Derby's yo-yo is broken 18/09/02 | by Peter Collison (Issue 2)

Maybe I should be moaning about Forest's last home game: two players sent off within minutes of each other is certainly a strong talking point and one I will touch on later, but all of this pales into insignificance when I witness the spectacular fall of Derby County!

Everyone’s favourite sheep-shaggers seem to be surprising no-one as they slip right down to the arse of the first division. What the sheep failed to realise when they got relegated is a lesson that Forest themselves have learnt - you can’t keep players on Premiership wages when you drop divisions, especially if you’re heavily in debt! Forest had to learn the hard way after getting relegated in 1999 with most of the big earners at the club being shown the door. When David Platt finally left the club, Paul Hart knew that there was no money to spend so he had to make do with what he had, he’s managed to get everyone at the club to that way of thinking, the result being a lot of youth team players filling the squad.

The root of Derby’s problems (there are many…) is Fabrizio Ravenelli. Ravenelli was a decent enough player but as with many great players, as you get older your talent starts to fade. Luckily for us he is half the man he was at Middlesborough, but unluckily for Derby they are keeping him in the belief that he will shoot them to promotion. Don’t laugh, they thought that they were equipped for a quick return to the top flight but with players like Ravenelli squeezing every last penny out of them they haven’t got a chance and if they don’t buck their ideas up we could see them drop a division. It sounds funny and, I suppose it is, but we have just got the Forest v Derby matches back, we don’t want to lose them again, do we?

Well I think that is enough talk about our inferior rivals from down the A52, but as much as nobody in Nottingham wanted to see it, our other rivals from down the A46 have shown us that they aren’t as bad as they were last season. Yes, unfortunately Leicester have had a fairly decent start to the season. After last year's expected fall from grace, many of us expected to see the Foxes in mid-table obscurity. What’s happened is the beginning of the yo-yo effect. They are too good (maybe) for the first division but not good enough for the Premiership, Forest having previously had the tag when they used to get promoted and relegated from the Premiership on a regular basis. It is good to know that if Leicester get promotion at the end of the season that we will once again be playing them in the 2004/05 season.

Talking of decent sides, it is hard not to miss the spectacular form that Portsmouth have been showing, a side that by all accounts are not a promotion-minded side at the best of times but have seemed to have made the best moves of the season in appointing Harry Redknapp. The signings that Redknapp made at first seemed like he was grabbing all the Premiership rejects that would make up his fairly disjointed side, but after witnessing their unbeaten start to the season you have to say that if they carry on like they do, never mind being surprised at seeing West Brom in the Premiership, seeing Pompey in the top flight will be just plain odd!

And after much talk about the rest of Division One, I finally get round to what I was supposed to be talking about in the first place - Forest.

After showing how good they could be in midweek it came as no surprise to see the return of our ever-familiar ‘lose at home’ Forest. The game against Kidderminster ending in a way we all expected, a hammering of a lower division side is what a club like us should be doing, so although the score line impressed us, the result was totally expected. The unbeaten home record that we had built up this season came to an abrupt end in controversial circumstances against Watford. The first half was pretty average and looked to be coming to a close when the referee mysteriously finds extra minutes to play, and what happens? Watford score. This put the referee in some fans bad books but it was nothing compared to what he was to inflict upon us later in the second half.

David Prutton has admitted himself that he was stupid and he let the fans down at a vital time of the game, his two-footed lunge earning him a red card and denting Forest chances of getting an equalizer. To be fair, the ref was right to send him off and unfortunately he seemed right in his actions to send Lester off a minute later. I am only saying this after watching it on the TV and I guess if I were there I’d think differently, but Lester went off and Forest were down to nine men. Towards the end of the game they reverted to a 2-3-3 formation in a bid to get a goal, but despite some late chances, it stayed 1-0 and Forest lost their first home game of the season.

All I can say is that in Forest's current form, I don’t think this is the start of a run of bad form or anything, just a blip in an otherwise impressive start to the season. The Reds have it in themselves to be a great side this season, even Watford boss Ray Lewington hailing us as ‘the best passers of the ball in the division’. With Paul Hart's predominately young side settled, we can expect to see more wins at the City Ground this season and less of the games like last weekend.

So we have come to the end of yet another View From The Armchair, a column that I have decided upon myself to be a twice-weekly affair where you can read the views of an enforced armchair fan and what he makes of Forest's 02/03 campaign. See you in two weeks.