Discipline!
Thu, Nov 2009 03:27
| Belgium, Billy Davies, World Championship, Nigel Doughty, Colin Calderwood, BBC
| Permalink
Mrs Devil and I were in France last weekend, visiting the Great War battlefields. Both of us have ancestors buried in various military cemeteries along the Flanders front, a fact that has resulted in a shared keen interest in the history of this horrific time. We saw Loos, Vimy, Thiepval, Hamel. It was rather quiet, which added to the experience. Impressive, poignant. And something has changed compared to ten, fifteen years ago. We saw German number plates at Vimy and an English bus at the German cemetery in Neuville-St-Vaast. Finally. The whole region is dotted with military cemeteries, often holding over a thousand casualties. Generals on both sides sent many young men from all over the world to their deaths in France and Belgium. Some of the offensives were utter madness, and they seemed to have a knack of forgetting factors from which they should have been drawing conclusions and learning lessons. But why did the soldiers and officers obey to these sometimes insane orders, knowing they would again be mowed down by artillery and machine guns?
Discipline.
It is something I can only admit to having a complete lack of, sadly. I loved to learn, but hated studying. I love performing music live, but hate the constraints of studio work. I loved to play football when I had two good knees, but hated training. Likewise, I love the fact that webmaster Steve offered me a chance to vent my thoughts about Forest and football in general, but I seem to lack the discipline, once again, to write regularly. For this, I apologise most humbly.
It is not even that nothing has happened in the past six or seven months. Forest managed to stay up after a not so good start to last season. And there was much rejoicing. Belgium sacked their manager and replaced him with the esteemed Dick Advocaat. His first game in charge saw a 2-0 win over Turkey. And there was much rejoicing. England qualified easily for the World Championship, a league above the competition in their group, including Croatia and Ukraine. And there was much rejoicing. BBC started a Football League Show, meaning I can finally see Forest highlights in Belgium. And there…
In this new season, our manager Billy Davies seems to have found his footing. He has turned Nottingham Forest into a feared side. Another slippery start, agreed, but now we have not lost in what seems like ages. We were even on the Beeb the other day, live. And we look good. There is some great passing going on all over the pitch, good running up front. We look lively, we look fluent, we look dangerous. The game against Cardiff was so good I kept thinking that I had seen many reports on Match of the Day that showed far less accomplished football and less excitement from Premier League clubs. We really, truly look good out there.
And of course it is too soon to think about automatic promotion spots, the Premier League, Europe, Munich, Madrid. But things look a lot better than they did two or three years ago. We have Colin Calderwood to thank for part of that. We have Nigel Doughty to thank for another part. Billy Davis for another. The players, who seem to finally realize that they have to put some effort in it. And the fans, who may be called fickle but seem relentless in their support. An average attendance of 20000+ in the old third division is proof of that.
Like Forest, I will try to change. I will try to be more consistent, to score more points. To think less about football, but write more. I have written this before, I admit with my head hung in shame. I’m serious this time. In part a result of a weekend in France that has made a big impression. Discipline.
Be good.
Red Devil
Discipline.
It is something I can only admit to having a complete lack of, sadly. I loved to learn, but hated studying. I love performing music live, but hate the constraints of studio work. I loved to play football when I had two good knees, but hated training. Likewise, I love the fact that webmaster Steve offered me a chance to vent my thoughts about Forest and football in general, but I seem to lack the discipline, once again, to write regularly. For this, I apologise most humbly.
It is not even that nothing has happened in the past six or seven months. Forest managed to stay up after a not so good start to last season. And there was much rejoicing. Belgium sacked their manager and replaced him with the esteemed Dick Advocaat. His first game in charge saw a 2-0 win over Turkey. And there was much rejoicing. England qualified easily for the World Championship, a league above the competition in their group, including Croatia and Ukraine. And there was much rejoicing. BBC started a Football League Show, meaning I can finally see Forest highlights in Belgium. And there…
In this new season, our manager Billy Davies seems to have found his footing. He has turned Nottingham Forest into a feared side. Another slippery start, agreed, but now we have not lost in what seems like ages. We were even on the Beeb the other day, live. And we look good. There is some great passing going on all over the pitch, good running up front. We look lively, we look fluent, we look dangerous. The game against Cardiff was so good I kept thinking that I had seen many reports on Match of the Day that showed far less accomplished football and less excitement from Premier League clubs. We really, truly look good out there.
