Kieran Haines is State of the Game’s new Nottingham Forest columnist.

If you were wondering what David Pleat was doing on the Forest books, bringing in new talent is it. And it has not taken him long to get started in his new roll as the club?s new Football Consultant. He is a man with a lot of years in football which ultimately makes him a big fish in what is a relatively small pond. His time at Sheffield Wednesday saw him as the first manager to contract the young Ghanan Junior Agogo who started his career back in 1995 under Pleat.

Yet despite having played for more than 10 years it was not until rumours started to circle that Colin Calderwood was interested in a replacement for the crocked Nathan Tyson - feared to be out till at least December - when I first heard about him. Slightly amused by the eccentricity of the name, I decided to have a further look into our next possible investment and I was not impressed. An attitude problem was predominant with a lack of respect for players and management alike. After three clubs and two years in America he returned to England in 2002 with stints at Queens Park Rangers, Barnet and then Bristol Rovers. News that he had actually handed in his resignation from The Pirates upon hearing of the possible switch to Nottingham and a rumour that he had played in a wet/dry suit last year against Mansfield due to the cold weather finally made up my mind that here was not a player for our club.

Only seven months have passed since the end of Gary Megson’s decimation of an “unruly and troublemaking? squad of players and as much as he failed on the pitch he did at least leave a legacy of returning a focused professionalism off it. With poor man management out of the way, the squad proved this under the stewardship of ?Charlie? and Frank over the remaining thirteen games of last season. So what could this volatile and unsettled character possibly bring to what is now a well bedded in and settled group?

To answer that you have to go back thirteen long years to the summer of 1993 when into the City Ground strolled a certain Stan Collymore from Southend. 50 goals in 71 games for Forest is not a record to be scoffed at yet his eventful performances on the pitch were mirrored all too often by highly publicised off pitch shenanigans particularly during his time with Liverpool and Aston Villa. Moving forward to 1997 and the arrival of Pierre Van Hooijdonk who joined the Forest ranks from Celtic; following a wage dispute. The promotion season of 1997/98 was a good one for the Dutchman who formed a strong partnership with Kevin Campbell however his career with The Reds was doomed when he decided to strike in protest at the running of the club by the board.

Other examples are numerous of players where great ability comes hand in hand with a darker side and a fiery temperament off the pitch - Wayne Rooney, Roy Keane, Faustino Asprilla to name but a few. So when the deal was dusted and Agogo was paraded in front of the cameras in a Forest shirt, I decided to be open-minded about our new hope. His goal scoring record for Rovers after all was impressive - 36 goals in 78 league games - and provided plenty of viewing to see just how talented a player he really is. The first of two goals at Torquay last season was quite simply in a different class as he chested a long ball down on the edge of the box, skipped deftly past three yellow shirted defenders and finally chipped a shot over the out-rushing ?keeper from the corner of the six yard box. What I saw was a player with pace, strength, a precise first touch and a deadly finish.

Agogo then brings to the team something that our forward line currently lacks, especially in the absence of Nathan Tyson. Whether he can make the step up to a higher league remains to be seen though with the likes of Tyson, from Wycombe, and Grant Holt, from Rochdale, around him he follows along a well trodden path. If he does come with a none too pristine history then I am sure Colin Calderwood is a good enough man manager to keep such wasted energy in check and focus the player instead on scoring those goals needed to earn his new side promotion this season.

Concerns still exist over the lack of attacking flair and creativity in midfield, especially with Clingan away on international duty however the return of Kris Commons to full time training next week will be a heartening sight on Trentside.

So it is with a long forgotten sense of optimism that I travel up from London for the Chesterfield clash this Saturday and a debut I hope, that will not be long forgotten.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 2nd, 2006 at 8:38 am and is filed under Nottingham Forest. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.