The Remarkable Rise & Fall of Forest Green Rovers

if there's one thing that most football fans know about forest green Rovers it is their green credentials acquired by Green energy industrialist and climate activist Dale Vince in 2010 forest green became the world's first vegan football club in 2015 and three years later they were declared both the world's first ever carbon neutral football club by the United Nations and the world's greenest football club by FIFA the green army as they are rather raply nicknamed serve only vegan food and drinks at the club stadium and training ground the club runs on 100% renewable energy 20% of it coming from solar panels on the Stadium's roof at 80% from Vince's nearby windmills and their pitch is the only entirely organic one on the planet even the club shirts are made out of coffee grounds and recycled plastic if there's one thing that most football fans don't know about forest green robers it's probably where the hell it is even prospective players have admitted to having to take to Google maps in order to find out where the club is based when forest green have come in to sign them nailsworth the Tiny Town in gleria where forest green are based is home to about 6,000 people leading some to describe forest green as the smallest Club in the history of the English football league in Vince's first season at Forest Green the club averaged fewer than 1,000 fans at their home games and even in League one it was only the large away followings of the likes of Derby ipswitch Portsmouth and shville Wednesday which took their Aver aage over 3,000 for all of the jibes and bars from opposition fans though whether that be chance about their veganism environmentalism or modest following no one could argue with Forest Green's results in the space of 12 Years forest green went from the verge of bankruptcy and ceasing to exist only handed a temporary repri from relegation to the sixth TI of English football due to Salsbury City's en forced relegation in 2010 to winning promotion to the Sky Bet League 1 just two division below the Premier League as League 2 champions in 2022 for a club that only played non-league football for the first 128 years of their existence it was a Monumental achievement they were the toast of the football World in 20202 FIFA made the journey to the cotswalds to produce an hourlong documentary about forest green success entitled another way which is the name of the road where Forest Greens the new La stadium is based that was just to years ago since then forest green have suffered back-to-back relegations from League one back down to the National League finishing bottom of League one last season and bottom of League 2 in the season just gone over two seasons the green army of 117 drawn 18 and lost an incredible 57 games scoring just 75 goals and conceding 167 in the process somewhat ironically the one thing that wasn't sustainable at the new lawn appears to have been forest green rovers' success so just what on Earth is going on what caused forest green Rovers to be so wildly successful over a 12-year period and how was it all undone in the space of just 24 months well that's what today's video is all about so sit back relax and join me on a journey to where is it again oh yeah that's right the cotswalds as we take a look at the meteoric rise and catastrophic fall of forest green Rovers where it has all gone wrong and what the future holds for this one-of-a-kind Club on the color of the forest green Rover shirt there are three stars two of them colored in and one of them grayed out that's not to reflect the club's rating on FIFA but their achievements and Ambitions the first star is filled in to represent forest green promotion from the national league to the efl for the first time in 2017 the second has been filled in since 2022 presenting the club's rise from League 2 to League one for the first time and the third is to symbolize Forest Green's ultimate goal of promotion to the championship hence why it is still grayed out a mission statement on the club's website reads quote one star remains grayed out indicating our next step to reach the championship it will be an exciting Journey so stay with us for the ride end quote forest green hit a bump in the road on that journey in 2023 with relegation from Le League one this season has felt more like a head-on collision with a freight train the stars on the forest green shirt have been mocked by rival fans online especially in L of recent events but they reflect Dale Vince's ambition when he stepped into safe Forest Green in 2010 the club was on its knees forest green have spent most of their existence competing between the eighth and 12th TI of the English football pyramid essentially playing Park football the 1981 82 season was was a historic one for forest green as they not only won promotion to the southern league for the first time at step seven of the English football pyramid they also went to Wembley and beat rainworth miners welfare 3-0 in the final of the fa vars in the late 80s forest green rebranded themselves as stoud FC in an effort to raise their profile and expand whilst nailsworth has a population of only 6,000 people stoud which is about 10 minutes down