And of course it is too soon to think about automatic promotion spots, the Premier League, Europe, Munich, Madrid. But things look a lot better than they did two or three years ago. We have Colin Calderwood to thank for part of that. We have Nigel Doughty to thank for another part. Billy Davis for another. The players, who seem to finally realize that they have to put some effort in it. And the fans, who may be called fickle but seem relentless in their support. An average attendance of 20000+ in the old third division is proof of that.
Like Forest, I will try to change. I will try to be more consistent, to score more points. To think less about football, but write more. I have written this before, I admit with my head hung in shame. I’m serious this time. In part a result of a weekend in France that has made a big impression. Discipline.
Be good.
Red Devil
Comments
Why Forest? Why "Red Devil?"
I fell in love twice when I was ten. My parents took me on my first trip to England and I loved it all. I loved being on the boat, making fun of my sisters, who weren't feeling too well, seeing the famous cliffs, driving on what was obviously the wrong side of the road. England just felt... right. It still does. That holiday caused me to become an incredible anglophile. I just love everything about England, the language, the history, the country, the landscapes, even the cars, the football and the food. I can't help myself when it comes to England. I sometimes feel out of place here in Belgium. Coming back from England never feels like coming home. That may sound slightly pathetic to some, but like I said, I can't help it. It's my dad's fault. He shouldn't have taken me there in the first place.
Forest? Also my dad's fault. And believe me, I have frequently cursed him over the last decade and a half. But on that fatefull day in July, 1980, he made a choice for me. We'd rented a cottage in the little town of Templecombe, Somerset. My parents had gone shopping for supplies and had been as infinitely good as to get me the one thing a ten year-old cannot do without, especially in a cottage with a massive garden. A football. On the football were printed the crests of all the clubs which then made out the English top flight. I remember liking the one with the two birds and I guess I may have been very close to becoming, of all things, a Spurs fan, but then my dad drew my attention to a lovely looking crest with a red tree. He said that they were the best club in the whole world, which we were of course, as incredible as that sounds now. The mind of a ten year-old is simple. The best? I'll support them, then. Easy decision.
But I have stuck with Forest since. (And have been stuck with them as well, so it has felt at times.) Through thick and thin. Through good and bad. Through Cpt Psycho and Cpt Plank, so to speak. Forest are as much a part of me as anything. Even if I can't make it to the City Ground very often, it does matter incredibly. Saturday afternoons are spent in front of the pc, listening to the live match report through the World site, when it's working. Forest books, Forest shirts, Forest dvd's. And of course I "am" red in any board or other game that has red available. There's no escape.
Then there is the Red Devil thing. When I first came out with that name on the Forest mailing list I joined some 10 years ago, some people told me off for chosing Man Utd's nickname. However, our Belgian national side are also called the Red Devils. Hence.
I will be back soon with actual Forest stuff. I have a lot on my mind.
Be good.
Forest? Also my dad's fault. And believe me, I have frequently cursed him over the last decade and a half. But on that fatefull day in July, 1980, he made a choice for me. We'd rented a cottage in the little town of Templecombe, Somerset. My parents had gone shopping for supplies and had been as infinitely good as to get me the one thing a ten year-old cannot do without, especially in a cottage with a massive garden. A football. On the football were printed the crests of all the clubs which then made out the English top flight. I remember liking the one with the two birds and I guess I may have been very close to becoming, of all things, a Spurs fan, but then my dad drew my attention to a lovely looking crest with a red tree. He said that they were the best club in the whole world, which we were of course, as incredible as that sounds now. The mind of a ten year-old is simple. The best? I'll support them, then. Easy decision.
But I have stuck with Forest since. (And have been stuck with them as well, so it has felt at times.) Through thick and thin. Through good and bad. Through Cpt Psycho and Cpt Plank, so to speak. Forest are as much a part of me as anything. Even if I can't make it to the City Ground very often, it does matter incredibly. Saturday afternoons are spent in front of the pc, listening to the live match report through the World site, when it's working. Forest books, Forest shirts, Forest dvd's. And of course I "am" red in any board or other game that has red available. There's no escape.
Then there is the Red Devil thing. When I first came out with that name on the Forest mailing list I joined some 10 years ago, some people told me off for chosing Man Utd's nickname. However, our Belgian national side are also called the Red Devils. Hence.
I will be back soon with actual Forest stuff. I have a lot on my mind.
Be good.