The English Job

After the disappointment of my old Forest game crashing on me I thought I'd give it another go.

The aim of this career is to not only win everything with Forest the best club in the world but to do so with an all English side which I will build and perfect and post all of it here in 'The English Job'. Thanks for reading, enjoy.


BREAKING NEWS: Nottingham Forest fire Billy Davies and replace him with Steve 'Don't worry I've got my umbrella' McClaren. The ex England manager has apparently raided the supporters club in search of a Nottingham Forest umbrella.

BREAKING NEWS: Nottingham Forest hire un-heard of manager Daniel Cornell after Steve McClaren is told he cannot take his umbrella onto the pitch in any competitive fixture. McClaren left the training ground distraught and Cornell walked into his favourite teams ground and took a deep breath declaring 'I love the smell of the Trent in the morning'.

So far all we've heard from the new manager Daniel Cornell is that he's keen on English players. One Sunday newspaper had a short interview with the man himself, 'So Mr Cornell, what type of player, if any, do you want to bring to the club', asked the reporter 'English players', replied the young manager as he strode through the club doors as if he'd been here for the last 20 years. He emerged from the board room and went straight to a press conference where he was quizzed by local newspapers and the supporters club where Mr Cornell made it public that he has been given £250,000 transfer budget and a wage budget of around £110,000 per week. He put pen to paper during the meeting with the board and signed a contract keeping him at the club until June 2012 earning £6,000 per week. Cornell also told the media the board were expecting him to get the team promoted to the Barclays Premier League.





Cornell seemed keen to test his squad out in the pre-season period and with the friendlies he arranged it looked as though he wanted morale builders for a good start to the season the first pre season match his Nottingham Forest team played was against the reserves he explained that this gave everyone a chance to impress him and end up in the first team when the season started.

8/7/2010 H
Nottingham Forest 5 - 0 Nottingham Forest Reserves

Garath McCleary (1, 43)
Dexter Blackstock (23, 49)
Mark Byrne (OG 63)

The Nottingham Forest side consisted of mainly first team players with a few fringe players thrown in there to test the sides out. No one really impressed from the reserves and the teams looked set to stay how they were after a 5-0 thrashing from the first teamers, the only downside to this was that Chris Cohen picked up a torn hamstring putting him out of action for 3 months.

13/7/2010 A
Nottingham Forest 4 - 0 Llanelli

Marcus Tudgay (2, 53)
Ryan Jones (OG 23)
Dele Adebola (39)

Another convincing victory with a team of back up and reserve players, this pleased Cornell and the fans who could look at the last two friendlies and see 9 scored 0 conceded and still not too much effort put in, but it was only pre season anything could happen once the competitive season started.

16/7/2010 H
Nottingham Forest 2 - 1 Inverness Caledonian Thistle

Radoslaw Majewski (8) Dani Sanchez (78)
Rob Earnshaw (31)

Another friendly another win Cornell admitted he was a little disappointed to concede but surprisingly not too worried that Guy Moussi picked up an injury pulling his hamstring and was expected to be out for 4 weeks, this lack of concern can only be pinned down to the fact that Moussi is French, not Cornells preferred English.

19/7/2010 A
Nottingham Forest 4 - 0 Cowdenbeath

Rob Earnshaw (5)
Nathan Tyson (36)
Robbie Findley (41)
Dalton Harris (76)

Cornell didn't seem to mind the fact that American Robbie Findley scored the third goal for Forest, perhaps he is letting up on the idea of an all English squad. Still another win in the friendlies for Forest and this is sure to please the manager.
Reporter: Daniel, are you prepared to keep hold of the likes of Findley, Moussi and Majewski all non-English players?
Cornell: Yes for the first few seasons provided they are good enough for the team they will play but once I have more freedom and choice in who to sign and the English players become available I will sign the best players for the team. So until I've been here a while I'll focus on getting the team into a solid position.

23/7/2010 A
Nottingham Forest 4 - 1 Crewe Alexandra

Wes Morgan (13) Lewis Short (pen 75)
Dexter Blackstock (53)
Nathan Tyson (55, pen 63)

Forest had picked up yet another pre season win albeit against a weaker opponent, however it wasn't all fun and laughter as Garath McCleary fractured his wrist putting the midfielder out of action for 7 weeks.

