Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Garabaldi Red, a Nottingham Forest podcast during this international break. There might not be too much to talk about for Forest, so I've finally given in and let the famous Aussie Pundit on Garabaldi Red, David Boldman, to join me to do an all-time Forest Best Premier League 11. The rules will be explained very shortly as we get into it, But David, good to see you. No noise complaints, I'm guessing this week, given that there's no football on.

No noise complaints, but I did enjoy 13 minutes of English international football for the first time since 1997. So that was a positive moment for me to jump on. And what a proud moment for us as a club to have a player. So intrinsically paramount to the success of Nottingham Forest at the moment. It was great to see him come on. I thought he looked good. But yeah, you've relented, Maxi. You've relented.

And I was just about to ask you, David, what you actually made of Morgan and his performance. I thought when he came on, I thought that brilliant pass he played. And there was a lot applaud it on him. And I just thought his energy and the way he plays for Forest, you could tell he brought that to England. Shame he didn't get a bit more time. I thought he would have started. I predicted him to actually start. So there was me in the wrong. But So he's on the right path now in a way. And you've just got to hope if Lee Corsley does get that permanent England job, David, that Morgan might become a full-time England international.

Well, he's a pretty handy squad player for the England team, given he can play wide and he can also play deeper and in the 10 spot. So for starters, that makes him a useful international squad player. He just didn't look out of place. Sometimes the international players, they make their debut and that certainly wasn't the case this time. And, yeah, just look creative. A whole bunch of passes, a whole bunch of lividness. I think you'll be picked again.

Great? Yeah. Fingers crossed. Yeah. Well done, Morgan. And we look forward to talking more next week, of course, when the football returns. But for our main episode today, as we record this, we are doing an all-time Forest Premier League 11. So David, you have gone out there and got your all-time Premier League 11. I've got a few suggestions to throw into the mix, but I'm letting you take over this podcast. Just give the Garabaldi Red listeners and viewers the low down on how this works, because it's a little bit different, isn't it?

In 2015, '16, we named the all time greatest Forest team ever. If we were to do that exercise now, it would be the same team. This is not that. This is the all time Premier League 11, and we're going to push that into what squad would we choose if we had squad of all time Nottingham Forest players who have played in the Premier League. So that to be eligible, you have to have played in the Premier League, which started in 1992, '93 for Nottingham Forest. So that means that Jed Spence, for example, is not eligible. Bruce Amber is not eligible. Wes Morgan, Michael Dawson, Andy Reid, David Johnson, Peter Shilton, Trevor Francis, Archie Gemmel, a whole bunch of them are not eligible. We are only able to pick from the players who played in the Premier League, and we are only considering their body of work from when they were in the Premier League. So that's a bit of a bummer for some of the late '80s, early '90s players that were better in the late '80s as we were pushing for titles and winning FA Cup and League Cups. But it is a Premier League all time 11.

And this is the culmination of Max and my friendship, because I've been telling Max that you should let me do a Premier League all time 11. So it is a terrific exercise. So thank you, Maxy, for lending. I think it's worth calling out, look, why do we love Nottingham Forest? There's a whole bunch of Nottingham Forest stories that we're absolutely super proud of, from Robert McKinley, the guy that played 265 consecutive matches and only played matches for Nottingham Forest, through to where the reason, ask them to wear red, all the Brian Clough days, the consecutive European Cup Championships, all that stuff. But we're also proud of what we did in the early days of the '90s in the Premier League. So I think it's worth taking a quick trip down memory lane, Maxi. So I hope you'll divulge me and let me give you a four-minute history of Nottingham Forest in the Premier League. So Forest played the first televised match of the Premier League with Teddy Sheringham scoring a goal in a one-nil win over Liverpool. Now, don't get caught out, Forest fans. That was not the first goal in Premier League history. It was just the first televised goal.

Brian Deed of Sheffield United got that goal. In '92, '93, the then perennial bridesmaid competitors for league titles and some cup success in the late '80s, Nottingham Forest finished the season 22nd with 40 points, and were relegated with that being the catalyst for the retired Brian Clough. A preseason, Des Walker left for Sam Dauria. Teddy Shering left at the start of the season. Roy Keen would depart. At the end of the '92, '93 season, Maxi, for a record British fee of £3.75 million.

Wow.

