Mythbusters!

The purpose of this page is to give quickfire answers to some of the biggest myths generated by the ND hype machine.

Myth: "There would be no Nottingham Forest if it wasn't for Nigel Doughty!"

Aaaaah, that old chestnut! The simple answer is that Forest were in a reasonable position both on and off the pitch when Doughty arrived - certainly better in both cases than they are now! We will be adding a page shortly with an in-depth "then vs now" analysis but for now, just check out the information below as a starting point.

Myth: "Thanks to Nigel Doughty, Forest are now running at a break even".

Forest are still losing plenty of money - don't you worry about that! Check out the profit / loss figures for the last 8 years.

2004-05 looks OK right? Must have been well managed that year (financially at least)... wrong. In 2004-05, the club received £7.1m in net income from transfers (£5.1m actually paid in 04-05, with the remainder paid at a later date). This was the season Forest sold Reid and Dawson for £8m and got relegated! That relegation has subsequently cost the club over £12m in lost revenues, compared to being in the Championship.

When you map out profit/loss with the income received from transfers, it looks like this. 2001-02 and 2004-05 look OK on the face of it but in reality, that's just when the club was most brutally stripped of its assets.

Myth: "Because of Nigel Doughty, Forest are now virtually debt free".

Forest have fewer external liabilities than in the last couple of years but that is because Doughty has transferred the debt to himself. The club now owe Doughty over £24.5m. He is charging interest on this loan which totalled £1.35m p.a. in 05-06 and will now be substantially higher due to increases in the Bank of England base rate. Total owed to Doughty on 31st May 2006 (including interest) was £26.5m.

Total liabilities in 98-99 were £14,612,000 and in 05-06 (the latest available figures), liabilities were £32,983,000. MUCH BETTER EH?!

Given total liabilities of £33m and a figure of £26.5m owing to Doughty, that still leaves apparent external liabilities of £6.5m. Source

Myth: "Nigel Doughty funded transfers like David Johnson out of his own pocket"

As far as we are aware Doughty has never funded any transfers out of his own pocket. The transfer of David Johnson (usually the subject of this myth), was funded by securing an external loan. This information is documented in the 2000-01 accounts.

Myth: "Nigel Doughty set up the Academy - that's something good for the future"

The Academy is certainly good for the future, but it set up by Doughty's predecessors. The club purchased 24 acres of land for the Academy in Dec 1998, 6 months before Doughty first purchased shares in the club. The club now seek to finance the Academy through schemes such as the Forest Foundation - a "members club" costing around £117p.a.

Myth: "Nigel Doughty spent a fortune on transfers during the Platt era"

Now this is a strange one because it's a myth I believed myself until we started doing the research for this site. However, if you take a detailed look at the transfers in and out page, you will see that this is not necessarily the case.

Platt's net spend was £9.5m over 2 seasons, however Doughty received £3.5m in transfer revenue just days before Platt was appointed as manager, meaning a net spend for Doughty of just £6m.

While that is a substantial figure, it is only £800k more than Forest received in transfer revenue in the first half of 1999, before Doughty's share purchase. The club also recouped that entire amount during the following season, when there was a net spend on transfers of -£5.7m.

Platt clearly squandered a LOT of money and players were signed on rediculous contracts but the financial damage was not as substantial as our misty memories may recall.

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Got any more? Please contribute in the forums on this thread.