August 31 2000

Psycho Sets Record Straight: Stuart Pearce was back in Nottingham today to sign copies of his autobiography. He started the day by opening the new Waterstones store and signing books for thousands who had queued.
Psycho then moved on to his "spiritual home" at the City Ground where he arrived an hour late for the signing. He was due to be signing from 2:30pm to 5:00pm, but the crowds were overwhelming (some people had been queuing since the early morning) and he was still going strong at 6:45pm with the queues showing no signs of reducing in length.
He took a short break from the signing session to speak to Darren Fletcher and Gary Birtles on Century Radio where he took the opportunity to apologise for yesterdays article saying he wanted the Forest managers job.
Pearce said: "I was asked by a reporter whether I would be interested in a job in management in the future.
"It's no secret that I'm taking my coaching badges at the moment and I would love to get involved in management.
"Then I was asked whether I fancied managing Forest one day. Everyone knows what Nottingham Forest means to me and I told the reporter I would consider that as a great honour.
"The paper concerned (the Nottingham Evening Post) ran a story along the lines of 'I'm looking for your job David' � but that's not the case. That's not what I'm about!
"I'll play for as long as I feel I'm doing myself credit and West Ham want me and then I'll apply for manager's jobs.
"If I get a job somewhere all well and good. I'll give it my best shot.
"But stories like that aren't fair on David and I'd like to apologise to him here and now. I'll be giving him a call just to clear one or two things up."

August 30 2000

Johnson Gets Wales Call: Andy Johnson has been drafted into the Wales squad ahead of their World Cup qualifying match with Belarus at the weekend. Johnson has been called up by Wales national boss Mark Hughes as a replacement for Leeds' Matthew Jones who pulled out of the squad suffering from a recurrence of shin splints.
Jones' withdrawal on Tuesday has allowed Hughes to bring in the Forest man before the squad leave for Belarus on Thursday.
Johnson's call up brings the number of Forest players on international duty over the weekend to five. Stern John and Jim Brennan fly the furthest as the the Atlantic to play for Trinidad and Tobago and Canada respectively, while David Prutton links up with the England Under-21 squad, with Chris Doig doing likewise for Scotland.

£5 Million Prutton: Forest have slapped a price tag of £5 million on young star David Prutton in a bid to discourage interest from Newcastle and Chelsea. Both these teams have been watching the youngster with interest lately.
Newcastle scouts were present at the Crystal Palace game on Monday and when asked they admitted they were there to watch Prutton.
The attention being paid to the youngster is flattering, but he's not letting it go to his head as he said of the speculation: "I'm just thinking about playing for Forest. I can't let other things affect me."

Fine Scrapped: The official Nottingham Forest web site (www.nottinghamforest.co.uk) is carrying the following article on Forest's suspended fine for discipline:
Nottingham Forest today stressed that they are no longer faced with a �25,000 suspended fine from the Football Association . . . even though they are striving hard to improve their disciplinary record.
Following incidents which took place during the 3-2 victory over Crystal Palace earlier this week, it was reported in some sections of the media that Forest would pay heavily for their problems in the past. But Secretary Paul White has pointed out that the Club received a letter from the FA during the summer which indicated that the �25,000 suspended fine from the 1998-99 season had been waived on account of an improvement in the disciplinary record during the 1999-2000 campaign.
"Some people may find it hard to believe that there has been a vast improvement in our disciplinary record in light of the fact that we had nine players sent off last season," explained White.
"But while the FA are still looking for us to continue the improvement, they have drawn attention to the fact that we have made significant progress in the right direction and waived the suspended fine."
In 43 games in the 1998-99 campaign when the Club was relegated from the Premier League, they picked up a total of 96 bookings, which under the points system averaged out at 10.55 points per match.
Last season, they picked up 77 cautions in their 54 matches, which works out at an average of 7.3 points each game. "That represents a reduction of 30 per cent in bookings," added White.
"The sending offs commanded a lot of attention, but most clubs have the odd nightmare game over the course of a season."
Forest are awaiting the referee's report of the Palace match on Bank Holiday Monday before deciding their course of action following the controversial incidents which took place at Selhurst Park.

