Transcript of FOREST v WEST HAM | Chris Wood a doubt for the game?

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Garabaldi Red podcast, a Nottingham Forest podcast. It is preview time, as we record this on a Thursday evening as Forest hosts West Ham at the City Ground on Saturday. Nice to be back at the City Ground. Nice to have a three o'clock kick-off back. I know I keep banging on about it, but it is nice to have them back ready for Saturday. And delighted, first of all, to be joined by Rob Evans, who, of course, is the Chair of Footprint Conductive Education Center. He's been on the podcast before. We have talked Forest before. Rob, good to see you, mate, first of all. How are you?

Yeah, doing really well, Thank you. Living the dream, living the dream as a Forest fan.

Living the dream, living the dream, Rob. With Forest, seventh currently in the Premier League. And Saturday will be another big chance for Forest to move further up that table and certainly show people that this isn't a fluky run that we're on. Obviously, we don't think that, but a lot of people on the outside looking in might do. Rob, actually then, just before we get onto everything else and previewing the podcast and footprint, you I've followed Forest for a long time, a lot longer than me, no offense. What do you make to Forest at the moment? And I suppose, is it just nice to be, you mentioned there living the dream, is it just nice to be following a club that off the pitch is doing well, but on the pitch is Almost stepped up a level recently under Nuno.

Yeah, and you say I'm obviously a lot older than you, and I think I attended my first game in around 1976. But I've got a son who's a similar age to you, a little bit older, 25. So he went through what a lot of your generation have been through and some very barren years. I have to say is that some of those barren years, I could have stopped going if it wasn't for him. He was I was very excited by it all. I remember going away with him to Doncaster away when it was a sad night that, and that's where it all changed after that night. And we got promoted back up into the Championship And then again, a number of difficult years. But when I think to more recently, and I think it's quite relevant that we're playing West Ham on Saturday because obviously it was a great year getting promoted, finishing off with Wembley and obviously what Steve We could just did for us. But it all started in the premiership with the West Ham win and Tyro that day. I mean, it probably would be classed as a bit of a lucky win.

But what an exciting season that was, going all the way through, excitement all the way, and beating Liverpool would be a highlight at home. But of course, then staying up with a game to go against Arsenal, Tyro scoring again. That was amazing. We move into the following season, and then it did get quite difficult, I suppose, leading up to Christmas. West Ham comes into the chat again, because I think certainly a low point for me and typified Forest of last season, we went ahead against West Ham at their stadium and then ended up losing in that. I think it was three, two. And as you know, we lost a number of games three, two. And obviously, Steve Cooper When we left, Nuno came in, we expected bigger things, I think from Nuno, a bigger impact. I remember, obviously, we went with you to the Brentford game in January. That was another low point, making the same mistakes that we make. I always accepted that because of the size of club that we are, that we probably would become a level off. I always wanted to stay up, but we would level off in the premiership and just be there to survive.

And then we come into this season. And it's just incredible. And a couple of highlights for me so far, I was actually doing the London to Brighton bike ride with 15 other amazing people. And we'd arrived in Brixton and we were walking over to Clapham Junction. And somebody said, Forrester, one nil up. And I hadn't really even been looking because I've been driving down. And it'd been nil-nil up until we checked into the hotel. And That as anybody who was from the '70s knows that that competition against Liverpool is phenomenal. And then more recently, I've got a good friend who is a Chelsea fan. And I've been to a number of games at Chelsea, and I was almost like a token guest. We've gone there with a negative approach, and we haven't really covered ourselves in glory. So going there last season, and I would say, again, we did what we do and we nick to win. But this year, away with going down to 10 men, this is a different team. Tony Bygraze, his name is, he now called me every time he sees us like he saw, he was winning again at the weekend.

He says, Oh, I see the bullies have won. And that's a compliment to be known as the bullies. And here we are again, going into Saturday, playing West Ham again. We obviously had a home win against them last season, the season before. And let's hope we can make it a trio wins on Saturday. So really excited. Maybe Tyro will score again. So what a journey and what a great time to be a Forest fan. And I do think that... Well, I do know that other fans are looking at us in all. And maybe through grit of teeth, certainly in the case of some of the friends that I've got on my WhatsApp group.