A record. If that was translated to today, that would have been £120 million sale in terms of how much the transfers are worth now. So can you imagine we had a player not only that good, but then coming out of our squad? It's a heartbreaking thing to just think about what could have been if Forrest could have survived. Then Frank Clark stepped into the void. He convinced Piers to stay and set out on a promotion chase that was immediately successful in the second tier of English football with the Forest finishing second. The 94-95 team, Max, if you've not gone down and looked at the YouTube clips, which I'm sure you as the host of a Forrest podcast have definitely done, what a team. Finishing third in the Premier League, a record that still stands for the highest finishing plays of any promoted team, and arguably a record that will never be broken with the likes of Colm O'More, Brian Roy, Lars Bohin, and Dave Phillips, and Stuart Pears, back to his best with Cooper and Shetle in the middle. They took the Premier League by storm. And ultimately, losses to Blackburn, double losses, and a horror, November, preventing them from taking the whole thing.

So a word of warning, it's going to be pretty tough to topple 94, 95 all-time Forest 11 in this one. Maxi, from there heading into 95, 96, we had the sale of Colimore, the disastrous, Andreas Alenzy signing, Bohinen left, Brian Roy wasn't as good Frank Clark departed in December 1996. And despite Stuart Pears proving a revelation as a player manager, we just couldn't survive. Did you know in the 1990s, we had player managers, Max?

Yeah. In fact, I was reading a bit of... Luckily, living in Manchester, I'm near the National Football Museum, and I went the other month and I saw this bit about player managers and how almost prevalent they were back in the day. It's almost Sunday League stuff now, isn't it? Could you imagine if Forrest had a player manager? Ryan Yates is the Premier Player player manager. Sorry, David.

Well, it used to be a good trick because you could sign a player that wanted to become a player manager, and then you would get them as both a player and a manager. So Stuart Piers won the Manager of the Month Award. I think it was in March or April. I'm not sure someone could get it into the comments or maybe even earlier than that when he came in as a player manager. On absolute fire. But yes, it is very Sunday League. Chelsea loved it in the late 1990s with Gianluca Viale and Ruud Hullet. And a question for Nottingham Forest peeps out there, Stuart Piers was not the last player manager of Nottingham Forest. It was former England international David Platt. He played two games. In the '97, '98 season, well, it was the Huydonk years, where we saw a return to the Premier League after another successful First Division season beating up Middlesbrough. And then the '98, '99 season, well, That was just an absolute disaster, with the most notable moment being the holdout of Pierre Van Huydonk, who didn't feel the club was ambitious as he was. Can you imagine today if Morgan gives white, just said, I'm just not playing because you are not signing any players, Max.

Yeah, it's mad. It was absolute madness.

So then we saw the departure of Steve Stone and then that tragic 8-1 loss to Manchester United and then the wilderness for 23 years. Two narrow escapes. I don't even know how many signings. So that is the body of work that we've got to pick from. But I'm very proud of Nottingham Forest in the 1990s in the Premier League. We were one of the foundation teams. We were We've got a team picked to play Liverpool in the first match. We got some great players to choose from. Hopefully that wasn't too much of a ball for you going down that memory lane, Max. I got to enjoy telling that story. Did you enjoy that?

Yeah, it was all right. You're like a history teacher. It's like being back in school. It's very didactic. Yeah, let's do it. Thankfully, I don't do history at Uni. Right. Let's start with the goalkeeper, and we'll flash up a few graphics and team selections and stuff as we go, which will look nice if you're watching on YouTube. Obviously, if you're listening, then you will just have to rely on our brilliant audio descriptions of the players. Right. Let's start with the keeper then. David, kick us off.

I'm going with... Look, this was tough. Mark Crosley is unlucky to miss out having been our second most cap Premier League player. But I'm going with Kael Ornavis, three-time Champions League winner, 110 caps for his country, quarter finalist at the World Cup. If you ask Costa Ricans who is the most famous person from their country ever, it is Kaelor Navis. His forest story, although brief, just came in just absolute legendary debut in that Leeds match. Man of the match, cult hero immediately. It was the key signing, really, in saving us. I thought we were in all sorts of trouble when Dean Henderson went down. Great communication, great show. Stopper. Just absolute legend. Look, it's tough. How do you pick a player who's only played for half a season? Nacky, do you share my admiration for the Kael or Navas, or would you have someone else?

Do you know what? Yeah, I would. I was tempted to give Blackadimos a shout. No, I'm only joking.

Wayne Hennessy.

