Ahead of Nottingham Forest’s crucial clash against Ipswich Town at The City Ground on Sunday afternoon in The Championship, the summer clear out has already begun.
As the club lie clear of the relegation zone on just goal difference alone, loanees Joao Teixeira, Nicolao Dumitru, Hilderberto Pereira and Patjim Kasami have all returned to their parent clubs.
Poor summer recruitment
The majority of people connected with the club found it difficult to predict how Forest’s season would go back in August due to the number of new players arriving at the club. In addition to that, new manager Philippe Montanier and Director of Football Pedro Pereira also had no experience of the English game.
Dumitru, Pereira and Kasami were all loaned in over the summer on season-long deals with only Kasami having previous experience of English football. However, despite this, none of them have had a positive impact on Trentside and will not be missed by Forest supporters.
Dumitru contributed the least out of the three and managed to score just one goal in ten appearances for the club, coming in the 3-1 defeat at St James’ Park to Newcastle United. This was not the impact Forest supporters were hoping for from the 25-year-old who hoped to fill the gap left by teenage sensation Oliver Burke.
In comparison, Pereira could have had a much more successful time at the club if it had not been for his significant lack of discipline. He made 22 appearances for the club scoring two goals in the process and picking up several assists. However, his attacking flare was overshadowed by the fact he got sent off three times during his loan spell which ultimately saw both Gary Brazil and more recently Mark Warburton leave the Portuguese winger out of their plans.
The loan signing of Kasami from Olympiacos was one which genuinely excited most Forest supporters. Many remembered his superb volley against Crystal Palace for Fulham during his previous spell in English football. However, he failed to live up to expectation at The City Ground by going missing in several games. He managed to find the back of the net twice in his 25 appearances for the club.
Fawaz pressed the ‘panic’ button
It was clear by January that the summer recruitment at the club had been very poor. In addition to this, the news that John Jay Moores’ proposed takeover of the club had fallen through led to increased protests against owner Fawaz Al-Hasawi.
He knew he had to act quickly to appease the fans and he attempted to do this within the January transfer window. Under the new management of Brazil who he had appointed till the end of the season at the time, the club was very busy on deadline day.
Teixeira was one of the many players to come through the door on deadline day on loan from Championship rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers. Remarkably, the Portuguese midfielder has not made a single appearance for the club since. He was out of favour with both Brazil and now Warburton and now returns to the West Midlands having wasted half a season.
Financial issues not a surprise
Current owner Al-Hasawi has not hidden the financial difficulties the club has been going through since he bought the club back in July 2012. However, majority of these issues have been caused by his mismanagement when it comes to recruitment.
The failure to appoint a reputable Chief Executive and Director of Football for the most part of his ownership, has seen the quality of Forest’s recruitment suffer. The lack of communication with the management team has also caused players to be signed who the manager has absolutely no intention of including in their squad.
There have been so many signings who have failed this season including the likes of Dumitru, Kasami, Teixeira, Pereira, Thomas Lam, Vladamir Stojkovic, Damien Perquis, Nicklas Bendtner, Aaron Tshibola and also Ross McCormack.
Warburton has recently pointed out how he could not deal with the size of the club’s squad and that is the main reason behind why he has sent some of the loan players back to their parent clubs already. However, the financial impact that signing all these players must have had on the club is significant.
It is important that prospective new owner Evangelos Marinakis retains the current structure in place of Warburton as manager, Frank McParland as Director of Football and possibly add a Chief Executive to the mix. This will allow the club to get value for money, trim the current squad and ensure the same mistakes do not happen again.