Bristol City boss Sean O'Driscoll hits out at Nottingham Forest owners
Bristol City head coach Sean O'Driscoll took a side-swipe at Nottingham Forest's owners after plotting their team's downfall at Ashton Gate today.
Controversially sacked by the Reds following a 4-2 home win over Leeds United on Boxing Day, the 55-year-old Midlander could scarcely hide his satisfaction at putting one over on the Midland club's Kuwaiti owners.
In defiant mood, O'Driscoll twice looked up at members of the Al-Hasawi family sat in the Williams Stand as City cruised to a 2-0 win, courtesy of second-half goals from Steven Davies and Marvin Elliott.
Asked whether the victory meant more because it was against his former club, O'Driscoll said: "It is ironic that you leave one club and then face them a few weeks later, but these things happen in football.
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"Forest have their own problems. They have a fantastic club, a fantastic support-base and fantastic players. What they need now is fantastic owners."
Forest fans showed their appreciation of the man who guided them to the verge of the Championship play-offs during his five months in charge at the City Ground by chanting his name before kick-off.
He said: "When you leave a team one point off the play-offs, you would be disappointed if you got ****ged off.
"If I'd left them a point off relegation, I would have expected criticism.
"We tried to do the right things and I have not done anything different here to what I did at Nottingham Forest.
"I had a good relationship with the players and I had a good relationship with the supporters. Unfortunately, I did not have a good relationship with the owners."
4 Comments
by piledriver
Sunday, February 10 2013, 7:44PM
“@Gillbo64:
Thanks for your kind comments.God knows why Davies has gone back (Money?) unless he's looking to get sacked and paid off again, because this lot's assurances are worth about £0.50p.
Davies got Derby up and almost worked the Oracle with you.However I can't see that he'll put up with any interference for five minutes so it's an interesting dynamic, to be sure.”
by redferryman1
Sunday, February 10 2013, 2:42PM
“Gillbo64
Thanks for taking the time/effort to come onto this page. Your kind and generous opinion have been echoed by other Forest supporters - at yesterday's game at Ashton Gate as well as on these pages following O'Driscoll's appointment. The man clearly made an impression with you all at the City Ground!
As for your new owners at Forest, it must very unsettling for supporters knowing that, no matter how well your team performs, your manager could be summarily dismissed irrespective of the success he brings to the club! What message does that send to Billy Davies? Tread wearily, Mr Davies!
The term 'fit and proper', when discussing the suitability of a chairman/owner to run a business, has always intrigued me.
I fully realise that the term refers to the financial and business acumen required of football club owners - but I sometimes feel that the term does not adequately describe the desired need for an owner to possess the requisite awareness of the culture/passion/history/affection for a club! Terms, I accept, which can not be measured or quantified - but which, nevertheless, are integral to the fabric of any successful club.
Unlike a few other other clubs, we are very fortunate in having Steve Lansdown who is both a fan and owner of the club. He ticks all the boxes above!”
by Gillbo64
Sunday, February 10 2013, 2:02PM
“Good luck Sean, you deserved far better treatment than you received at Forest. We the Forest supporters appreciated what you were doing were gutted to see you sacked (and made our feelings VERY clear to Fawaz al Hasawi on Twitter!) How could they do that with the team hitting form, a point of the play-offs & having just soundly beaten Leeds United 4-2?
Bristol City have gained an excellent manager & we would like to wish you the very best for the future. Our loss is most definitely City's gain.”
by redferryman1
Sunday, February 10 2013, 12:38AM
“Good luck, Billy Davies! Looks as though you will need it! Two experienced managers in O'Driscoll and McLeish suffered from interfering and ignorant owners! More especially, good luck Forest supporters...what does the future hold for your club?”