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Thank you to Dawn for answering our questions, and we look forward to seeing what your new branch gets up to over the coming seasons

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Earlier this month saw the much anticipated launch of Ian Storey-Moore’s biography, Give it to Moore, He Will Score!, chronicling the career of the Nottingham Forest legend. We caught up with Ian, and the authors of the biography Stuart Humphreys and Richard Harrison, to talk about the book and their thoughts on Nottingham Forest.

NFSC - Ian, thank you for talking to us about the launch of your new biography. Why did you decide that now was the right time to recall your career to print?

Ian - I had actually said “No, thanks” to the idea several times over the years but Stuart and Richard were quite persuasive. Above all, I realised this would be an opportunity for me to pay tribute to all my wonderful team-mates and to thank everyone who helped me achieve so much in the game and who helped me after I was forced to retire through injury.

NFSC - You joined Nottingham Forest as a 16-year-old apprentice, spending the following 10 years playing for the club. What are your standout memories of your time at the City Ground?

Ian - Where do I start!? Making my first team debut against Ipswich, my first goal – a 25-yard volley that I caught just right – against Sheffield United on Boxing Day 1963, my goal against Arsenal – again in the Boxing Day holiday match – in 1971, and, of course, my hat-trick against Everton in the FA Cup quarter-final in 1967 all stand out. But don’t forget we beat Manchester United 4-1 in the 66/67 season and 3-1 in front of almost 50,000 fans the following season when they won the European Cup. So, wonderful memories of a great team and huge crowds. Obviously the Main Stand fire in 1968 was traumatic but thankfully no one was seriously injured. But one of my fondest memories is of my first trial match at Forest in 1961. My father had bought me a new pair of football boots but they made my feet blister terribly. I could hardly walk let alone run but Henry Newton, who was already an apprentice, helped me out and we’ve been close friends ever since.

NFSC - You were the star player at Forest when John Robertson and Martin O’Neill started their careers at the club. Apparently, they were rather in awe of you. Did you ever imagine they would go on to play such an important part in Forest’s late 70s success?

Ian - Like everyone else I certainly never imagined Forest would go on to win the European Cup, of course, but I knew Robbo and Martin were destined for great things. I used to watch Robbo playing for the youth team and in my column for the Nottingham Guardian Journal I wrote: ‘I think this lad John Robertson will become a top-class player.’ I definitely got that right! He likes to remind me that he set up my second goal against Liverpool at the City Ground in 1971! And Martin was a tremendous player as soon as he came over from Northern Ireland, taking defenders on and knocking goals in from 25 yards – the sort of thing I was supposed to do! I only played around a dozen matches with each of them but it was great to see them fulfil their potential. Of course, years later we all worked together when Martin was manager at Aston Villa and we’re still really good friends.

NFSC - When you left Forest you actually signed for Brian Clough and Peter Taylor’s Derby County, but Forest refused to sanction the transfer, so you joined Manchester United instead. Derby ended up winning the First Division championship that season. Do you have any regrets about that?

Ian - Well, mixed emotions really. It was truly a privilege to play alongside the great George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton, but United were struggling and unfortunately I wasn’t there long enough to help turn things around – I only played around 40 games for them before I had my career-ending injury. As for Derby, of course it would have been nice to have won some silverware but, honestly, they had such a good forward-line at the time – Alan Hinton, Kevin Hector and John O’Hare – that I wasn’t sure where I would fit in. Cloughie later said that he would have played me as a striker alongside John and that they would have won the league by three or four more points with me in the team. I guess we’ll never know! But one thing I am grateful for is that Forest fans have never borne me any ill will for my involvement with Derby.

NFSC - Manchester United and England legend Sir Bobby Charlton sadly passed away recently. What are your memories of playing with him during your time at Old Trafford?

Ian - He was really affable and approachable though generally kept himself to himself. He would come in, train, have a shower and leave. He was a great role model for the younger players to follow – he was very professional and kept himself fit. We got on really well and he invited me to play for his All-Stars XI of mostly ex-England players on a tour of South Africa in 1979. He was and always will be an icon of British football.

NFSC - In the 1960s and early 70s there must have been some real characters in the Forest and United dressing rooms, do you have any favourite stories of those times?

