Seat Pitch writer Lee Clarke’s latest article for the Nottingham Forest matchday programme, Forest Review, looked back at the brilliance of Garath McCleary during the 2011/12 campaign.
Sometimes in the world of football, players can become adored in the eyes of supporters without really doing a great deal at all.
It isn’t always the number of goals scored, or the times a player has pulled a shirt on. Occasionally, football fans remember certain moments that prove pivotal in a club’s history.
On the face of things, Garath McCleary’s 13 goals and 13 assists from 123 appearances don’t really make him sound like a roaring success at the City Ground.
During the 2011/12 campaign, however, the man with 24 Jamaica caps single-handedly ensured that Steve Cotterill’s team didn’t escape through the trap door into League One.
The third tier was beckoning. Some truly abysmal form under Steve McClaren had seen the Reds embroiled in a relegation battle.
McCleary had not been favoured under the former England manager but was eventually called upon under Cotterill as he plotted a pathway to safety.
When Forest needed a wise old head to stand up to be counted and lead Forest in the trenches, it was instead the 24-year-old who rolled up his sleeves and refused to settle for relegation.
Coming of age
In 22 appearances that season he netted nine goals and registered six assists, helping the Reds confirm Championship football for the following season. His contribution towards 15 goals (Transfermarkt) shouldn’t be underestimated during the 2011/12 campaign.
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His four goals in a famous 7-3 win over Leeds United are particularly memorable but another of his strikes that season sticks in the memory.
Forest had slipped into the Championship relegation zone ahead of a home game with bottom-placed outfit Coventry City. The Reds were in a perilous position and after a torrid first half, Cotterill’s side was booed from the field after being outplayed by the Sky Blues.
With 16 minutes of the tie remaining and the atmosphere getting more anxious by the second, McCleary picked the ball up close to the half-way line and intervened accordingly.
He took on what seemed like all 10 outfield players before striking an unstoppable effort beyond Joe Murphy to send the City Ground into raptures.
Bigger things
After leading Forest to safety, he signed for Reading. His move to the Premier League was thoroughly deserved and hardly surprising.
It’s impossible for a player to grab a whole team as emphatically as McCleary did during the second half of the 2011/12 campaign and not attract attention from elsewhere.
The versatile forward managed three goals and three assists for the Royals in the top flight and has also proved a decent player for them in the Championship over the years.
Recently a series of injuries have curtailed his progress somewhat and he now faces a battle to get back into the Reading team, although a new manager could help that somewhat.
McCleary signed for Forest as a novice from non-league outfit Bromley. He left for the Premier League and will always be remembered on Trentside as the man who kept the Reds up during 2011/12.
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