August 28 2000

Roche The Hero: Forest started this game with a vengeance and ended up leaving the field at half-time with a 3-0 lead after playing Palace off the field. Palace managed to claw two goals back in the second half but the events of the final minute of this game will be what everyone remembers for a long time to come.
Forest's goals came from Andy Johnson on 12 minutes and David Platt on 31 minutes. The third goal was an own goal from Mullins as he diverted a Platt cross into his own net.
The high point for Forest was definitely the performance of the manager, who despite his advancing years (he is all of 34 you know) controlled the midfield, his passing was superb and he took his goal with real skill.
Forest for some reason sat back on their three goal lead and Palace started to play in the second half. They managed to claw two goals back and were searching for the third when in the 90th minute all hell broke loose.
Discipline definitely reached a new low today as a mass brawl followed Dave Beasant's sending off. Beasant was shown the red card by referee Ray Olivier for denying an obvious scoring chance when Palace's Fan Zhiyi was brought down.
Though Beasant has agreed there was contact, he said at the time it was well outside the penalty area. This has been proved to be the case by TV replays as well, and we are not talking a few inches outside the box either, it was a good two or three yards outside. However, with the advice of his linesman, Olivier pointed to the spot.
What followed proved that despite the new disciplinary code brought in by the Football Association, players will react in the heat of the moment, after all they are only human.
When Beasant made contact with the cheating Fan Zhiyi he threw himself to the ground in the most dramatic fashion, rolling several times till he was well inside the penalty area. Fan then got to his knees and with his arms outspread pleaded for the penalty. The ref duly obliged at which point Fan then grasped his stomach and his ankle and started to writhe around in agony (why I'll never know, surely he should have done that before the penalty was given).
Beasant was incensed by Fan's theatricals and could clearly be seen screaming "cheat" at the Chinese defender.
Fan reacted to this by jabbing at Beasant and leaping to his feet after a miraculous recovery. Fan then ran into the melee of players and can be seen on the video throwing a punch at Tony Vaughan.
Another Palace player (and I use the word player very loosely in this case), Jamie Pollack (how this talentless prat gets a contract at any football club is beyond me) can also be seen swinging at players and winding them up, something he had done all game (probably because he has no actual football talent).
I hope the video panel will examine the events closely. There was some rather obvious pushing and shoving with around 15 players joining in. But it is up to the referee now to report the incident.
If the referee does report the mass confrontation - though with his eye for detail he might well have missed it - both Palace and Forest could face a fine of £50,000 each. Forest are guaranteed a fine of £5,000 under the new code for having six players booked and/or sent off.
Once peace was restored, Roche was bought on for the dismissed Beasant, with Jack Lester leaving the pitch to make way for him. Julian Gray stepped up to take the penalty. His first kick beat but three Palace players, as well as several from Forest, had strayed into the area so Olivier ordered a retake for encroachment.
The second time around Gray shot to Roche's right and the young Irishman's first ever touch in League football was to save the penalty. I hope that the preceeding events don't spoil this little piece of history for the Irishman.
A minute later the referee blew the whistle and the players left the pitch at the end of what had been a good match up to the final minute. Both sets of fans booed the referee off, and it has to be said from both the Palace and Forest perspectives that this referee had given one of the most inept performances we have yet seen from the men in black.