27/7/2010 A
Nottingham Forest 3 - 1 Huddersfield

Rob Earnshaw (32, 73) Scott Arfield (pen 5)
Wes Morgan (45+1)

Cornells men finished the pre season friendlies winning all 6 games they played scoring 22 and conceding 3, this was without a doubt a boost for the squads morale and the fans and players alike were looking forward to the start of the 2010/11 npower Championship season, this final game sets up what should be a promising and rewarding season for Nottingham Forest.

TRANSFER NEWS: On the 28/7/2010 big 6"2 Slovakian front man, Tomas Oravec, puts pen to paper to sign from Slovakians Zilina for 200K, he told a local newspaper he was looking forward to playing for the club.

TRANSFER NEWS: 5/8/2010 left sided Martinique international, Ludovic Clement, signs for Forest on a free transfer, just two days before the start of the season Cornell guarantees the media that this was not a rushed deal and he's confident that Clement will have a instant positive impact on the team.

The club didn't get rid of a single player over the course of the 2010/2011 transfer windows meaning Cornell must've been confident his starting side had something about them.
*Now that I've put my pre season friendlies and first season signings up I hope to put four games on each day, apologies if I go out for the day and don't manage to post for some reason but I have a life outside of FM.. just about. Anyway enjoy :)*

good pre-season, looking forward to it...gonna be a challenge though

Two days without the Internet the day after I started my story, cheers BT :), but I'm back now and with sufficient Internet to let me update you with my first four games of the season, here we go.


7/8/2010

Reporter: Daniel, are you nervous about the first game of the season? What are your feelings right now?

Cornell: Honestly, right now I feel like a kid going to watch his favourite football at their first game of the season... with an added load of pressure and 30,000 fans after you if you don't win straight away.

7/8/2010 H npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 3 - 0 QPR

Dexter Blackstock (9)
Paul Anderson (48, 55)

Having Heidar Helguson sent off on the 50 minute mark made it a little easier for Forest to defend the 2-0 lead and add one more but made little difference as they dominated the match from the off a good start to the season and one the manager will be happy with.
Reporter: A good performance today from your side Daniel how do you see it adding to the season as a whole.

Cornell: Well as nice as it was to start with a win we musn't let it go to our heads and have to get straight back to work it's only the first game there's still a long way to go.

11/8/2010 H League Cup 1st Round
Nottingham Forest 1 - 1 Hartlepool (win on penalties)

Lewis McGugan (30) Peter Hartley (67)

A disappointing defeat on penalties to a weaker lower league side, the game should've been killed off early on and once it goes to penalties it's anyones game. Cornells men have disappointed many fans here tonight but at least they will be able to put full focus into the league now. All the same this early exit from the league cup will sting a little.

14/8/2010 A npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 2 - 0 Hull City

Ludovic Clement (24)
Rob Earnshaw (45+1)

A nice afternoon for playing football, dry and 15C was just what the players would've wanted and travelling up to Hull in the North of England was always going to be tough for Forest, but nothing could've been better for the fans that made the journey North than a 2-0 win and seeing a goal from a summer signing. Although Hull had more of the ball Forest made the most of what they had of it to take the 3 points here today.

21/8/2010 H npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 2 - 2 Sheffield United

Brendan Maloney (15) Ched Evans (21)
Dexter Blackstock (70) Daniel Bogdanovic (83)

Forest fans and manager alike will leave the City Ground disappointed with this draw, dropping two points at home to Sheffield United when they had more possesion and 13 more shots than United had will have frustrated Cornell and the fans of Forest.

*Next time we'll finish a busy August and get into September as the league starts to play itself out a little, I'm enjoying writing and provided my Internet survives I will continue to update daily or every other day, thanks for reading.

28/8/2010 A npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 0 - 1 Preston

Sean St. Ledger (29)

The first league loss of the season will disappoint the Forest fans who made the journey North to Preston however the Forest fans shouldn't feel hard done by or robbed as Preston deserved the win and had more possession and more shots as well so deserved their win. Just how Forest will recover from this loss I'm not sure as they were on a decent league run and this may dent their confidence.