Yeah. No. So yeah, I probably agree. I would put Navas in there purely because I think it was a... I can't remember which team Forest played. It was definitely one of the two. It could have been somebody like Spurs, and the Forest fans were singing Kaelo Navas. He's one more than you. It's brilliant. He's funny. He was cloating about having him in goal. Yeah, I agree. Short but sweet, great spin. And I think he was a big instrumental part in obviously Forest staying up in that season.

Absolutely. Absolutely needed him. But shout out to Mark Crosley. Could save a penalty, Mark Crosley, and tells a lot of great stories. So he would certainly make out 25. That's what we've got to pick from. On to the left back. Well, goodness, Maxi, this one fix itself. So I think if we were to poll 1,000 Nottingham Forest fans, we would get 1,000 voting for Stuart Pears. The free kicks, the goal contributions, 94, 95, 11 goals in all comps makes him arguably... The numbers are a little bit tough on the records, but he might be the highest scoring left back in a season in the Premier League, the passion of the player. Can you imagine also, just think about how times have changed. If we've got to plan our team whose nickname was Psycho. That's not politically correct, is it?

No, probably not. No, in fact, I think I actually... When Stuart Piers was appointed as Forest Manager, he didn't take over till the following season. Can you remember that a few years ago? He was Gary Buzilla's interim manager. I can remember actually having a flag that had Stuart Piers and Psycho on. So there you go. I was holding it up at a Forest game. There's probably a picture of me somewhere with that. That's how it doesn't get found out.

Well, maybe someone can post that into the socials for us to find a picture of Max. But yeah, he was just so forested through and through that goal in the FA Cup final. What a free kick. He was as good as Beckham at those free kicks around that time. And it's a shame that he gets remembered for that penalty miss because his penalties were terrific as well. He's such a good player. So yeah, daylight second between him and anyone else.

Who would you give us a backup, maybe? If you had to give a back up to that left-back position, the second choice?

I'd probably say Randon Loddi from... But he's not lighting it on fire, is he? No, no.

I mean, I'd actually argue that, yeah, I think, again, I think When Forrest signed him, it was similar to Navas. Obviously, I think Navas did a lot more and obviously contributed more. But it was a bit of a fairly big name, and it was maybe one of the first statement signings from Forrest back into the Premier League. So, yeah, I make a point for him. But, yeah, I mean, I'd have gone with Stuart Piers. And obviously, I wasn't around to see Stuart Piers play. I was born in... Sorry to make you feel old, David, and probably make everyone feel old who's listening, but I was born in 2004. So obviously, my first time seeing Forest in the Premier League was... Go on.

Were you there for that match where he came out as the... And they've got the clip on the Forest YouTube channel? Yeah. That just seems like it was just deafening.

Yeah. It was unbelievable that I can remember it. I was only what? I was very young. I can just remember that against Blackball and players like Matty Friott and people like that. I can remember just that start of the season. We went away, didn't we? We beat Sheffer Wednesday 4-0 at Hillsborough. I can remember then Psycho Stuart Piers coming over and clapping the fans. And it was just a special start to the season, albeit it cost us financially with them, with the transfer embargo a few months later and Matt Fau was in charge. But there we go. Right, on to centrebacks.

So this one's going to be contentious. So whenever you do these teams, you can fall victim to some recency bias. So I'm just going to call out that a team of centrebacks who had to mark Robbie Fowler, Andy Cole, Ian Wright, Alan Sheerer, Chris Sutton, Dwight York, is going to be hard to unseat, even if a player of the Year award was given to a centreback. So the first centreback I'm going to pick is Colin Cooper. So Cooper capped twice for England in 1995, I think it was against Sweden and Brazil. Maybe he should have been in the squad for the '96 semifinal against Germany because there was a free kick that he takes ahead of Stuart Piers from distance, which is just absolute ripper from distance. It's not a normal region And as well. It is just unbelievable. And so he was a record signing at the start of the '94 season for then £1.7 million, solid in defense, dependable leader. He was considered stronger than Steve Chetel in the partnership duo that they had. And he could also fill it left-back as well. So if we're running with Murillo in the squad and Piers copts an injury, then maybe we can switch Colin Cooper to cover for Stuart Piers at left-back and accommodate Murillo in the odd occasion.

But Stuart Piers, typically when he played, didn't miss too many matches. But two caps for England in a time when Tony Adams and Keown and a few others were floating around. He's no slouch, Colin Cooper, by any means. Not as heralded. He only played, what, three seasons for Forest, but he was ever present in that 94, 95 team, actually.

Yeah. Well, I can see which other one you've got. So I I will let you give the other center first before I come in with my suggestion.

