Ok Williams, and in particular Gemmill had \u2018ability\u2019 but that doesn\u2019t mean they didn\u2019t have their fair share of boo boys with the fat old bloke and his ever-agreeing woolly hat wearing wife sat in front of you in the Trent End upper tier forever shouting out loud \u201cGemmill\u2019s rubbish\u201d and \u201cGet Williams Off\u201d simply because they weren\u2019t \u2018his or hers\u2019 favourite type of player.<\/p>\n
Scot Gemmill had magic moments, he was a classy footballer who\u2019s late runs and cultured timely finishes were well remembered by Forest fans\u2026 But some of us fans remember the spells he had when he weren\u2019t scoring goals, when fans were saying to themselves\u2026 \u201cWhat actually is he doing?\u201d.<\/p>\n
I liked Gemmill, I saw his qualities on the ball but off it, he was weak in his early days which led to frustration from fans with many calling for his head. In the end the player grew in stature but although much-liked by many at Forest, he moved on, without the majority of fans too bothered about his leaving. At Everton, Gemmill carved out near 100 more Premier League appearances when Nottingham Forest were outside the Premier League. A player good enough for Premier League football, not good enough for \u2018some\u2019 Nottingham Forest fans.<\/p>\n
Gareth Williams had an uncanny resemblance to Gemmill, a cultured footballer, tidy on the ball, Scottish too, like Gemmill, good enough to earn international caps but weak as piss, I remember him scoring a couple of cracking goals against Crystal Palace, thinking \u2018what a player\u2019 we have here\u2026 In all though, nine goals in 142 league games was nothing too special. Williams left to Leicester with no fans sad to see him go.<\/p>\n
Williams would go on to play Premier League football at Leicester and Watford, although he never really lit up the scene he at least achieved something this Millennium that Nottingham Forest Football Club have so far failed\u2026 He weren\u2019t that bad is my point, even though many didn\u2019t rate him for one reason or another.<\/p>\n
James Perch is the left-field addition to this short quota of \u2018unlikeable\u2019 reds\u2026 I won\u2019t add Lewis McGugan because we all saw his talent, all be it sporadically, but McGugan was just lazy\u2026 His fault was his own, not the fans, but Perch was certainly not lazy. In some ways he put himself about too much\u2026 I\u2019m not sure on his stats but I\u2019ll be surprised if a Reds player has ever been booked more in history?<\/p>\n
In fairness to Perch, now playing for League Two Mansfield at the twilight of his career, I still don\u2019t know his best position. Originally a right back he could play centre half and \u2018do a job\u2019 in midfield, although \u2018do a job\u2019 was often about as good as it got.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll admit I wasn\u2019t his biggest fan, but as a \u2018squad player\u2019 (like a poor mans Steve Nicol) he had his uses. Many Reds fans felt the same as me, sometimes called a liability, often a name that started with the words \u2018fuckin ell\u2019 or \u2018not again\u2019 so when he moved to Newcastle United for \u00a31m I think there were a few raised eyebrows?<\/p>\n
However Perch like Gemmill and Williams (unlike Forest) have at least played Premier League football in this Century. I\u2019m starting to build a picture here aren\u2019t I?<\/p>\n
Another lad who\u2019s achieved the feat of Forest Academy starlet to Premier League regular more recently is Ben Osborn. In fact it\u2019s amazing to read that the Derby born midfielder was only a Forest player for six seasons.<\/p>\n
An England youth international snapped up from the auld-enemy, Ozzy<\/em> got a spell in the Forest side under then Manager Stuart Pearce in 2014 and pretty much stayed in it ever-since before leaving to Sheffield United last summer.<\/p>\n A promising youngster he always looked like a player that wanted to get on the ball and make things happen, and had his moments, like that late winning goal at Pride Park\u2026 The more he played I thought \u2018he could be the new Steve Chettle? The new Bobby McKinlay? The new record appearance holder of this great club? But despite his 100% commitment, effort and workrate every game, despite that goal against Derby, despite his 200 or so Forest appearances\u2026 \u2018Some\u2019 perhaps even \u2018most\u2019 fans still didn\u2019t warm to him at all?