Annoying thing is, despite 11 changes, we had lots of chances and generally dominated play, Surridge missed three sitters. Some poor performances from Cook and Williams in particular. I don’t see young Fewster bothering the first team any time soon either judging by his showing.
Expect a much different performance & team for Wolves next Wednesday.
By Paul Taylor and Daniel Taylor
Jan 11, 2023
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To Nottingham Forest fans, Dane Murphy was the man with a seemingly endless collection of raincoats. An easy person to spot in directors’ boxes across the country, he was, as one fan dubbed him, “the Inspector Gadget of chief executives”.
Among staff at the City Ground, he was the straight-talking, affable American who had clearly defined opinions about the way things should be done — and few fears about sharing those thoughts.
But even if he will leave Forest with his reputation enhanced, Murphy’s departure was not a surprise.
If there is one thing the 36-year-old will have learned from his time in football, it is how quickly things can change.
That is particularly true at Forest where, among the fallout from a summer recruitment campaign that saw 22 new signings arrive at a cost of around £150million ($182m) — with varying degrees of success — there was another round of change.
When Forest appointed Murphy in the summer of 2021, having seen the impressive job he had done at Barnsley — who had just forged an unlikely play-off push in the Championship — he arrived with a clear identity on the game and, in particular, recruitment.
A ‘simple’ player but ‘special talent’ in new role - how did Murphy end up as Forest CEO aged 35?
“You want to have a club-driven philosophy in recruitment and in a way to play. It is extremely important,” Murphy said in July 2021, shortly after his arrival.
Around the same time, George Syrianos, formerly an analytics expert at German Bundesliga side Stuttgart, joined as part of the overhaul, with data placed front and centre of Forest’s recruitment strategy, alongside old-fashioned scouting.
“If you have a way that you want to play and the manager tells you, ‘This is what I need in this position’, you can change your algorithm and data to fit around that, to cut away the fat and then have a smaller recruitment group to look at. That is when the scouts, the video analysts, the first-team staff and manager all come into it, to provide the ‘eyes-on’ balance,” added Murphy.
With this approach, Murphy and Syrianos helped assemble the team that won promotion. The desire was to put together a young team armed with pace and physical power — potentially the fastest and youngest team in the division.
Forest wanted to erase the mistakes of the past that saw them saddled with ageing players such as Harry Arter and Lyle Taylor, who remain on the books now, earning a significant wage without being part of the 25-man Premier League squad.
High-earning older players such as Harry Arter remain on Forest’s books (Photo: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
There were exceptions — Murphy was not keen on the idea of signing Steve Cook from Bournemouth on a three-year contract but the defender ended up playing an important role in promotion, while also helping to appease Cooper, who was convinced that was precisely what Cook would deliver.
Last summer, as Forest began work for life back in the top flight — weeks later than their rivals, having secured promotion via the play-offs — the mood and the outlook changed again. The recruitment team, along with Cooper, were responsible for some signings — including Taiwo Awoniyi, Harry Toffolo, Lewis O’Brien, Neco Williams, Morgan Gibbs-White and Remo Freuler — but the club hierarchy also had more of an influence as the window went on.
Once it became clear that former England international Jesse Lingard was available, Miltiadis Marinakis, the son of Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis, was keen to make the transfer happen. There was a feeling among the Greek hierarchy that such a signing would be a statement of intent.
The same was true of Emmanuel Dennis, Watford’s Nigerian forward, who had established a growing reputation by scoring 10 goals for a struggling side that was ultimately relegated. On deadline day, there was also a late push to sign Michy Batshuayi from Chelsea, again partly because of the kudos that signing the Belgium international would bring.
Forest’s new-look squad has gradually found its feet in the top flight, with many of the additions proving to be successful after time to settle. Serge Aurier, Orel Mangala, Freuler and Gibbs-White have stood out, while Lingard and Awoniyi’s influence has also grown.
But not all of the signings have flourished — and it was Syrianos and head of scouting Andy Scott who paid the price in October when they were moved out. That robbed Murphy of Syrianos, one of his right-hand men.
That came shortly after Cooper had found his own position in serious peril. Forest had approached several potential replacements — including Rafa Benitez — to gauge their interest in the role of head coach.
Steve Cooper (right) with Dane Murphy in February 2022 (Photo: Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)
There have been suggestions Forest fell out with Murphy because he was among those who had lost faith in Cooper, but sources have told The Athletic that such a notion is “cheap”.