31/8/2010 H npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 2 - 0 Scunthorpe

Marcus Tudgay (10)
Paul Anderson (62)

The Nottingham Forest squad bounced back as Cornell said they would in a post match press conference after the Preston game, it's been a busy month for Cornells men the team have played 6 competitive games in September and will have enjoyed the way in which they dominated Scunthorpe today and managed to get plenty of shots away throughout the match.

11/9/2010 A npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 0 - 1 Barnsley

Jason Shackell (67)

Another defeat away from home for Cornells team and this time the fans should be annoyed a game in which their team dominated the home side but simply could not put the ball in the net. Cornell left with a frustrated look on his face and his players looked shocked as they left the pitch with no points and no goals, they need to pick up their away form this season if they are to win the Championship as expected.

14/9/2010 A npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 2 – 3 Crystal Palace

Dexter Blackstock (4, 62) Neil Danns (12)
Darren Ambrose (45)
Steffen Iversen (58)

Nottingham Forest fans will wonder what they are doing wrong away from home they seem to pick up wins with relative ease at home but they’ve made an away day trip once again and been rewarded with no points and an injury to winger Garath McCleary, Dan Cornell really does need to get his side firing away from home if he wants to be playing in the Premier League next year. With little difference between shots taken between the two sides and the balance of possession tipping in Forests favour all they need to do is put the ball in the back of the net.

Reporter: Dan, do you worry about the effect all of these fixtures in such a small window of time may have on your players?

Cornell: No not at all, I think the momentum these close knit fixtures generate is fantastic and we have great strength in depth so I don’t worry about it no.

18/9/2010 H npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 1 – 0 Coventry

Kelvin Wilson (71)

Once again another home win for Nottingham Forest and to be honest it’s a wonder how it was only one nil, the home side had plenty of shots but couldn’t finish them off as they have struggled to away from home, thankfully the fans are still siding with Dan Cornell because after all although it may be frustrating it is very early on in the season.

25/9/2010 H npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 2 – 0 Ipswich

Rob Earnshaw (23, 32)
Paul Anderson (53)

The City Ground is becoming something like a fortress at the early stage of this npower Championship season Forest had plenty of shots and finished off 1 in 6 today, still not clinical finishing but an impressive win against a decent Ipswich team. They played well and deserved their win.

Reporter: Mr Cornell, are you worried about how the team can’t seem to win away from home in the league at the moment?

Cornell: Not in the slightest we are just going to have to start being a little more clinical and I have absolute confidence in my strikers to start doing just that.

28/9/2010 A npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 1 – 0 Bristol City
Dexter Blackstock (32)

Nottingham Forest were quite lucky to win here today and especially to do so away, they didn’t have nearly as many shots as they would’ve liked to and let Bristol have far too many to make for a comfortable win, but Forest managed to steal the win and get a rare win away from home.

*I can’t find a way of looking back at past positions at certain points of the season, I’m now 3 or 4 seasons ahead so if anyone knows how to do that I’d be very grateful is they could explain. At the end of this post I imagine I was sitting around the playoff places in the league. Thanks for reading.

You can only see past positions for the current season. You probably know but the option is on "your league">information>pastpositions or click on your position number while viewing your league.

I'd be pretty gutted if I was in the Championship after 4 seasons. I got pretty bored with my full English team after I won everything for a few seasons running. Started up a Blyth Spartans game and I'm currently heading in to League 2. Check up on my Everton game on page 2 if you want to find some good English players to buy though I recommend them all since they won me so many trophies.

I've not been in the Championship 3 or 4 seasons, I've played 3 or 4 seasons more but not in the Championship, I'm liking the challenge of bringing English players in with little money (they seem to cost more than any other nationality as well) and a lowish reputation. Thanks for commenting, I'll check your Everton story out :).

Apologies to anyone who was reading the story I’ve been out of the house a lot during the summer holidays and when I have been playing FM I’ve been just playing rather than writing as well. I’m going to do a quick summary of two months in this update. Also because I’m a good 5 or 6 seasons into the game now I can no longer view past games so I will just have to take the scores and my goal scorers in the game feedback as to whether I should continue to report every game would be much appreciated because at the moment I’m not sure what you guys think of it.

