It has been a busy day for Nottingham Forest with the release of the new
2016/17 home kit for next season and their retained list. The retained list
confirms that out of contract players Robert Tesche, Kelvin Wilson and Chris
Burke will not be given new deals and are now free to join other clubs.
However, fans favorite Andy Reid is in negotiations to extend his stay at the
club.
Robert Tesche
Tesche is the one out of the three released players who some supporters
may be most disappointed to see leave the club. Whilst never being spectacular,
he always did a solid job in the centre of the park and was good back-up for
whenever the likes of David Vaughan, Henri Lansbury, Ben Osborn and others were
unavailable. He only scored 3 goals whilst at the club which included a
screamer against Charlton in a 1-1 draw at the City Ground back in 2014. At the
beginning of Dougie Freedman’s reign, things didn’t work out for Tesche and he
was sent on loan to Championship rivals Birmingham City where he performed very
well. It would not be a surprise to see him quickly snapped up by the Blues on
a free transfer this summer as he would be a real asset to Gary Rowett’s team.
However, Tesche showed his professionalism over the summer and managed to gain
a place in Freedman’s starting 11 for the away trip to Brighton back in August
before unfortunately being ruled out with a lengthy injury after breaking his
foot. Tesche did manage to regain his fitness and scored his final goal for the
club as recently as the 3-1 away win at Fulham in April which all but confirmed
Forest’s safety in the division.
Kelvin Wilson
Wilson has caused a huge debate amongst supporters about whether he
should be given a new deal or not. His casual style of play and debatable
attitude makes him unpopular with a large majority of supporters. The fact he
is said to be one of the highest earners at the club also did not help his
cause. Supporters were delighted to hear that Wilson had made a return to the
club in the summer of 2013 to be reunited with former manager Billy Davies for
a fee of £2.5 million. However, his return to the City Ground has largely been
halted by injury with him only making 46 appearances since his return. His
second spell at Forest has no doubt been nowhere near as successful as his
first and he will mainly be remembered for the length of time he spent out
injured and some costly mistakes. One mistake which springs to mind was back in
January when Wilson made a shocking error at home to Watford in the
FA Cup which allowed Ighalo to slot home the winner for the Hornets with ease. Wilson
summed up his second spell at the club with a woeful performance in a 3-0 home
defeat to Brentford at the City Ground which really made fans concerned about
relegation from the Championship.
Chris Burke
It was already common knowledge that Burke no longer had a future at the
club and it was therefore no surprise to see him released today. After
constantly tormenting Forest’s defence in the past, it was a relief to see him
sign for the Reds in the summer of 2014. He scored on his debut as he curled in
a beauty in a 2-0 home win over Blackpool as Forest fans welcomed club legend
Stuart Pearce back to the club. He made 50 appearances in total for Forest
scoring just 6 goals which isn’t a fantastic return for a winger. However, he
was an honest player who always put in a shift. He also scored in Freedman’s
first home match in charge which resulted in a 3-0 win over Wigan Athletic. He
then went on to score in his next two matches against Blackpool in a 4-4 draw
and Bolton Wanderers in a 4-1 win. However, Burke failed to get into Forest’s
first-team set-up this campaign and ended up on loan at Rotherham United where
he scored 2 goals. It is likely that Rotherham will be his next destination for
a permanent move as the club are said to already have a deal in place to keep
Burke at the New York Stadium.
Do you think Forest were
right to release Tesche, Wilson and Burke? Or do you think they deserved new
deals?
Get in touch!
Twitter: @ForeverForest1
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