Hello Gents
In peace.... I think Ben leaving was met with genuine annoyance and frustration by the vast majority of us - it reeked of short-termism and a Karanka being unwilling to go with our own youth product and instead wanting proven Championship performers. Having said all that, there were a number of us (myself included) who have always felt that whilst Ben clearly had something about him, you want a striker to score goals and that's the only real measurement that means anything - in that respect he achieved very little, even when he had extensive game time last season. The televised cup game against Arsenal was perhaps his best performance for us and I think it propelled him to an undeserved status - I'm sure it's the same for you boys, when one of your own breaks into the first team there's an affinity already established which results in rose tinted views. In his defence he was played out wide far too much (despite our inability to score). Certainly Karanka didn't fancy him up top and the latter part of his time at Forest is similar to his start with you.
BUT above anything else, he simply didn't hit the back of the net often enough and the majority of our fans would simply harp on about him being young etc etc in exactly the same way many of you guys have been doing. Personally I didn't like the way he so quickly decided he wanted out - I felt he owed us a little more, clearly in retrospect it looks like we've robbed you, but we'll all have a better perspective by the end of the season. If he can get some end product then you'll be laughing - mind, he'll need to stop diving all the time if he wants to do that - at times he could be embarrassing!
Good luck - cheers
