The Nottingham Forest captain was always going to have some task on his hands this season and that responsibility will fall again to Ben Watson. The central midfielder will need to call on all of his experience to unite the various styles and backgrounds and have Forest focused on one thing, promotion.
That’s what it’s all about at the end of the day, surely that’s the minimum required with the summer the club are having. There has been some chatter on social media that somebody else may have been handed the captaincy but Ben Watson has retained the honour, Karanka calling upon other players to step up and support the skipper.
To say things have been going well for Nottingham Forest in the transfer market is an understatement. Aitor Karanka joined Forest with the club struggling away in mid-table, going nowhere fast but he probably knew what awaited in the summer. He signed some new players, tried some older faces and young players and has done good business in and out.
The UK signings have been solid. Jack Robinson from Queens Park Rangers will probably flank experienced new signing Michael Dawson, a player who could well have been made captain having had the honour at both Hull City and Tottenham Hotspur during his time. Lewis Grabban has arrived for a hefty £6 million but that’s almost certainly money well spent.
The foreign signings will need to settle, different cultures need to adapt and Ben Watson will be the key figure in helping hem integrate around the training ground and into the squad. Foreign players are almost as common as Brits in the Premier League and a few Championship teams so it’s nothing new but helping them settle fast is a huge advantage, use Wolves as your example, the club itself seems to be the model Forest have set their sights on.
