Nigel Doughty - Quotes

The following quotes are taken from press articles, which have quoted Doughty since he he joined the club.

"I did not want to see Forest decline any further, both in terms of its competitiveness and its links with the community it represents,"
Doughty as a reason for buying the club in 1999.

"Hopefully, with the money that we will give David Platt he can strengthen the squad with quality players. It's time to do the talking on the pitch."
July 1999 - NEP

"I did a lot of research into management and everybody told me the same thing ... The reason why things are changing is that players are now getting to be about 15 to 20% fitter. It is thought that the likes of the Dave Bassetts and Joe Kinnears are not going to be as effective in the future. The David Platts and Glenn Hoddles are now the managers of the future. The footballer is now a professional animal and they have to look at everything they do. For example, David has brought back the idea of the players lunching again which is sensible as he can regulate the types of food that they eat.''
July 1999 – NEP – On why he chose David Platt

"What we have done is built a talented squad and the togetherness has been there for all to see in the last 180 minutes of football. Hopefully, we can build on that." "What would be difficult to do would be to spend 3-4m now and not get promotion. All that would do would put debt on the club that we can't support … If I was doing this from a business point of view I wouldn't get involved … But you can kill people with kindness as Blackburn have shown - it's a happy medium and I hope the fans appreciate that ... And there is still the fact that it's very difficult to get players to come down a division because there's a huge gap in what they get now in the Premier League and the Nationwide … But what people can take heart from is that we're all in the same boat ... The fans can be confident that the people making the decisions are Forest fans and they are making these decisions with all of the facts at hand and in the best interests of the club."
August 2000 – NEP – On why no money is available to strengthen the side

Citing the example of Manchester City, who slipped through two divisions between 1996 and 1998, Doughty said: "It was a probability rather than possibility. It's difficult to catch a falling stone."
Jan 2001 – NEP – reportage of court case. Doughty claimed he invested in Forest to prevent the club from following in the footsteps of Man City and falling to the third division.

"I think we're a big club with big expectations and it is nice to have met those expectations"
May 2003 – NEP

''This slot machine of a club.''
February 2004 – A bizarre description of Forest by someone who claims to be such a devoted fans, in a letter to Nottm City Council, on why he wouldn’t honour the terms of the Trent End Bond

"The board got together after the game and we sat and discussed what sort of characteristics we needed and Joe's name came up and we decided to try and get him ... You can't sell ice cream in the summer expecting the sun to shine every day. So we had to do something … What we need at this club is a leader, someone who can wheel and deal in the transfer market and someone who has brought the best out of young players … He's my man and the board's man and he is the man to take Nottingham Forest forward.''
10th February 2004 – NEP – On appointing Joe Kinnear

''Joe Kinnear can spend five million on a player if he likes.''
May 2004 - Live interview with Radio Nottingham

''I’d rather give my money to charity.''
October 2004 - NEP

"nobody wants to put lots of money into football''
October 2004

"I am in charge and I take full responsibility.’’
May 2005

"There will be no changes - what we need to do is give the club a period of stability with Gary Megson, finish changing the dressing room character and continue as we have done this month … change will not move us forward … we need to give Gary a couple of years to finish the job he started last last year.''
2nd February2006 – NEP – On why Megson would not be leaving Forest

"We haven't had that many, quite honestly," he said. "We've had four permanent managers in the past five years only one of which we've asked to leave the club … Everybody else resigned or retired because of the weight of expectation"
May 2006 – NEP – Doughty on the number of managers he has appointed