July 2nd, 1999.
Platt's Premiership Gatecrashers!
David Platt has officially been appointed the new manager of Nottingham Forest in a press conference today.
A surprise to almost everyone, Platt has signed a 3 year contract, and been given £16million to spend. Whilst most Forest fans had been expecting Joe Kinnear to get the nod, talks had been taking place between Doughty and Platt throughout the week.
After the disappointment of missing out on O'Neill and Hoddle, Forest fans had resigned themselves to 'whoever was left'. However, the appointment of Platt is not an unwelcome one. He had been highly successful as a player, and has worked with coaches such as Dario Grady, Bobby Robson, Terry Venables, and Arsene Wenger. And that's just in England. After retiring from football, Platt spent time learning coaching methods, and was surprisingly named as manager of Sampdoria. However, the Italian FA refused to acknowledge Platts coaching awards, and he was refused access to both the dressing room and touchline. He even had to conduct interviews in the stadium car-park. Frustrated by this, Platt resigned after just 7 weeks.
At Forest, Platt will have the time and money to build a team he can make successful. In my own opinion, Platt represents an intelligent and enthusiastic option. He is respected in the game, and has been involved in winning teams throughout his career. He will need an experienced assistant, Shreeves the obvious choice, but I have a good feeling about the future. Platt has also registered as a player, so we may well see him wearing the Garibaldi at some point in the season.
Now let's get some players signed Davey-boy!!
