TOM CARTLEDGE EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW ON THE FUTURE OF NOTTINGHAM FOREST AND THE CITY GROUND
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- čas přidán 23. 05. 2024
- On today's podcast we are joined by Nottingham Forest chairman Tom Cartledge to discuss a number of topics including the future of the City Ground amid talk of a potential move to Toton. We also discuss increasing ticket prices, PSR and the long-term vision for the football club. #nffc
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Brilliant interview Matt , Respect. The fact he was impressed with the Tofolo interview which made him decide to accept your invitation for a interview is a massive plus for you and Forest Focus.
It was probably the only one he had watched.
Holy Shit - this is a definite Forest channel compared to plebs out there!m 1st Toff and now our Chairman, WELL DONE!!!!
Well done, Matt. All the difficult questions asked if not always answered. Top job
My only gripe is 5 years on, and we're still talking about it.
Whats wrong with 3 tier Clough and Taylor stand and be creative with Bridgford?
Agreed we weee having a stadium bigger then the king power, world class media centre still waiting!!
Council left wing stazi’s wont allow it
Finally got around to watching it! Great interview Matt and well done on getting this in the first place.
Let's see what 2024/25 brings!
well done Matt , and Tom !!!
fantastic interview, great insight, not where we want to be ,but in an amazing place at the minute,3rd year in the Premier League,keep up the great work Matt . YOU REDS!!
Top work Matt. Loving the content and variety. Henry Winter and now the chairman are testament to your stewardship of the pod. As a Forest fan living in exile in Scotland loving the material and feeling more and more connected to home.
Good effort Matt, you asked the question. He has a difficult job, anyone who has held a senior position knows that you can't stay anything that gives a rival or potential supplier a commercial advantage. So I thinks he's been honest and said what he can. Love it when people have strong demands on how you spend your money.
Excellent interview Matt! You asked all the hard questions on our behalf, you did a great job!
What a coup - well done Matt, by far the BEST Forest Podcast out there - the quality just gets better - the way this is going, I’ll soon be making an appearance 🤣👍🏼
Great interview Matt and good to have a chairman who loves the club as that means he will have the best interest of our club and good insight into our fantastic/ambitious owner
This was great, I really enjoyed it. It really helped me as an average fan, to get a broader perspective of the goings on. It's so easy to get drawn into negativity surrounding the ownership of your club, but we often forget that the people involved are also wanting the best for the club and it's future. I don't think anyone underestimates the importance of the City Ground and it's identity. But Tom is right, that now is the time to ask some difficult questions about how we move forward.
The owners have definitely made some mistakes along the way, but I don't think anyone can doubt how far we've come and the extent of their ambition to go further. Watching this interview kinda made me realise, that a lot of my anger and resistance to certain things, is actually due to the fact that football has changed. We've been in a bit of a championship bubble for a long time now, but if we do want to kick on, then we need to open our minds a bit, in order to achieve it.
I genuinely found this video helpful. Thank you.
Matt did great, no slight on him - but what on EARTH did he tell you that you didn't already know? It was 45 mins of self praise, dodging questions and slippery answers. God some people are so easy to hoodwink, no wonder this country voted for Brexit
Quality podcast I'm with Mr marinakis with whatever he wants to do if it means progress for our club so be it
Next level! Respect for asking the tough questions, Matt.
Great job Matt. Excellent interview. A great opportunity to hear what Tom has to say who, I think, articulated everything very clearly. I am excited for the future whichever way it takes us.
Matt I know you have to protect your precious access to the club and ex-player eco system but my heartfelt advice to you is not to let your channel become a mouthpiece for the club. This interview didn't answer any of the real questions or provide any clear information on the direction of the club. Well done at least bringing up the conflict of interest our Chairman faces but this was quickly skated over. This man sold us a City Ground masterplan five years ago and hasn't delivered on it. When pressed, it's always someone else's fault. The underlying problem is that the club cannot commit to redeveloping the CG when there is the dream of some 50,000 mega stadium with Kylie Minogue concerts etc. This means that all we get is excuses and no CG development and then the ownership saying "look! this ground is not fit for purpose!" That is because of their neglect and lack of commitment to their own masterplan. I love your channel and I commend you for getting him on but this was a real missed opportunity. Also VERY scary that Torn Cartilage can't offer ANY reassurance about the club staying within PSR this year.
