Most summers, Joe Worrall, Ryan Yates and their partners go on holiday together.
Ellie Dawson, Worrall’s childhood sweetheart, has described them as being “like brothers”. “They always sit next to each other at the table. They love each other. They are just genuine, normal lads.”
It should not be a surprise. The duo have a vast amount in common having walked the same path together.
They both came through at the Nigel Doughty Academy, under the demanding, tough regime then overseen by Gary Brazil — one that was designed to shape teenagers into strong characters who could cope with the physical and mental demands of professional football.
Worrall, Yates and Brennan Johnson, on this front, have been Forest’s poster boys; the trio who epitomise all the good work that has gone on just off Wilford Lane over many years. There have been others too.
Since 2016, Forest have generated more than £100million in transfer fees through the sale of academy graduates, starting with Oliver Burke’s £13million move to RB Leipzig and ending with the £47.5m Tottenham Hotspur spent to sign Johnson last summer.
Matty Cash (Aston Villa, £16m), Ben Osborn (Sheffield United, £5m), Arvin Appiah (Almeria £7m) and Ben Brereton Diaz (Blackburn, £7m) all moved on for decent money. Cash, Osborn, Brereton Diaz and another Forest academy product, Anel Ahmedhodzic, were all involved in the Sheffield United vs Aston Villa match at Bramall Lane last week.
There are plenty of Forest academy products plying their trade in the Premier League. But, as of Monday, there was only one still doing so as a first-team regular for Forest.
The departure of club captain Worrall, to join Besiktas on loan — with an option to make the move permanent in the summer, which is expected to happen — is the end of an era.
It was Yates, Worrall and Johnson who were at the very heart of the most important season in Forest’s recent history, as the club finally secured promotion back to the Premier League.
Yates, 26, and 27-year-old Worrall were only toddlers when Forest last dropped out of the top flight in 1999. Johnson, 22, had not been born. But, amid a flurry of 45 signings since Forest returned to the top table, there was nobody better equipped to show those new arrivals what it means to pull on the Garibaldi red.
Worrall with manager Steve Cooper and team-mate Ryan Yates in December 2021 (Michael Steele/Getty Images)
They all understood perfectly what it meant to play for the club. Forest fan through their veins.
Johnson had grown up within a few hundred yards of the City Ground in West Bridgford. Worrall had been a ball boy at the stadium when he took great pride in handing the ball back to midfielder Chris Cohen, a man he went from idolising to playing alongside.
Worrall took former Forest head coach Philippe Montanier to one side in training and told him, in straight-talking fashion, that he was ready for a first-team opportunity. He subsequently made his debut in the next game, against Reading, in October 2016.
By the following December, he was by the side of the City Ground pitch conducting a remarkable first interview as a Forest player, in which he, in no uncertain terms, questioned whether a few of the senior players had the required desire for the shirt, following a 2-0 defeat by Wolves.
“I just think as a collective we do not back each other up enough. It comes down to determination. I have been relishing the chance to play but I was embarrassed to get man of the match today, because I don’t think any of us deserved it,” he said. “Every game I play for this team, every day in training, I want to head it, tackle and be the best I can be. I don’t think there were many players who did that today.”
They would have been brave words at the best of times. But Worrall was about to travel with the rest of the squad for their Christmas do in London. The players were all in fancy dress. The mood might not quite have matched their attire. But Worrall is the sort of character who would not have been afraid to say the same thing to their faces.
Square-jawed, broad-shouldered and blessed with a level of determination that saw him famously once make a tackle with his face against Leicester City, Worrall has never lacked character. His leadership, drive and grit were what set him apart.
The death of his uncle, Graham Saville, made national news last August. He was a sergeant in Nottinghamshire police, who was answering an emergency call about someone in distress on railway tracks, on the outskirts of Newark, where he was struck by his train and suffered injuries that led to him losing his life, aged 46.
Worrall did not want the fact that he was a family relation to be made public; he did not want it to be about him. He did not ask or expect for any compassionate leave.
After it did emerge that Saville was his uncle, Worrall spoke about how his family were strong and together — and how that summed his character up as a footballer and a man.
In the next game, at Chelsea, he produced a truly outstanding performance. He was a genuine colossus, as Forest secured a 1-0 win. In the privacy of the dressing room afterwards, his team-mates gave him a round of applause.
But over the last three transfer windows, he has found his place in the pecking order drop lower and lower as, blunt as it sounds, players with more quality and Premier League nouse, joined Forest. The role Worrall — who began his football life playing for Kimberley Miners Welfare and Hucknall Sports — played in Forest’s rise probably played a part in his departure. He led Forest to promotion but has found himself paying the price as the club’s ambitions and aspirations grew.
And the manner of his departure will not be what Worrall perhaps envisaged; a disagreement with former head coach Steve Cooper did not help his cause. When Forest were in the Championship, there had been a time when Premier League Burnley had courted the defender. More than once, a move was expected to happen.
Few would have predicted that it would be Besiktas, one of the giants of Turkish football, where Worrall would end up. And while his official unveiling may have been lighthearted, they have signed a player who is lionhearted.
Englishman In Dolmabahçe. ☂
Welcome to Beşiktaş 𝑱𝒐𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍 🦅 pic.twitter.com/u5rXsc0PG4
— Beşiktaş JK (@Besiktas) February 5, 2024
In the meantime, the 21-year-old duo of Murillo and Andrew Omobamidele are currently doing a good job of suggesting that they have a bright future, while Moussa Niakhate, Willy Boly and Felipe will ensure Forest are well-stocked in defence. But Worrall’s departure will still leave a void. Because few will have quite the same level of passion as Worrall had when he pulled on a Forest shirt. With the exception, perhaps, of Yates.
That is not to say the rest of the Forest dressing room is lacking in determination or character. But Yates is now the last man standing when it comes to academy products who are regulars in the first team and those who were part of the squad that won promotion — who are “one of our own”.
Nobody worked harder to get his first team opportunity than Yates, who went out on loan to Barrow, Shrewsbury, Notts County and Scunthorpe. He has now played in all five of the top divisions in English football. Many have written him off along the way. Some felt he was not good enough for the Championship. Many more felt the Premier League would be too much of a step up.
But he has proved all his doubters wrong. At Bournemouth, the home fans mocked Yates with chants of “You’re just a s*** Harry Arter“. Yates saw the funny side, joking about it after the final whistle. He is not the type to let criticism get under his skin.
And to Forest, he is far more than that. He, as with Worrall, has seen his fight for a place intensified by the arrival of players competing for his spot. But he perseveres; he continues to demonstrate his value. As was similar to Worrall’s situation, he is up against more technically gifted, more exciting rivals.
But every club needs players like Worrall or Yates. Players who understand what makes a club tick. Men who wake up every day and simply think to themselves: “I want to head it, tackle and be the best I can be.”
(Photo: Ali Atmaca/Anadolu via Getty Images)