August 26 2000

Here We Go Again: Forest turned in one of their worst performances yet to lose 2-1 today against Birmingham City, a team that had not won a game at the City Ground since 1963.
I mean no disrespect to Birmingham, they played well on the day, but they never looked that good. Whereas Forest were absolutely abysmal.
Things looked bad on 7 minutes when Marcello was gifted a free header at the goal, how he failed to score I'll never know, but the ball hit the post and bounced clear. Birmingham took the lead on 15 minutes when Marcello lobbed the stranded Beasant and as the half wore on Forest looked less and less together as a team.
On the stroke of half time Hughes crossed into the Forest box to an unmarked Nicky Eaden on the far post to head home the second. The stunning thing about this goal was Eaden could have bought the ball down, stopped and rested, drank a cup of tea and still scored, the Forest defence really were that slow.
In the 35 years I have been watching Forest I have always refused to boo the team off after a bad performance, mainly because I believe this does nothing to help the team at all. As the half-time whistle blew the Forest team were greeted by a huge chorus of boos and chants of "what a load of rubbish", as per usual I didn't join in but I couldn't help but think how right the crowd were - it was awful!
David Platt obviously had his bollicking boots on during the half-time break and the team came out for the second half a changed side. They started brightly and applied great pressure to the Birmingham defence. This paid off when Chris Bart-Williams put away a free kick from just outside the Birmingham area, the relief was tremendous and the whole Trent End erupted.
Straight from the kick-off Birmingham broke through and very nearly scored due to more slack defending. Fortunately, and despite the 2-1 score-line Birmingham's strikers appear to be as bad as Forest's, and somehow they managed to miss an almost open goal.
Forest broke again and Alan Rogers found himself on the edge of the Birmingham area with the ball, he ran into the box and for a moment appear unsure whether to shoot or not, but seeing Prutton running clear onto the far post he played a brilliant cross to the 18 year old, who, instead of trapping the ball and banging it into the empty net, decided to volley it from six yards out, got under the ball and launched it straight over the net into the upper Trent End.
Forest continued to apply pressure but seemed to lack the teeth in attack.
With about 7 minutes to go Forest had a corner which saw the ball cleared out to Prutton on the edge of the box, he volleyed it straight back at the goal and the ball was heading for the bottom right hand corner, the ball had travelled through a crowded penalty area and Ian Bennet saw it very late, but somehow managed to get down to it and tip it onto the post and out for another corner. This time Prutton's volley had been very good, but Bennet's save was excellent.
There were further chances for both sides but the game seemed to slow down, and when the final whistle went Forest were again booed off by the crowd, though this time the boos were more subdued than they had been at half-time.

August 24 2000

Blake Wants Reds Future: Robbie Blake has said that he wants to put his Bradford hell behind him and resurrect his career with Nottingham Forest. The 24-year-old has joined Forest on a two-month loan, and looks likely to make his debut in Saturday's game against Birmingham, where he will be looking to rediscover the kind of form that made him such a big hit at Valley Parade before things turned sour.
The Bradford chairman, Geoffrey Richmond, has made it clear that �1.5 million will be enough to seal a deal for the 24 year old striker and at the same time they are looking to offload Isaiah Rankin who is currently on-loan at Bolton.
Richmond said: "We've told both clubs that a transfer fee which meets our asking price would be accepted. We've put a �1.5m price tag on Blake and we'll accept �1.3m for Rankin."
Robbie Blake commented: "My problems at Bradford weren't on the field, they were off it and involved certain people. I thought I'd sorted it all out but came back this season to find myself still frozen out.
"Joining Forest is a great opportunity for me. It's a big club with some big players and, of course, I'd like to think my loan spell might lead to a permanent move."

Woan Joins Barnsley: Ian Woan has joined his old team mates, Steve Chettle, Geoff Thomas and Neil Shipperley at Barnsley. Woan impressed his old boss Dave Bassett during a few training sessions and Bassett has decided to take a chance on the winger and offered him a contract.

August 24 2000

Huddersfield Game Postponed: Forest have been given clearance by the Football League to postpone their match against Huddersfield Town on September 3rd. Club officials made the request to move the game, which was due to be shown on Sky, following international call-ups for Chris Doig (Scotland U21) and David Prutton (England U21).
Forest already knew that they would be missing Stern John (Trinidad & Tobago) and Jim Brennan (Canada) for this date but with yesterday's call-ups for the latest two members of the squad it takes Forest over the necessary three players called up before a game can be postponed.
The league accepted Forest's case and have postponed the game, though no new date has been set by the officials as yet.