Torn cartilage 😂 ps Kyle minogue would be worth moving stadium for to see her live in the forest park stadium ❤️
Fantastic Matt👏👏
Tom is clearly a very able politician you’ll never get to the bones of most topics but I would have liked to hear him answer why it was necessary to drop bombshells like season ticket price increases and stadium matters when we’re in the thick of a terrible relegation fight,extremely unwise and could have contributed to a calamity
⭐️🌳⭐️
People hear what they want to hear. Listen carefully and he answers very few questions. Certainly not convinced that the club wants to stay at the City Ground.
Exactly,that’s y I said he’s a politician,they never directly answer questions and you’re right it’s abundantly clear to fulfill Marinakis vision of the future he wants to build an all singing/dancing complex away from Trentside 😕
⭐️🌳⭐️
I don’t think anyone is convinced we can build what is needed where we are, so looking elsewhere makes sense so we can compare to CG potential
Congrats on an excellent interview Matt. You asked exactly the (tough) questions we wanted answered.
Looks like TC is rowing back a bit on the leaving the WFCG, but he has rather undermined his previous argument that Forest were being forced to leave by the City Council. It still feels to me that leaving is Plan A, even if they recognise it's very unpopular. I noticed he kept referring to Forest as representing "Nottinghamshire" rather than the city of Nottingham implying the ground could be in the middle of nowhere as long as it was in Nottinghamshire.
sounds full of shit but what do we really expect
Yes technically Toton is still in Nottinghamshire but only just!
Next to the river Erewash which marks the derby boundary
its sheep area
Blimey. Well done on this one Matt.
Thanks Matt. Good to hear Tom's views on the issues raised. Communication is key.
Well done Matt on getting Tom on..Great interview !!!
Good journalism Matt, all the important and pressing questions addressed. People often want simple answers to complex issues, good to hear a nuanced debate.
Well done for getting Tom on, Matt!
Excellent job Matt, that was great!
Great vid guys. Some clarity was required across the fanbase. One thing that intrests me, at what point does the club say, we've reached the maximum inestment for ROI? Tom has mentioned 200million, so we alreday know that and it will provide 38-40k seats, so is the intention of the club to expand on that? why not say so? "We want to build a 50k stadium" because in that case the City Ground wont ever reach that
👏🏽 Good interview, I wish some of our fans would actually listen to what our chairman is stating, before saying just do this do that regarding the city ground!
I have some really nice beans you might be interested in?
Superb piece.
Great interview Matt, a very interesting interview. Thank you
Fair play Matt for getting Tom on
Superb. Thanks for asking the (difficult) questions we wish we all could Matt. Another coup for the podcast! 👍
Great interview Matt and fair play to Tom for coming on. I thought Tom answered every question clearly and honestly, providing insight into the long term ambition, the issues and the hopes of the Club in achieving this. Watching and listening to Tom has given me more confidence that the Club are intent on staying at the City Ground in a revamped much improved stadium IF they can. Keep talking to us Tom and please address the inevitable rumours as they come up, however frustrating that will be. Be transparent and show the integrity that you've shown here. Thank you Tom and Thank YOU Matt.
Well said
Great Podcast Matt, some interesting points made, would be nice to have the Chairman on as a regular feature throughout the year, can answer questions that would prevent unnecessary speculation. Keep up the good work, thanks.
Absolutely brilliant Matt thank you, what an insight can’t wait now for pre season to unfold!! ,
Brilliant interview 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I just watched a video of Americans comparing UK football supporters chants to those in America. I think he perfectly summarised the difference as "one's fun, the other is monetised." I think that perfectly sums up what we've been and what we're going to become.