the road is the second largest town in glou the town itself still only has a population of about 13,500 but the widest troud District which takes its name is home to over a 100,000 people nonetheless changing their name did little to improve Forest Green's fortunes and in 1992 they reverted back to being Forest Green robers in 1995 forest green were transferred to the Southern Football League Southern division which unlike the name change would prove to be a catalyst for an upturn in their Fortunes in 1997 and 1998 forest green won back-to-back promotions climbing into the conference or the national league as it is now in the 20045 season forest green finished inside the relegation Zone but avoided relegation after North witch Victoria who finished nine points above them were kicked out of the league due to concerns surrounding their Stadium forest green left the long ground after 116 years in 2006 moving to the appropriately named the new lawn Stadium just 400 m away from their old ground the new lawn took 12 months to build cost approximately £3 million and has a capacity of 5,147 2,000 of which is seated the new lawn was built with a football league in mind since Forest Green's old ground wouldn't have complied with Football League regulations but instead they went in the opposite direction the club was beset by financial problems throughout the late 2000s culminating in a desperate fundraising campaign to try and raise £250,000 it was existential for forest green who were relegated from the conference on gold difference in the 20091 season before being handed yet another reprieve this time due to Salsbury City's own Financial wos which saw them automatically demoted two divisions and forest green temporarily saved after the club failed to raise a quarter of a million pounds and failed to attract any new owners despite taking out an advert in the financial times it looked as though they were going to go to the wall the situation was so desperate that forest green twice launched something called grass no not like that Snoop grass was an acronym for give regularly to assist Squad sponsorship basically it was a targeted fundraising campaign with all money donated by supporters ring fence for player wages in an effort to raise just a measly £2,000 a month that should give you a decent idea of the size of the hole that forest green Rovers were in at the 11th Hour in August 2010 forest green announced that local businessman Dale vce had invested what they described as a sizable summon to the club ensuring their survival and putting an end to a series of winding up orders issued by hmrc at the time Vince claimed that it wasn't a full-blown takeover stating quote I'm just joining with the people there the fans the directors and everyone else that's been making the club what it is today end quote even if that was Vince's initial intention it soon became clear that it wouldn't be the case in the 201 1011 season the first following Vince's investment forest green were almost relegated again finishing just two points above relegated altringham and level on points with a goal difference which was only two goals Superior than South ports who would have been relegated That season had rushon and diamonds not folded it was at that point that Vince became much more directly involved D Vince is an interesting character a self style hippie he joined the new age traveler movement in the United Kingdom after leaving school at the age of 15 when he wasn't traveling between free music festivals Vince was protesting against US nuclear missiles being stationed on British soil or having a standoff with the police at the 1985 Battle of the beanfield in the early 1990s Vince became interested in renewable energy after coming across Britain's first wind farm he found founded Renewable Energy company solid name in 1995 the company that would go on to become ecotricity and launched his first wind turbine in 1996 ecotricity has since grown to become the UK's largest 100% green energy supplier generating almost £350 million in Revenue as of 2022 up from just 70 million in4 what sets ecotricity apart from most other green energy suppliers is their statement to heavily reinvest their profits into building yet more wind farms and solar Parks expanding their operations increasing the supply of renewable electricity and reducing Britain's Reliance on fossil fuels Vince had an estimated net worth of around 100 million pounds when he invested in forest green Rovers 14 years ago and that's likely to have risen significantly since then but he says that he doesn't care about money claiming that it hasn't changed him only what he can do what he has done is is throw his weight and money behind several protest movements MPS and political parties Vince is probably best known to the general public for his donations to just St oil he was believed to be jso's biggest donor as well as providing financial support for groups like Extinction Rebellion Green Peace and sea sheeper conservation Society before reversing his support describing just op oil whose methods he had previously endorsed going so far as to join them on a demonstration and match any public donations they receive for a period of time as pointless