Good evening.
We’ve all been there; stressed, a little angry at your own tem so you take to FIFA or Football Manager to run the club the way you see fit. I myself remember Theo Walcott enduring a poor run of form, so I sold him on FIFA in cold blood to Atletico Madrid. Just a few weeks ago, I travelled to Bradford along with 4,298 fans, my brother included and saw Gervinho have a shocker, missing an open goal. The very next day, the Ivorian was sold in the January transfer window on 2013 to Marseille. It’s cut throat football at its finest, only Walcott is on the verge of leaving Arsenal, I desperately want him to stay (in real life) and I just know Gervinho will go on to be a fine player in real life as well.
Fawaz Al-Hasawi, is the man with a Playstation control, only his wields more power than mine and it cost him a few million more than mine. Al-Hasawi, a member of Kuwait’s richest families, took charge of Nottingham Forest last summer, promising promotion, the Premier League and all that jazz; you know the story.
Just before Al-Hasawi took control of Nottingham Forest, a Kuwaiti journalist called Mohammed Said, who works for the Al Qabas newspaper, said, “They are a very famous family in Kuwait and very rich. Fawaz Al-Hasawi is very loyal to all his players and I think he will do a lot for Nottingham Forest”. With a track record of investing in sports back in his homeland, there was great optimism amongst Forest fans, which is natural to say the least when a huge chunk of money comes into your club and I for one was very impressed when Al-Hasawi had the foresight to bring Sean O’Driscoll to the club; a resourceful manager with a great knowledge of how to play a game emphasised on technical ability. With limited resources at Doncaster Rovers, I always thought O’Driscoll managed his team above the expectations of others and bled the very best from average players.
With the appropriate support from Forest’s new owner, it seemed certain they would challenge for the play-offs and quality signings such as Henri Lansbury from Arsenal, Billy Sharp on loan from Southampton, Danny Collins from Stoke City and James Coppinger from Doncaster Rovers, promoted the idea in my head that Forest would be key contenders for promotion.
As is accustomed for these situations, you’d expect me to say that in spite of all the above, Nottingham Forest are battling relegation, that Sean O’Driscoll had “lost” the dressing room and they had lost nine of the last ten. Here’s the thing though; they haven’t. Nottingham Forest, as it stands this evening after a crushing 4-2 victory over Leeds United, are one point off of the play-offs, have lost three in their last ten games and play attractive football. With continuity, they would have been promoted at the end of the season, of that I’m sure, or at least contending the play-offs.
O’Driscoll’s sacking puts promotion in serious doubt as far as I’m concerned and his loss will be a detriment to Forest’s season. Al-Hasawi claimed O’Driscoll can consider himself to be unlucky to have been sacked, giving they are just a point away from the play-off places, but Al-Hasawi wants an “ambitious” manager to guide them through the January transfer window. His sacking, says Al-Hasawi, will help push their “great club forward”.
Like me in a tantrum after Gervinho has missed an open net for Arsenal, Fawaz Al-Hasawi has mutated into a Playstation manager. There’s a great deal of difference between doing what you like on FIFA and doing the same with an actual football club, which means the world to supporters over the world.
Fawaz Al-Hasawi needs to learn the vast differences between real life and a virtual world, he needs to put down his Playstation controller of great power and realise what’s right.