Real football fans aren't here just for the cup runs and the trophies. They're here for the fun, the mistakes, the appalling performances, rain soaked evenings on rickety seats after a 4 hour drive and will have just as much fun and will continue to support the club when we're back in League 1. The reality is the fans in the ground are becoming less and less financially relevant and thereby less important. People across the world calling themselves fans because they're paying to watch 3 minute clips on their phone and buy the replica shirt bring in far more money than any number of filled seats in the stadium.
Enjoy every minute you spend in the WFCG because it's days are numbered and so is the fun.
There are also thousands of local loyal fans who can’t get to games. How are we supposed to take our kids to matches with us? Even ST holders can’t buy an extra Matchday ticket if they wanted to…
My grandad took me to my first games aged 6. I can’t take both my kids or my dad with me. We’ve finally outgrown the CG and need to trust Tom to find us the best long term solution.
Brilliant episode
Great interview by both of you.
Well done Forest. I wonder how many Prem Chairman have appeared on a fans podcast? Well done Mr Cartledge. And we’ll fine Matt, quite a scoop.
Forest fan since 79 and visited CG numerous times when I lived in England. Great memories from games. Now I’m living in Canada so I don’t have the relationship with the CG as I once did. I’m ok if a move away is required however it would be a damn shame and I feel for the Forest fans that have grown up going to the CG. It is a special place.
Any new stadium SHOULD be closer to Nottingham
Well done Matt and great questions asked
Incredible stuff Matt.
Thank you Matt, a very good interview. Keep them coming… perhaps the owner next time 😉
Interesting to hear TC talk about making the club more environmentally sustainable a couple of minutes after complaining about insufficient car parking at the WFCG, implying he'd prefer a suburban/out of town location.everyone drives to.
We will lose what sparse parking we have I think is the point. And residents don’t want traffic issues from another 10-20k fans
as a forest fan, I want forest to play in a proper stadium that can hold 50k people. Nottingham forest is not its manager and its not its stadium. No one likes change, but I believe it is for the best
I live in Australia big Forest fan. I would suggest you pay a visit to Melbourne and see how they have developed the riverbank precinct, with sporting facilities, high rise apartments etc. Purchase the residential dwellings and build upwards, sofitel hotel, quest apartments infrastructure improvements, training facilities near stadium plenty of green space
A great coup Matt 👏🏻👏🏻
Big up Matt nice work mate.
I'm disappointed that regarding ticket prices the question wasn't asked as to why they didn’t rise by the same percentage across the whole ground. Mine has risen by 38% whereas ones in the next block and generally across the ground have only risen by around 20% or less although I am in the stand with the worst facilities in the ground, which are certainly not fit for purpose. I have renewed my season ticket that I have had since they built the PT stand as really the choice was renew it or lose it. It actually shows loyalty counts for nothing!
A 5 star performance from Matt'. Well done. Plenty of 'hot potatoes' and to be fair, Tom answered them all but one. The best Forest podcast gets even better. Though I wonder why we can't do a 3 tier counter lever design (keeps plenty of room at the floor level and boosts capacity at a higher 3rd tier level for Clough and Taylor stands(?), modular so each part can be built separately? Can we turn the pitch and 'nudge' into the Trent a bit? There's already a great design out there for this?
It’s obvious they want away from the CG. Shame.
How the hell do you get that??
Even if true, it won't happen within the next decade, judging by his comments
@@markjohnson-brown5103 read between the lines. They don’t think it’s fit for purpose
Think most people agree it’s nowhere near fit for purpose
@@markjohnson-brown5103are you for real? Marinakis has said twice he wants to move, aside from the cripplingly obvious leaks and interviews
I love the City Ground. I’ve been going there for 45 years and have lots of wonderful memories. BUT I love Forest competing at the highest level more. We must grow or accept we will fall out of the top level to be replaced by other clubs who do have ambition. If we do need to move to compete with the best so be it.