and counterproductive it was a very sudden U-turn curiously which some suspected may have been influenced by the labor party Vince through ecotricity has donated roughly £25 million to labor over the last 10 years including 1 million over the last two years alone it makes ecotricity one of the party's four largest recent donors alongside Gary lner the boss of Auto class David sainsbury whose great-grandfather established the supermarket chain which Bears his surname and Fran perin who is David Sainsbury's daughter Vince's decision to stop funding JSO and similar movements coincided with an announcement that he would be switching his support to the labor party who had previously been attacked by the conservatives for accepting money from Vince owing to his links to JSO previously Vince had donated to both laor and the greens as well as welcoming then labor leader Jeremy Corbin who had much more ambitious climate commitments than the current labor leadership to Forest Green Stadium during his campaign Trail into 2019 Vince has also previously been outspoken about his support for the Palestinian cause flying the Palestine flag at Forest Green games and welcoming the head of the Palestinian mission to the United Kingdom husam zlot to the new laun stadium in 2022 earlier this month The Daily Mail had to issue an apology to Vince and pay him substantial damages after wrongly alleging that he had voiced support for herass Vince's increased influence at forest green after that first season was evident it started in 2011 when the club announced that they would no longer be serving red meat to their players on performance and health grounds that's not particularly unusual at least at a higher level but a few weeks later forest green announced that if it wasn't good enough for their players then why should it be good enough for their fans removing red meat and sausages and therefore being burgers and pork hot dogs from the menu at the stadium it wasn't long before all meat products were dropped followed by fish and in late 2015 forest green became the world's first vegan football club months later it made national headlines when two forest green players midfielder Sam wedgbury and forward turn podcaster John Parkin were snapped munching on a pepperoni pizza outside of a chain of Gregs though the story received plenty of press attention forest green players aren't actually required to go vegan they are allowed to eat whatever they like within reason of course given that they are professional athletes outside of the club it's just anything that Vince funds so primarily in The Canteen at Forest Green training ground and on The Concourse at the new Lane that exclusively vegan products are served according to Forest Green no player has ever turned them down because of the policy although I don't suppose that they would admit that that was the reason and several players have chosen to change their diets outside of club premises of their own bition the installation of solar panels at Forest Green Stadium the ground coffee and recycled plastic kits and the electric charging stations in the club car park followed on the pitch meanwhile Vince also became much more heavily involved in a literal sense forest green became the first club in the world with a fully organic pitch but more importantly from a football perspective Vince had a hand in implementing a more modern Progressive and datadriven approach to training and recruitment according to Vince himself forest green were able to use some of the same models of statistical analysis that ecotricity used in the energy sector to gain an advantage over fellow non-league clubs in the National League no doubt an injection of cash also helped salsbury's Jamie Turley exitor James Norwood and aler shot's Jamie Collins were among Forest Green's ambitious recruitments in the 20112 season as the club climbed to 10th in the National League a feat which they repli licated in the following campaign in the summer of 2013 manager Dave HW left the club by Mutual consent his next job rather bizarrely coming at Championship leads United and he was replaced by Adrien panck who had spent the last few years working as a first team coach under Tony pulis at Stoke City under Panic forest green came within a hairs breath of reaching the efl for the first time finishing Fifth and losing a playoff semi-final against Rivals Bristol Rovers in 2015 before finishing second behind another local rival cheltonham town in 2016 and going on to lose the playoff final at Wembley 3-1 against Grimsby Town who finished fourth That season nine points behind them penck was sacked just one week before forest green 20156 playoff campaign owing to a poor run of League form and over the summer the club appointed Mark Cooper in Cooper's first season forest green actually slipped a third place in the league but this time they won the playoffs overcoming tramier Rovers by three goals to one at Wembley Stadium in front of an 18,816 bis green 2-1 on aggregate in the semi-finals but it gave the green army a lot of confidence moving forward in May 2018 vinc poach Richard Hughes from Everton as a head of Recruitment and after just 18 months he was promoted to the role of director