<\/p>\n And I understood it too\u2026 The final pass, that bit of \u2018extra\u2019 quality on the ball, in the end he often gave it \u2018sideways\u2019 as fans regularly got on his back with moans and groans from the stands, it must have effected confidence. But Osborn, like Perch played full back, wing back, midfield, wing, a versatile player who never moaned, just got on with it, and always gave his all. In reality football teams should be built with these type of players around the \u2018star\u2019 centrepiece\u2026. Not for Nottingham Forest\u2026 Not for our fans\u2026 In the end no-one was sad to see him go, a few surprised that he would be good enough<\/em> to make the step up to the Premier League, I personally was disappointed to see him leave. Players that represent the club like Osborn has done who exit for pastures new for me instantaneously rips the heartbeat out of the club. I never like to see familiar faces, those who play week in week out and those who give their all a) booed and b) leave. Osborn was good enough for Championship Forest, just like he\u2019s good enough for Premier League Sheffield United, no matter what Trevor in the B Block thinks.<\/p>\n And we come to Ryan Yates.<\/p>\n My friend a Notts County fan (who saw Yates play on loan at Meadow Lane three years ago) still says he\u2019s good enough to go on and play for England. He said that when he first saw a 17-year-old Jack Grealish play too.<\/p>\n Yates at Forest has simply became the new Ben Osborn, the home grown talent that the fans just love to hate, perhaps he gets the \u2018treatment\u2019 from supporters (so-called) and keyboard warriors (especially) even worse, because he\u2019s not yet had his \u2018Derby moment\u2019\u2026 Like Osborn, he\u2019ll run all day, work his socks off and dig in when the going is tough with nothing less than 100 percent but like Osborn, he frustrates fans because he lacks the quality of others we\u2019ve seen come and go in the past\u2026 But we forget if he had the quality, Ryan Yates wouldn\u2019t be playing Championship football, instead he would have already followed suit of the others into the Premier League by now.<\/p>\n And I\u2019m not saying he won\u2019t ever make that step. I doubt like my friend thinks he\u2019ll play for England but Ryan Yates is a player who has \u2018good honest qualities\u2019 can improve in age, and already under a new Manager in Chris Hughton, The 22 year old has become one of the Reds most important players, a player who has improved significantly. And even better than that, fans are slowly starting to see it.<\/p>\n Eyebrows were certainly raised when the name \u2018Yates\u2019 made the new Managers team for his first match in charge against Blackburn. Fans used to think jokingly he was \u2018sh*gging Lamouchi\u2019 which then turned into \u2018he must be impressive in training\u2019 when Hughton selected him.<\/p>\n One reason often overlooked by armchair followers\/turnstile payers and not professional football managers when it comes to Yates inclusion in teams is because when you \u2018ask\u2019 Yates to do a job he\u2019ll do it. Like Osborn previously, like Perch before him, and by carrying out the duties of his Managers request, Yates becomes an integral, coachable, important player reliable to the teams cause, just as he proved against Blackburn, against Derby in July when he \u2018looked after\u2019 Wayne Rooney, against Luton on Wednesday night when he was awarded man of the match.<\/p>\n And like Ozzy, we know with Yates his all round quality is not that of say Tiago Silva\u2019s or Joao Carvalho\u2019s\u2026 But effort and determination can go a long way in football, not just Championship football, but Premier League football too, and I see Yates as a player determined, driven and strong enough in character to succeed, whether that be at Forest or not.<\/p>\n A player who deserves plaudits for the way he\u2019s played in recent weeks, Ryan Yates may not be \u2018everyones\u2019 cup of tea, but our last two Managers can\u2019t be wrong about him and for that, I\u2019m going to side with the ones in the know, rather than the ones at home watching on iFollow who ‘think’ they know.<\/p>\n *Article provided by <\/em>Daniel Peacock<\/a><\/em> (Editor).<\/em><\/p>\n![\"Daniel-Peacock](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nottinghamsport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Daniel-Peacock.png?w=1246\" "\\"\\"")
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