August 22 2000

Forest Scape Draw: Forest scraped a draw this evening in the first round first leg of the Worthington Cup. Forest were away at Darlington and on paper it looked as if Forest would have an easy ride, however, the third division outfit had other ideas and outplayed Forest for long periods of the game.
Forest did not seem to be happy to be there and Darlington took advantage of this winning a rather dubious penalty on 15 minutes. Elliot stepped up and gave the Quakers a deserved lead.
Forest woke up at this point and decided to play. Six minutes later Gary Jones was bought down rather stupidly in the area and Forest had their own penalty which Bart-Williams duly slotted home to level the scores.
The second half saw much the same from Forest as Darlington pressed again and again. They got their just rewards on 61 minutes when Naylor put the Quakers back in front for a deserved lead.
Again, the opposition scoring seemed to wake Forest up and with Platt now on the playing field, and I might add looking just as good as he used to, Forest started to take charge. With a stroke of luck on 73 minutes Rogers fired a shot at goal which struck a defender and shot into the net, leaving the Darlington keeper stranded. It was lucky, and if there had been no deflection it could well have been a relatively easy save for the keeper. Lets hope that is a good sign, after all Forest scraped the draw tonight, the truth is over the game as a whole Darlington deserved more from it.

Blake Loan Deal: Forest have signed Bradford striker Robbie Blake on a two month loan. David Platt has initially taken the 24-year-old on a temporary basis, although it is thought that that Bradford may be willing to see the move made more lasting once the initial period has elapsed.
Whether or not Forest will be able to afford the �1 million plus fee is, for the moment at least, a moot point, although it should be pointed out that the Bantams rejected an offer of �2.5 million from Blackburn last season.
Blake is a quick footed darting forward, similar in style to Craig Hignett, whom Platt tried to sign over the close season. He scored a handy 17 goals in Bradford's promotion season but his chances have been limited since.
He is a difficult man to predict, he tends to blow hot and cold, but when he is hot, he can be unstoppable. His signing represents something of a gamble, but, given the potential payoff if he finds his goalscoring touch, certainly one worth taking.

August 21 2000

Cash Injection For Forest: Nigel Doughty has secured a �6 million overdraft facility for Nottingham Forest Football Club to aid in their bid to reach the Premier League.
The money will not be made available for new signings, which will no doubt come as something of a disappointment to the fans, but in the long run it will mean that the club do not have to cut corners in other areas which will bolster David Platt's promotion bid.
Chairman Eric Barnes commented: "The knowledge that this facility was to be made available enabled the board to agree to financing the signings and salaries of Colin Calderwood, Tony Vaughan and Gary Jones and to maintain David Platt's existing squad as we embark on our attempt on our attempt to regain Premiership status.
"It has to be remembered that we have what we believe is the third highest player wage roll in the Nationwide League and also that our published accounts for the year to November 30, 1999 revealed that we were operating at a loss of �140,000 per week.
"I have to repeat this additional facility is aimed primarily at supporting the cost of the present operation not further player purchases."

August 19 2000

Point From Carrow Road: Forest got a point today from their visit to Carrow Road, the final score was 0-0. The game as a whole was uninspiring, with Norwich bringing the game to Forest for most of the time.
Beasant pulled off a string of fine saves and Marshall made a fine save from Prutton's shot late in the first half. Stern John came on in the first half but still doesn't look 100% fit yet.
The only other real highlight from the game was that both sides benefited from the new rule as they saw their free kicks moved forward by 10 yards as a result of disputes.