2/10/2010 H npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 1 – 1 Watford

Paul Anderson scored for Forest to get them a point at home to Watford, they seem to be slowly settling into a team now rather than a bunch of players with a new manager at the helm, Cornell seems to be slowly building the morale.

16/10/2010 A npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 1 – 0 Middlesbrough

Defender Kelvin Wilson scores to keep the early pressure onto the leaders of the league Swansea and Burnley who steamed off in the early part of the season.

19/10/2010 H npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 0 – 2 Swansea

With Swansea and Burnley at the top they needed to carry on pushing away from Burnley and did just that by stomping all over Forest at the City Ground and knocking them down a few places in the league.

23/10/2010 A npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 3 – 2 Cardiff

Goals from Marcus Tudgay and Paul McKenna spelled out a draw for Forest in the long trip West to Cardiff, Wales. Until Kyle McNoughton put the ball in his own net to gift Forest all three points and give the away fans a happy ride home.

“There’s something about winning away especially after going such distances to do so” Cornell funnily enough not talking about these distances in terms of effort made but in terms of having to go to Middlesbrough in the North of the country and Cardiff in a different country to Nottingham all together.

30/10/2010 H npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 3 – 0 Doncaster

A recovery to turn the City Ground back to a happy place for the fans as they beat Doncaster 3 nil and enjoyed it as well, McKenna gets himself another goal and Earnshaw picks himself up a goal to please the home fans with that famed flip of his. A collector’s item from Wes Morgan completed the win as he struck one from outside of the penalty area.

6/11/2010 A npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 1 – 0 Leeds

A good hard fought battle in Yorkshire for old time’s sake between these two teams as fans were still more than happy to go at one another for the duration of the games although it was the away fans who left the ground with smiles on their faces after Tudgay scored to secure The Reds all three points.

9/11/2010 A npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 0 – 2 Burnley

Two away games with a 2 day gap between them proved too much for Cornell’s men as they slumped to a 2 nil defeat against league leaders Burnley. Cornell declared after the game, “It’s not fair really, is it?” we weren’t going to argue with the angry young man.

13/11/2010 H npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 2 – 0 Portsmouth

Paul Anderson and Kelvin Wilson strike to get Forest back on track against Portsmouth, a win is a win and a 2-0 win against Portsmouth is a good win which pleased fans at the City Ground.

20/11/2010 A npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 0 – 1 Norwich

Paul Lambert’s Norwich finished off Nottingham Forest right at the death of the game in the last minute of stoppage time to stop Forest from earning a good away point. Though there were a few positives to take from the game including how well Forest defended.

“You can’t win every game, can you” Cornell queries as he ponders over the laws of probability.

27/11/2010 H npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 1 – 2 Millwall
Cornell was left scratching his head as bottom half of the table side Millwall left fans and players alike with jaw dropped expressions, the Forest boys were just simply not up to the task and although Paul Anderson grabbed a consolation goal towards the end that’s all it turned out to be.

“But you’ve got to win a few right” states Cornell as his supposedly title contending Forest drop out of the playoff spots on a 2 game losing streak.

4/12/2010 A npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 0 – 2 Leicester

It’s never good to lose in a local derby especially when on a 2 game (now extended to 3) losing streak and are still out of the playoff places. To make matters worse this embarrassing 2 nil loss was live on TV much to Forest fans, who were watching at home and in Leicester, dismay.

Once in a while two teams square up and are bound to go at it in a full paced game for the duration, these games are known as derby fixtures and happen between local teams when they clash horns. Forest v Derby is no exception is often a fierce one Cornell lets us know this beforehand. “I’d love it if we beat them, love it, they’re exactly the kind of team we need to beat to put us back on winning ways. I’d love to beat them on TV”, lifelong Nottingham Forest fan and current manager pulls no punches.

11/12/2010 H npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 3 – 0 Derby

Chris Cohen opened the scoring in the first half before Dexter Blackstock killed off the Rams in the second half of the game with two neatly finished goals, the fans sung Cornell’s game for the duration of the game and this will have delighted the viewers at home and at the City Ground.