of football it was probably the best decision that the club ever made followed not that far behind by the appointment of Rob Edwards in 2021 under Hughes forest green had what was described as a broken toy recruitment policy which Maybe isn't the most flattering of terms but it boiled down to handing once promising players who might not have got offers from any other efl clubs a chance to prove their worth Abu Adams for example who had joined Norwich City in the Premier League in 2015 but only ever made a solitary appearance for the canaries joined Forest Green from non-league es Fleet United and was a revelation during his three seasons at the new lawn following those three outstanding campaigns in the cot wals Adams joined Cardiff City and he won promotion from from League one on loan at Derby County last season there was of course an economic incentive for this transfer strategy damage Goods tend to come with a discounted price tag if we want to stick with that analogy but it also meant that forest green were recruiting young hungry and once at least talented players who had a point to proove the 2020 21 season blad by Co saw forest green make the playoffs again this time losing in the cruestv as Newport County struck in the 119th minute of the second leg to deide the tie the appointment of Rob Edwards formerly of tord united in England under 16s proved to be the icing on the cake there would be no need for the playoffs this time around as Forest screen LED the League 2 table virtually All Season before sealing the title with a two- old draw away at Mansville town on the final day it was a surreal moment for forest green fans who had come so close to losing their Club entirely in 2010 to be promoted to a league where they would be competing against former champions of English football like it switch Derby Sheffield Wednesday and Portsmouth on a Level Playing Field it was also however the moment at which their Journey would Peak Just 4 days after the sheer Euphoria of winning the League 2 title and reaching League one for the first time in the history of the club head coach Rob Edwards accepted a job offer from Watford Vince who had previously rubbished the rumors was anger at how the deal was done accusing Watford of speaking to Edwards before approaching the club and Edwards of having entered into negotiations with the Hornets without informing him edwards's time at Watford like most Watford managers in all fairness didn't last long but after the Hornet sack him he took charge of their Rivals loten Town winning an unlikely promotion to the Premier League via the championship playoffs forest green appointed Ian burnel the man who replaced gr and Potter at Earth as sun in Sweden as Edwards his replacement luring him away from knots County stepping up to League one was always likely to prove tough for forest green even if Edwards had stuck around but as if things weren't already difficult enough at the end of the 2021-22 season top scorer Matty Stevens ruptured his ACL ruling him out for at least the first half of forest Green's debut campaign in League one Victory away at Bristol RS on the opening day perhaps gave the green army some false hope as it would prove to be one of only six victories all season burnel was dismissed on January 25th after a run of seven games without a win but it meant that his replacement Duncan Ferguson inherited a whole raft of signings that had just been approved by burchel only six days before the transfer window slam shot that was particularly problematic because burchel and Ferguson had completely contrasting stars and different ideas of how football should be played Ferguson's unveiling went viral on social media the the contrast between a vegan football club and a man who used to eat Premier League center backs every weekend was a recipe if you'll pardon the pun for many a joke at his first press conference when quizzed on his green credentials Ferguson noted quite rightly that the planet is heating up and we've all got to do our bit when he stated that he never tried any vegan food Vince was quick to point out that he most likely had informing the former Scottish International that chips were in fact vegan when whereas Burn's football was Progressive and possession-based Ferguson just wanted to make forest green tough to beat he had done that in two interim stints in charge of Everton but getting a tune out of the bottom play side in League one proved to be a far greater task forest green won just one of Ferguson's 18 games in charge losing 14 of them and finishing 17 points behind Arrington Stanley in 23rd let alone survival just a few months after Edwards left to join Watford director of football Richard Hughes also departed in a mood to League one Rivals Portsmouth it's difficult to overstate hughes's importance to Forest Green but since he left they have suffered back-to-back relegations to the National League meanwhile Portsmouth just returned to the championship for the first time in over a decade after running away with the league one title and losing only five games all season any club would have found it difficult to replace Edwards and Hughes but to replace them both within a matter of months before stepping up to