August 18 2000

One Change For Norwich: Forest are making one change for tomorrow's game against Norwich. Andy Johnson will miss out after picking up a hamstring strain in last Saturday's game against West Brom and Matthieu Louis-Jean is expected to take his place in the starting line up.

August 16 2000

Burn's Out At City: Former Forest midfielder John Burns has been put on the transfer list at Bristol City by another former Forest star, Danny Wilson.
Wilson is the new man in charge at City and he has transfer listed no fewer than seven players at Ashton Gate.
Burns was a product of the Forest youth academy and great things were expected of him when he made his Forest debut just over a year ago. However, Platt decided to sell him to Bristol City last season for £100,000 and the transfer formed part of the deal that saw Jim Brennan move to the City Ground.

August 15 2000

Platt's Selection Problem: David Platt has found himself with a selection problem ahead of this Saturday's game against Norwich.
Unlike last season, however, this one is a happier one as he has too many players available.
He now has a problem in the defence as Tony Vaughan has been declared fit to play and Platt has to decide who to leave out. The most obvious choice would seem to be young Chris Doig, however, after Doig's man of the match performance against West Brom it would seem an incredibly cruel thing to do to leave out the youngster.

August 14 2000

Bartman The Boss: Manager David Platt has handed Chris Bart-Williams the captain's armband for the new season in a bid to fire up the teams bid for promotion.
Platt chose not to hand the responsibility to Riccardo Scimeca this time around and has instead given the opportunity to Bart-Williams, Forest's longest serving member of the current squad.
The former England Under-21 skipper, who deputised for Scimeca on a number of occasions last season, captained Forest to a 1-0 win over West Brom on Saturday and afterwards Bart-Williams said: "It's a great honour for me. Ricky did great last season in difficult circumstances but the manager decided it was time for a change and fortunately I got the job.
"I think I'm ideally suited to the job because I regard myself as being bossy on the field. A lot of people don't think I say very much, but I like to get my point across."
Platt clarified his decision to make the switch by saying: "I decided I wanted my captain to occupy a role in the centre of the park. It was a tough decision because Ricky hasn't done anything wrong.
"I just wanted to give it to someone in midfield, although it's quite ironic that both Bart and Ricky found themselves playing there in the second half on Saturday."

