Bellamy's Cardiff may open door for Forest to sign Whittingham
THE shock capture of Craig Bellamy by Cardiff City could open the door for Nottingham Forest to finally land winger Peter Whittingham.
Striker Bellamy, the Welsh international skipper, has joined his hometown club on a season-long loan from Manchester City.
The 31-year-old becomes the Bluebirds' fourth addition of the summer and significantly bolsters their attacking options.
But the cash-strapped club have also been hit by the threat of a winding-up order from Motherwell, who claim they are still owed £175k from the sale of Paul Quinn.
Both Leicester City and Middlesbrough have been strongly linked with a move for Whittingham in recent days, but the Post understands that there is no foundation in either rumour.
And, while Cardiff may hope to inspire a bidding war for the player, who is out of contract in the summer, Forest remain the only club to have officially made an offer for the 25-year-old.
The Reds are happy to remain patient but are hopeful that they can still do business before the window closes, with Cardiff unlikely to want to risk losing the player for nothing next summer, having already lost prize asset Joe Ledley to Celtic on a similar basis in July.
And, while they are only paying a tiny portion of Bellamy's wages, that could still amount to £10k a week.
When added to the contributions they must make towards the wages of fellow loan signings Jason Koumas (Wigan), Seyi Olofinjana (Hull) and Daniel Drinkwater of Manchester United, the Cardiff wage bill is growing.
They may be prepared to offload Whittingham to help address that.
Forest also remain hopeful of signing Swansea midfielder Darren Pratley.
Swans' boss Brendan Rodgers remains steadfast that the midfielder will only be sold to a top-flight club.
But he admits they are struggling to persuade Pratley to sign a new contract.
"If Darren is going to leave, it has to be for a Premier League club," said Rodgers. "I have pushed really hard for him to sign a new deal.
"The board have worked very hard to offer the best possible deal, and if that's not enough than that's where we are. I expect he will be here for the rest of the season and I want my best players playing."
Pratley, 25, has netted two goals in three games already for Swansea this season and Reds boss Billy Davies believes he could be an invaluable driving force in the centre of the pitch for Forest.
Forest Reserves play Sheffield United Reserves at Bramall Lane tonight (7pm).
141 Comments
View all
by mandy, southwell
Friday, August 20 2010, 2:33PM
“i hear luicester are signing emile heskey,thats the kind of player we need,quick,skillful and get you 30 goals a season.”
by Lord, Radford
Friday, August 20 2010, 4:44AM
“http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1304572/Nottingham-Forest-hold-talks-Cardiff-winger-Peter-Whittingham-1-8m-move.html”
by redweaver, nottingham
Thursday, August 19 2010, 12:29PM
“why do people continue to say billy is doing a good job with what he has got.
he simply isn't- he just isn't. 7 million spent on players he wanted. how much does he need?
a manager works with what he has got, thats the tell tale sign that he's a good manager, not that he can spend money on players and then bring success.
i know i sound like a tw*t saying blackpool did it, but there are other examples. are their manager's better than ours? you say no! i say maybe.
i don't care what he has done else where; here, last year he had an opportunity to reach the premier league and he blew it, for whatever reason, who cares what the reason is, he blew it.
i'm not going to tell you how or where because everyone can point to something but (on a psychological level) telling a bunch of people (who are performing) that they are not good enough is going to have a negative effect. anyone doubting need only look at the sociological studies on the subject.
effort from the players is down to billy if ha can't motivate them then it's also his difficiency as well as the players.”
by redweaver, nottingham
Thursday, August 19 2010, 12:29PM
“why do people continue to say billy is doing a good job with what he has got.
he simply isn't- he just isn't. 7 million spent on players he wanted. how much does he need?
a manager works with what he has got, thats the tell tale sign that he's a good manager, not that he can spend money on players and then bring success.
i know i sound like a tw*t saying blackpool did it, but there are other examples. are their manager's better than ours? you say no! i say maybe.
i don't care what he has done else where; here, last year he had an opportunity to reach the premier league and he blew it, for whatever reason, who cares what the reason is, he blew it.
i'm not going to tell you how or where because everyone can point to something but (on a psychological level) telling a bunch of people (who are performing) that they are not good enough is going to have a negative effect. anyone doubting need only look at the sociological studies on the subject.
effort from the players is down to billy if ha can't motivate them then it's also his difficiency as well as the players.”
by rocket red, beeston
Thursday, August 19 2010, 12:09PM
“cannot see whittingham or pratley coming to forest, i hope im wrong but i think we've missed the chance now.lets be realistic with players such as mccleary,adebola,tyson,mcgoldrick none of them have been consistent.
we had a great chance last season against blackpool and poor finishing cost us again and the lack of january signing cost us dearly.
Forest will finish outside the top 6 this season with the current squad i dont blame billy he is doing all he can with what he has got, without new players mid table finish much tougher this season
uuuuuuu reds!”
by HackneyRed, London
Thursday, August 19 2010, 12:00PM
“http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/cardiff_city/8926215.stm
"Cardiff have debts estimated at £30m and have missed tax bill deadlines."
Football League Chairman Greg Clarke ""It depends what money they've got available and it depends whether they intend to take on an obligation and extinguish their other obligations at the same time. "
Surely if Cardiff have £30m in debt ANY money they have should be going to pay off the debt, not to signing Bellamy (or anyone else). Even if they're paying Bellamy £10k per week out of his total wages.....
How much have sales of Cardiff shirts gone up this week?”
by Lord, radford
Thursday, August 19 2010, 7:24AM
“i dont think we would be prepared to pay bejanis wages tho... will be good - big strong and fast and would be a great player at this level....
i agree mate, a lot of strange comments and a lot of negative nellies.!! we did ok last season without perch and smith, so i think we'll do alright again this season with a years experience and mental strength about us... we'll see....
just can't be doing with fans on here demanding this, that and the other from the club and board as if it's our god given right to get whoever we want because WE ARE NOTTINGHAM FOREST... yes, i'm as proud a fan as the next man and no mistake, but we have to be realistic - it is a very competitive league both on and off the pitch with many clubs on a level playing field with regards ambition, potential, funding and players available...
COME ON FOREST do us proud like we know you can.. we've played some of the best football in YEARS and still people want more... !! human nature i suppose.!!!
U REDS..!”
by chris, south normanton
Thursday, August 19 2010, 1:02AM
“quite a few odd comments here...Doughty makes millions from Forest has to be the best one though...excatly how? I do agree to a certain extent we should stop offering ten bob and a conker for players and get them in before Wigan and other dross get them...what we also need is a striker - benjani for example is up for free”
by lord, radford
Thursday, August 19 2010, 12:39AM
“anyone remember the Mckenna deal last year - spent a couple of months on that, NEP printing dialy, fans getting fed up hearing about it, saying he'll never come, their manager and chairman saying we tapped him up, our offers were derisory and greatly undervalued etc etc - took us (apparantly) three bids, then eventually he came... so it aint over till it's over.!
but i do agree, there are other players ouit there, and of course the board will be going after these too... but by constantly making noises about pratt and whitt, it serves as a smoke screen for us to sneak in and get other players without other clubs who may be interested finding out and so avoiding a bidding war... maybe - is just one theory.!!”
by oh no, on the street
Wednesday, August 18 2010, 10:44PM
“What no pooflop on his own beloved florist site must be a notts fan he spends all of his time on there site”