Division One - The Strugglers
18/09/02 | by Daniel Harding

Perhaps the most refreshing part about writing this article is the fact that I can state without the slightest doubt, that Forest will have absolutely no relegation worries this season. You may be thinking that this might be a little stupid as it seems pretty obvious, but last season was a lot closer than it looked. After the Walsall game, it looked a bit precarious. Anyway that was last season, and this article is meant to be about the rest of the division.

The first division this year, in my opinion, is a very poor league. According to the table, Portsmouth and Leicester are the best two teams in it, which sums up the quality of the league. There are nine teams, which I think will be battling it out to avoid ending the season in the bottom three. These are Grimsby, Stoke, Brighton, Walsall, Sheffield Wednesday, Wimbledon and to a lesser extent - Derby, Rotherham and Bradford.

Grimsby have an obvious lack of technical ability in their team and their ageing defence of Steve Chettle and Paul Groves will mean the outstanding Danny Coyne will have his work cut out if he is to stop the goals flying past him. Alan Pouton is a quality midfielder, but one player does not make a team. The reason they have survived on previous seasons is their ability to get results out of nothing due to pure desire and spirit (Roy Keane-style). I don’t think this will be enough this time as they have no hope of progressing without bigger crowds and being able to keep hold of good players like the recently departed highly rated full back, Danny Butterfield and the Aston Villa ex-tennis ace, Michael Boulding.
    Pld + - Pts
1 Portsmouth 9 22 7 25
2 Leicester City 9 18 10 22
3 Sheffield United 9 13 10 17
4 Norwich City 8 16 6 15
5 Rotherham Utd 9 17 11 15
6 Watford 9 12 14 14
7 Coventry City 7 10 10 13
8 Gillingham 8 9 9 13
9 Derby County 9 12 13 12
10 Bradford City 8 9 10 12
11 Wolverhampton 7 16 11 11
12 Nott'm Forest 7 10 7 10
13 Reading 8 9 9 10
14 Wimbledon 9 10 15 10
15 Ipswich Town 6 11 5 9
16 Preston 8 11 11 9
17 Crystal Palace 8 9 9 9
18 Millwall 9 7 14 9
19 Stoke City 8 9 12 8
20 Burnley 8 7 14 8
21 Walsall 9 9 16 7
22 Sheffield Wed. 7 8 12 6
23 Brighton 9 8 17 4
24 Grimsby Town 8 4 14 2

Divison One table: 17/09/02

I admit that I do not know a great deal about Stoke City but to me they look like a bunch of journeymen mixed with dodgy Scandinavians (sorry any Stoke fans). I had high hopes this season for Chris Greenacre but he hasn’t done anything of great significance yet. I think that if they can score goals they might have a chance. They have a young lad called Commons who is said to be very highly rated and he could have a part to play. As a club, they have great potential as they have a wonderful stadium and the potential fan base is quite large but I don’t think they will make it this time.

Brighton and Hove Albion’s chances rest on the shoulders of one man - Robert Zamora. The West Ham reject is pivotal to their hopes as he can plunder the goals they need. His injury at the moment is showing how important he really is. A special mention must go to Steve Melton, who was maybe released too early by us (did we get a fee?) who sounds like he is having an influence in midfield.

Walsall have tremendous spirit and an excellent manager but I don’t think they have a prolific goalscorer or outstanding players anywhere on the pitch. To me they just seem very ordinary and I hope they struggle because they always seem to get results against us.

Sheffield Wednesday are a massive club but they are absolutely skint. The situation is so bad they might have to abolish their reserve team. Any team in this kind of turmoil needs to jettison the highly-paid players who got them in this mess. This is what they have done and it has left them with a slightly threadbare squad which, although laced with quality like Pressman, Owusu and Quinn, will still struggle.

Wimbledon will struggle because like Sheffield Wednesday, they have cut their squad since being relegated from the Premiership. Their financial problems are well documented and any team with Neil Shipperley as their captain deserves relegation. But seriously, the Milton Keynes farce is a disgrace to football. Our sport is not one with franchises; it does not want them and it does not need them. If Wimbledon have no other choice so be it, but they have no right to be in our league if it goes through. AFC Wimbledon will rise from the ashes.

Rotherham are a small ground with one of the lowest attendances in the league. I don’t think that there is a big enough fan base in their location to give the club a chance to grow. They have some average players with a good manager. They deserved to go down last season instead of Crewe (they benefited from a poor linesman’s decision, which gave them a decisive point) and maybe this year they won’t be so lucky.

Derby and Bradford are, in financial terms, the biggest strugglers in the league. Recent form has shown that Bradford are triumphing in financial adversity where as Derby are failing to accept the fact that they don’t have a God-given right to promotion and are in the shit - on and off the pitch. Bring on October 20th!

Speaking of derbies, the Tractor Derby ended a tame 1-1 draw with Mackay and Pablo Counago on target there. Slightly closer to home, the Foxes got a deserved (albeit route one) 3-1 success over the Rams, who really don’t look like they have the stomach for Division One.

Next up for Forest are Gillingham (4-2 victors at Brighton at the weekend) who despite an inconsistent start, are in the top six. Paul Shaw looks to be the danger man (he bagged a brace last time the sides met at the City Ground) but I think at home and with a point to prove after the debacle at the weekend, Forest should get the win they deserved on Saturday. By the way, Watford can now be added to the list of annoying, lucky teams to go with Wolves, Sheffield United, Walsall, Portsmouth and Millwall to some extent.

This weekend is the splendour of the annual trip to Grimsby (who lost 2-1 to Sheffield United last night), Hopefully we can get a win here as this is the kind of team we should roll over if our promotion aspirations are to be satisfied. It would also make me feel better since I think they are going to go down and if they beat us, I’d probably sound quite stupid.