The Nigel Doughty Player Drain
Stipping the club of it's footballing assets

To expand on the "transfers in and out" page, this article will document in detail the players who have left the club since 1998. Mr Doughty must be held accountable for the flood of quality players who have left the club under his leadership, never to be replaced.

The Exodus of talent from the City Ground over the last decade
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29 July 1998 Kevin Campbell: Sold to Turkish club Trabzonspor for £2.5 million.

1 August 1998 Ian Moore: Moved on to Stockport County for £800,000.

18 August 1998 Colin Cooper: Sold to Middlesbrough for £2.5 million.

20 February 1999 Craig Armstrong: Agreed a £750,000 move Huddersfield Town.

11 March 1999 Steve Stone: Agrees a switch to Villa Park for £5.5 million.

25 March 1999 Scott Gemmill: Moves to Everton for an undisclosed fee (widely reported in the press to be £300,000).

May 17 1999: Nigel Doughty announces that he has acquired a 40.5% stake in Nottingham Forest Ltd (making him the largest single shareholder)

25 June 1999 Pierre van Hooijdonk: Sold to Vitesse Arnhem for £3.5 million. Van Hooijdonk netted 25 goals for Vitesse in the 1999-00 season, 19 for Benfica in the 2000-01 season, 24 and 28 in successive seasons for Feyenoord - where he also picked up a UEFA Cup winners medal (scoring twice in the final) - and 32 goals in 52 games for Fenerbahce between 2003 and 2005.

July 2 1999: David Platt unveiled by Nigel Doughty as the new Forest manager

6 July 1999 Neil Shipperley: Moves on to join former manager Dave Bassett at Barnsley for £700,000. Shipperley subsequently scored 31 goals from 88 appearances in two seasons for the Tykes before moving to Wimbledon and forming a strong partnership with David Connolly during 2002-03, which produced nearly 50 Division One goals. When Wimbledon went into receivership, Shipperley moved back to Palace and captained them to promotion, scoring in the play-off Semi-Final home win over Sunderland and the winning goal in the Final win over West Ham. After Palace were relegated, Shipperley moved to Sheffield United on a free transfer in July 2005, scoring 11 goals in 39 appearances in his debut season, helping them to promotion to the Premiership.

8 July 8 1999 Des Lyttle: Leaves to join Watford on a free transfer. Lyttle later joined West Brom, helping them to promotion in the 2001-02 season.

17 September 1999 Carlton Palmer: Palmer is finally sent to Coventry City, following a well publicised bust-up with David Platt, for £500,000.

16 December 1999 Steve Chettle: Moves to Dave Bassett’s Barnsley on a free.

30 June 2000 Mark Crossley: Released, against his will, if his comments to the press are to be believed. Crossley made 23 appearances for Middlesbrough before joining Fulham for £500,000 in December 2003. Still playing in the Premiership in the 2005-06 season his finest match came when he kept a clean sheet against champions Chelsea in the famed 1-0 Fulham victory, producing many dramatic saves as Chelsea piled pressure on late in the game. In the 2006-07 season former Forest team mate Brian Laws made Crossley his first signing by bringing him in on loan. He impressed, with a string of fine performances (Crossley even managed to score a late equaliser for the Owls in a 3-3 draw with Southampton after going up for a late corner) and the loan deal was extended to the end of the season.

23 October 2000 Dougie Freedman: Returns to Crystal Palace for a fee of £600,000. Despite finishing as Forest’s top scorer for two seasons Freedman was overlooked at the start of the following season as Platt opted to start with Gary Jones. After leaving Forest Freedman made his Scotland debut in October 2001 (against Latvia at Hampden Park - the Scots winning 2-1, with Freedman scoring the winning goal in the process) and helped the Eagles to promotion in the 2003-04 season.

2 August 2000 Nigel Quashie: Sold to Portsmouth for £600,000. He was a part of the 2002-03 Pompey side which won the First Division championship and remained a first team player in the Premiership before rejoining Harry Redknapp at Southampton for a fee of £2.1 million where he became captain. Since leaving Forest Quashie has also won 14 caps for Scotland.

6 May 2001 Dave Beasant: Storms out of the City Ground following the last game of the season after being told that he will not be offered a new deal.

July 13 2001: David Platt announces his resignation in order to take up a role with the England U-21s. Paul Hart confirmed as new manager

18 September 2001 Andy Johnson: Moves to West Brom as Paul Hart frantically tries to cut the wage bill. Johnson subsequently helped Gary Megson’s West Brom to promotion in the 2001-02 season.

16 November 2001 Alan Rogers: Moves to Leicester City for £300,000.

27 November 2001 Chris Bart-Williams: Is bizarrely banned by the Forest board from playing for the club again. Despite being the previous season’s player of the year and top scorer, as well as club captain, club penalty-taker, and club free-kick-taker, Bart-Williams rejection of a £1 million move to Southampton angers Doughty to such an extent that Paul Hart is told he can never consider the Sierra Leone born player for selection again. Bart-Williams moves to Charlton on loan for the rest of the season.

February 1 2002 Jermaine Jenas: Moves to St James Park for £5 million. Jenas has since won 15 England caps.

February 8 2002 Stern John: Sold for £150,000, despite being Forest’s leading scorer, after Forest claimed they could no longer afford to play him due to the bullet payments in his contract. John’s goals helped Birmingham City to promotion in the 2001-02 season and Sunderland to promotion in the 2006-07 season. With Forest battling to avoid relegation three years later the club offered £300,000 to Birmingham City to buy him back. John, not surprisingly, opted to join Coventry City instead.

