Review of January – a fight is needed
30/01/05 | by Adam Gray

The first month of 2005 has definitely been an eventful one at the club. A new manager, plenty of faces coming in and out, and three wins from six games. The latter may suggest that Forest are getting themselves out of trouble, but unfortunately only one of those three was in the league, the New Year’s Day win against Stoke. Although I am pleased that we are in the fifth round of the FA Cup against either West Brom or Tottenham, I am probably not alone in wishing those wins were for six precious points in our fight for Championship survival.

The arrival this month of Gary Megson is in my opinion a good appointment for us to make. He is proven at this level and he will get the team to want to play for him. After leaving West Brom on bad terms he will be keen to make amends and show the rest of football what he is capable of. After all, he has already been involved in more games as a manager here than he ever got as a player! 

As I write, we are on the brink of losing Michael Dawson and Andy Reid to the Premiership, with Tottenham and Southampton the two most interested clubs. It will remain to be seen how badly their departures affect us as a team, but if they do leave us – which seems very likely at the moment – good luck guys.

We end the month still second from bottom of the Championship, seven points from safety. Some bookmakers have us as short as 1-4 to be relegated at the end of the season. You can see their point; five wins from thirty games, none of those away from home, our two best players heading for the exits. It doesn’t look good, but being the optimist I am, I’m sure we will make a fight of it, beginning with a vital game at Millmoor on Saturday against rock-bottom Rotherham United, who will be playing their first game of the post-Ronnie Moore era.

What does February bring? Aside from the Rotherham game, we travel to Watford in the league and we can look forward to visiting either The Hawthorns or White Hart Lane in the FA Cup. We play host to Preston, and to finish the month off there is the visit of Derby County. Never has that fixture been so important in recent years.

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