Yeah, defo. Do you know what? It's funny, actually. I was just speaking to someone earlier today and they were saying, God, I wish I was a Forest fan. And I said, I know. Not many people said that a couple of years ago, Rob. So there you go. And some really nice points there. It's funny you mentioned West Ham. I do agree. I thought that defeat when a langer takes his shirt off and celebrates too early and then it all crumbled and went wrong. That was a pretty low point, I thought, for Forest last season. Let's look ahead, though, to this weekend. And before we talk about football, more importantly, Rob, as you know, me almost joining Footprint the last few months, and you've been involved with the charity for a while now as chair. But Forest inviting us down to be an official partner on Saturday, an official charity partner will be outside the fan zone, collecting with buckets. There'll be lots of Footprint's fundraisers out and about around the city ground. Just give us a reminder of what Footprint does and obviously how great it is that we're going to be down at the city ground on Saturday.

Yeah, absolutely. I think it's for anybody who saw the YouTube on Forest, I think it was the day before yesterday, where we had some of We have children from Footprint down at the city ground. And again, it's obvious to go back to Forest, but I think it gives you another example of the great team around down there and the great guy that Nuno is because that video typifies everything, but also it shows some of the children that we support. So a little bit on Footprint is that Footprint's conductive education. We provide conductive education for children who are born with neurological challenges, and that can be anything from Down syndrome all the way to cerebral palsy with a number of different challenges in between. And the real relevant thing is when a When a parent has a child, as it is the job of the NHS to do, they tell the parent what that child can't do. And conductive education, to describe what that is, it's all about maximizing the child's potential. She's showing the parents what that child can do. And the football team is obviously a great example of that, and sport is a great way of showing that.

And that could be at the school. It could be anything from teaching the child to eat on their own. It could be cleaning the teeth. It can be toilet training. And in some cases where they've been told the parents that the child might never walk, the child, through the conductive education, will walk. So it's an amazing thing. And we're going through... When you say tell people about Footprint, I would hope that anybody who watches TV is out there and in around the town will know a little bit about footprint. I've heard it described as a charity that's on the up, and that is because of a number of great people. We've got a friend of ours and yours, obviously Lisa Fox, has been the banging the drum for a long time. We've got an amazing education team. We've got a whole new management team in Stephen Thru, Claire Clarkson and Josie Park, and they're out there all of the time spreading the word about footprint conductive education. We're in a real fortunate position, and it literally is off the press. I actually received these through today, and it has been a challenge. Nottingham City Council have been amazing despite all the challenges that they've had, and they have had a number of challenges.

But they've provided us with this new premises over in Clifton, the old community center in Clifton. And at the moment, we cater for roughly 60 families. That's how many families that we touch. And this new premises is going to give us the platform to be able to support up to 300 families. And when you think that we still only support just 5 % of the children born in Nottinghamshire with Down syndrome, it's only a small impact, but it's a massive impact for those families. So having yourself and Lisa, obviously, have the relationship with Forest, and they're giving us the opportunity to come down on Saturday. And of course, we know that Forest are a major An amazing family, very generous bunch, particularly on Saturday. And despite the budget, I'm sure that I hope that people will be after payday. So I hope that people will come down there, maybe with a little bit loose change. We also know that loose change is a thing of the past, so we'll be there with our QR codes. So don't think that you can't give if that's the case. And the other thing that I always say, somebody said to me the other day, I'm thinking about doing doing a walk.

And it's great when we have people come along and raise 20,000 plus, which we've had some amazing charity achievements. But having a lot of people raising just a few hundred quid for us and doing that year in, year out is also very impactful. So never underestimate what you can do for us and what that small amount of money can do for Footprint Conductive Education and the parents. So it'll be a great day on Saturday. The weather is going to be decent. As I said, the team is buzzing, morale is good. Some of the children may be there that were at the football game yesterday. So it's going to be a great day.

Good stuff, Rob. Good stuff. We'll touch on Footprint a little bit later and we'll talk more about, obviously, today and everything as well. And we're very grateful to Forest as a club. They are moving in the right direction off the pitch. And a special shout out to Will at Forest as well for sorting all of this out for us. Let's talk about football, Rob. And Forest come into this in great form and confidence is high and morale is high, as you say. Of course, still without Morgan Gibbs-White, most likely. Nuno did his press conference earlier today. I'll just read you a few keynotes from it. He basically says that they've got some issues that Forest is still assessing. Morgan Gibbs-White being one of those, part of a group that they have to assess. Chris Wood, Elliot Anderson, and Jotta Silver all have knocks. So not saying that they're in doubt for selection, but saying they've still got to assess. Almost forgetting the injuries, I suppose, for a moment, Rob. Forrest did well without Morgan Gibbs-White against Leicester on that Friday night. Of course, James Ward-Prowse was on the bench. Is it a case you think of 'don't fix what's not broken'?

