Kenny Burns: It would be wrong for Alex McLeish to walk out on Nottingham Forest
ALEX McLeish could walk out on Nottingham Forest this week. He could walk out as early as today.
And that has to be a major fear given his refusal to comment on his future after the 2-1 defeat to Birmingham on Saturday.
-
Alex McLeish
After all, rumours had circulated he had quit after the shambolic closure to the transfer window, when the Reds failed to land a single player on Thursday and then saw George Boyd's transfer fall through from Peterborough at the 11th hour because of poor eyesight.
Reports of his tenure coming to an end in the national press were not correct, as he took training on Friday morning before holding talks with chairman Fawaz Al Hasawi.
Landlords let us advertise your property and find you vetted tenants quickly. Our let only service is £195.
We offer full management services as well as rent guarantee and rent advance. Call us
Terms: No hidden charges, you will be informed of all costs in advance. The letting agency you can trust.
Contact: 0115 8969582
Valid until: Sunday, June 30 2013
But the statement put out by Al Hasawi later that day was not going to fool everybody into thinking all was smooth behind the scenes and their working relationship was solid.
That was evidently not the case and the fact McLeish did not draw a line under it at the weekend and back up that statement tells you everything. His silence was worth more than a thousand words.
The Scot is evidently unhappy and the only way he will be pleased is if the owners pull out all the stops once the emergency loan window opens this week and get some real business done.
Obviously all is not well behind the scenes but if McLeish was to walk, would it be the right thing to do?
I don't think it would be. Yes, he has issues but he has only been here just over a month and there is a job to be done.
He wants reassurances and feels things are not necessarily as they were sold to him but he has to get on with the task in hand and at least stay until the end of the season and try and achieve the objective of getting the Reds into the play-offs.
McLeish wants to be in management and there might not be many better jobs out there for him and it would be wrong to just walk out.
I know what happened last week but there are good players at the club and with a few additions – like winger Chris Burke – Forest can really move on up.
But I suppose that's the point, the board have to go out and make sure they get those players and not interfere with their opinions. Let the manager manage the club.
I was in the stands at St Andrew's as McLeish returned to face his former club.
Having also played for Birmingham, it is always a fixture I look forward to when Forest head to the West Midlands. And, after another week of off-the-field unrest, the Reds probably deserved a point.
However, at the same time, they could not argue much about the 2-1 defeat.
The Blues demonstrated how having players who can get to the byline can cause problems and that is what Forest need to do more of.
The Reds had plenty of possession and half chances but without ever really causing massive problems for Birmingham and, in the end, they came unstuck.
Darius Henderson is a big, powerful player who, when he starts up front, needs the ball played into him to hold up and let the midfielders get forward to join the play. That is how Forest should have played, to his strengths, but there was too much of trying to play it down the sides for him, which just isn't his game.
To concede just before half-time was the criminal moment for the Reds and the one that ultimately cost them the game, for me.
But it was a big improvement on the one given a week earlier in the defeat to Watford. However, Birmingham are no Watford.
Forest head to Bristol City on Saturday for another huge game, given Sean O'Driscoll, the man sacked by the Al Hasawis on Boxing Day, is now in charge there. He will be desperate to prove a point.
It now just remains to be seen whether his replacement, McLeish, is in charge of Forest or whether the club will be searching for a fourth manager under the new regime.
Comments
by psycho33
Monday, February 04 2013, 9:46AM
“Does anybody else yearn for the time when the so-called 'good managers' could get the most out of the players at his disposal,rather than craving new recruits all the time. Whilst it is true that George Boyd would have been a real asset to Forest (and the chance won't come again to sign him) it is also true that most of Forest's squad are not playing out of their skin ( this is often proved when they go elsewhere on loan ). So what is really needed is a motivator who can, for example, get a £2m striker to score goals or a England Under 21 midfielder to look worth his place in the second division. Others have succeeded on a budget, just for once it needs to be Forest.”