All right. Well, look, this one took me a while to think about of whether I go. But I just decided Steve Chet, all-time Forest Premier League appearances at 174. He's the third most capped Nottingham Forest player ever, interviewed with Nottingham Forest in 1986, playing through to 1999. He was through from the Forest Academy, so he would have, if he was playing today would be heralded the same way that the great Ryan Yates is. He played in three different stints in the Premier League for Nottingham Forest. He was one of Clough boys, having one League Cups and FA Cups. He stuck with us for that entire decade and retired with us. He's just too much of a club legend. If Stuart Pears doesn't exist, Steve Chetil is a captain for Forest for 10 years. Absolute legend of the club. And just think how high he must be regarded to hold out Our dynamic young centre-back in Murillo. Max, have I convinced you that those two should be centre-backs? No.

But then I guess, and maybe a lot of people listening will understand that I didn't see those players back in the day, obviously, hear lots about them, have met those players, I've watched clips and stuff like that. I don't get me wrong, I appreciate it, but I think I keep Steve Chetell and I would put Marillo in for Colin Cooper. I I think Murillo in recent years, yes, he's only been in the club for what is it a year now? Not even that, probably. And he probably will leave Forest in the next year. However, just come on. It's Marillo, David. I just think you've got to include him. If we're talking about an all-time Forest best 11, then I might not actually include him. But if we're talking about all-time Forest Premier League, I think Murillo has to come in there. So no disrespect to Colin Cooper, but I would switch him. We love Coopers at Forest, but I would switch Cooper for Murillo. That is my argument. I can't really give you too much to back it up, other than it's because I'm young and I've watched Murillo and I just think he's brilliant.

And one day he is going to score from the halfway line. And I just think his energy around the football club is what Forest need.

Well, certainly the dynamicism of Marillo, the way that he gets forward. Colin Cooper could play a pass, but he couldn't score from the halfway line. Not quite as well as Marillo could. But Cooper, look, he's been capped for England. Two caps for England. That's twice as many as Morgan Gibbs-White currently has. He's no slouch, Colin Cooper. But it's close. This is the beauty of debating these things. I guess the question to ask is, what would Marillo need to do to unseat one of these two? And I think a solid mid table 10th finish for Nottingham Forest this season could perhaps push one of those two out. But it's hard to argue with a team that finished third, Yeah, fair enough.

Right. Let's move on. On to the right back.

Right back. I think this position that could be one. This is one that's opened. If we were in the transfer market for all time Premier League Forest teams, I'd be tempted to try and strengthen this position. I'm running with Des Little, 113 appearances for Forest in the Premier League. Consistence presence in that 94, 95 team. Could get forward, could cross the ball. Linked up very well with Steve Stone. He had the marks of notable players on the left in gigs, McManam and Wilcox, Limp are a handful of pretty handy players there. His cross, he wasn't as accurate, perhaps as Neville or any of these guys in his hate he became. But when I'm looking at him versus the others, and I think you'll agree with me here, Max, that over the past two seasons, we haven't had an out and out right back that has just gone and owned that position. So the fact that we're picking Dez Little. Just means it's more an indication we had Serge, we had Gonzo, we had Nico, There's still argument that Oleraina should play there if we play the lad from what is it, Aston Villa or West Hamer, wherever he's from, Moreno.

So, yeah, that's what I'm landing on, Des. What's your take on our right back stocks? That's probably the question of relevancy for now.

I mean, yeah, I suppose. I think it's a position Forest have needed to strengthen in for a while, so it makes a bit of an all time Premier League 11 a bit difficult to pick that position. Would Nico Williams get a shout? Probably not, to be perfectly honest. No respect to Nico, but I don't think he doesn't do anything amazing. He goes under the radar a little bit at times. A bit of an underrated player, but I don't think he beats. Yeah, speak to grandparents and things about Dez Little, seemed like a good player. Let's move on to the midfield. And we look at... I mean, what formation are we playing here, David?

I'm thinking based on the players that we have available, we're playing a 4, 1, 2, 3. So I don't think we need to play two holding midfielders because of the holding midfielder that we've got access to. So we're going to run with one holding midfielder, and that enables me to pick two very attacking midfielders in front of that player. So we got obviously we're going to run with Roy Keen. It's just a sad story of Forest's first season in the unsuccessful, and what could it be? So 40 appearances for Forest in that first Premier League season, he tells the story of how disappointed and dejected he was when Forest got relegated. And he didn't quite have the influence on the dressing room by then to be able to fire them up and get them going. He had some off-field incidents and distraction at the time. Boy, what a player he turned out to be and a captain that he could have been. If we'd have been able to keep him, how good would he have been in a third place 94, 95 forest team? Our fortunes could have been completely different. It's an absolute no-brainer.

