Twenty in the Trees - Hiring
Fawaz Al-Hasawi(Chairman of Nottingham Forest)
We parted ways with Dougie Freedman much sooner than anticipated, and quite frankly I was tired of going through managers. 9 managers in 6 years was just far too many, and with the club celebrating it's 150th year I wanted something special from the next appointment. We interviewed a few people, including some bigger names, Michael Laudrup being the biggest of them, none of them quite felt 'right'
Paul Wood(Supporter Spokesperson)
It was disappointing, in the year of our 150th anniversary as a club, we end up with a transfer embargo, and a terrible start to the season, sitting 23rd at the end of October felt completely unacceptable. We really wanted to turn around the team, but we didn't know what we would do. As fans we showed up to the matches, and cheered on our players but they didn't seem to have any cohesion as a unit.
Chris Cohen(Nottingham Forest Captain)
As captain at the time, it was difficult, guys weren't preparing fully for games, they weren't giving 100% in training and it kind of felt like we were mailing in the club's 150th season. Fawaz made it known at the beginning of the season that he wanted it to feel special for the supporters and that it was important for the club's future that we perform well.
Dougie Freedman(Former Nottingham Forest Manager)
I don't think I ever lost the team as a manager, I just don't think what I was doing was working, simple as that. We played well multiple times, but just never got the results we needed.
Michael Petersen(Nottingham Forest Manager)
Oh man, I didn't know what I was getting myself into, I had just joined Arsenal in the summer as sort of a Youth Development expert, I think that was my official title, but I really wanted to sink my teeth into management. I asked Wenger if I could seek out the Nottingham Forest job, and he said of course, but it was very likely that I wasn't going to get it. I submitted my CV a mere 30 minutes after that meeting
Fawaz Al-Hasawi
I saw an application from Arsenal, and I got excited, perhaps one of their staff wanted to join Nottingham Forest and take us to the Premier League, then I look at it, and it's this 27 year old who just completed his coaching badges, and joined them in the summer. Ambitious fellow he was I suppose, after reading his CV, which included a brief outline of the philosophies he'd like the club to implement, I actually decided to call him in for an interview.
Gary Brazil(Former Forest Staff Member)
I figured I was going to take charge til the end of the year when I was promoted to Caretaker Manager, but as it turns out, that wasn't the case(chuckles to himself). Then I heard about the people he(Fawaz) was bringing in for interviews and I was admittedly a little disappointed.
Chris Cohen
I saw this guy who looked younger than me walking around the facility in a suit laughing and talking with Fawaz, I thought maybe we had a new signing or something, I never would have guessed that this man was about to become the Manager of Nottingham Forest.
Fawaz Al-Hasawi
Michael came in, and we hit it off pretty quickly, he was adamant that he wanted to get promoted this year and take advantage of at least year one of the new Premier League TV Deal, then take things as they went from there. After talking about the expectations for the year, it almost felt as thought it was meant to be. I didn't interview anyone after, and I came back with a contract offer for Michael on the 26th of October.
Michael Petersen
I was nuts, I came in and laid out my goal as Promotion for my first year. I set the expectation that promotion was achievable. Who does that? Why did I do that, I was desperate to get my claws on a Management job I suppose. I signed a contract with Nottingham Forest, said farewell after a short four months at Arsenal, and found a place to live in Nottingham.
Paul Wood
We had no idea who this guy was, many of us were mad, and decided we didn't want to support the club if they were just going to yank our chain with this appointment, the guy was 27, not a lick of experience to his name.
Fawaz Al-Hasawi
I almost sold the club on the 27th(chuckles) but really, I got some angry phone calls, and letters about my appointment, and things didn't get off to a great start. He was going to take charge for the next match, our Capital One Cup game against Premier League side Liverpool
Michael Petersen
You start a new job, and your first match is against a relative footballing giant. Welcome to your new life I suppose. I was determined that this was going to be our year though, and maybe my naiveté is what motivatd me though. I didn't know what I was doing, and proved so almost immediately against Jurgen Klopp.
Chris Cohen
When we had a team meeting on the 27th to introduce him to the players, I don't know if anyone was happy, we knew nothing about this guy, and quite frankly it was almost a little insulting to have a 27 year old in charge of the team. He was going to have to prove himself against Liverpool, or it was going to be even more of an uphill battle.