Nottingham Post comment: Local lad who made good will be missed
THE premature death of Nigel Doughty is a great loss to Nottinghamshire.
Mr Doughty epitomised the local lad made good. His intellect, talent, business acumen and sheer hard work helped to amass considerable wealth.
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And he made sure the people in the place where he grew up benefited from his success.
The tributes paid to him in the pages of the Nottingham Post today are richly deserved.
Mr Doughty touched and changed thousands of local lives through his generosity. By all accounts he was a kind, humorous, humble person.
Mr Doughty was known to many as the backer, owner and former chairman of his beloved Nottingham Forest.
As such fans owe him a debt of gratitude. He took over in 1999 to save the Reds when the club was in danger of going bust.
During the next 13 years his investment in Forest was huge. He brought financial stability and the chance of success on the pitch.
Sadly, it did not happen and no one was more frustrated by that than Mr Doughty.
Even so, he has left the club in a far better state than how he found it. His greatest legacy is the training ground and youth set-up, which may yet help deliver the return to the Premier League, which he craved. But football was only a part of his life.
Outside of the game he was motivated by fairness. He was a prolific supporter of good causes, sharing his wealth with charities and other organisations.
He set up a unit to study corporate responsibility, and he was a major donor to the Labour Party. But he did not limit his involvement to financial support, he was involved in policy development, too.
Mr Doughty, a lad from a Newark housing estate, made something of himself, to the benefit of so many others in this county. He will be greatly missed.
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- Kenny Burns: Forest have lost 'a great man' in Nigel Doughty
- Nigel Doughty: A respected businessman who supported many good causes
- Fans brave cold to pay respects to Nigel Doughty
- Nigel Doughty was not one for the limelight
- Birtles: Forest owe Doughty a huge debt of thanks
- Ed Miliband and Gordon Brown pay tribute to Nigel Doughty
- Forest director: 'I know he will not have left the club without any help'
- Nigel Doughty death: City leader's tribute
8 Comments
by doodoo2011
Friday, February 10 2012, 11:15AM
“This article is 3 days old now and this is only the 8th comment. It suggests to me that Mr Doughty wont be as missed as some people (a minority) would like to believe.
On the contrary, I am saddened that a human being has lost his life, but in terms of Nigel Doughty the football club owner, I shall not miss him. In fact I would go as far to say that the club stands a chance of a future now that the influence of his money wont be there, because it certainly never had a chance with the buffoons running it atm. His money made people like Mark Arthur and Brandon Furse surplus to requirements, or so the named gentlemen seem to think, because they havent done much work for the club other than to sit back and watch Nigel's money roll in.
Mark Arthur and the Marketing Director should be next to leave. Possibly the finance director too. They have all been guilty of not doing their jobs properly in the last 10 or so years. Guilty as sin, and not one of them has the decency to walk and let the club live. The club has the same problem with its current manager. He is slowly taking the club down and will not do the honourable thing. See you in L1. County will be regularly handing your backsides to you and it will be such a humbling experience for you. Lets see how you feel about the people running the club then.”
by The Grim Reaper
Monday, February 06 2012, 6:05PM
“At such a time I feel so sorry for his family. Losing someone who wasn't really that old is terrible. I do appreciate what he did for Nottingham Forest. He was very generous and in the first place saved us from the clutches of Scholar, who had no interest - apart from making a fast buck - in Forest. I think he - Nigel Doughty - was poorly advised at times. Platt did the club & Nigel Doughty no favours. We had a succession of managers who also did a poor job. Calderwood took 3 years to get us out of division 1. Appointing Billy Davies was a gamble that worked. It's such a shame that Nigel couldn't have resolved the issues that Billy had with whoever it was at the club. Sacking Billy and then appointing McLaren wasn't the best of decisions. McLaren had no recent experience of The Championship or even The Premier League. At present it doesn't look like appointing Cotterill was a good move either. But none of these decisions were solely by Nigel Doughty. Someone whether one person or several advised him.”
by farcall2
Monday, February 06 2012, 2:00PM
“When the dust settles, and people reflect just how much he wanted this club up there again,then we will see just how much of an impact he actually made, as regards the faults he had, which at times seemed harsh on the fans, they were nothing compared to the generosity of this guy, we'll never get another FAN who put so much money into this club ever again, just how much Mr Doughty was hurting inside, we'll never know,at least he knew the majority of fans were grateful for his massive contributions.al”
by RedPornstar
Monday, February 06 2012, 1:22PM
“https://apps.facebook.com/theguardian/football/2012/feb/05/nigel-doughty-nottingham-forest?fb_source=other_multiline&fb_action_types=news.reads&code=AQAF4QIBt9iQu4RhlFZWZJBXx7_TQVXP6ixXceTYyn7Wkwj9tBrtB69XpfRGanVtEo7n0ayXBgt6WSdTc6paI9hJcVZMOxSooAeCB1vUIFUkyd-iV_AgmQlxkm3y6awiG3OlQp_fjBGszjSu1oWV16mThmnxm0w2iAWdhbAj48SAoH1VaQRBr7qfob88NSpiVX0#_=_
This shows the commitment Mr Doughty had for his beloved club”
by RedPornstar
Monday, February 06 2012, 1:12PM
“RIP Nigel You were a credit to Newark and Nottingham Forest
The real supporters know exactly what Nottingham Forest meant to you.
Thanks for all you did for Forest”
by A46RED
Monday, February 06 2012, 10:43AM
“RIP Nigel, you will sorely be missed by all connected with you. I never met you but i wish i had, you have done a lot more in your short lifetime than i can ever hope to achieve in mine. I thank you for giving me a football club to support and i hope and prey that the players feel as upset as i do over this and that they go out and give it their all for the remainder of the season in your memory. Not only were you generous by giving thousands of people a club to support you have spent millions enhancing childrens life's who do not benefit from what the majority of us are lucky enough to have, for this, the country will be gratefully eternal and you shall be remembered in a good way by everyone no doubt.
My thoughts and prayers are with his family at this time.
RIP Nigel Doughty, from a very appreciative Forest fan.”
by wozemattews
Monday, February 06 2012, 10:34AM
“Top man, Forest's greatest ever supporter x RIP”
by figaro1
Monday, February 06 2012, 10:02AM
“Well done Nigel we are proud of you.”