Division One - The Contenders
04/09/02 | by Daniel Harding

The new season has begun and LTLF is proud to announce this new section covering Division One - so Forest fans know what’s going on with the other clubs in the division, as there is a not a great deal of quality coverage on the internet of Division One right now.

First off, I’m Dan Harding, 16-year-old student from Nottingham. I’ve followed Forest for a few years but that isn’t really that relevant to these articles anyway.

For my first article, I have decided to write about who I think the contenders for promotion will be in the division this season. I think there is a group of around twelve clubs who will be in the running for the top six positions.

For me, the automatic positions are between four clubs - Portsmouth, Norwich, Ipswich and Wolves. All these teams have squads, not just teams, full of quality that the rest of the division will find hard to deal with. Portsmouth and Norwich occupy these positions currently, with Ipswich and Wolves not far behind.

Portsmouth have the likes of Merson, talismanic in his early days for Pompey, and Hislop, both of whom are Premiership quality. But their star man for this season is without doubt their manager, Harry Redknapp. His ability to attract quality players and get them to play to their potential allied to Milan Mandaric’s wallet has transformed Portsmouth from mid table no-hopers into potential champions. Their defence was slightly dodgy against, Forest but the signing of Gianluca Festa from Middlesborough might shore things up.
    Pld + - Pts
1 Portsmouth 6 13 2 16
2 Norwich City 6 13 2 14
3 Leicester City 6 8 7 13
4 Wolves 6 14 7 11
5 Rotherham 6 13 7 11
6 Forest 6 10 6 10
7 Gillingham 6 4 4 10
8 Coventry City 6 7 8 10
9 Bradford City 6 8 6 9
10 Derby County 6 9 8 9
11 Reading 6 9 8 9
12 Ipswich Town 5 10 4 8
13 Sheffield United 6 7 7 8
14 Preston 6 8 8 7
15 Wimbledon 6 6 8 7
16 Walsall 6 6 9 7
17 Watford 6 8 13 7
18 Crystal Palace 6 5 6 6
19 Stoke City 6 6 9 5
20 Sheffield Wed. 6 6 10 5
21 Millwall 6 4 11 5
22 Brighton 6 5 10 4
23 Grimsby Town 6 1 9 2
24 Burnley 5 1 10 1

Divison One table: 04/09/02

Ipswich still have a squad brimming with Premiership quality and I think they are capable of scoring against any team. Players like Pablo, Bent x 2, Ambrose and Finidi can cut through defences as Leicester discovered on their recent visit to Portman Road. In Matt Holland, they have possibly the best central-midfielder in the division. He is inspirational for Ipswich and without him, I do not think they would be automatic promotion contenders. Their defence, goalkeeper especially, is not brilliant and can be breached without too much difficulty.

Wolves have had a good squad with quality strikers like Sturridge and Miller and with the likes of Ince, Rae, Newton and Kennedy, they have players with experience at Premiership and international level. Their defence looks to be slightly suspect with the exception of Lescott, but the quality in the rest of their team should outshine this.

Norwich are slightly different to the other automatic contenders in the way that they have not thrown money at their team, but they still have quality. They had one foot in the Premiership last season but cruelly lost on penalties and this time they are determined not to let it happen again. Phillip Mulryne and Gary Holt are without doubt talented midfielders and Paul McVeigh is currently banging the goals in. Players such as these, combined with their good defence, could drive them into the Premiership, but whether they make it over the final hurdle depends on whether they can improve their away performances as last season they were consistently poor away despite being consistently outstanding at Carrow Road.

At this stage of the season I would say that Forest and Leicester would take the remaining spots in the top six, but this depends entirely on them keeping their teams injury-free and together after January. The transfer window, even if Nationwide clubs can still trade with one another, could be a blessing in disguise for debt-ridden clubs as they won’t be able to sell their best players (as they will only go to the Premiership) and will have steady teams because nobody will leave. If Forest (who look to have one of the best defences in the League) and Leicester can accumulate a good number of points by January, this will give them a solid base to get into the play-offs even if they are forced to sell when the transfer window reopens.

Leicester look to have found a direct style of play that gets them points, mainly due to the work of their experienced strikers - Dickov and Deane. Izzet is quality in midfield and Elliot and Taggart are a formidable partnership.

Forest, as we know, can beat anyone on their day, but need to find consistency. If we can find this, a play-off spot is ours. David Johnson, David Prutton and Darren Ward are the key players that we need to keep in the team, as the defence is pretty well covered.

There are a few other teams who could break the play-offs, but I get the vibe that this season might not be the right one for them. These are Preston, who look to have the makings of a good side under Craig Brown, Bradford (fresh from a 4-1 drubbing of Rotherham), who might use their financial turmoil to inspire the team to unlikely success, and Reading, who have a gem in Jamie Cureton but mainly because there is always a newly-promoted team that does well.

Last, but not least, is Derby, who have some quality, but do not look to have the desire to win when the chips are down, have no First Division experience and look to be in very bad debt which will eventually have an effect on the team.

Coventry, Watford and Gillingham could be close but not close enough to finish above any of the above-mentioned teams. Millwall and Burnley are currently near the bottom of the table, but have shown that they can do well in the division as last season showed.

Erratic Watford are next up for Forest and their impressive 5-2 win over Coventry showed how they can perform on their day but they collapsed to Norwich (four-nil) a few days later. It depends which Watford turn up as to whether Forest will have any difficulty getting the three points. Danny Webber (on loan from Man Utd) is the danger man and his pace and skill will need to be shackled effectively otherwise he could cause problems for our first-choice central-defenders, Walker and Hjelde, who lack pace.