The love story between Nottingham Forest and Ghanaian players; Agogo, Adomah, Ayew
From the times of the late Junior Agogo to Albert Adomah and now Andre Dede Ayew, there is likely a Ghanaian behind the scenes.
Founded in the year 1865, Nottingham Forest has a rich past of winning two UEFA Champions League titles, the European Super Cup and 2 FA Cup titles among a host of other domestic titles.
After years of dominating the football scenes, Nottingham Forest’s performance took a nose dive as they suffered their first relegation in 1993.
Despite bouncing back in 1995, the club suffered relegations in 1997 and 1999 and never returned to the Premier League till 23 years after.
Despite the rollercoaster journey in the Forest, there were some Ghanaians who had stints with the club.
The late Black Stars striker was the first Ghanaian player to play for Nottingham Forest after they were demoted to League One. Agogo joined The Tricky Trees in 2006 after a torrid transfer deal with his former side Bristol Rovers. The late striker scored seven league goals in his first season which earned him a call-up to the Black Stars for the 2008 AFCON.
On his return, Agogo scored 13 goals in the following season to help Forest qualify back to the Championship. Agogo ended that season as the club’s top scorer. Some of his goals included scoring his first hat trick as well as hitting thunder strikes from 35 and 25 yards.
Agogo was instrumental in leading Forest back to the Championship but was sold to Zamalek after a stellar stint.
In August 2019, Agogo passed away after battling a stroke. To this day, Agogo is fondly loved by Forest fans due to his impact on the club.
Popularly known as the Promotion specialist, Albert Adomah became the second Ghanaian player to sign for Forest.
The former Black Stars player joined Forest at the age of 31 after being released by Aston Villa shortly after helping them into the Premier League.
Just like how Agogo elevated the club from League One to Championship, Forest Fans were hoping that Adomah would deliver them their promotion back to the Premier League but that vision never came to pass.
A tricky Ghanaian winger made 27 appearances for Forest in all competitions, scoring three goals and registering two assists. His memorable game for Forest was his goal against Derby County in the Carabao Cup. He opened the scoring as the Reds defeated a youthful Rams 3-0 in August 2019.
However, Adomah found himself out of favour at the Tricky Trees following the introduction of a new coach and ended up leaving for Cardiff City.
When Black Stars captain, Andre Ayew dons his jersey and features for Nottingham Forest, he would become the third Ghanaian player in history to play for The Tricky Trees.
Andre Dede Ayew became the third Ghanaian player in history to sign for Nottingham Forest after he joined the club on a free transfer.
Since gaining promotion to the Premier League, Forest have signed 30 players with the son of the Ghanaian football maestro being the final player to join the club.
Andre Ayew who is at the twilight of his career has reunited with his former boss Steve Cooper under whom he bagged 35 goals at Swansea.
With Nottingham Forest determined to stay in the Premier League, Andre Ayew who has been made aware of what is expected of him has a huge role to play in the club’s determination to remain in the middle of the league table at the end of the season.
Source: Joseph Adamafio