I mean, or do you think if Morgan's fit and ready, he'll slot straight back in'?

Well, again, in addition to what you said, I heard he was on the sidelines yesterday at the open training session. So I very much doubt that even if he is ready to get back on the pitch, he's maybe got there today on the training that he would play on Saturday. But exactly the same as I did think he might change it against Leicester after beating Palace on the Monday. But it's clear that he said to the guys, You've done the job, come out and do it again. I also take so much pleasure in seeing Anderson. I'd love to understand that deal that we did with Newcastle that resulted in, respectfully to our Greek goalkeeper, Newcastle, who seemed to have lots of goalkeepers, and ending up with another goalkeeper and us ending up with Anderson. We all worry, I'm sure, that we know that Morgan Gibbs-White will always be attracting other clubs. I heard talk What an amazing deal now. All of a sudden, the 25 million deal that we did was, and what a bargain it seems today. But knowing that we have somebody in Anderson, and I think it wasn't everybody thought that Anderson would fill his boots.

There was talk that it would be Jotter that would slot in there. But as you know, Max, I'm no football tactician, but Nuno clearly knows what he's doing. And I really do hope that Anderson is He's just being rested, and he will be back in again on Saturday. And I'm sure that will be good.

Yeah, absolutely. No, absolutely. I think as well with Elliot Anderson, in a way, not that he's a Not that he's had to prove Forest fans wrong, I should say. But in a way, Newcastle fans, not slightly criticized him, but thought the deal was odd. And then 35 million, but it didn't turn out to be that, as you mentioned, about quite the complex deal. But I don't know about you, Rob, but when you watch Elliot Anderson and his athleticism, his energy, his enthusiasm on the ball, it all comes across. And it's really what you want from a Forest player. You want that hungry, fiery player that wants to wear the shirt.

Entirely. And again, I'm sure I'm glad it's not alone. And we do own him. And like Ward Proust, of course, he won't be able to play on the Saturday. He will be able to play against Newcastle. So I hope he's fit for that. And Newcastle, looking at the next two fixtures, West Ham, I know they beat Manchester United, but that's no great feat these days. Sorry to my Manchester United friends. But yeah, I'm living the dream. I feel as a fan, for anybody who supports a Forest for a while, you get carried away and you think, oh, imagine if we win on Saturday, So of course, football has a great way of slapping you around the face and knocking you back down to Earth. But because surely you can't win on the Monday and again on the Friday, because that's just not Forrest. We don't do that. I And we end up in the top six, but we did. And I genuinely think that he had a plan against Fulham as well. I think I've heard one of the other podcast talk about that Nuno shrinks the game and he's very cagey in that first half and then goes for it in the second half.

And I'm sure that was his plan. And then we got done by, obviously, a dodgy penalty. And then they would have sat back and the game would be different. So I'm fully confident. I mean, I would be a little bit worried if Emerson is injured and Morgan gives Whited down, but maybe it will be Jotter that steps up. I don't know. He'll have a plan. And that's That's the other fantastic thing about Forest at the moment is the bench. I think back to the... Do you remember when they first introduced the bench cam and Dawson was on the bench? And he was always... I suppose he's playing the role... He was playing the older statesman role then, he was rarely playing, but he's always on the bench. And there's obviously a lot of passion on the bench. And when the players come on, and Murata, particularly, it seems that when we've got that lead, he goes to the five at the back and they're ready for it, aren't they? It's next man up. So it must be really difficult for the centre-backs who are fourth and fifth choice. But as I said, it's just all Well, I did actually do, I don't know if you've done it yourself, but I did the Forest Tour in the summer.

And I've been to the Forest game. One of our great supporters at Footprint is John Pinesons, and they, for a number of years, did the football match there. So I've been in the changing rooms, but I did the Forest Tour this year, and it's phenomenal. You'll know the press box, big hitter like you. But that's amazing. And then to go into the changing room, I love as well what they've done with the Home and the Awai Dressing Room, and then to take you out over to the museum and see what they've done down there. And then you move to the corporate, and as I'm sure lots of other fans I would say I have sat in all four sides of the stand, but there's a fifth side now and the new stadium in the corner, although it's a little bit Mickey Mouse, it's just a little bit forest. Can't wait to get in there. I'm going to have to save I can't look for that. But as I said, is it a bad thing? I know there's a little bit of bad press. I don't think anybody can condone some of the things with the referees and stuff like that.

