Let's face it nothing is certain in a local Derby. The old saying the form goes out of the window was certainly justified at the iPro last season. We deservedly lost against a Forest side that was in decline.
The first clash of this season sees us in good form whilst our neighbours are still having struggles. The millions of Fawaz have still failed to lead them into the promised land and to be honest many must be wondering now if he can help bring success to the once proud club.
I try and refrain from making comment on our neighbours, but as its the big game that I'm previewing I will break the rule. I have many friends and many relations from the red side of Brian Clough Way and they are quite dismayed to see the plight of their club.
Fawaz came in as a new owner in a blaze of glory over three years ago with a supposed bottomless pit of money in the quest to regain a place in footballs elite division.
All was going well until......a Boxing Day win against Leeds and a leap into the top six of the Championship saw the first of many bizarre moves by the new owner. He sacked manager Sean O'Driscoll! SOD not only had the club in the play off spots, but he had them playing a nice brand of passing football.
Alex McLeish replaced him, but barely lasting a month before quitting and the saviour known as Billy Davies was reappointed. Davies had steered the Reds to two play off semi- finals although he failed to get the club to Wembley.
The second coming of 'King Billy' soon evolved into a circus! The farce of not speaking to most of the media! Some odd statements, and indeed his second spell wasn't to replicate the first. It ended with a 5-0 thrashing at the iPro Stadium.
Stuart Pearce was seen as the messiah when last season kicked off! Indeed, they started fast out of the blocks and after the early games were sitting near the summit of the Championship. However, as the season began to unfold, the form dipped and Pearce quit not long after his finest moment as manager when he led them to beat us!
Dougie Freedman was given the task to restore some pride in the team. The results were fairly decent to start with, but after a few windows of Fawaz splashing the cash, he had joined a side under embargo for breaking financial fair play regulations. Irrespective of your thoughts on the rules, it is wise to play by them. The over spending and massive losses has probably put them back years!
If that wasn't enough, many winding up orders have been issued and bills have been paid late. Only last week journalist John Percy reported that players had been paid late again. Surely someone, whom some are claiming is a billionaire should be capable of meeting bills on time.
Some fans are wanting Dougies head and there is certain division over the rumours of a certain Nigel Clough coming in to manage the club. In my opinion he could be the perfect man to help sort out the team. He kept Derby away from the basement working on a shoestring. Surely any prospective new manager (Should Freedman be relieved of his duties) will have these capabilities! It is a must on their CV.
Fans are now starting to argue on social media about their owner too! Some are saying he's making them a laughing stock, whilst others are staying loyal. Now if Fawaz decided to put the club up for sale, who would buy it without him clearing the debt? I've no doubt there will be people wanting to buy the club, but there would maybe be some hard bargaining before a sale was completed. Anyway they aren't for sale at the moment.
Right, let's now concentrate on our own club. Recently taken over in full by local self made millionaire Mel Morris, we are now in the best state that we have been in many years.
It's true that we have had to put up with our fair share of frustration, but GSE who recently sold the club, did come good. They got the books in order and made a very good appointment in Sam Rush once Tom Glick left for Manchester City. They left us in a healthy financial state and now Mr Morris has taken over a club with good balance sheets, good support and top quality facilities. Many forget the investment that has allowed us to have a category one academy.
Since his arrival Morris has had to flex his muscles! The way in which Steve McClaren flirted with another club which saw the almost overnight drop in form and which ultimately saw us go from top of the table to eighth by the end of the season saw McClaren being shown the exit door!
Between them Morris and Rush used their judgement to appoint Paul Clement who despite having excellent credentials as a coach, had not been in a managers chair. They must have had a lot of belief in him to make him our manager (OK Head Coach). I'm certain a lot of homework was done before appointing him. At the moment it is looking like a very shrewd appointment.
We do have a very exciting squad with depth! Indeed we are currently experiencing some great times.
On to Friday nights clash. I'm not going to break the habit of a lifetime and predict the outcome. I'll take any kind of win against them! I am usually a bag of nerves before the game and I don't think that Friday night will be any different.
We are by far the stronger side on paper, but football is played on grass! They do lack a natural goal scorer since Assombalonga got injured and I would be very disappointed if our defence gave away any soft goals. Christie, Keogh, Shackell and Forsyth have looked very good this season.
Our midfield is loaded with talent and our front three aren't so bad either. (Understatement)
These fixtures are often hard fought games and it wouldn't surprise me to see a game decided by an odd goal, but if we hit them early I could see us really hurting them.
Last season I had a gut feeling that Pearce would do us over! This time around I have no such feeling! If we don't win what will be a golden opportunity to take three points I will be very disappointed!
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