Collymore’s column: Nuno’s Forest a joy to watch, Ronaldo ‘bought’ by Saudi, time to stop ref bashing and much more | OneFootball

In his exclusive column for CaughtOffside, former Aston Villa attacker Stan Collymore discusses some of football’s biggest talking points, including why Nuno Espirito Santo deserves the plaudits, why Cristiano Ronaldo has been ‘bought’ by Saudi Arabia, why Graham Potter should go to Everton and more.

Forest deserve all the plaudits this season

Nuno Espirito Santo, Nottingham Forest manager, celebrates with Taiwo Awoniyi after their victory during the Premier League match against Wolverhampton Wanderers. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

I’m absolutely delighted that two of my clubs, one that I left to go to the other, are going head to head in a game that could be huge in terms of where the title may end up.

Although it’s not so much a surprise with Liverpool, it is with Forest, and I think what Nuno Espirito Santo has them doing week in and week out is getting back to what football is all about.

Defend your own half and your own box, get a foothold in the game and then spit teams out.

They’re embarrassing every one of the Pep disciples, managers like Russell Martin that thought by just turning up and playing out from the back that they could do something in the Premier League.

The English top-flight is about competing and winning football matches and, ironically, it was Leicester City in 2016 that showed by not scoring goals but by being defensively sound, and having a really good striker that could play on the shoulder when you play balls in behind, that you could win a title.

But what do we get year in, year out now? The next batch of Pep acolytes that are told how great they are because they love to play out from the back and play through the lines.

Nobody foresaw that this was coming with Forest, and I don’t think anybody would have looked at the group of players they have and said that they were going to be anything other than, at best, a mid table outfit.

They might end up in mid table, who knows, but I think to be this far into the season and be where they are, we can say that Nuno has rejuvenated his career.

After all, Ray Parlour was one of many pundits to suggest that Spurs had gone for the ‘cheaper option’ in Nuno, and that almost certainly harmed his reputation.

There’s 1000 ways to skin a cat, and at the moment, Forest are skinning that cat. Their approach has been an absolute pleasure to see, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they skin the liver bird next Tuesday either in what’s sure to be a cracking game.

Time to stop the ref bashing

Referee Stuart Attwell speaks with AFC Bournemouth manager, Andoni Iraola on the touchline during the Premier League match between AFC Bournemouth and Brighton & Hove Albion. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)

We’ve seen so many referee-bashing stories in recent months – and over the years – which may well continue, but I think that the interesting thing is that we are now getting full transparency with decision making.

One of the topics in the column previously was about referees getting multiple decisions wrong and whether there was any accountability.

Virgil van Dijk’s assessment of Tony Harrington recently was particularly scathing.

What’s happening now with refs being heard in the stadium is the first step in English football for it to watch what happens in other sports and other other leagues and learn from that. To see if it works in the Premier League.

Now there’s no excuse.

To hear a referee saying a goal is ruled out for offside, or whatever other decision comes to pass means that the noise and the nonsense surrounding why refs have come to certain conclusions ends on the day. I like that a lot.

I think it’s one step towards hopefully a position in the next two or three years where referees are in a press conference after the game. They can come out and answer questions, and we’ll go ‘you know what, fair play.’

Even if refs are demoted one week but back the next, we need to heal our relationship with officials.

Anything that can be done to enable them to be clear, open and seemingly honest and with integrity gets a massive thumbs up from me.

Potter should go to Everton

Graham Potter celebrates Chelsea’s victory during the Premier League match against Leicester City. (Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images)

West Ham were right to get rid of Julen Lopetegui because he was a dead man walking.

In a previous column I wrote about him and said I thought it would work if he got his own men in. Whether or not he felt that he did or not, I don’t know, but certainly there didn’t seem to be an improvement on the pitch.

The only thing I can see for Lopetegui now is rebuilding his career with a Villarreal kind of size club. He might get a gig in Saudi or in Italy, but he firstly needs to go off and lick his wounds after recent disappointments in several jobs.

In terms of Graham Potter, I think he’d be better suited to Everton than West Ham.

They’re both idealists; the Academy of Football and the School of Science. Big clubs with a lot of expectation, but I think that Everton would suit him, because I think that there’s only the two clubs in the city.

With West Ham, I think that their supporters, and I say this with the greatest of affection, they’re having themselves. West Ham fans talk and act as if they’re one of England’s most successful clubs but with one of the smallest trophy cabinets in that club size bracket.

Everton would be the better destination for him, moving into a new stadium, new ownership etc.

I don’t think at the moment anybody at West Ham is going to turn things around and into something akin to what Unai Emery has done at Villa.

West Ham aren’t an attractive enough catch for an Unai Emery type and the cachet isn’t there yet, even with the Conference League win.

Graham Potter and his coaching style… he’s just a pure coach and not a manager, not a ‘come follow me’ type.

Everton, with a new stadium, a new start and given that they haven’t had great football there for a while.. if Graham Potter could get them playing something like the kind of football that he did at Brighton, Evertonians would lap it up.

West Ham are just a club that needs to take a look at itself and where it’s pitching itself really.

Ronaldo’s comments show he’s been ‘bought’ by Saudi

Cristiano Ronaldo of Al Nassr arrives at the stadium prior to the Saudi Pro League match against Al-Ittihad. (Photo by Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images)

Ronaldo’s comments on the Saudi league being better than French football, that this player was better than that… I think at this point we’ve pretty much figured out where his loyalties lie, haven’t we?

Much like when David Beckham was ambassador for the Qatari World Cup, or Lionel Messi going and playing in the United States and signing a big deal with Apple, these guys are big business around the world and whoever buys them gets their opinions. Opinions that can be shaped by the people that bought them.

I think that their influence in the game will only grow. Beckham’s certainly has, and I don’t think he touches the sides when it comes to the reach that Ronaldo has.

Beckham was a global icon as much for the fact that he’s a good looking boy married to a pop star, he had a lot of personality and would sell everything and anything.

In the same way that Pele was arguably bought lock, stock and barrel by FIFA and rolled out to certain events , so I think that it won’t be a surprise to see Cristiano Ronaldo doing the same.

I just think we need to get used to global superstars in the coming generations having way much more political play than ever. And when I say political play, you only have to look at George Weah.

He was, of course, president of Liberia, and you’ve had a number of footballers around the world that have put themselves forward for political positions.

Let’s be perfectly honest, if Donald Trump and Elon Musk can put themselves forward as leaders in the free world, then the global recognition of top class footballers that are on people’s screens 24/7, 40 weeks of the year, could ensure that you absolutely see Cristiano Ronaldo as prime minister of Portugal or president of FIFA, for example.

It starts with being bought by the entity, who then use players for their own purposes.

Sad to say it, but I think it’s only going to get worse rather than better.