When Tottenham signed Andy Reid from Nottingham Forest – on the same day the fifth-round FA Cup draw decreed that the
Posted in General on 24. Sep, 2010
When Tottenham signed Andy Reid from Nottingham Forest – on the same day the fifth-round FA Cup draw decreed that the two clubs would meet – they probably thought the one player from the struggling East Midlands side who might have threatened their progress was now safely ensconced in their own camp
Ironic, really. Short, stocky, a little bottom-heavy even, but beautifully balanced – give him a bottle of hair dye and he could be the Irishman’s double What’s more, his left foot is an instrument of equal magic “Who needs Andy Reid?” Forest fans might ask. Garner was grateful that he did not bear a grudge over the goals he had scored against Liverpool.Serving his sentence at Kirkham open prison in Lancashire also proved helpful. “It wasn’t far from Blackburn and there was a split in the prison between Burnley and Blackburn fans,” Garner said “Luckily, I had Blackburn fans to look after me I never really had a problem with Burnley fans.
His first cell-mate was a Liverpool fan, a huge man with a scar from his chin to his forehead. At breakfast a shaven-headed inmate dropped a large insect into his food, saying: “You’re a Scouser, you must like beetles.”Arsenal’s Tony Adams, sentenced to nine months in prison in 1990 for drink-driving and reckless driving offences, found himself handcuffed to a Tottenham Hotspur fan on the way to Chelmsford Prison.Lee Hughes, who in August was jailed for six years for causing death by dangerous driving, was recently transferred to Featherstone jail, which is said to house many supporters of Wolverhampton Wanderers, local rivals of the striker’s former club, West Bromwich Albion.Simon Garner, the former Blackburn Rovers striker, served four weeks in jail in 1996. Other footballers who have served custodial sentences agree: there is no hiding place for a celebrity sportsman behind prison bars.
Mick Quinn, who was sentenced to 21 days in jail during his Portsmouth days in 1987 after pleading guilty to driving while disqualified for the second time in three weeks, arrived at Winchester Prison in a designer Ralph Lauren suit and hand-made Italian shoes. He was released after successfully appealing against a nine-month sentence for contempt of court during divorce proceedings. The original conviction was a complete shock, Garner having arrived at court expecting only to discuss maintenance payments. Being deprived of his freedom was a chilling experience and Garner was relieved to emerge largely unscathed.
If Jermaine Pennant had little idea what life in prison would be like before yesterday, he should have a much clearer picture this morning. After being issued with his regulation prison wear, he was kept awake on his first night by prisoners banging their cell doors and screaming “Saints!” or “Millwall!”The next morning, as he queued with his bucket at slop-out time, Quinn was tripped from behind to a shout of “Penalty, ref!” and got splattered as he was sent flying. “I do work on striking the ball, although with long-range efforts it is an instinctive thing you can’t really practise,” Commons said. “But if a goalkeeper is off his line he is asking for trouble.”Forest’s trouble is their League position, six points from safety, which will unavoidably be at the back of minds this evening, regardless of the chance to go to Newcastle in the quarter-finals.”Of course, it is the FA Cup and everyone has the dream of getting to the final, but the main thing for us this season is not getting relegated For that to happen would be devastating.”. I like to dribble, to run at players and I have a good left foot. If I had been playing week in, week out, maybe people would have been talking about me before now.”People are talking about the accuracy with which Commons seems able to shoot from almost any range. Had that not happened, good judges suggest, Forest would have had to find rather more than the £300,000 valuation determined by a transfer tribunal.”It took me the best part of a year to get back to where I was before,” he said, “so I feel there is a lot more to come from me.
Before the injury I was playing really well and I’d like to think we wouldn’t be where we are now in the table if I had been playing right from the start of the season.”With Reidy going it has left an even bigger gap for me to express myself in the side I’ve always been a positive, attacking player. As a nine-year-old from the north Nottinghamshire village of Skegby, he had faithfully turned up for coaching schools at Forest, sharing dreams inspired by Teddy Sheringham and Roy Keane. “All my family and friends were Forest fans,” he said.His return has been by a roundabout route. After Forest failed to spot his talent, Commons spent six ultimately unfulfilled years across the Trent with Notts County before persuading Chesterfield to give him a trial and then unexpectedly catching a Stoke scout’s eye.Rave reviews – and a first goal in the week of his 19th birthday – earned him instant headlines in Stoke’s senior side only for a cruciate ligament injury in September 2002 to rule him out for almost a year. With our position in the table I wanted to be involved in a lot more games and it was frustrating to be only watching.”Perhaps Kinnear did not appreciate his young acquisition’s inbred passion for the club. “I think I was brought here partly because it looked like Andy Reid was going and that didn’t happen until January, but Joe didn’t give me the chances I thought he would. Less than two months after scoring his first Forest goal, Commons is now their star turn.He appears to have come from nowhere but, of course, there is more to his story.