I would buy a season ticket today if one was available, they’ve been talking about this stand for years, just get it done. It seems like we are getting, further and further away from us actually doing something that will allow more people to watch the team.
Happy with that. If we want to expand I believe we are in good hands
Firstly, great job getting the interview. It's channels like these that need to get focus above clickbait tossers like Wolverine. Secondly, Tom is a slimy git. Very good at answering politically, completely self-serving, and an utter wanker. "Ambition" is not an excuse for ripping of fans and people who fans have a connection with.
I imagine the club has already identified where it wants to build a new stadium and it isn't at Toton.
What about the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station site? It's due to close very soon. Owned by Uniper UK. Its CEO was previously EON's CEO. There's the connection with the club. The site is on the A453, close to the M1 and EMA. Next to the East Midlands Parkway train station. Tram line to Nottingham to follow? Is someone quietly buying up land in the area for development? A 'sports city' development, with housing, retail, leisure et.c., et.c. with a football stadium as its 'initiator'?
Also, the last five years of plans and delays was probably a technique by the club to make it seem as if something was happening when in fact the club has been filling time while it waited for the closure of the station, which is imminent.
Matt, Is the land around BBC Radio Nottingham at their Island Site, owned by the City Council and has got a lot of land around it that could possibly work, their is apparently a council site that lies on the site also and as it is closer to the City would be far better than Toton for the Dan's as I know that without any transport, I would love to get a season ticket, however would never be able to get there to Toton however the Island Site would be do able as it is so close to the City! Could you find out if they believe that would be a suitable site too? I agree with you regarding the purchase of the Freehold as however long we stay at the WFCG, we would no longer be having to pay rent anymore thus making a permanent saving and not only that even if we did then move to a different Stadium, the ground would belong to the club and would be appreciating in value too instead of having no monetary value in our old ground unless we did buy it. That is why I believe it would be a no brainer in buying that freehold because if we did then sell it, it would be worth more than the £10M being charged! At the end of the day too, if the council needed somewhere to move their places to they could then come to Forest and buy the old ground once the New Stadium had been built! Alternatively, if they were interested in building a hotel like some of the other Major Premier League clubs then that could be an option or alternatively build a new training facility would an be another possible option! Unless there is room at the Island Site which I hear is still meant to be fully available and therefore could be suitable for everything on the Forest wish list! Hence due to its close proximity to the Current WFCG, both locations could work together as parts of our sporting facilities. So what do you think to that idea Matt, also if you get the opportunity would you pose those questions to anyone of the higher ups at the Club such as the Chairman or even Miltiadis Marinakis or Mr Evangelos Marinakis himself? I would love to hear what you think personally about what I have suggested? Kindest regards, Mark from Arnold! Hope to hear your thoughts very soon, many thanks, Mark!
Thanks Tom for coming on this podcast and for the work you’re doing.
I don’t doubt your love and ambition for Forest.
I trust that all decisions will be made in best interests of the club that allow us to progress moving forwards.
Lucky I’ve started following Notts County a bit more closely over the last few years as I’ll probably just go and watch them if we move from the city.
Is there anyway we can hold on to MGW, CHO , and Murillo?
Or is it inevitable we'll lose one or even two of them 😢❤
Basically, prices are going to remain high because we are staying at the City Ground that can't be expanded too much, because demand for tickets completely outstrips demand.
So basically then. Any improvements to the CG or a new stadium is about 10 years away. Get together with the owners, boardroom and fans. Thrash it out. Make decisions and get on with it. It’s been 5 years already.
Excellent interview, Matt! I thought the Chairman came across well and answered all the questions he could realistically answer.
One point he repeatedly came back to is what Marinakis has done for the club and I couldn’t agree more. I feel it’s often wildly under appreciated.
Im sure if social media had been around in the glorious heyday of Clough & Taylor some people would have chuntered & moaned about ONLY winning the League once,the European cup TWICE & god knows how league cups etc because some people are never pleased ? As Tom pointed out,see the big picture of where we were several years ago & where are now & where the ownership wants us to be in another 6/7 years time. If we are in div 2 & been bought out by notts county then chunter away.....
