Then what about your other players? eg Gibbs-White, Awoniyi I dont know much about the Championship so is there something about it that makes you think others wouldn't be able to 'hack it'?
Nikhate, Mangala and Awonyi would be more than adequate at championship level provided we could keep them fit. The worry for me would be the big man wanting a massive clear out if we go down and there being another 20 very average players coming in
Think Forest would be mad to sack Cooper. He’d be near the top of the list for any Championship team looking for a new manager. Think he deserves to see the season out.
Here's a list of our squad and what I think we should do with them if we go down: GKs: Navas-Obviously won't be staying on Henderson-Obviously won't be staying on Horvath-Ready made quality championship goalkeeper as evidenced by his loan at Luton. Keep Hennessey- Rubbish PL backup keeper but more than adequate backup Championship. Keep DF: Biancone-Cooper obviously dosen't rate him. Get rid Cook-Probably not even up to Championship standard but might be worth keeping around to do some coaching. Worrall- Been abit suspect in this league but his championship pedigree is in no doubt. Keep Williams- Is still quite raw and has really struggled at PL level but would prosper way more where he could be much more of an attacking wing back in the champ. Keep Toffolo- As shown at Hudders. very good champ LB. Keep Niakhate- Has shown good signs when fit and playing. My instinct says he would be more than good enough at a level below. Keep Aurier- With his wages and probably desire for top flight football I don't think we will get him to stay on. McKenna- Excellent in the championship like Worrall. Keep Richards- Seems dead forever Boly- Too much of a crock and can't be relied on. Get rid Lodi- Won't be signing for us in the championship Felipe-He won't stay on with us in that league MF: Mangala-Would be quality I reckon. Keep Shelvey- A very average player but would probably at least do a job as a squad player in the league below. Keep Colback- If he's got another year in the tank it will be worth having a player of his experience around still. Keep Lingard- Hasn't worked out, bye bye. Get rid Cafu- Been a good servant in the dressing room but surplus to requirements. Get rid Kouyate- Maybe too much of an expensive wage to carry through to the championship with so many other players in the same position. Get rid Yates- We need a Ryan Yates led side to give us a good chance of getting back. Must keep O'Brien- Obviously very capable as shown at Hudders-Keep Frueler- I don't think he will fancy Rotherham away on a Tuesday night and won't wanting to be sticking around. Get rid Danilo- Shown good potential and would be someone that could maybe blossom in a lower standard league. Keep Scarpa- Coops has used him sparingly, he comes across abit of a luxury player to me maybe we would have the luxury to use him in more of an attacking set up in the champ. Keep ATT: Gibbs-White- Stick with Cooper there's more chance of Morgan giving us another year. Obviously he has the quality to tear it up in that league. Try really hard to keep Awonyi- It might have been more of a struggle to keep him if we had kept him fit for longer, if we can keep him fit I think he could be capable of silly numbers in that league. Keep Surridge- Proven quality at that level, might want to leave if he continues to be benched though. Keep Mighten- Might never get to the levels we want him to be. Another loan or sell I reckon Johnson- Would love to keep Jonno because obviously he would absolutely smash it but we have to be realistic and can't expect him to give us another year at this stage of his career. Dennis- Don't think he will stick with us, will probably seek out a move to Qatar or something. Taylor-Not good enough. Get rid Ayew-A panic buy and I don't think he's even up to the championship anymore. Get rid Wood- Another symptom of the awful January recruitment, I'm thinking maybe cut our losses if we can keep some of our strikers but he might be more of an effective plan b in that division. Lineup: Horvath Toffolo Niakhate Worrall Williams Yates Danilo Mangala Awonyi Surridge Scarpa Subs: Hennessey McKenna Shelvey O'Brien Colback Wood A few extra needed to pad out the squad maybe, I've gone with the worst case scenario of MGW/Johnson both leaving, but that sort of squad wouldn't be too shabby at all but we know the Greeks will rip everything up and there will be no stability yet again.
The likes of Gibbs-White and Awoniyi wouldn't want to stay, neither will Johnson. We will have no choice but to clear out those leeching a wage off us anyway. And why do I think they couldn't hack it in the Championship? Because they've struggled to hack it in the Premier League and the Championship is a much worse division for having players in your face and a lot of our signings are from leagues around the world where you are afforded lots of time - if you can't hack Bournemouth away, you're really going to struggle at places like Kenilworth Road
Danilo definitely wouldn't want to stay considering top flight clubs have been sniffing around him previously, Scarpa might if he fancies building a career in England, Niakhate would only stay if he felt it was worth a season to get his fitness back. Mangala is a definite to leave as he's made himself a Belgian regular and the Euro's are at the end of next season. Don't see us getting rid of Wood either as he'll just become another Arter. I can see us needing another rebuild in the summer, that's for sure
They might be going up! Be depressing for us Watford fans but funny seeing all these world stars and their fans going to Luton if it did happen.
His man management is genius level honestly - how does he get the buy in in a such a fling together band of strangers? Even Steve Cooper genius man management is unable to rescue Shelvey’s stinking attitude though
What an incredible job he's managed to do once again, as I said yesterday I think keeping us up given everything even surpasses getting us promoted from the position we were in. Fair play to Marinakis as well for sticking with his man where literally every other chairman in the bottom part of the table bar West Ham have made changes
I wonder where his statue will go? What he's done this season is unreal. He looked at our start and changed things up and we hit a bit of form. Then when our style disintegrated over the last few months, he switched things about again and got us going again! Every interview you hear from a player includes mention of Cooper. The respect he has is amazing and that comes from his man-management skills. This is shown perfectly here
Can't believe another year has passed and it's Coops 2nd anniversary with us today. Thank you so much for bringing so much joy and erasing the damage of the previous two decades. I am confident with Steve continuing to be in charge at the club we are only going to progress and grow further as a club. Make no bones about it we will never have it so good as modern day Forest fans (post-Clough) once he's gone so I am going to try and enjoy/appreciate every 2nd of it and not get too beat up over some bad results/blips. Here's to another two years at least hopefully. Stevie Cooper's Red Army!
Gutted he's gone. I do understand it given our run of form and more importantly this was the third time he was under pressure like this (Leicester and Leeds away games last season). let's remember what he did for us though. avoided relegation to league one (most forget we were odds on for this at the time he signed for the club) Promoted to the PL for first time in over two decades Kept forest in the PL despite having almost the entire squad lost at the end of the promotion season Left us FIVE points clear of the relegation zone. All of those are incredible achievements. Even at the time of his sacking you can't say this season was a failure given we were five points clear of the drop which over a season could've seen us over 10 points clear. Amazing man and good luck in the future. it won't be a surprise to me if a returns in a decade or so.
