Ahead of Sunday’s trip to Nottingham Forest, we caught up with huge Forest fan Ben Dore to get the lowdown on all the goings on at the City Ground so far this season. Ben, the star of a popular Forest Youtube channel, was kind enough to give up his time to answer a few questions ahead of our game this weekend.
What have you made of Forest’s start to the season?
It was a terrible start with poor tactics and the manager constantly blaming the players for very poor results. The turnaround in the last month has been unbelievable.
Why did it all go wrong for Chris Hughton?
Chris Hughton’s approach was very defensive and his tactics were very dull. This clearly affected the players. Under Hughton, there was toxicity amongst the supporters and most of us felt very disconnected from the club. All of this made things much easier for our opponents – and the result was disastrous.
What has Steve Cooper changed? Things seem to have started very well with him at the helm.
Steve Cooper has come in and removed all that anger almost immediately. Suddenly, there’s a real connection between the fans, the team and him – and a bond between each other again. There’s energy on the pitch and excitement off it. He’s the polar opposite to Hughton.
Where could you realistically finish come the end of the season?
I think if we can carry on the fantastic form under Cooper then the top six wouldn’t be out of reach. That might sound a bit crazy and it is early days under the new manager, but a bit of euphoria is understandable given that we looked like we were going down under Hughton. They say winning is a habit and we’ve certainly rediscovered that at the moment!
Who should we look out for on Sunday as the dangerman?
Since Cooper has taken over, Lewis Grabban has been outstanding and proved me so wrong. He’s been brilliant. Young Brennan Johnson has been great as well but Ryan Yates has been fantastic for Forest after putting up with so much hate at the start of his career here.
Finally, can you give us a score prediction?
I’m going to go for 1-1. Fulham have been fantastic so far this season and will be a really tough test but Forest are on a feel high and we should give you a good game.
Massive thanks to Mr. Dore for his time – and the very best of luck to Forest for the remainder of the season.