Ian - One of the real characters in the Forest dressing room was our no-nonsense Scouse trainer, Tommy Cavanagh. After one match he tore into us for an hour, ranting and raving and foaming from the mouth. The next training session was particularly severe and he was just about to have a go at John Winfield when John said to him, “Tommy, just a second, you do know you’re talking to a top-class professional footballer?” We all fell about laughing. At Manchester United there were some real jokers such as Denis Law and Alex Stepney. Denis always used to make fun out of my dress sense but, to be fair, that helped me settle in. Funnily enough, Tommy Cavanagh became the trainer at United when I was there. In the first training session he took, Denis passed the ball with the outside of his foot and Tommy blew the whistle and said to him, “You don’t pass the ball like that!” We all thought it hilarious – Tommy telling the great Denis Law how to pass the ball!

NFSC - You spent many years in the role of Chief Scout at Nottingham Forest. Which players have caught your eye during the recent busy recruitment by the club since we returned to the top flight?

Ian - In defence I think Aurier has been a really good signing as has Boly, another experienced defender. Murillo has been terrific the few times I’ve seen him, he looks like a really good footballer, a good defender, can deal with the ball well. And I’d like to see a bit more of Niakhaté – he’s quick and strong.

In midfield Sangaré is settling in nicely and Mangala has done particularly well this season. Gibbs-White is a real talent and just needs to start scoring more goals.

Up front Awoniyi has really improved since he first came, so credit to Steve Cooper and the staff for that. And Hudson-Odoi and Elanga have both started well enough – we just need to give them time to settle in.

NFSC - In recent years Forest has strengthened its link with ex-players of the football club, with weekly meet ups organised and regular invitations to the Nigel Doughty Academy to watch training. How important has it been for you and your fellow ex-teammates that the club keeps such strong ties with the players from the past?

Ian - To be fair, when Frank Clark was chairman, he would always invite us to the games and for lunch in the boardroom. But the real catalyst was Jonny Owen’s film ‘I Believe in Miracles’. Nick Randall, when he became chairman, and Steve Cooper were really instrumental in embracing the history of the club and welcoming former players back to the ground. Especially the European Cup winning players – I guess I’m a bit lucky to be involved in all that having been around a few years earlier! They’ve been extremely kind to us and it’s been really enjoyable. Steve invites us to the training ground and for a drink after the games if we want to, so he’s been absolutely fantastic. All the old players really appreciate it and just want the club to do well.




 

We also spoke to the authors of the biography, Stuart Humphreys and Richard Harrison, about the book and a little about themselves.

NFSC - Firstly, can you tell us a little about yourselves and how you both came to support the club?

Richard - We’re both Nottingham born and bred and have been friends since our first day at Seely Primary School in Sherwood in 1968. My dad was a Forest season ticket holder and had been to every home game since the Second World War. He started taking me to matches when I was four years old and he got me my first season ticket when I was six. So, that was that – I was hooked!

Stuart - Before the War my dad had actually been a big fan of Everton – the great Dixie Dean and Tommy Lawton in particular – but adopted Forest when he moved to Nottingham. He would take me to the City Ground and the following Saturday my grandad and great uncle would take me to Meadow Lane. So I’ve always wanted County to do well but it was Ian’s goal against Arsenal on the Boxing Day holiday in 1971 that sealed the deal!

NFSC - How did the opportunity of writing Ian’s biography come about?

Stuart - That’s my fault really. One day I happened to go a different coffee shop than normal and saw Ian sitting there. I recognised him from an old Evening Post photo of Ian and other ex-Forest players at Nottingham Races, so I introduced myself and thanked him for all the wonderful memories he had given me and a whole generation of Forest fans. Half an hour later I returned and stuffed into his hand a scrappy piece of paper with my name and phone number on and thus started the weeks-long process of Richard and me gently persuading him to commit his remarkable story to print. We had to overcome Ian’s natural modesty and humility but, thankfully, he agreed and the result is the book you have in front of you.

NFSC - Apart from interviewing Ian, what other sources did you use while writing the book?

Richard - Ian was kind enough to entrust us with the scrapbooks his proud father had kept, full of faded newspaper clippings of everything from him scoring goals for Forest Colts through to his England call-up and the Brian Clough transfer saga. And we used online newspaper archives for our near-lunatic insistence on tracking down not just descriptions of every goal Ian scored but also all the assists he made.

