Selling the crown jewels.

[Rzar]

If selling the crown jewels put Forest in a financially stronger position and precipitates a change in ownership, then I'm all for it.

Sell the jewels now and you are just selling a jewel that will keep us ticking over for 6 months. Wait another 12-24 months and you actually are selling the Crown Jewels that could solve our problems for years and years.

 

[SammyC]

Currently our structures in place behind the scenes are young and developing. At this stage I don't think they could replace Britt or Burke.

It's why I'm glad we haven't spent big this summer, I'd rather we saw more of the new management team, & they saw more of this league before we do any big money deals.

It's inevitable the day will come, but today wouldn't be the right one.

 

[incapable hulk]

And if we keep selling the players who could turn us in to a top end championship (or lower end premiership) club, we'll be destined to remain an established lower end championship club indefinitely.

Totally agree, but unfortunately that's where we are as a club now. Spectacular mismanagement on and off the pitch has put us in a shit position on and off the pitch and not as able to hold on to players as we might have been in the distant past.

 

[marshal99]

Forest have always been a club that sells its crown jewel , when have they not ? Maybe only during their european cup days perhaps ? Walker ,Webb , Sheringham , Collymore etc , forest have always sold their star players and not always replace them adequately , it's not like it's a new thing.

 

[BryanRoy]

Forest have always been a club that sells its crown jewel , when have they not ? Maybe only during their european cup days perhaps ? Walker ,Webb , Sheringham , Collymore etc , forest have always sold their star players and not always replace them adequately , it's not like it's a new thing.

Definitely.

We will probably have to sell them at some point but for us to have any chance of kicking on as a club on the football field - the earliest should be next summer.

Even then , I'm hopeful we can persuade them to stay longer.

 

[Senior Flange Technician]

Sell now for something akin to guaranteeing promotion £40m+ or keep them and they may just earn us the £100m promotion.

At the end of the day both their relative values will only increase, unless their heads get turned, which is unlikely given their down to earth nature and how well we've looked after them. There really is no reason to sell.

 

[Captain Sinister]

And if we keep selling the players who could turn us in to a top end championship (or lower end premiership) club, we'll be destined to remain an established lower end championship club indefinitely.

We have tried to win promotion by signing players nearing the end of their careers who have played in the top flight.
It didn't work - it merely broke the wage structure and plunged us into embargo.
So, we are now using home-grown talent.
And again, it will not work if every time we unearth a ruby in the mountain of rocks (thanks to Jim Steinman) we feel forced to sell to a bigger club.
Southampton succeeded by blending the home grown talent with more established signings to get into the Premiership.
They are likely to struggle now as they have sold so many of their young discoveries and at the moment appear not to have any real raw talent coming through.
I remember when Forest were a big name club, but we failed to retain Premiership status just as the big money started to un-level the playing field.
I want us to hang on to Burke, Cash, Assombalonga and any other youngsters because I see no other way of ever getting back into the top flight.

 

[Barry]

The question mark for me is Britt. Is it gonna be where we have him for 5 games and then hes out for 3? If so id cash in and try and replace. One of our major downfalls for years has been putting all our eggs in an injured basket. I've no doubt what a great asset he is and could be.... But at the minute its more could than is.

 

[Rzar]

Forest have always been a club that sells its crown jewel , when have they not ? Maybe only during their european cup days perhaps ? Walker ,Webb , Sheringham , Collymore etc , forest have always sold their star players and not always replace them adequately , it's not like it's a new thing.

Pretty much every club in the world apart from Real Madrid & Barcelona are selling clubs. It's just the food chain.

We lose players to mid-table Prem teams, mid table Prem teams lose it to top 4 clubs, top 4 lose it to Real Madrid/Barca.

 

[BryanRoy]

The question mark for me is Britt. Is it gonna be where we have him for 5 games and then hes out for 3? If so id cash in and try and replace. One of our major downfalls for years has been putting all our eggs in an injured basket. I've no doubt what a great asset he is and could be.... But at the minute its more could than is.

That was his first real injury though.

There may be this teething period initially.

To tough to say at this stage if it will be a regular occurrence.

Right now we have Vellios, Veldwijk, Blackstock who can replace him & even it is someone from outside - I doubt they could touch the goals Britt would score this season even if we have to rap him in cotton wool slightly.

