Is Grabban Becoming A Reds Cult Hero?

Our first article in a series of posts on current Nottingham Forest footballers from our newest member of the Nottingham Sport team Calllum Castel looks at city ground club captain Lewis Grabban and his status amongst Reds fans.

Callum actually raised a twitter poll this week, asking over 200 fans, how they would regard Lewis Grabban and his time in Garibaldi, with over 40% stating he’s a ‘cult hero’ with 30% saying he’s a club icon with 10% going as far to say he’s a ‘legend’ in red. Callum however saying not all comments were in favour with one pointing out stating, “He’s not any of those, he’s our experienced forward, that’s not an insult at all, he’s very important to our current squad” and another suggesting “I like Grabbs and he deserves respect but he’s nothing more than a decent player who’s scored a few goals for us”. However, one fan did say “I’d call him totally underrated and deserves much more respect!”

#NFFC fans I need your help!!

What would you currently class Lewis Grabban as at the club?

— Callum Castel-Nuovo (@callumcasteln) November 12, 2021

Here’s Callum’s own thoughts in his first article for Nottingham Sport…

Lewis Grabban has always been one to cause conflict between fans. Whether he’s labelled lazy, unbothered, past it or just doesn’t smile enough – it’s hard to look past his goal scoring record for Nottingham Forest.

After a prolific 2019/20 season, becoming the first Forest striker to score 20 goals in one season since David Johnson and Marlon Harewood in the 2002/03 season, Grabban set himself very high standards at the club. However, a tough season for the club during the following season saw Grabban only manage to bag six goals and with the striker turning 33, fans were convinced he was “finished”. Nevertheless, the departure of former reds manager Chris Hughton and the arrival or Steve Cooper has sparked the 33-year-old into life again.

The Forest striker has already scored more goals this season in 16 games than he did during the entire 2020/21 campaign and is showing no signs of slowing down. Including the six games under Hughton, Grabban has scored eight goals and registered one assist in 968 minutes of football. That’s almost a goal contribution per game. If we take away the games under Hughton, Grabban has scored seven goals in 641 minutes, almost registering an average of a goal per game since the system at Forest has been changed.

With fans labelling Nottingham Forest “a walking disaster” after not signing Bordeaux’s Josh Maja and urging the club to sign a striker like Dion Charles of Accrington to replace Lewis Grabban, the Forest striker is certainly the most in form of the trio this season with Maja yet to play and Charles yet to score in League One.

It is also worth noting that Lewis Grabban has just recently broke the record for the most goals scored at Nottingham Forest this millennium, which is an astonishing record when comparing this to fan favourites of the past such as David Johnson, Robert Earnshaw, and Britt Assombalonga. The current Forest captain is also currently registering more goals per 90 minutes this season (0.74) than Earnshaw (0.71) and Assombalonga (0.69) did during the two ex-reds’ best full goal scoring seasons.

With those numbers including a tricky start to the season under Hughton, Grabban is getting plenty more chances to score goals now that Steve Cooper is at the helm, playing more attacking football than Forest are used to.

If Forest fans weren’t sure whether to hail Lewis Grabban as a club legend of recent history, this season may remind them of why they fell in love with him during his first two seasons at the club.