Roy Keen is the CDM for the Forest all-time 11.

Ryan Yates doesn't come close.

Well, no. And he can't even… Well, sadly not. I know you have. Well, I do like Ryan Yates, actually. I just don't think he's as good as he doesn't have the quality of some of the other players. I admire his heart. He's certainly a great ball winner. And I think the strength of Roy Keane, actually, in this team, Max, does David Phillips out of the spot in the team. So David Phillips was signed to replace Roy Keane. David Phillips, 62 caps for Wales. He was the player of the season He's been that promoted team from '93, '94. Extremely versatile, could hit a free kick, could do a backflip when he scored as well, David Phillips. And a very popular Forest player from that era. But, yeah, he's going to fall victim to Roy Keen just being an absolute ball winner. So, yeah, I guess if we were to pick one of today's, yeah, other midfielders in and around this, because you can see where I'm probably going to lean in terms of a seed again, who do you think gets the nod? Who was our best? Is it Mangala? Is it Danilo? Who's the standout from that group?

In terms of recent years, you may be... Do you know what? It is a bit of a funny one mid midfield. We can talk about attacking midfields, and obviously we're going to get into it, but you look at just like Morgan Gims white, right? He's obviously going to be the one we pick, right? But in terms of defensive midfielders, we've never had anyone, certainly, I don't think in the past few seasons for us have been in the Premier League that has completely blown us all away. So maybe I had to pick one. I genuinely would make an argument maybe for Ryan Yates, but I don't think he comes close to Roy Keen, and that's from someone that never saw Roy Keen play. However, I think Roy Keen's personality wins it enough.

Yeah, I think that's right.

Well, Roy Keen did massively like Ryan Yates, though, David. If you vaguely remember, obviously, when Keen had a short spell as Forest Assistant Manager, every time Roy Keen does punditry on Forest, whether that be for Sky, ITV, whoever, he'll always tell the story about one of the only players I like when I went into Forest with Martin O'Neill, and that was during a pretty poor time for the club finding themselves off the pitch was Ryan Yates. And he talks about his just energy, enthusiasm, athleticism. And yeah, Keen was full of praise for him. So there we go. Right, on to the next midfielder.

So I'm We're running with two cams because we've got Roy Keen. Look, we've talked about him already. So Morgan gives wide is going to be one of those. So gets a call up into this team. Look, it was closer for me. I was close to putting Phillips in, but the England call up and just the passion. It was close. He was a pretty good player, David Phillips, but he got cap for England. And he's just the... He's so good. He's been the heart and soul of Forest since we've been in this stint of the Premier League. It almost feels like he was part of the promoted team. He feels that much a part of it. And then when you go back and watch the highlights, you remember that he was in the shootout. But just imagine, Morgan Gibbs-White in this team with access to these players and who he's going to have up front and who he's got supporting him behind him. He would just be an absolute revelation, especially with the support of Phillips and the other player and Roy Keen that I'm going to pick in a second. So Morgan gives a absolute must.

And then the other Kam I'm going to run with is Lars Bohinen. So technically, brilliant, creative player. You could argue that his departure and not stands was really the death knell of the 94, 95 team. So there's this weird clause in his contract where he was able to trigger it because there was a buyout clause for the top team. So Blackburn at the time were the champions and they played what they needed to trigger that clause. So it would be like Morgan Gibbs-White being signed for Manchester City. But 10 million pounds now, like just an absolutely absurd fee, which just didn't seem anywhere near high enough. He was such an attacking player. He wore number nine. He did this brilliant corner. He used to have these corners that used to curl in. And so he scored off a corner one time that got a tribute, I think, to Steve Chetil.

It's funny because my dad always tells me about they used to be someone that would stand or sit in the trendset with like a... I don't know what it was. And they'd do this chant about Lars Bohinen. And I'm not going to try in person in the champ, but they'd like go Bohina or something like that. So there you go. That's all I know on him, to be honest.

Well, he was technically brilliant. He did this goal as as any Matt LaTissier goal. I think it was against Tottenham where he chipped it in for the fourth goal. So he was absolutely instrumental with that 94, 95 team and getting forward. So we're going with Lars Bohina. So that leaves us with three players up front. I would say that I think you could argue James Ward-Prowse or Elliot Anderson, after a solid year or two, might be able to make their way somewhere into this team, maybe. But it's going to be... It would have be the spend of the last boeing because you're not going to unseat Roy Keane or Morgan Gibbs, really. All right. On to the forwards. How am we going so far, Max? You're liking this team?

