Nottingham Forest legend Stuart Pearce has recalled the hilarious gaffe he made in his first ever game as a manager.
The defender took on the role of caretaker player/manager in the 1996/97 season after Frank Clark had resigned as Reds boss.
First up was a clash against Arsenal - a fixture which prompted much deliberation over Pearce's team selection. There was one very obvious flaw to his plan, however.
“I was thrust into a player/manager role at Nottingham Forest. I sat four hours on a Friday night trying to sort my team out to play Arsenal the next day,” Pearce told talkSPORT.
“After four hours of putting all the names on a piece of paper, shuffling them around and shuffling formations, I came up with a final squad and I sat back and said, ‘That’s my team’.
“A set of eyes at the time said, ‘Have you dropped Mark Crossley for this game?’.
“I said, 'Of course not as he’s the goalie'. They said, 'Have a look at that XI again, there’s no goalkeeper'.
“We won 2-1 the next day, by the way.”
Alf-Inge Haaland scored twice that day as the Reds came back to clinch victory after Ian Wright had opened the scoring.
Dave Bassett went on to claim the manager’s job from Pearce, but the England great did return to the City Ground hot seat on a permanent basis in 2014.