 

[Captain Sinister]

The question mark for me is Britt. Is it gonna be where we have him for 5 games and then hes out for 3? If so id cash in and try and replace. One of our major downfalls for years has been putting all our eggs in an injured basket. I've no doubt what a great asset he is and could be.... But at the minute its more could than is.

It is a difficult dilemma.
Personally, I doubt whether any other club would offer the sort of money that would tempt Forest to sell, simply because other clubs are probably thinking that Britt could be one of those gifted individuals whose career is blighted by frequent injuries.
Should someone come in now with an offer north of (say) £6m, then I think that the owners would be tempted.
Of course, they are far more aware as to the nature of Britt's current injury - it might simply have been a precautionary withdrawal of the lad on Saturday - but it could equally be something more serious.
I wouldn't sell - but it is not my money that is at risk!
His record at Posh was not bad in terms of appearances and missed games through injury, and I think that given proper recovery time and assuming it is only a strained hamstring, Britt will go on and play regularly and score lots of goals... hopefully for us.

 

[Rich B]

Doesn't matter if we sell them for £50m each, the money is only destined for Fawaz's pocket

 

[Clifford]

Forest have always been a club that sells its crown jewel , when have they not ? Maybe only during their european cup days perhaps ? Walker ,Webb , Sheringham , Collymore etc , forest have always sold their star players and not always replace them adequately , it's not like it's a new thing.

Not after a handful of games. Collymore for example got us promoted, fired us to Europe and then went for a record transfer fee. To sell now is far too early and his value will increase the more we use him.

 

[incapable hulk]

Southampton succeeded by blending the home grown talent with more established signings to get into the Premiership.
They are likely to struggle now as they have sold so many of their young discoveries and at the moment appear not to have any real raw talent coming through.

They always had their "crown jewels" pinched though.

When they were down in the lower leagues, Arsenal took Oxlade-Chamberlain, who we'd probably say is the closest comparison to Burke at this point. They sold him, and others a long the way, but they succeeded because they had such a strong structure in place and a great recruitment process that enabled them to keep unearthing gems and decent players to reinvest the money in to.

They accepted other clubs would come to take their players, so they built a system around that to move them forward.

We shouldn't actively be selling our best players, but we have to realise as an established arse end of the second division club, that if more successful clubs do come along, then we only have so much power. Forest need to have the staff in place to be able to take loss of the player and turn it into a positive.

 

[DaveTTT]

McGovern was never fancied or appreciated by almost anyone in football (probably why he never won a cap for Scotland at senior level), and yet:

"Who is this McGovern?’ Günter Netzer, the German midfield legend, asked after Forest had knocked Cologne, the Bundesliga champions, out of the 1979 semi-final. “I have never heard of him, yet he ran the game.”"

I think a lot of fans only see the guys who score the goals, or who do silly tricks (Abdoun anyone?), or the keepers who make amazing saves.

But the players who make all of that possible are the McGoverns - and sadly for them they end up being totally overlooked.

Anyway, with regards to selling the crown jewels - football has gone mad since Sky, you have Man Ure £400 million in debt and almost every other club in debt.

Do clubs like us have any other choice but to sell?

We don't have the financial clout (and aren't allowed to have it) to say no, so we have a crazy position where to get to the prem and the money we need great players, but as soon as we get a great player someone from the prem comes and buys him and sits him on a bench.

So what can you do?

You have a business that has huge overheads, the lower leagues particularly have their hands tied financially, you need great players to get to the prem, but well before you get there they come and offer money for your great players and you then can't get to the prem.

So you take the money now to keep within the club going and accept you won't be going to the land of milk and honey, or you refuse the sale of the player, the player gets pissed off and probably doesn't perform as well, and you then end up breaking the financial rules.

And they wonder why the England team can't compete.

There needs to be a rule I think that if any young British player is being bought by a Prem club from a lower league club that they need to play in X% of games for the new club or they can't have them - or they can buy them but they have to remain with the original club until they will be playing X% of games for their new club.

That might allow teams like us to benefit financially, and at the same time to benefit from having great players and give us a chance to get to the Prem?

 

[BostonRed]

If selling the crown jewels put Forest in a financially stronger position and precipitates a change in ownership, then I'm all for it.

No fee we are going to receive is going to compete with the financial gain of getting to the premier league.

It's a no brainer for me! NO DEAL!!!!