There was a dispute with the club over bonuses and a pay rise that Murphy was due following promotion, with solicitors drafted in. It was then settled, and Forest sources say this did not contribute to his ultimate departure.
A senior club figure also briefed the media that it was Murphy, along with Syrianos and Scott, whose jobs were at risk following the dreadful defeat at Leicester which inspired the latest round of change. From that moment, with the club seemingly moving against their own chief executive, it felt as though Murphy’s days were numbered.
But Murphy was a consistent supporter of Cooper behind the scenes and a champion of his appointment at a time when Forest had also been keen on Chris Wilder, as well as a few alternative foreign targets.
The Athletic understands Murphy specifically requested for a data package to be compiled to support the idea of appointing Cooper, who had twice guided Swansea City into the Championship play-offs. The result was a formula that helped Forest end two decades outside of the top flight.
However, somebody had to pay the price for Forest’s early season struggles and, following the departure of Syrianos and Scott, Filippo Giraldi — a man who had forged an impressive reputation of his own at Watford — was appointed as sporting director.
The media were asked, by the club, not to ask specific questions about Murphy at Cooper’s pre-match press conference on Monday, with both parties having agreed not to talk publicly about the situation as part of the terms of his departure. But Cooper did talk positively about his relationship with Giraldi when asked how Murphy’s departure might impact his job.
Filippo Giraldi is Nottingham Forest’s new sporting director (Photo: Jon Hobley/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
“I’ve been working really closely with him. January is a really busy time,” said Cooper. “That’s been my port of call. I’m a head coach, most of my dialogue is with him. I don’t see any change for myself (following Murphy’s departure). We always try to have a collaborative approach. I’m only interested in looking forward. I have a really strong relationship with Filippo.”
As well as Giraldi, Lee Charnley, the former Newcastle managing director, was appointed in a consultancy role to look at the business side of things. Charnley is expected to retain an influential role between now and the end of the season, with former Forest CEO Ioannis Vrentzos — who is still a director on the Forest board — expected to assist where required.
Though Vrentzos’ involvement was scaled back following the appointment of Murphy, he does retain influence at Forest. He attended the promotion celebrations at the Council House and was part of the party at the mid-season training camp in Athens. Giraldi will lead the recruitment side of things in January, with Miltiadis Marinakis remaining influential.
All of this was always going to leave little room for Murphy, who was also being worn down by the politics behind the scenes, to play a part.
Whether there will be an impact for Taymour Roushdi, Forest’s head of administration — who joined the club from Barnsley at the same time as Murphy — remains to be seen. There is no suggestion that he will also depart, but the duo had a close working relationship.
Murphy arrived at Forest as a young chief executive armed with bright ideas and a clarity of thought, as well as a burgeoning reputation. He will leave with all of those things intact.
And though his departure may have been under a cloud, the key part he played in one of the defining eras of Nottingham Forest’s history should not be forgotten.
Suggestions on Twitter yesterday that Murphy had pushed for Cooper to be dismissed after Leicester defeat seem to be wide of the mark, at least from reading that article anyway. Wouldn’t make sense anyway as it was his idea to appoint Cooper in the first place.
The structure at executive level still sounds a little haphazard to say the least. The nepo baby probably has more control than is ideal. That said the brass tax is that Steve Cooper is being backed to the hilt and thats all that really matters. By the end of today we will have another star Brazilian in the squad and be in a Cup Semi Final. COYR
BOLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Boly bollixed
Looks a nasty one
Fuck it anyway was really beginning to master his role
Boly is UP! He told the strecher to go and fuck
McKenna on for Boly. His name rings out around TCG as he limps off
Bollix 1-1
Coops not happy
Great tackle Dinny
Put your fucking boot back on Nevis you plum
Aurier cleaning house. Deserved yellow for Wolves coach, you never see Steve Cooper losing his head like that
FT 1-1
No extra time, straight to peno’s. Hendo will save the lot
who will tajes our Peno’s? I’ll go with Dennis/Surridge/MGW/Aurier/Freuler
What a fucking game. Drama nonstop
That was a proper cup tie. You don’t see Cup ties like that anymore
I have it on the very best authority (not from SC for clarity) that Dane is an arrogant wanker
That was a proper cup tie. Proper shithousery in the penalty shootout, scuffles long afterwards and a bouncing poisonous atmosphere that only forest and Leeds seem to be able to bring repeatedly to the table.
Epic.
Were they giving him stick all game ?