18/12/2010 A npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 3 – 1 Reading

Goals from Blackstock, Earnshaw and Anderson secure the three points and +2 on the goal difference for a Forest side on the up and chasing down the top teams during the Christmas month when everyone else seems to fade.

26/12/2010 A npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 2 – 1 Q.P.R

The Boxing Day fixture saw Nottingham Forest travel to Loftus Road to give their all against Q.P.R and they did just that and beat them 2-1 Blackstock and McCleary must of balanced their Christmas pudding and roast turkey just right in order to score Forests goals.

28/12/2010 H npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 2 – 1 Hull

The last game of the year saw Forest beat Hull City 2-1 at home, another goal conceded by Forest but the “We’ll score one more than you” mentality continues to shine through as Anderson and Earnshaw add to their tally’s for the season.

*This update has included more games than previous updates but less detail, I intend to continue the seasons this way unless someone can come up with a good reason not to, once again enjoy and we’ll draw closer to the finish of an up and down first season with Nottingham Forest. Thanks for reading.

This update of “The English Job” is a 2 and a half month update bringing us to around 2 months before the end of the season for the last update on the 26/8/2011 where you will find how Forest finished up and know the budget given to me in the next season. Enjoy.

1/1/2011 A npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 1 – 4 Sheffield United

To lose to a local rival is hard, but to lose to a local rival on TV is even harder. This is sure to disappoint Nottingham Forest fans and the fact that players are reported to have had outrageous New Year’s parties in the past will explain why the manager made it public knowledge he was more than unhappy with the players performances. Paul McKenna scored nothing more than a consolation goal against United.

3/1/2011 H npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 2 – 1 Preston

Robert Earnshaw pleases home fans with two goals and another win for Forest, exactly what they needed to recover from the 4-1 defeat to Sheffield United just 2 days ago,

8/1/2011 H FA Cup 3rd Round
Nottingham Forest 2 – 4 West Brom

Dexter Blackstock got two goals against West Brom, however West Brom showed the Forest fans why they were a league above them by putting 4 past Lee Camp and securing progression to the 4th Round of the FA Cup.

15/1/2011 A npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 0 – 1 Scunthorpe

Looks like the West Brom defeat damaged team morale as they lost to bottom place Scunthorpe, a frustrating defeat and a long drive home for Forest fans.

22/1/2011 H npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 2 – 1 Barnsley

Goals from Luke Chambers and Dexter Blackstock propelled Cornells men to a home victory surely replenishing some fan confidence in the team and manager.

1/2/2011 A npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 6 – 1 Ipswich

A huge win for Forest on a cold February night made the trip to the South East worthwhile for Forest fans as they enjoyed the game possibly more than any other this season (other than a win over Derby) this result pushes Forest back into the top 3. A Gareth McAuley own goal and goals from Wilson, Anderson, Majewski, McCleary and finally Blackstock completed the demolition of Ipswich Town.

5/2/2011 A npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 2 – 0 Coventry

Dexter Blackstock and Luke Chambers, this 2-0 victory wasn’t quite as impressive as the 6-1 victory but another win none the less as Forest continue their winning streak which now stands at three games.

12/2/2011 H npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 3 – 1 Bristol City

Rob Earnshaw got himself two goals in this fixture whilst Paul Anderson pitched in with one as well to make this a comfortable win at the City Ground making this win streak at four games.

19/2/2011 H npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 1 – 0 Crystal Palace

A goal from full back Kelvin Wilson got Forest another win at the expense of Crystal Palace, manager Dan Cornell declared himself delighted at his sides current form.

22/2/2011 A npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 1 – 0 Watford

Paul Anderson scores again this season to secure Forest 3 points once again and give Forest a 6 game win streak Anderson who won the man of the match award declared himself thrilled with how his club are performing in the league and his own personal performances.

26/2/2011 H npower Championship
Nottingham Forest 1 – 1 Middlesbrough

Unfortunately Forest couldn’t carry on their winning streak but now have a 7 game unbeaten streak to protect going into the last two months of the season. It’ll be a push right to the finish and hopefully promotion will come for the Forest faithful.

*Thanks for reading once again guys, as always any feedback, advise or preferences to how I write are appreciated. Visit this page again on the 26th of August to find out how the season finishes.