Sleeping Giants

 SLEEPING GIANTS

Jamie Barnard on how fresh investment at Nottingham Forest and Leeds United could mean a return to happier times for both clubs...

Whisper it quietly, but 2013 is the year of an awakening. As we edge closer towards the dawning of the 2012-13 football season, two of English football’s sleeping giants are being shaken from their slumber. Nottingham Forest and Leeds United, herculean in stature, swathed in history, have both announced impending investment.

For Nottingham Forest, Kuwaiti wealth from the Al-Hasawi family. For Leeds United, an as yet elusive benefactor. But history this rich does not come for cheap. The pockets are sure to be deep.

After too long in the footballing doldrums, a reason to hope. But at these two clubs if hope springs eternal, despair resides perpetually. Recent years have leaked a blot in the history books of both clubs, a plunge to the depths of their existences with inglorious spells in English football’s third tier. Three years for both.

At the City Ground, investment from the Al-Hasawis is sure to be heralded. With the premature passing of former owner Nigel Doughty last season, so too came the end of a complex ownership structure which had long proved obtrusive to investment. If there were too many fingers in this Nottingham Forest pie, it was also laced with a spoiled broth.

But every cloud has a silver lining and silver is a colour seldom seen at Forest this century.

Currently completing due diligence for the two-time European Cup winners, Fawaz Al-Hasawi has already proclaimed that: ““future on-field and off-field success of Nottingham Forest is at the heart of our plans”. The mist is rolling in from the Trent and Al-Hasawi must now mull how to revitalise a giant which has, in recent times, been brought to its knees by the weight of crippling expectation.

It is a debilitating weight felt likewise over at Elland Road. Two clubs, similar, yet different in so many ways. Juxtaposed by Brian Clough, defined by the glory of their forefathers.

At Leeds United the transformation is already underway. Neil Warnock, the old taskmaster, is, in an Olympic summer, building a British backbone; Adam Drury and Jason Pearce, both signed. Lee Peltier, the house-warming present awaiting his new owners as soon as the deal is concluded. Not quite the best of British, but that bulldog spirit emanates strong.

Paddy Kenny, a man rarely seen to shy away from a fight, is rumoured to be on his way to re-join Warnock. And Paul Green has penned a two-year contract. A central midfielder toughened by a football ladder he has climbed right from the very first rung of non-league football all the way up to the highest echelon of a Euro2012 campaign with the Republic of Ireland this summer, Green is now a dogged contender.

They say a team reflects their manager’s image. Warnock is from the Steel City.

Irksome, irritating, Warnock can be the both. But his passion is unquestionable, his thirst seemingly unquenched. At the age of 63 too often has he been the secondary lead, outstanding in the dress rehearsal only to be cast aside on the main stage of the Premier League. His Leeds script is littered with last chance.

When the due diligence is done at Nottingham Forest, provided no surprises arise, the Al-Hasawis are sure to invest in the playing squad as a matter of urgency. The nineteenth-placed finish that Forest scraped their way to last season; unacceptable. The rumour is that the kitty will be £10million, who will be handed that kitty is not so clear. But to a club which has seen player of the year Gareth McCleary and captain Wes Morgan, unbeatable but seemingly not un-buyable, snared by clubs with greater financial clout in the last year alone, such rumoured riches are re-assuring. The only club pulling up any Trees now will be Nottingham Forest.

The aim for both will be the same: promotion as a matter of urgency. Leeds United and Nottingham Forest have overslept.

Added financial impetus will give both clubs a greater chance of success than they have previously had. Leeds fans will hope to be free from the clenches of the tight-fisted Ken Bates, Forest fans implored Doughty to loosen the purse strings for years. But the path they will be hoping to tread is not one without precedent. Queens Park Rangers took years and numerous changes to get it right, although rather encouragingly for Leeds fans it was eventually with Warnock that they did so. And Leicester City showed last season that money and success share no simple relationship.

The only guarantee is that in the forthcoming season The Championship is set to be as keenly fought as it has been for years. Forest will have the wealth to give them a chance. Leeds United are sure to march on. Leicester City will try again. And a resurgent Sheffield Wednesday will hope to capitalise on the momentum which brought them back into The Championship from League One.

This year there are several Goliaths, not so many Davids.

Leeds United and Nottingham Forest may never again reach the heady heights of European prominence; the footballing beanstalk may not stretch that far. But whilst these two giants of the Football League have been languishing outside of England’s elite league, their seats at the top table of the English game have been on loan only. Temporary custodians such as Bolton Wanderers have recently vacated, Wigan Athletic have surely sung their swansong too many times to remain put again. The natural order could be about to be restored.

Fee, fi, fo, thumb, Leeds and Nottingham Forest want promotion.

Credit image of City Ground: via Supernova3688 on Flickr

Credit image of Elland Road: via Chris Robertshaw on Flickr

 Credit image of Neil Warnock: via Flickr