But generally, that's that fine line, I suppose, of having that fight about you. And you're going to get a few bookings and a few upset referees, but it's all very positive.

Yeah, I was just about to touch actually on almost for a stepping up a level, and that isn't just off the pitch, but on the pitch. And Forest seem to have the right staff in place. And just like this Saturday with Forest letting footprint and partnering up with us, I think it's a real sign of a change of stability, shall we say, off the pitch. And they seem to have the right personnel in which is a positive. When you look at Forest at the moment, Rob, and I know it was sang quite sarcastically by the Forest fans singing about Cooper and everything in the Leicester away and we're always grateful for what Steve Cooper did, getting us up. You don't need me to remind you of that first time in 23 years. But with Nuno now, it really does seem to be an upgrade. And you mentioned it at the start of this podcast. You were talking that you wanted to see more of Nuno last year and maybe see more of his personality. And that West Ham game was a low point. But now it really seems like we are seeing the real Nuno in a way.

And his personality is there. And Forrest just seem to be bonding with him every game.

Entirely. There's lots of people, somebody I spoke to today who's a United fan, again, another supporter of EDS, B, Fire and Security. Up in Leeds. He's a Man U United fan, and he's taking me to the Man U Forest game in a few weeks. And he said, and I've heard a lot of people say this, although I don't know many Wolves fans, is that a lot of people admired Nuno, and he also was very, I And I think you mentioned this to me, that he had a great reputation in the town at Wolves for doing the things that he did the day before yesterday and continues to do with the community. And it's a genuine... He's not just doing it because it's his job. You can see that he's very relaxed with doing stuff like that. And of course, he had a blip, although you've got to say his win record was very good at Spurs. Lots of managers have not succeeded at Spurs. I think he went over to Dubai, a Saudi for a short while. But he's now doing at Forest exactly what he did at Wolves. And a lot of people have heard say that that preseason was absolutely key for him.

And again, you've got to say this with Marenackis as well. He gets a bit of a bad press because of what he's done with Olympiarchos and the way he goes through managers. But I think he's learnt as well with the premiership, that's a little bit different. And he's certainly more patient with the managers and he's given them... It doesn't work in any business, does it? Swapping and changing all the time. But Nuno got the preseason, And I'm not sure if he expected the start that we had, and certainly the away form. I mean, wow, that's something else. But you look at United at the moment, what they're going through with finding a new manager, and I'm sure there'll be other clubs looking for managers throughout the year. And we've got ourselves, as we have with a number of our recruitment, because we get a lot of the bad press and people can't forget what he did two years ago with all the signings. But we've come a lot smarter over the last few years, a lot of it more strategic, and we've got some stellar signings now. We've spoken about Anderson, but of course, Murillo is the other one that We stand out Eina as well on a free transfer.

The list is endless of the loan signing. They're now talking at West Ham about why did they let Ward Proust go out on loan? And here he is, sat on our bench, and they're saying we could just do with the player like him at the moment. So again, it sounds a little bit gushy, but we've got everything in mind at the moment and long may that last.

Absolutely. Forest could actually move to third in the Premier League, but this is after the weekend. But that's providing the Arsenal, Villa, Chelsea, and Brighton all drop points, which is quite unlikely. But Forest could find themselves fifth, sixth at the end of this weekend, which would be unbelievable. And Rob, all right then. Well look, just before we close this and touch on footprints. Lastly, just your prediction for Saturday, mate. And also it's not going to be an easy game. West Ham hit a bit of a bad run, but they're under Lopoteca. He's trying to implement a style of play over there. They've been a little bit unlucky recently. They got a win against United, so they'll have confidence on the back of that. But surely I'm guessing you're favoring Forest again, mate.

I am. And for what I said earlier, whilst we thought there's no way we can win. Am I right in saying that West Ham won before United as well? So they won two on the bounce?

Possibly. They might have done. Let me have a look at my knowledge.

I just heard somebody say that. So if they win on Saturday, would that make it three on the bounce? For a form side... Sorry, for a side that's not in form to win three on the bounce, I just can't see that. So obviously, you know what it means for us with regards to our run. So But as I said, it's a different forest now. I'm going to go for, as soon as I won't be here again before the Newcastle game, I'm going for four points from the two games, which I'll be absolutely over the moon with, which I'm sure we all would.