If we must leave our home,could we not ask county to swap grounds and build there,just a thought,great interview Matt
We need a new stadium to compete.
The city ground site is not fit for purpose. The bastards won’t let us expand to 50000. Time to move
‘All the money and the revenue we can generate helps build the football team’ but we left £6-7m on the table of a shirt sponsorship last season!
Fair play to Tom fronting up even if he's limited in what he can say. We're not a brilliantly run club but we never have been and I quite like it like that.
Says he doesn't want another 5 years pondering what will be thier final decision on the ground situation, so i take from that it will go on year after year until they have to do another interview in probably 4 years from now, i can't see it ever being built sadly 😢
Great interview, however, not buying the comment around knowing what they're doing given we did actually breach PSR which cost points. I have no doubt the owner has the best intentions but at times it has been unnecessarily chaotic.
Matt, did you ask him what city ground capacity will be once safe standing and containers are in place?
Well the containers add 360 on top of 29,700 we shoe horned in for Chelsea
Assume safe standing adds nothing unless we are doing a proper wrip out and start again
Well done Matt. However Why does the chairman push the owner so hard? 20 minutes he mentions his thanks, appreciation, ambition etc. Just answer the questions the fans want to hear rather than peddling the PR angle (again). It’s like an extension of the owners Daily Mail interview last week.
Can we buy Meadow Lane too and build a bridge between them and then ground share?
Well done Matt. Great interview. What a coup to get the Chairman! Steve Cooper next??! 😄
if we stay somewhere on the South Bank of the Trent, i could get on board with it. but if we are 5+ miles from the WFCG, no thanks! and if the PSR rules get overhauled or cancelled in next couple of years, the incentive to move could disappear, as Marianakis could invest more directly, rather than the club have to earn it via gate receipts
I enjoyed last season, I've endured this season. In that time the club have made me it clear that I'm a customer and our manager an employee. I dread that the plan is for me to be a consumer. If I wanted that I'd get a ticket to watch Man City, I hear there are plenty of empty seats.
I think the real issue with the fans was the price/age we paid for him but this season he’s made up for that price tag we all know he’s a decent player but thank god nuno managed to get the most out of the player he is fair play he stepped up when needed the most 👏
I urge everyone to read 'Can we have our football back' by John Nicholson.
In 1990 I went to my first match, my dad paid £20 for a ticket in the main stand. I took my son to his first game last year and paid £30 for a ticket in the main stand. How can people say that the ticket prices are to much, in a generation, they’ve gone up £10. It was sad to hear that he had to come off social media and I can’t only imagine the crap he was getting over it, I would buy a season ticket tomorrow if I had the chance.
OK, according to the Chairman's figures gate receipts were 10% of revenue and are now 1% of revenue. So how do you think that will affect listening to the voice of the fans in the ground?
Id rather be in the championship with our current stadium than in the premier League in a spotless bowl
How about Premier league in a world class stadium bespoke designed for Forest…
@@James-zc8ulnot if it's out of town
Not all change is good change
200 million on the CG versus 500 million on a BRAND NEW STADIUM - hmmm, which number is the smallest.
Marinakis can afford either, the cheapest option might not be the best…
We represent the city of Nottingham…..not the county, that’s the black and white team over the water
Small minded view considering the City ground is in the county and the City has such a small foot print. Does nobody in Gedling, Rushcliffe, Broxtowe, Newark, Mansfield deserve to be represented by the Reds
Nottingham Forest represents not only the City of Nottingham but the entire County along with Notts County and even the Stags. Even our fan base who do not live in the City of or do not attend matches are proud of Nottingham Forest and the clubs achievements over the years. The City ground always will be full of fans from the City and far and wide , with the mist rolling in from the Trent and long that may continue
Hasn’t told us absolutely anything!!