Yeah, it's looking good. It's looking good. I have faith if this team was in the current day, it'd do all right in the Premier League.

All right, fair enough. On to the left wing. So because we're playing a 4-1-2-3, look, Brian Roy is the all-time top goal scorer in in the Premier League for Nottingham Forest with 24 goals. Pace, dribbling skills, goal scoring ability. If you watch any of the clips from that day, it is really the Brian Roy show. He got this pretty crucial goal against Manchester United when we beat them. He's either setting up most of the goals or certainly scoring them. And in a time when playing for the Netherlands was pretty tough, he managed to bag 30 caps. Absolute legend in today's game, he would hold up as a winger, could be an inverted one. He would be very, very difficult to deal But boy, he benefited from the strike partner that was next to him. So I think Brian Roy is an absolute standout pick, isn't he, Max?

Yeah, I've got no complaints. Hear lots about him and I've seen lots of clips and stuff, and he's always on When you watch Premier League years and things like that, it's always Brian Roy's goals come up. So yeah, happy for him to be there. I've got no complaints there.

And you're certainly going to have no complaints about the next one. So Stan, the man, 22 goals and 37 appearances in an absolute barnstorming standout season. He was brilliant the season before. That is an output. Blistering pace. He talks in interviews about the rattle of the seats when he used to play at the city ground, because whenever he would touch the ball, the clacking of the seats would go. He would love a switch at a long pass to his wing and forward place. If he was playing with Morgan Gibbs-White, boy, would they be a combination? And one thing we could say is that today's athleticism is a lot higher than it was in the 1990s. Stan Colimore would be an absolute gun now. He was that good in that era. And it was a shame he was against the likes of Sheerish, Eringham, Kyle, Ferdinand, Wright, and Fowler for getting into that England team. And it was just a dud signing move for him going to Liverpool, I thought. They never really built the team around him. He was just an absolute beast. And If you go and watch the top 10 Colmmore goals for Nottingham Forest.

Yeah, I've seen them, actually. I've seen them.

They stand up against top 10 Nottingham Forest goals ever. He's so good, that guy. So it's tough to argue. And I think he was- If you had to have a backup as a striker, or in fact, somebody from the current team, who do you think would be- I think this is going to... On right now, you have to pick Chris Chris Wood, but from their body of work, I think Taewo was a touch ahead of Chris Wood. I think Taewo in this team with Gibbs White and the trouble that he caused and the amount of chances that Brian, Roy, and those others would set up, I would go with Taewo, I think.

Yeah, maybe. What do you mean? I don't know. I think the same for Chris Wood, right? If you went, name me a Chris Wood or a Taewo goal now, you I can't think of a goal where it's been a brilliant goal and they've picked up the ball and ran from... You know what I mean? Chris would maybe stand up one. I'd actually say probably against Man City when Forest equalized because of the teamwork around that goal. That was a great goal. What about the new kinds of goals. Oh, yeah, actually. Yeah, true. Yeah, true, actually.

Newcastle. That's what made the Newcastle goals so good was that they were so surprised.

And then he did it twice. Yeah, it's true. They're in fact, actually, the chip, probably. So yeah, I'd give the Newcastle. But for Taewo, maybe stand that goal would be probably... I mean, him scoring earlier, Old Trafford was good. That was good last season when he had that one on one. I remember being in the away end and it was quite high up. Obviously living in Manchester the past few years, it does make it... To be honest, I tend to dislike Manchester United and Man City more than I do Derby these days. I can remember being in the away end, David, and I can remember when Tywo got the ball and he was through and it was really early on in this game and I was thinking, just score, just score. He just kept running. I was like, Tywo, just shoot, just shoot. Everyone would get telling him and it somehow went in. That away and went into pandamony, and then Willy Bolley scores that header, and then Joe Warrall decides to do whatever he decided to do. Then a bit of referee controversy with shock. Stuart Atwell and Forest ended up losing that game.

I was really So at the end of that game, a lot of Forest fans came out saying, Oh, well, we only lost three, two to Manchester United. We were two goals up. I was furious. It took me a lot of calming down to do.

That one was brutal. But we're trying to This is a positive.

Sorry, David. This is a positive.