Yeah, absolutely. West Ham actually did lose just before United. They lost to someone for one. I didn't know, right. But they had a great game against it. It's just before that, they won for one at the London Stadium there as well. All right, then, Rob. We'll look just quickly, tell the Garabody Red viewers and any Forest fan that's going to be down on Saturday, where they can find us with our buckets, I'll be down there. Lisa will be down there, as you mentioned, and a few familiar faces as well.

Yeah, well, you won't miss us, definitely. Again, I'm old school, so I'm going to say at the back of the executive stand, which I believe is called the Brian Clough stand these days. So not the main stand, not Trent, not the pavilion end. At at the back there, which is... I've not actually been in there, but it is great. There's a number of great fan zones down at Forest at the moment. Again, all the local pubs are doing such a great job, but there's a great area down there. We're going to be down there. I understand there's going to be And we've got about 20 of us there now, which is phenomenal. And it shows you again, the footprint family. Again, the work that Lisa does with the little footprints and the people that we've got behind us. And Josie's David on her area, getting people down there. And to just... I always remember when I first saw, I think it was when I first met you as well, at one of Lisa's Ball and the There's a parent called Alison, who's got a son called Alister. And I remember her presentation that she did, which was phenomenal, by the way.

And she's actually got a clothing brand, just to give her a bit of a shout out, called Unique and Loved. And that's her mantra, really, that all children are unique and different. But obviously, we love them whatever they are. And I remember her saying, Don't feel sorry for me because I've got a child with down syndrome. I actually see that as a privilege. Just help me bring them on. And that was the message for me, and I've always remembered that. And I've been fortunate in life that I've been doing well in sales And I've been able to get involved in Footprint. And I just like to also make a shout out as well. What I've always been amazed by is the local Nottingham businesses. I've got a friend I went to school with called Ashley Caradry. He owns a business, so he's a director of a business in Nottingham called Core Consult, which is part of the construction sector. And I remember going to see him and I said, Look, I want to introduce him to people in Nottingham that are very charitable. And he introduced me to a guy called David Ford, who works for Gleeds, who also play a massive part in construction in Nottingham and the charity world.

David Ford is known as Fordy, Lord Ford, or whatever you like to call him. He's introduced me to Scape, who are doing an amazing job down... I've mentioned already, Adam Pye and his team, Tom Fishwick. What they've done for us down at Footprint. Roberto with his AC Wolletern and the money that he's raised for us. The list is endless. And I apologize for the people I've not mentioned because I literally could have a podcast myself and mention the amount of people that have helped us out this year and in previous years. So please keep that up. It's so important to us. And as I said, it's going to make such a difference to the families who are what we're here for.

Absolutely, Rob. No, lovely stuff. Liking all the shoutouts as well, mate. It's It's like on radio too, when you go and do pop master and you get five minutes at the end to say hello to everyone you know.

I need to make one more shout out to you and me because you and I, as you keep your mind in me, at the age that you are and the age that I am, we're both running a 10K on Sunday. We're running it because another supporter, Cento Recruitment of Loughbray, I've got a team together and they're raising money. They've been great supporters. They've been a golf day for us. They were always there for us. So you and I are, after we win on Saturday and we're doing the footprint event on Saturday, we're going down to Loughbray on Sunday and we're running a 10K. And I won't make any idle threats that I'm going to beat you because I know I've not got a chance of doing that. But I will complete it. And yeah, looking forward to that.

Yeah, absolutely. I was going to say, Rob, I could pace You could just keep up with me, mate. You could try and get your personal record. But yeah, good shout-outs and looking forward to Sunday as well. And also just thank you to everyone that listens to the podcast and has given me and Rob the time listening and everything like that, because it does mean a lot, and especially when we are talking about such an important cause in footprint. So thanks to Forest for Saturday. Looking forward to see lots of Forest fans down there outside the city grounds. And as you mentioned, Rob, that Forest family continues to get stronger and stronger. Any more shout-outs before we go, Barry?

We have to end for, again, anybody who saw the video at Forest. And one of the children or a couple of the children wanted Nuno to learn some sign language. So I also learned some sign language, and I know you did as well. So as Forest fans, and as soon as we're down at Forest, we'll just finish off with... Which for anybody who doesn't know, that is I love Forest. Come on, you, Reds.

Come on, you, Reds. We will see you next time on Garabaldi, Red. Thank you, Rob. I appreciate it. Come on, you, Reds.