August 12 2000

A Game Of Two Halves: It's one of the oldest clichés in football but today's season opener really was a game of two halves.
The sun was shining, the Trent End was full and the Baggies had bought along a good crowd. Despite the hot weather the game started at a fast and furious pace and Forest's first chance came on 9 minutes when Rogers set Harewood through only to fire the ball over the bar.
Other chances fell to Johnson who headed over from point blank range, Jones who headed just wide and Harewood, who saw his attempt well saved. Despite these chances though Forest looked the second best team on the day with West Brom taking control more and more.
On 33 minutes Andy Johnson headed clear from a corner, releasing Alan Rogers who ran at the Baggies. Johnson, sensing something was on the cards ran furiously out to help Rogers, but as he reached the centre circle he pulled up, grabbing his right thigh. It looked like a ham string pull. Johnson played on for a few minutes, but obviously struggling Platt substituted him with Matthieu Loius-Jean.
The most worrying moment of the half came as Jason Roberts was put through on goal, Jon Olav Hjelde tried desperately to catch him but only succeeded in bringing him down. The tackle was clumsy from Hjelde, but fortunately for him Roberts made a lot of it which may have influenced the ref in his decision not to give anything. From where I was sitting directly in front of the incident, in the upper Trent End, it was clear foul, and as the last man Hjelde would normally have been sent off. It was not a penalty though as the incident definitely happened outside the area, though Roberts managed to spectacularly roll to the penalty spot - perhaps hinting at what he wanted from the incident.
The half time whistle saw the score still 0-0 and the Forest team left the field to some boos (give em a break guy's it was the first game of the season and it was bloody hot out there).
The second half saw a slight change for Forest that was to prove a master stroke from Platt. Riccy Scimeca, who had been playing at right back moved into his more natural midfield position and Louis-Jean who had come on for the injured Johnson in the first half moved back to his more natural right back position.
Forest dominated the half from the opening whistle to the end. Louis-Jean, Prutton and Jones controlled the the right side of the field. Jones particularly had a good game. He's big and strong and held the ball up well.
Rogers and Brennan had spent the first half confusing each other and arguing. They got their act together in the second half and took control of the left flank
Forest, despite dominating and making loads of chances were still failing to find the back of the net. Harewood, looking tried in the heat was substituted on 54 minutes and Jack Lester came on in his place.
Shortly after the substitution another chance was missed as Scimeca headed just over the bar.
After making a good save from Roberts Dave Beasant released Prutton who made a great run through the middle and slipped a neat through ball to Scimeca. Scimeca blasted the shot and forced a great save from Jensen in the Baggies goal. Prutton latched onto the loose ball but blasted over the bar.
It was starting to look like Forest would never score as Lester finding himself one-on-one with Jensen tried to side foot the ball round the keeper only to shoot wide of the goal.
The pressure Forest were now putting on the Baggies was enormous, something had to give and finally it did. Forest were taking their umpteenth corner of the game, Bart-Williams blasted the ball into the centre of the area where Hjelde ran into the box and with a running header blasted the ball into the net. The relief was tremendous as the whole crowd erupted.
Forest continued to dominate and looked to have scored a second goal when Jack Lester again found himself one-on-one with Jensen. He tried to lob the keeper this time but Jensen got a contact on the ball which proved vital as it sent the ball higher. The ball came down in front of the goal just on the six yard line, the whole of the Trent End has risen to their feet in an attempt to suck the ball into the net but the extra height added by Jensen's touch meant the ball bounced that little bit higher and it rolled over the bar instead of just under it.
The game seemed to go on forever after this, with the final whistle being blown at 16:57 with my watch, the half having kicked off at 16:03 with my watch. Where the hell the referee got nearly nine minutes of extra time from I'll never know. I can only assume he had money on a draw but realising the Baggies were never going to score and his dinner was getting cold he decided to blow the whistle and give Forest their first three points of the season. Lets hope they are the first of many.

August 11 2000

Platt Gets The VOC: Forest chairman Eric Barnes has backed manager David Platt to achieve promotion this coming season.
The City Ground board have already made it clear that if Forest fail to reach the Premier League this time around, they will have to start reducing the structure of wages at the club and that will mean selling key players. That sort of scenario would see Forest pulled down the same path that has cost so many other clubs dearly, and because of that, the manager has been instructed to go all out this time around.
Platt now has a full season behind him now in the managerial hot-seat, a squad of his own players who he seemingly believes in and a host of big name clubs with bottomless pockets to compete with, but the only obvious thing about the next twelve months is that it will be anything but easy.
Despite that though, and forgetting how close the club came to disaster over the course of last season, Barnes is willing to pin his hopes on the former England skipper and he commented: "David has had a full period to work with the players and the squad is now his own.
The fans have done their bit by filling the Trent End as has the club. The manager has been given the freedom to have his own pre-season.
"He took the players to America and he has told me that he's confident that we can do it. Now it's down to the players.
"I just can't wait for the real business to start tomorrow. To be honest the last few weeks have felt like I've been waiting for exam results."

August 10 2000

Youth Show Character: In their final game against European talent the Forest youth team once again showed their character when they faces a youth squad from Dutch giants Ajax.
This time the youth team had gone in at half time 2-0 down after Ajax turned on the style. However, the Forest youngsters came out for the second half full off fight and clawed back the deficit with goals from Craig Westcarr and Brian Cash to earn a well deserved draw.

