Best Bid Snubbed, and Celtic Pip Forest for Robson

Best: Snub
By The Daily Red
January 31 2008

Nottingham Forest have been spectacularly snubbed in two last ditch attempts to secure Colin Calderwood’s January transfer targets. Coventry City have rejected another bid for striker Leon Best, while SPL champions Celtic have pipped the Reds in their approach for Dundee United captain Barry Robson.

A bid in the region of £1.25m has been rejected by Coventry City for Nottingham-born Best, who reportedly made a transfer request in response to interest from the Reds and a number of Championship clubs.

Barry Robson meanwhile looks set to join Gordon Strachan’s Celtic whose interest all but ends Forest’s hopes of securing the midfielder’s signature.

It is understood that Forest are extremely reluctant to make any further bids for Best.

They now face a race against time in their bid to add to the squad, with manager Colin Calderwood remaining determined to add a striker. 

Will Hoskins and Freddy Eastwood are names linked to the Reds in the local media, but with the window closing in around 10 hours it seems that Forest’s persistent confidence in ‘Plan A’ may ultimately be their downfall.

The club’s only addition so far in January is Gareth McCleary from Ryman League’s Bromley.

Though highly-rated, Colin Calderwood has pointed out that McCleary is yet to recover from injury and will need several weeks of intensive training if he is to adapt to the professional game.