We're talking about all the legends. And if you're going to say, and maybe get it out. And there's a question for the comment. Is peak Taewoe better than peak Chris Wood? That is actually the question.

Yeah, that is a very good question.

Is peak Taewoe versus peak Chris Wood. Who gets the nod? But of course, Taewoee scored our first goal in the return to the Premier League, which should have been Jesse Lingard's goal, actually.

But Jesse Lingard, I can confirm, has not been selected at right wing for this team. Jesse Lincard wouldn't even come near the changing room for me if we're going through all the available positions in this. Right, right winger.

All right, this one is going to be contentious. I have a feeling you're going to argue with me on this one, but I'm picking Steve Stone. In today's game, Steve Stone would be a right winger. His stamina up and down, pace at crossing the ball, his work rate, leadership and inspiration. You wouldn't have to worry about his ability to get back and defend. He did an England call up and was capped for England during Euro 96, sitting behind Darren Enziton on the right and holding out Beckham. So he must have been pretty handy. His departure when he left at the end of that relegated season in '98, '99, you just knew we were in trouble in terms of coming back into the Premier League. So he was another of those cult heroes from Forest around that time. And it This one was as tough because I also thought about playing him in the center of midfield and then just thinking about it. I have a feeling I know who you're going to say Max should be.

Do you know what? I wouldn't actually say it's a definite answer. I'd just argue... We could even argue about Alanger and Callum Hudson at all coming close to the flanks and in terms of picking the wingers. I I do think Brennan comes a little bit close to that right wing spot. I just think he was a big impact on the club. But then- I think about the backflip. Yeah, true. Did he do that much in the Premier League, though, is honestly my question about Brenan Johnson. Don't get me wrong, I think he was a great player, did so much for Forest in the Championship, such an instrumental part in getting result. But in the Premier League, he would just get bullied off the ball so much. I just I just thought that for Forest to get that price tag on him, it was a good move for the club because it didn't save us from PSR, ultimately. He probably should have given the rules. But yeah, I just think that he was an Academy graduate. I think, again, if we're doing an all-time Forest XI, I think Brennan would actually beat Steve Stone. But given we're doing it on the Premier League, I think your argument about Steve Stone.

I'd probably I just think that he comes close given Premier League success compared to Brennan. So it's only a little bit of a minor argument from me.

So I think we want that answered for us in the comments as well.

Give us your answer. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. Steve Stone or Brennan Johnson. It's close, but also comes down to the formation. If we're playing a 4-4-2, then Steve Stone is getting picked on the right, isn't he? But we're not playing a 4-4-2, we're playing a 4-1-2-3.

What a formation. Right. That does the squad. All that's left to do now is to debate the manager. Now, for reference, I've got no idea who you're going to go for, David, and you've got no idea who... I mean, we might go for the same one, so I'll let you go first and then I'll- We're going to try and guess each other's one.

Or are you just going to- Okay.

All right, then.

So you want me to say what I think you're going to say at the same time?

Yeah.

Okay, I think you... All right, you ready?

What are we both doing? 3, 2, 1, and take- All right, go for it.

3, 2, 1. You're going to say Steve Cooper.

Exactly, yeah.

I knew you were going to say Steve Cooper. Why are you saying Steve Cooper, Max?

Because Steve Cooper was the first manager for Forest in the Premier League in 23 years. Kept us up in a really difficult season. It played some very good football, got some very big standout results. It's just those wins at Chelsea, the win against Arsenal, Liverpool. There were some good wins in that top six category. I think you've got to realize as well that Cooper didn't have it all plain sailing at times. Forest fans only get a small glimpse into really what goes on behind the scenes at Forest. And Kuba struggled, believe me, behind the scenes. And there was some people that really didn't get on well with him. However, I think he navigated the club through some interesting times, and he was the first manager to get us back to the Premier League.. Yeah, but you have to realize he was the first manager to do it and then keep us up. And I just think that I I just think that he did... You've got to remember this guy never managed in the Premier League before up until when he came to Forest. And people will argue that that's why it cost him his job and he's a good Championship manager and all of this.

But Steve Cooper, I just think he is a legend. If Forest did a statue of Cooper, I'd have no complaints. And I think you've got to understand it as well from my lifetime and my age of people. Steve Cooper is the best. Yeah, don't get me wrong, Brian Clough is the legend. Of course that. But in terms of my lifetime, Steve Cooper is number one. I think about how many rubbish managers we had that would come in the media and just talk absolutely- Can you count them on this podcast the other day?

Wasn't it 20 or something?