Platt Blasts Petrachi: David Platt has had a dig at his departing winger, Gianluca Petrachi, saying the Italian made little effort to adapt to life in England.
Petrachi is set to rejoin his former side Perugia this week on an extended loan, which all parties hope will ultimately turn into a formal transfer.
But Platt is making no attempt to hide his feelings over this saga and is obviously not sorry to see the back of him. Platt said: "He struggled with injuries but the one thing that really disappointed me was the fact that he didn't settle.
" I know it can be difficult when you move to a foreign country but I don't think he tried to settle as well as he might have done.
"If he's not going to play for us and to the best of his ability then we've got to look at ways of offloading him, and this is the first step."

Francis Blames Doughty: Birmingham City manager, Trevor Francis, has blamed Nigel Doughty for the breakdown of the Andy Johnson/Peter N'dlovu deal.
The deal was expected to go through this weekend but the sides are understood to have failed to agree on the value of Johnson and N'dlovu.
Francis claims that Doughty intervened in the deal despite the two managers and both players agreeing on the finances.
Francis said: "I'm disappointed because we had agreed a fee with David Platt and the player had agreed terms.
"The intervention of Nigel Doughty now seems all the more frustrating."
Neither side is admitting that the deal is totally dead and Forest could still sanction the move if Birmingham were to come back with an improved offer.

Wolleaston Loan On Hold: Robert Wolleaston's loan move from Chelsea to Forest has been put on temporary hold after the 20 year old striker suffered an ankle injury.
However, the deal is still likely to go ahead when he recovers from the problem.
David Platt said: "Robert tweaked an ankle a fortnight ago. He's making good progress but there's not much point in us taking him until he's made a complete recovery and can play in games."
The loan deal is to be for a month initially, but if Wooleaston does well there is an option to extend it to the full season.

August 9 2000

Petrachi Goes Home: Gianluca Petrachi has made the first move in an attempt to end his Forest nightmare by signing for his old club Perugia on a one year loan deal.
The Italian was Platt's first signing for Forest along with his fellow countrymen Salvatore Matrecano and Moreno Mannini.
Mannini left in the middle of last season having failed to make an impact in the squad or to settle in Nottingham.
Neither Petrachi nor Matrecano had good seasons last year but they appeared more settled. Petrachi made 15 appearances and Matrecano a few less before suffering a serious knee injury.
It came to light during the close season, however, that Petrachi was unsettled and wanted to return home to Italy and it looks like like he has got his wish.
Matrecano on the other hand looks more promising, he has recovered from his knee injury and is fighting for a place in the squad for Saturday's season opener against West Brom.

August 8 2000

Another Impressive Performance: The U19 squad put in another impressive performance this evening as they fought back from 3-0 down to earn themselves a 4-4 draw.
The U19's were playing a youth team from Bayern Leverkusen though the German side did include several over 20's including one 24 year old.
Within 25 minutes of the start the Forest side found themselves 3-0 down and things were not looking to good for them. However, Forest started to fight back and as the half-time whistle blew they had pulled things round and were drawing 3-3. Forest's goals coming from Niall McNamara, John Thompson and Andy Reid.
The Germans fought back and went straight into the lead at the start of the second half with a hotly contested goal which saw no less than three German players offside when the goal went in. However, the ref was having none of it and allowed the goal to stand.
Forest fought back and got a deserved equaliser when Craig Westcarr headed home a Keith Foy corner to draw the match 4-4.
The U19's final game of the tournament is on Thursday evening when they face Dutch giants Ajax.

August 7 2000

Platt Rubbishes Bart-Williams Rumours: David Platt has rubbished this weekend's rumours that Chris Bart-Williams is interesting Italian Serie A side Perugia.
The weekend media speculation suggested that the 26-year-old midfielder had caught the eye of the Perugia President, who was reportedly considering making a �2 million bid for the former Sheffield Wednesday player.
However, Platt has said that he has not heard anything from the Italian club, and that he would not even consider selling a player who was a key figure in Forest's successful battle against relegation last season.