Stuart - Sources such as the Nottingham Evening Post photo archive were invaluable as were the contributions of family, friends and former colleagues. Plus Richard’s library of Forest books, programmes and handbooks and our own treasured memories of watching Ian play.

NFSC - What was the most challenging thing about writing the book?

Richard - Having to research and draft the Manchester United chapters. I can write about Forest until the cows come home, but to put the same effort into a club I care little about required considerable dedication and discipline!

Stuart: Trying to act professionally, rather than lapse into fanboy mode, whilst working with my all-time favourite Forest player on this project!

Give it to Moore, He Will Score! : The Authorised Biography of Ian Storey-Moore is available now from Pitch Publishing: https://www.pitchpublishing.co.uk/shop/give-it-moore-he-will-score

Ian will also be signing copies of his new book in the Nottingham Forest Megastore on Sunday 5^th November 2023 between 10am and Noon, during the build up to our home match against Aston Villa later that afternoon.


 

This month has seen the launch of Warren Turner’s new book Got That Lovin’ Feelin’, which chronicles Nottingham Forest's time spent outside of the Premier League over the past two decades.

We spoke to Warren about the book and his thoughts on the club this season.

NFSC – Firstly, congratulations on your new book. It really is a fantastic read covering a tumultuous period in the clubs history that, unfortunately, had more downs, than ups. Why did you decide to choose to write about this period?

WT- Thank you for your kind words. When thinking of where to start the book, the obvious answer was the summer of 1999 and the start of our 23 years in the Football League. But 1996 seemed to me such a stand-out year because it's a reminder of how quickly a club's fortunes can change: in March, we were the nation's last hope in Europe and there were optimistic noises from the boardroom over the prospects of replacing the Main Stand. By the end of the year, we were in the relegation zone with a caretaker manager and flapping around for the financial lifebuoy of a takeover. Quite incredible when you think about it. So although the period 1996 to 2023 might not seem an obvious choice at first, I'd like to think there's good reason behind it.

NFSC – Can you tell us a little about yourself and how you came to be a fan of the club?

WT - I’m 42, I was born in Nottingham and it’s where I live these days, although I’ve spent time elsewhere in the UK and had a couple of years in Slovakia. I make a living as a teacher for the most part.

It took me quite a while to get into Forest, to be honest. I kicked a ball around in the playground at Dunkirk Primary School but I don’t recall chatting to anyone about football until the age of eight. Of course, for much of the 80s there was hardly any football on the telly and people were, generally speaking, far less into the game than they are now. My dad was a home-and-away Forest fan in the 70s and early 80s but never tried to proselytise me, and I’m not sure why.

Anyway, everything changed when one of my classmates asked me who my team was. The name ‘Nottingham Forest’ was floating around somewhere in my brain – best bet is that I’d seen it in the Evening Post – so that’s what I went with, just like that. I was lucky: imagine if I’d clocked ‘Derby’ or ‘Notts County’ in a headline. A week or so later, I watched us play a televised game at home to Arsenal. We took the lead early-on but crumbled in the second half, and I remember getting increasingly upset as Arsenal kept strolling through our defence and scoring. This was the day when I bit hard on football’s emotional hook, and there was no way I could give up on Forest having been through those highs and lows with the team.

NFSC – Your book covers a period of the clubs history that had a remarkable 22 permanent managers. Of all of them, which do you feel was the most unlucky during their time at the club?

WT - Stuart Pearce, I think. There’s debate to be had over how good a manager he really was, but that triple whammy of losing Cohen, Reid and Hobbs on one afternoon was a stinking piece of bad luck. And we should remember that Matt Fryatt – who I thought was a very tidy player at Championship level – picked up the ankle injury that would finish his career midway through Pearce’s tenure.

I have sympathy, too, for Paul Hart and Dougie Freedman over the relatively little freedom they had in the transfer market, though I’m not sure that counts as bad luck. Both knew they were going to have to beg, steal and borrow when they took over.

NFSC – Most Forest fans are very critical of the two seasons that David Platt was manager of the club, but in your book you argue that there is a case that he was unlucky during his time in charge at the City Ground. Can you give a brief overview of why you think that is?