Agreed. I was underwhelmed by what he had (or didn’t have) to say.
@@user-kb6to1qz2x exactly…knows we’re moving, but probably not allowed to say. The safe standing we knew was happening because the club hasn’t got a choice. They get fined if they don’t and the corner boxes is only for them to make more money…told us nothing!
Acting like a politician, ‘tis the season
I feel like he’s purposefully saying “County of Nottinghamshire” constantly to try and move people’s thinking away from the CITY Ground
We're already in the county!
so long story short, we are moving
Brilliant Loved this! Ignore the detractors
Not committing means yes…..we need to sell….and this is far from a well run club…..Brighton is a well run club, Bournemouth palace and Brentford also but Forest…..behave
Notts County have a 20k Ground. Could we play share with them as a temp' measure? Knock our entire stadium down and build it from the ground up circa 50K+ on the same site with 3rd tiers and counter lever designs? (Or am I going to hell for suggesting this?). *Toton? **Shudders. Can't we build on that for the training and academy? It feels like this Council dispute is an excuse to leave? I understand the ambition. We appreciate that. But if we move from the City Ground, do we sell our soul for the ambition? Can't we pull in a world class architect with a progressive imagination to re-envision the City Ground? eg. Normal Foster. I've wonder why we can't counter lever the A Block over the river. (Outrageous?) And make more of the West Bridgford Stand similarly.
Some reasonable answers but pretty thin skinned when it came to Benoy's position to benefit from future stadium development.
One of the world’s best architects and Forest fans behind the designs. Think we are lucky myself they are nottm based
Isn’t this the guy who tried to have the city ground moved before in the past?
As long as Nottingham Forest is progressing then I stand by the owners decisions.
Yes I look forward to us progressing. Didn’t see much sign of it this season.
All hot air and stalling tactics. No chance they’ll build a new stadium and if they were going to build the Peter Taylor stand it’d be done already we have another Fawaz of empty promises
I really dont get why fans are trying to portray Tom Cartledge or the owner are the bad guys. Is our owner perfect? No he is not has he made mistakes? Yes he has,but there are a lot worse out there than Mr M. He pays the bills on time,no winding up orders the staff all get there wages when they are meant too,he has spent the best part of £400m of his own money since buying the club. Constantly loans the club money and then converts that money into shares so we don’t have to pay it back. During Covid when clubs were laying people off we didn’t we kept all our staff due to Mr M loaning the club £35m to function and then wrote it off. He has never taken a penny out of our club and now wants to spend even more on us to bring us into the 21st century. He doesn’t want to change the name of the club or the colour of our shirts he just wants us to be successful. Ask Reading fans who they would prefer as their owner. Their current one or Ours. Remember Fawaz,or Wray or Scholer. Jeez,back him for christs sake.
Told us nothing! Obviously vetted questions beforehand.
Excellent PR, and what did we learn from that ?
The Brentford fan, again - why are you here?
@@tc8066 What did he actually say ?
I try and give a honest opinion you 🤡.
@@tc8066Giving a honest opinion, you 🤡.
I've got to say, as PR jobs go this whole saga has been a complete pigs ear. The club and partners need to work DILIGENTLY on what the true cost and nature of the work is to upgrade the existing stadium, vs moves away. Once that legwork is done, there needs to be a proper, in-person, consultation with a detailed presentation from the club on what the proposals entail.
Being gaslit, emotionally blackmailed and outright lied to over the stadium issue is a giant middle finger to the fanbase.
Like many Forest fans, I've been coming to watch my team for over 55 years, and whilst the City Ground is a memorable and iconic stadium that I would hate to leave, if we aren't able to vastly update the chronically poor facilities for ALL fans ie toilets, accessible corridor spacing, vending availability etc etc within the space the stadium can use, then just imagine what it will be like in another 10 years. Large price hikes for fans for premiership
wages, whilst we suffer an archaic experience on match days. Let's hope the fans finally get what their support deserves 🙏
The club is in good hands.