Yeah, it was ridiculous. I I can't. Yeah, honestly, I would probably forget loads. Yeah, I just think Cooper's... Maybe I'm a little bit biased because I met him and I spent a bit of time with him and he was just an all-around top bloke. Yeah, I'm going to say Steve Cooper. What about you? Tell me yours.

The question is, all-time Premier League manager for Forest or the manager that we've got available to choose from to manage this team? So given that we've got, we can have Frank Clark, we can have Brian Clough, we can have Stuart Pears, we can have Ron Atkinson, we can have Dave Bassett, and we can have Steve Cooper.

Which was the one that went into the wrong dugout?

Ron Atkinson went into the wrong dugout.

Lee Gozly did that actually the other night for England.

I've actually changed my answer since we've done this podcast based on that last sentence thinking. So that might give you a hit, Maxi, if you want to guess who I'm going to say.

I've got a feeling you might go for Frank Clark.

I was going to go for Frank Clark. But I'm switching to Brian Clough. And the reason why I'm switching to Brian Clough is even at the end, I think if he'd have had the quality of this team, he would be the man to manage this team, given the personalities and the players that are in it. And what he made some personnel choice the mistakes at the end of his tenure, signing a bunch of players and letting Dez Walker go. But that's not the problem he's facing. He's facing just managing and getting the most out of this squad. It's tough to go past and ever do anything Nottingham Forest related and not pick Bryant. But Frank Clark, I love you as a human being and the contribution you made. So given that it's basically his team plus Roy Keen and Morgan gives white and or Navis, it would be tough to not have him as the manager. So it's certainly close. I guess that's another one for the questions. And then quickly, I drew up the squad. So in terms of a 25, these are the players that may He's my 25. So running quickly through those.

Backup goalkeepers are Dean, Henderson, and Mark Crosley. The backup right back was Nico Williams. I went with Rana Lottie, but we could have run with Inga Haaland as the backup left back because he covers more positions. Murillo obviously is in the squad. And then I go peak for Lipe in the return to the Premier League. I think that season where he came in, he was absolutely brilliant. David Phillips, I've already mentioned. The And a midfield spot, I've currently got it for Scott Gemmall just gets in, but I reckon that could be won by someone back up, attacking midfielder. I've got Nigel Cluffy, banged in 10 goals in that first season in the Premier League and then was re-signed by Stuart Pears. And then look, this guy, he was unlucky not to make the team. The great Ian Wohn in today's day, he would have been a great left winger as well. So Ian Wohn's terrific. I've got Taewo, I've got Brennan, and the last position in the squad, Max. I'm going to find a spot for Pierre Van Hoedonck. So that is my squad, 25 of Nottingham Forest, all time top Premier League, 11. Jeez, that was fun.

It took me hours.

I can imagine. I can imagine Our lovely producer, Dan, is going to hopefully flash up a graphic now which will show our team in full. So there it is. And have a look at that. And obviously, let us know what you think in the comments below. If you are listening on Spotify and Apple, give us a tweet if you got X or whatever it's called these days, or you think you can comment on Spotify now, actually, new feature. So try that out for us and let us know your Forest's best 11, whether you agree with me, agree with David, or you think we're both talking rubbish and you're going to completely go with something different. Do let us know.

If you want to have disagree with you and I, we can talk about it for 20 minutes, and then we'll walk out of the room and you'll all agree that Max and I were right all along as the great Brian Clough once said.

Spot on. That sounds all right to me. And obviously, if anyone wants to debate loads, they can come on the podcast. We always like to get new voices on. Right. That does us nicely. Really hope you enjoyed our Forest all time best Premier League 11 during the international break. We shall be back this week after taking a little bit of a short break the last few days. We will be back this week with a preview for Forest, obviously, away to Liverpool. I'm making the trip to Anfield. Can't wait. I can't... I'm really looking forward to next week, actually. First away game of the season for me as well. So really looking forward to that. Sorry, David, it sounds like I'm rubbing it in. Now get out there, Forest. I'll FaceTime you, mate.

I'll FaceTime you from On the ground. On the ground, it'll be terrific. It'll be 2:00 AM and I'll be watching in bed, but I will be awake.

Getting more noise complaints. We know what you're like. Right. That does us nicely. Give us a like, share, and subscribe on YouTube. Follow us across Spotify and Apple podcast. Like I said, we'll be back this week with more episodes. Thanks for all the support. And from me and David with our best Forest Premier League 11. Come on, you, Reds. Come on, you, Reds.