June 30 2002 Andy Gray: Exits the club following the expiration of his contract. After leaving the City Ground Gray successfully switched to a striker role and in August 2005 joined Premiership Sunderland. His goal-scoring record of 28 goals in 65 games for Sheffield United, prompting the £1.1 million transfer to the Black Cats.

1 February 2003 David Prutton: Completes a £2.5 million switch to Southampton on transfer deadline day.

24 June 2003 Riccy Scimeca: Decides to join Leicester City on a free transfer.

1 July 2003: Jim Brennan: Signs for Norwich City on a free following Forest’s failure to renegotiate his contract.

November 25 2004 Marlon Harewood: Sold to West Ham for £500,000. After helping the Irons to promotion Harewood became one of the top scoring Premiership strikers of the 2005-2006 season.

February 10 2004: Nigel Doughty announces the appointment of Joe Kinnear, following the sacking of Paul Hart

June 15 2004 Gareth Williams: Announces that he is to join Leicester City (a tribunal sets the fee at £500,000). Williams later moved to Watford in February 2007 and made three Premiership appearances.

June 30 2004 Brynjar Gunnarsson: Released on a free. Subsequently impressed at both Watford and Reading who he helped to promotion in the 2005-06 season. Gunnarsson made 27 appearances in the following 2006-07 season which saw the Royals finish 8th in the Premiership. On 13 November 2006, Gunnarsson signed a contract extension to keep him at the Madejski until June 2008.

August 6 2005 Darren Ward: Sold to Norwich City for £300,000. Later Ward moved to Sunderland and became a key figure in Roy Keane’s promotion winning side – making 31 appearances during the 2006-07 season.

December 11 2004: Joe Kinnear quits. Gary Megson appointed manager on 10th January 2005

February 1 2005 Andy Reid and Michael Dawson are sold on Premiership transfer deadline day, for a deal which could potentially total £8 million. Reid later moved to Charlton and Dawson went on to become a regular figure in the England squad.

27 June 2005 Matthieu Louis-Jean: Moves to Carrow Road in an exchange deal which sees Gary Holt join Forest.

21 December 2005 Marlon King: Completes his move to Vicarage Road as Watford exercised their option to purchase the rejuvenated striker for £500,000. He finished top scorer in the Football League Championship in the 2005-06 season, his 21 goals helping Watford gain promotion to the Premiership via the play-offs, beating former colleagues Leeds United 3-0 in the final.

February 15 2006: Gary Megson quits. Colin Calderwood announced as the new Forest manager 30 May 2006

30 June 2006 Paul Gerrard: Released without being offered a new contract. In September 2006 Gerrard joined Premiership Sheffield United.

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Notes

For many deals the fees stated/estimated in the press and in other complied sources vary greatly. For reasons of consistently we have taken the figures collated by soccerbase.

Each season is taken from July to June of the next year.
Transfer activities season totals rounded off to nearest hundred thousand.

Source: www.soccerbase.com

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Player of the Season Winners

1998-99 Dave Beasant: Was refused a new contract at the end following season
1999-00 Alan Rogers: Left Forest in November 2002
2000-01 Chris Bart-Williams: Was put on gardening leave by the Board just six months later
2001-02 Gareth Williams: Left Forest two seasons later following Forest’s failure to renegotiate his contract
2002-03 David Johnson: Retired on medical advice November 2006
2003-04 Andy Reid: Left Forest just eight months later
2004-05 Paul Gerrard: Left Forest at the end of the following season when Forest refused to offer him a contract extension
2005-06 Ian Breckin
2006-07 Grant Holt: In December 2006 Forest accepted a £300,000 bid from Bristol City, Holt, however, rejected the move to Ashton Gate. On 29 May 2007 Holt handed in an official transfer request

Top Scorers

1998-99 Dougie Freedman (12)
1999-00 Dougie Freedman (11): Was sold by Forest just five months later for £600,000
2000-01 Chris Bart-Williams (15): Was banned by the Board from appearing for Forest again just six months later
2001-02 Stern John (14): John was offloaded for just £150,000 in February 2002 despite being Forest’s leading scorer during the said season
2002-03 David Johnson (29): Retired on medical grounds November 2006
2003-04 Andy Reid (13): Left Forest just 8 months later
2004-05 Gareth Taylor (10): Released on a free 12 months later after spending most of the 2005-06 season out on loan
2005-06 Nathan Tyson (10)
2006-07 Grant Holt (18.). In December 2006 Forest accepted a £300,000 bid from Bristol City, Holt, however, rejected the move to Ashton Gate. On 29 May 2007 Holt handed in an official transfer request

Conclusion

There’s no denying that the drain of talent out of the City Ground started before Nigel Doughty gained control of the club. However, the extent and the speed with which Forest’s better players exited the club clearly increased at an unprecedented rate of knots thereafter - for that Nigel Doughty must be held accountable.

Overall it’s impossible not to reach the conclusion that Nigel Doughty has either failed or refused to keep hold of the club’s better players and take the club forward. A chronic lack of ambition, competence and will characterising the whole period.

So after selling off £23m+ worth of talent since coming to power, please remind yourself of Forest's current squad and it's financial worth. CLICK HERE