Shhh Fawaz, people are laughing at us

Article by e-Nottingham Forest Correspondent Matthew Walker

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Before I criticise Fawaz, I must put on record that I think his heart is in the right place and he is a real fan of Forest, who is endeavouring to do the best for this club. Billy Davies was harming the external reputation of this club, which could have been forgiven if he delivered the main role of what a football manager is employed to do, deliver on pitch results. For most of the season he has delivered on pitch results, however when this ceased, the harmful shenanigans he has created just could not be ignored any longer.

Davies lack of communication with the press and us fans made us a laughing stock and dragged the reputation of this historic club down. However by doing the exact opposite and communicating extensively with press and the fans (which I believe is a conscious effort to right Billy’s wrongs), I believe Fawaz is perpetuating this tragic comedy.

Fawaz has taken a lot of verbal battering in the press, phrases like ‘Carry on Kuwait’ are very often bandied about. However it is through his policy of openness to all that he is making articles so easy for the press and making himself look clueless when things do not work out.

Last week before the Derby game he said with confidence and finality about our winless streak:

‘We are trying so hard to go over it and if you ask me about Forest, so far I'm happy about it. I don't blame the manager, I don't blame the players'.

 

Two days after this game, we all know what happened, with Fawaz quoting eight games without a win was ‘too much’. Fawaz was quite clearly not happy, so why express this feeling? As he quite frequently states, he is the owner not the manager; if he doesn't talk to the press it is not out of the norm. No one ever reports Abramovich’s silence, most owners rarely talk to the press.

A prime example of communicating unnecessarily was today when Fawaz commented regarding our next managerial appointment,

‘I can promise Nottingham Forest fans will be very happy with the signing.‘He’s a good manager. He has a good record and everybody likes him...We have been speaking with the new manager...We don't want to rush, we want to pick the right man. I don't want to say too much, but, yes, he has a connection’.

The quote above, unless I am very much mistaken, is about Stuart Pearce, which without being a student of discourse analysis is confirming ‘Psycho’ as our next manager. Perhaps there is a communication barrier, Fawaz does speak in broken English, but why confirm this to the press before Psycho has put pen to paper. The fans are willing to wait, why speak in such finality about a decision that was never agreed by both parties.Psycho did not sign and the search continues, leaving all fans with the mantra ‘seeing is believing’.

My advice to Fawaz is before he fills any more vacancies, is to fill one that is desperately needed more than any other to restore faith in this team, a good PR manager.Tragically for this club, at the moment by acting as a one man PR machine Fawaz is harming the club by doing the exact opposite to how Mr Davies behaved. One lesson that should be learnt from all of this is effective communication is key to reputation.

If Fawaz wishes to be a great leader, maybe he could take inspiration and advice from arguably Britain’s greatest leader Churchill, who on the subject of communication said this.

‘ We are the masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out’.

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