Former Nottingham Forest defender Chris Cohen is set for a stint as part of the Imps’ coaching team.
Cohen, who appeared more than 300 times for Forest, was spotted chatting to Jimmy Walker during City’s 1-0 win at Fleetwood, and whilst nothing official is coming out of the club, it is understood he is coming on board to help Tom Shaw with coaching as we hunt a new head coach.
Cohen began his career at West Ham, spending a couple of seasons on loan at Yeovil before joining Forest. He is a legend of the City Ground, having represented them diligently for 11 seasons, twice winning their Player of the Year award.
Upon retirement, he progressed to managing the Forest Under 21 side before becoming assistant to Nathan Jones at Luton Town after playing with him at Yeovil. When Jones moved to Southampton, Cohen moved with him, as did one-time (literally) Imp Alan Sheehan, only to find himself relieved of his duties not long after relocating to the south coast.
Who is this chatting to @jimmywalker001? Answers on air soon 😳 pic.twitter.com/6fyNdHmwAN
— Michael Hortin (@michaelhortin) October 21, 2023
In an interesting interview with the Garibaldi Red Podcast in September, Cohen gave a frank assessment about his time at Southampton. It’s well worth a watch, but he made some interesting comments which suggest he will be a good person to have around the side for however long it may be.
“Ultimately, it was an unsuccessful time that made me realise even more what we created at Luton and realise that it’s not just the playing side, but the way the club was run and the people that worked there. Knowing we can create that anywhere is important,” he said.
“Knowing you don’t need 60 or 70 staff – and they weren’t bad staff, we met lots of nice people who were good at what they do, but the volume of people made it tough for us to find anyone that was accountable. We want people with us willing to put their head above the parapet and say ‘I think we should do this’ and not afraid to be wrong.”
At present, his role is not officially confirmed, but I understand he was the coach alluded to in Liam Scully’s recent interview. Whether it is simply a case of an extra pair of hands or a precursor to something else is yet to become clear.
If Chris can help us, then Welcome Aboard!
Great win today! Let’s hope he can offer something more creative than passing around incessantly at the back to maintain possession but without leading to attack – apart from a big hopeful boot upfield.
To be fair, great win today at Fleetwood. I’ll be really happy if we beat Charlton on Tuesday. They panned Reading 4-0. Tough call then?