August 6 2000

Youngsters Romp Home: Forest's U19 squad demolished top Norwegian side Rosenborg's U19 squad 6 - 0 today in the first of three European clashes for the youth academy. The scorers were Andy Reid (2), Keith Foy, Niall McNamara, Matthew Turner and Jermaine Jenas..
The U19's will face German side Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday night and Dutch giant's Ajax on Thursday night.

August 5 2000

Port Vale 1 - 0 Forest: Forest lost the final game of the pre-season this afternoon to an own goal from young defender Kevin Dawson. Overall it was a poor performance by Forest which saw Vale run the game and come out as deserved winner.
The down side of the game was an injury to Dave Beasant early in the first half which saw him stretchered off - latest reports indicate that it is a badly sprained ankle.
On the upside though, Barry Roche came on for the injured Beasant and though a little nervous to start with he settled into the game and pulled off a great penalty save as well.
David Platt came on in the second half but even his presence on the pitch could not fire Forest into action.

August 4 2000

Forest Academy Is Host To Euro Stars: Forest's Under 19 youth team are hosting the cream of European teams over the next week.
The Forest Academy is hosting a European Challenge at their site off Wilford Lane in Nottingham. They will face Norwegian side Rosenborg on Sunday (kick off 2pm) before meeting Bayer Leverkusen of Germany on Tuesday (7pm) and Dutch giants Ajax on Thursday (7pm).
Academy Director Paul Hart said: "These games will be a good test of how far we have progressed over the past few years."

Platt Still Chasing Cameron: David Platt says he is still interested in Hearts free-scoring midfielder Colin Cameron.
Platt plans to fly to Scotland on Sunday to watch the star in action against St. Johnstone in the Scottish Premier League.
It will be the second successive weekend that Platt has flown to Scotland to watch the Scottish international.

Bolton Say No To Woan: Bolton Wanderers have said no to Ian Woan. Woan has been on trial at Bolton during the pre-season, after leaving Forest on a Bosman free this summer. He has played in most of Bolton's pre-season games, but unfortunately for Woan Bolton manager Sam Allardyce has decided not to offer him a contract.

August 3 2000

Platt Confirms Birmingham Approach: David Platt has confirmed on that Birmingham City have approached Forest with a view to a swap deal involving Peter N'dlovu and Andy Johnson.
Platt was speaking on Century Radio's football phone-in this evening, where he also confirmed that the deal would involve Peter N'dlovu and cash for Andy Johnson.
He also confirmed that Birmingham's initial offer of N'dlovu and cash had been rejected as too low.
Platt also went on to confirm that Forest had received a bid from Wolves for Marlon Harewood, this has also been rejected after Marlon's good performances in the pre-season games.

Chelsea Loan On The Cards: David Platt's friendship with Gianluca Vialli is proving useful again. Last season Vialli sent John Terry, their up and coming young defender, up to the City Ground for a loan spell to get some first team experience. The move was popular with the fans and the managers as Terry proved to be a great success.
Sadly, Terry has now returned to Stanford Bridge, but Vialli was so pleased with the results of the loan that he is now discussing with Platt the possibility of sending their new star in the making, Robert Wooleaston to the City Ground for a loan period, again, to get that all important first team experience.
Wooleaston is a striker and is fast gaining a reputation as 'the man to watch'. He has lighting pace and a good eye for goal which has earned him the label "The new Nicolas Anelka".
The initial loan period is for a month, but if Wooleaston proves successful there is an option to increase the loan for the whole season.

Quashie Deal Is Done: Nigel Quashie has completed his move to Portsmouth today for a figure of around £500,000 which represents a loss of £1.5 million on what Forest paid for him 2 years ago.

August 2 2000

Vaughan Returns To Action: Tony Vaughan made a brief but successful return to action this evening following surgery on a knee injury he sustained at the end of last season.
The defender had a 15 minute run out for the reserves against West Brom in the final of the Bass Charity Vase at Burton Albion.
The game itself was a poor one and Forest lost 1-0, though Vaughan's return at least gives them something to celebrate.