The Third Clough

Dear diary,
A penalty victory ensures we proceed to the final! And guess who against...

My blood boils at the very thought of a loss, a play-off final, a derby, a brotherly rivalry, rolled into one action packed game of football. I am both excited and nervous, both confident and worried, both proud and humbled. My brother Nigel, what can i say, for me the name Nigel generally comes alongside a curse. I lived in his shadow throughout my childhood, constantly striving for his approval, his admiration, I wanted no more than 'Well done, brother'; alas i never heard such words. Anything and everything I did, everything I was ever proud of, he bettered it. Perhaps that is what has driven me, the child within me, constantly seeking approval and admiration from a father and brother who thought of me as the family weed.

Now is my chance, everything is set up, I know my boys are ready. Now is my chance to make up for every wedgie, every wet willy, every uttering under his breath, every word I ever wanted to say to my dear brother, I need not bother, if my team can just find a win. I care not how nor how many, all I want is to take Nottingham Forest to the Premier League, at the expense of Derby County.

Shaking like a leaf,
Kieran Clough

Dear diary,
And so it was done! I held the trophy aloft in triumph, our unexpected promotion everything I needed in my debut season!

My boys played fantastically and stomped on my brother's pathetic excuse for promotion hopefuls, 3 goals to 1.
I enclose a newspaper cutting from this morning;


And so for the Premier League, I am going to lead the players and people of this town on a fantastic adventure, the like of which they haven't seen since my father's tenure here. The business of pre-season beckons me, and I am ready for anything.

Onwards and Upwards,
Kieran Clough

Dear diary,
The Premier League looms large on the horizon!
Here is an account of my pre-season activity;

This season it was highlighted to me the troubled financial status of the club, we were seeping into debt and prospects weren't looking good. However, I have always been under my wage budget and even with my transfers I have maintained this; I offloaded the dispensable players and trimmed my squad, so what more could I do? I saw an opportunity in Friendly matches, I organised a series of Friendly competitions featuring big names such as Man City, Liverpool, Newcastle, Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham. As I had envisaged these matches were televised, this comes with quite an income and together with the increased gate receipts attracted by the big names we earned in excess of £25m. Thus guiding the club to more prosperus financial land, with the projection looking rosy I could turn my attention to the new season, hoping that such an extended pre-season will not have tired my squad. Of course we are not entirely out of the woods concerning finance and i will keep a close eye on how things develop.

Here are my pre-season transfers;



(the remaining transfers out)



I am hoping to play the same formation as last season, to continue to play an attractive, possession prioritised brand of football. I will stick to this style ruthlessly, however if it means staying up i will accept that at times, we will need to be a solid team and I am open to playing a more defensive formation.

Ready for the challenge,
Kieran Clough

Dear diary,
The season has started steadily but successfully and we are fast silencing our doubters. despite our success I am yet to settle on what our optimum tactic and line-up will be for this season, I am trying to find the balance between attractive football with solidity and success. since my last entry I have also brought in Emile Heskey, for his experience and class, but mainly because well, he's Heskey!

Let's hope the season continues in this way, over optimism is a disease rife around the city, but I know i can deliver.

Onwards and Upwards,
Kieran Clough

Great job getting to the EPL! Good luck with your future adventures Kieran

Silence them you will! Good read so far mate

2012-12-17 19:59#72753 sTedDarzZ :

Dear diary,
The season has started steadily but successfully and we are fast silencing our doubters. despite our success I am yet to settle on what our optimum tactic and line-up will be for this season, I am trying to find the balance between attractive football with solidity and success. since my last entry I have also brought in Emile Heskey, for his experience and class, but mainly because well, he's Heskey!

Let's hope the season continues in this way, over optimism is a disease rife around the city, but I know i can deliver.

Onwards and Upwards,
Kieran Clough

Loving how you have brought back someone who is a true football legend! Haha! Great read so far. Keep it up.

Dear diary,
They say form is temporary, class is permanent. Well thus far our form is proving not temporary, our reputation is growing and with it expectations. Billy sharp has been disappointing scoring a meager 3 goals, whilst Billy Cox has stepped up to the plate and continued his form from last years campaign.

Our most successful has been this variation on the 4-5-1 Formation;



This has brought us an improvement on an already successful form, let's hope this continues in the future! If things continue this well, relegation will be the last thing on our minds!

Onwards and Upwards,
Kieran Clough

WHY HESKEY????

HE'S HESKEY???

Heskey <3

Good luck mate

Dear diary,
We gained an impressive draw against City and were far from humiliated in a 3-1 defeat at Arsenal. Billy Sharp also ended his goal drought, a relief after his impressive return last year, he was an integral part of our promotion season.

Jamaal Lascelles is still developing well and is showing signs he may be a great leader in future, and a great centre half, I will really be hoping to hold on to him in future! Jermaine Jenas is also doing well in his new role as captain, he has been a good leader in our campaign!

I am confident we will be safe this season, I'm now looking to the future. My brother is but a speck on the horizon of the past, but we are not looking back! I will awaken this sleeping giant! I will Return this club to the lofty heights it experienced under my father, and higher. I will bring fame and glory to Nottingham. I will return this club to it's former glory!

Onwards and Upwards,
Kieran Clough

Dear diary,
As the January transfer window opening, the one thing on my mind is that I have no funds to strengthen my squad, to push on and achieve a high finish this season. When with funding on my mind, the board offer me the chance to change my season expectations, injecting an extra £12m into my back pocket, with it I did this;



The big name signing of Marko Marin on such a small fee is something i am very proud of, I'm sure there will be more of my wheeling and dealing in the summer window as value for money is my first priority in a potential signing.

Around midway through the season the league table looks like this;



With the rest of the season ahead of us,
Onwards and Upwards,
Kieran Clough

Good signings in Marko Marin, Elokobi and Pilkington

Dear diary,
A poor run of form sees us loitering dangerously above the relegation zone, admittedly their is an 8 point gap between us and the drop zone but those points make up just 3 places and with no win on the horizon we really need to buck up our ideas and re-find the form that had seen us up in the lofty heights of 12th position. We're standing with our toes over the edge, we must find our form and step back from the cliff edge!



Onwards and Upwards,
Kieran Clough