East Midlands 2 Manchester 0

Leaving local rivalry aside for a moment, I'd just like to say to the richest club in the Premiership and the so called 'World Champions"... aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Man City 0 Nottm Forest 3

Derby 1 Man Utd 0

The East Midlands, the real home of football.

We Hate Derby ?

I write this as Derby are playing Manchester Utd in the Carling Cup Semi Final.

And despite years of indoctrination down the City Ground I am finding it hard to want them to lose.

 

This has never been a problem before.

Am I going soft ?

OK I despise Man Utd, they epitomise everything that is wrong about football. How the beautiful game changed into the master plan to infect every 7 year old boy on every continent with the same fucking football top, despite the fact they have never been to a match.

Oops, Kris F... Commons has just scored a blinder, I need to refill my glass of red wine, I think I nearly punched the air. That is so wrong, this is Derby, I may hate Man Utd, but this is Derby County.

What could have brought on such strange emotions ?

Oh yes, that's right, so far tonight has highlighted 2 big mistakes by the 'senior management' at NFFC

1. Not hiring Nigel Clough before the sheep.

2. Selling Kris Commons to the sheep.

I'm sure both of these decisions were made for sound business reasons, but that is the problem with having 'business people' running football clubs, they know f**k all about football. 

So do we still hate Derby ? Bloody right we do, that is what football is all about, local rivalry. So I can't wait until the FA Cup 4th round match so we can beat hem good and proper. However, I still hope Derby beat Man Utd and I wish Nigel Clough all the luck in the world (but just not quite as much as Forest).

Summary of the Week

So since my last post, it has been a very rollercoaster ride for Forest fans.

1. Billy Davies is appointed our new manager

My initial reaction was disappointment, but mainly because my preferred choices were overlooked. I know very little about him, except that he did manage Derby ! Not a plus. However being a reasonable person I will give him a chance.

2. We beat Man City by 3 goals at there place and should have won by more. We are in the next round of the FA cup and thanks to Betfair I am £100 better off.

3. We get Derby in the 4th round of the FA Cup, lots of niggle expected, with their ex-manager Davies, Kris 'pie eating' Commons and Earnshaw to add a bit of extra spice (although he may loathe Davies more than Derby).

Then suddenly my world gets turned upside down.

4. The new Derby County manager is Nigel Clough.

Do the right thing Doughty

I think on balance Nigel Doughty is the best chairman we could have at Forest. He's local, a Forest Fan, very wealthy and a 'good capitalist' (if that is not an oxymoron) and he appears to be here for the long haul. He has been unfortunate to have got involved with the club at a time when football has changed and we have been through our most difficult period in living memory. It could have been much worse without his support.

In my view he has only one flaw, he is not very good at picking managers and those advisors around him are not much better. He also seems to make his decisions on sound business principles, but football is as much about pride and passion as it is about profit and loss.

On paper Colin Calderwood probably ticked all the boxes, but he was a negative (defensive) manager, whose teams were him personified, good on paper, but too negative. So scared too lose, that they didn't win., especially on the big occasions.

I wasn't at the match today, but I'm sure that 3 away goals against a relegation rival would not have happened if Colin Calderwood was the manager.

Nigel Doughty has shown great patience and loyalty in sticking with Colin Calderwood for so long (a more ruthless chairman would have dumped him as soon as we secured promotion), but what will he do next ?

I'm firmly in the Nigel Clough camp and completely against bringing in Billy Davies. However, I feel the right thing to do is give John Pemberton a few games and hopefully allow him to salvage the season and keep us in this division. Then the next permanent manager should be an appointment for next season. (Dependant on the division we are in).

Obviously we need reinforcements on the playing side, but if I understand the set up at the Forest these days, we have a transfer committee. So let them do their job.

Hopefully by the end of the season Nigel Clough will have taken Burton Albion up to the Football League and the excuse of him only being interested in part time work will be redundant. Also this success should convince any remaining doubters that he is the man and we can start life in the Championship all over again.

The difference will be a manager that inspires the fans, who in return will fill the stadium and cheer the team on to some happier days.

The Resurrection

Not seasonal, but after a long lay off I'm back.