the highest level that they've ever played at and for a club the size of forest green well it should be no great shock that it proved to be a Tas to Great Ferguson was dismissed at the end of last season probably much to his own relief just 6 months after signing a 5-year contract and replaced by David horseman in the interim period between Ferguson's departure and Horseman's appointment Forest Green's Academy manager Hannah dingley took caretaker charge of the first team effectively that amount to taking first team rather than Academy training sessions during preseason until Ferguson successor was appointed even though it was only a short-term Arrangement it made dingley the first woman ever to have officially occupi the role of head coach of a men's team within the English football league this received a lot of attention and a fair amount of criticism when two weeks later and after just two preseason friendlies in charge of the first team David Horseman got the job and dingley returned to her role as Academy manager talk sport pundit and globally renowned intellectual gabag bonor called Vince and I quote an attention seeking and said that it was quote obviously a PR stunt now there are lots of things to criticize about forest green over the last two seasons otherwise you know they wouldn't have suffered back-to-back allegations but both Vince and Forest gree made it explicitly clear that dingley had been put in charge of the first team on an insing basis and that they didn't think that it was a big deal that should have received so much national attention in Vince's own words he said quote it was a very simple decision Hannah was the most qualified person at the club for the job nothing else came into frame end quote that makes sense given that dingley has a UA for pro license and has been the academy manager at Forest Green since 2019 the alternative if you think that allowing dingley to take first team training sessions was a PR stunt would have been to put a less qualified Man In insim Charge overlooking her for no other reason than the fact that she's a woman just as an aside and farbe it from me to question the Eternal wisdom of Sir Gabriel of aonor but him calling anyone else quote an attention seeking is a little bit like the people behind the Ocean Gate submersible mission to view the Titanic accusing anyone else of exhibiting a reckless disregard for basic Maritime safety regulations Horseman was the former Southampton be team coach as forest green took yet another chance on a relatively inexperienced head coach but he only lasted until December despite having a decent budget and wage bill by Le to standards forest green were bottom of the division Horseman won just seven of his 29 games in charge but if you think that's bad Dale Vince said hold my quinoa salad and broccoli smoothie and appointed troyius player manager as anyone who has ever listened to Trini watched Trini or just sort of vaguely glanced at trini's Wikipedia page could have told you that proved to be an absolute car crash some of forest Green's performances under Dei weren't actually that bad although they still failed to win any of their six games joran is m 30 days in charge but off the pitch deie conducted himself with all of the grace and decorum of a reversing dump truck without any tires on oh my God enjoy the money I hope it makes you very happy dear Lord What a Sad Little Life Jane beginning a press conference with the words the amount of nonsense that you have to deal with at this place from players by the way is embarrassing is always a dangerous game but Deanie surmounted things by calling his players babies accusing their football of being more boring than the Antiques Road Show before apologizing to any fans of the Antiques Road Show and finally by laying into right back FY Dabo in what felt like the most scathing and Ill judg comments of all Deanie told reporters and I quote Dabo was poor and awful again and I've just told him that he will not be playing on Tuesday he's not been good for five 6 7 8 nine weeks I've just told him in front of everyone 6 months ago that kid had a kick to go to the Premier League now he won't get a game in the National League so is that me or him he has pure ability but he gets run every game and never makes a tackle and when the ball comes to him he looks like he kicks it with his shin pads end quote surprisingly Deanie's comments didn't Inspire his players to run through brick walls for him in fact some of them apparently weren't best pleased what with them being human beings and all Vince forced deie to issue an apology though the forest green owner is hardly immune from having made unfavorable and arguably unhelpful comments about his own players as well at a fans Forum where to his credit Vince regularly filled questions from supporters the forest green owner responded to one supporter's comments that forest green players Ross Duan and amadu bakayoko were quote the worst goalkeeper and striker in the world by stating that the club's view quote probably wasn't dissimilar end quote as head coach Dean's relationship with the players had broken down though so after 30 days he was replaced by veteran efl boss Steve cell Forest Green's form