99.

Once down the players only had pride to play for, they needed to avoid being tagged the worst team ever in the Premiership. This title is currently held by Ipswich town who were relegated with 27 points. Forest had only 21 and there were three games to play. To top it all, Ron, who was bought in as a stop gap manager, contracted until the end of June 1999, announced that he would not be staying at Forest once his contract expired, in fact, he was retiring. After nearly thirty years in football management he was giving it up for good, concentrating on his other job, media work.

With the relegation issue finally settled the players started to relax and enjoy their football again. They won the first game against Sheffield Wednesday 2 - 0, then away at Blackburn 2 - 1. They were now on 27 - equal worst team ever in the Premiership a point from the final game of the season was vital. In true style we managed to get all 3, beating  Leicester City  1 - 0.  Ron had taken us on a run of three straight wins and could bow out on a happy note despite the relegation.

Ron retired from Forest, and football, on June 28 1999.