WT - I posed the question of whether he was unlucky, which was provocative, I guess, because I’m sure few would agree, even to an extent. He had a tough time with injuries during his second season and I think David Johnson, his £3m hitman, let him down. Jonno was there to propel us into the play-offs – and might have done if he’d shown something of his later form for Paul Hart – but had quite a few bad days in front of goal, scoring just two in 19. Platt can consider himself a bit hard done by there.

But, look, I think Platt’s reign is largely marked by bad decisions and inadequate performances, and I’m doubtful that he would have taken the team forward had he stayed for a third season.

NFSC – You dedicate a chapter in the book to the academy, which in recent times has been overseen by Gary Brazil. What are your thoughts on Gary’s departure and how it might affect the academy in the future?

WT - Interesting questions. Gary’s exit was confirmed just as I was preparing to submit the manuscript so I could do no more than to mention it. It’s a puzzle, isn’t it? I looked at the latest academy productivity rankings from the Training Ground Guru which had us in 33^rd place, trailing Category 3 clubs Wimbledon, Plymouth and Exeter. Maybe – and this is obviously complete speculation – the club looked at a similar bunch of stats, examined the prospects for youngsters presently in the system, and decided that that the academy wasn’t showing enough returns. The obvious counterpoint to all that is the unprecedented success we had last year in getting to the Youth Cup final.

Gary has kept his counsel over his reasons for leaving and may well have signed a non-disclosure agreement which would limit his freedom to talk about the matter in future.

NFSC – Billy Davies was a divisive character during his two spells at the club. What are your feelings on his time at the club, and why do you think his managerial career stalled after his second dismissal from the club in 2014?

WT - It’s not for the lack of trying. Just a few years back he undertook a year-long football management diploma with the League Managers’ Association in a bid, I guess, to demonstrate he’s still completely in tune with the modern game. It seems he’s got himself a reputation in the game as someone who’s difficult to deal with – not among players, I should add, but with the people who run clubs. Billy, in his rare post-Forest interviews, has put that down to a campaign by shadowy figures to blacken his name. It would be great if one day he could produce some names and evidence because, on the face of things, his accusations don’t stack up. Why on earth would a cabal of football folk get together in such a cause? And he’s not without friends in the game, so why haven’t they clubbed together to counteract this supposed whispering campaign?

I’m not anti-Billy, by the way. I firmly believe that he should have been given time to ride out the injury problems that struck the team in the run-up to his dismissal. And he was, undoubtedly, someone who understood what makes footballers tick, which explains why someone who’s well connected to our club told me that he never heard a single dissenting voice from the Davies-era dressing room. I found one player who, back then, didn’t take to Davies’ way of going about things, but even he had to admit that his appreciation for his ex-manager has grown with the benefit of time and reflection.

NFSC – Finally, what are your hopes for the upcoming season for Forest? Is Premier League survival enough, or do you feel the board will demand more from Steve Cooper?

WT - My hope is that we’ll challenge for the Europa Conference spot, but my expectation is that we’ll get to mid-table. Brighton, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal, Newcastle, Villa and the two Manchester clubs are far ahead of us, but the rest we can overcome. We’ve got a proven Premier League goalscorer in Taiwo Awoniyi and an elite attacking midfielder, or soon to be so, in Morgan Gibbs-White (the Prem’s joint-ninth highest assist-maker last season, lest we forget). I don’t think anyone else below those top nine teams I’ve just mentioned can match the quality that we have in those areas.

I think Steve will be expected to develop the way we play as well as pick up the points. You’ll recall Marinakis calling for better ‘results and performances’ after we lost at Leeds, even as he backed the manager. We barely laid a glove on Leeds after a promising start and I think performances like that, getting completely bested by a relegation-threatened team, will be met with less tolerance. I think some fans, too, will want to see us do more with the ball when we’re not playing sides contending for the Champions League. That’s fair enough, and I’m sure Steve Cooper is up to the challenge of evolving our style of play.

Got That Lovin' Feelin': From Clark to Cooper, Nottingham Forest’s Unique Story of Turmoil and Triumph is available now from Pitch Publishing: https://www.pitchpublishing.co.uk/shop/got-lovin-feelin