actually picked up significantly under Cal inspiring confidence ahead of next season if he can be retained as appears to be the case but by that stage it was too little too late five wins from their last 11 games couldn't lift forest green off the foot of the table orbe it it meant that they were only three points from safety by the end of the campaign ultimately forest green have been punished for their recklessness and instability replacing Edwards and Hughes was always going to be tough but the reality is over the last 2 years they have had six different managers excluding caretaker bosses what more there has been no Rhyme or Reason To those appointments burner looked to get the ball down and play neat and tidy possession football Ferguson wanted to be strong in your face directed aggressive Horseman wanted to press high and counter up pace and Deanie well well I mean Deany just wanted to bully his own players there was no joined up thinking at any stage though and it left forest green recruiting players to play in one sty and system and then asking them to do something completely different only the following week week not only has there been an extraordinary managerial turnover Richard hughes's replacement Stevie grieve lasted just 5 months himself and his successor Alan Steel was only in the job for 9 months head of recruitment William Daniels who spent 20 years in his previous job as a senior Sports Trader at spreadex was gone within 9 months at Forest Green what forest green built over 12 years in terms of a solid and yes sustainable Foundation was undermined so quickly by a few poor decisions but all is not lost in fact you would do well to find another team that could suffer back-to-back relegations and still support their ownership and be as philosophical about that collapse as the majority of forest green Rovers fans the national league is nothing new to Forest Green before winning promotion in 2017 they were the longest serving team in the division 12 years ago they would have been happy just to have a club by 2024 let alone one that has tasted efl and even League one football that's not to say that there isn't discontent of course there is it is just a tempered discontent helped by the fact that there is no indication that Vince is going to turn his back on the club a new stadium and training ground fit for championship football has long been Vince's aim as part of a 100 million pound business sporting and Industrial projects and whilst the eco-friendly world's first timber Stadium keeps on getting pushed back much to Vince's frustration he announced following relegation that the training round should be complete by July in time for forest green to begin their pre-season training in some ways thest green have done a full 180 from being uniquely datadriven and with a modern director of football system in the National League a decade ago now they are happy to give Steve cell an unusual degree of control within the modern game handing in the Reigns as an old school manager rather than a modern head coach in a bid to keep hold of him despite their modest support forest green generates impressive commercial revenue for a club of their size in a world of gambling crypto and Airline football sponsors forest green are almost uniquely attractive to eco-friendly and meat free Brands not least due to the global support that they have gained as a result of their ethos they will do well to average over 2 and a half thousand fans at their home games next season but forest green are reported to have around a 100 supporters groups worldwide so it's a mixed picture at Forest Green rers that third star getting colored in feels an awfully long way away but by the same token this doesn't feel like a club that has just suffered successive relegations the world may be burning and sea levels Rising but there are still some green shoots of optimism in uh ah where is it again for crying out loud that's it the the cotswalds gluster sh look just ru your satat stoud you'll get there eventually that is it for today's video but thank you all very much as ever for watching hit the like button if you enjoyed it I hope that was the case let me know your thoughts Down Below in the comments and of course it goes without saying at this stage make sure that you are subscribed and have notifications turned on not just for this channel H c7s but also my second Channel Alfie pot Arma which is about to get its first video trying to get it to uh 25,000 subscribers before that so if you could help a brother out I would uh be very grateful uh that should be on your screens now uh along with a couple of videos you might fancy watching after this one uh you can also find me on Twitter Instagram or threads via the username at h7s on all three and all of those links plus a whole lot more good stuff should be down in the video description below cheers

Channel: HITC Sevens

Views: 125,264

Keywords: HITC Sevens, Football, Soccer, Forest Green Rovers, EFL, Forest Green, League One, League Two, National League, Rise, Fall, Documentary, Dale Vince, Climate, Vegan, Troy Deeney, Owner, Premier League, Championship, Deeney

Id: 7KamW5vRNyk

Length: 32min 15sec (1935 seconds)

Published: Sun May 12 2024