Nottingham Forest striker Jamie Ward, currently on loan at Charlton Athletic, has broken his silence on his 'horrific' time as part of the 'bomb squad' under Aitor Karanka, as reported by the South London Press and Mercury.

Ward was relieved to get some time on the pitch in the Addicks recent 2-0 win against Bradford, but he revealed aside from international duty he found himself frozen out at the City Ground.

"Apart from when I’m away with Northern Ireland I’ve been with the rest of the lads in the bomb squad. It was horrific [being in the bomb squad]. It depends how you get treated and that varies from club to club. I know a lot of clubs where you are treated a lot better than we were at Forest."

The 32-year old joined Forest from bitter rivals Derby County in 2015, making 62 senior appearances. Just eight of those came last season as he was increasingly marginalised under Mark Warburton and later Aitor Karanka.

“It wasn’t great at the start. Things got better eventually, because they had to. There are guidelines they have to follow, things like that. I can’t go into it too much or I am liable to be fined and the club would love to do that.”

Ward's contract at Forest is up in June and he will almost certainly not go back to the East Midlands, regardless of his latest comments.

His current side are seventh in League One, just outside the play off places, but are expected to challenge for promotion this season.

The Verdict

It sounds as though Ward has had an awful time at Forest. It can't be nice as a footballer to find yourself out in the cold, but that is what happened.

It won't have been easy making the leap from Derby in the first place either, so one would imagine Ward is happy to put it all behind him at Charlton.

If he impresses this season, he might earn a deal for 2019/20 and who knows, he might get a chance to line up against Forest in the Championship once more.

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