Remember how bitter the Preston fans were on their first visit to Pride Park after Billy Davies left? Are we going to outdo them in the bitterness stakes when Davies returns with Forest?

Derby County v Nottingham Forest

FA Cup

8:00pm; 23rd January 2009

Pride Park, Derby 

Karl Marx said; 

 ‘History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.’

It was a tragedy for us when Brian Clough joined Forest and took them to two European Cups; hopefully this time an ex-manager of ours takes charge at Forest, it will end as a farce.

Billy Davies is not feeling cowed at the prospect of a visit to Pride Park so soon into his Forest Career.

“I will walk into Pride Park with my head held very high, I will walk in there with plenty of great memories, I have a great relationship with fans there and plenty of first-class friends in and around the place. We had an unbelievable period of time there, in terms of success.”

Well you got us promoted Billy, but I think many fans will feel let down by your comments post-Wembley, by the fact that you seemed to concentrate on getting lucrative contracts for your mates rather than build a new team and by the fact you seemed to give up on the Premier League before we kicked a ball.

Worst of all however, no Derby fan will forgive you the article in the Lancashire Press where you claimed you wished it had been Preston rather than the Rams at Wembley. Sadly no Preston fan will forgive you either.

Forest have made it to this round of the cup on the back of a fantastic victory over Manchester City at the Eastlands Stadium – making a total of 4 wins out of 5 in their last 5 games – the last 3 all being clean sheets.

It’s early days in the Billy Davies reign but he already seems to have steadied the ship and as long suspected, Forest aren’t actually a bad team. Many wondered how he’d get on with Rob Earnshaw – the striker he froze out at Pride Park – however at the moment Earnshaw is in favour and has scored in each of the last 4 games.

Reports suggest Davies may make changes for this game. Definitly out are Guy Moussi and Julian Bennett though Matt Thornhill has recovered from a groin injury.

Forest statistics 

The Rams 

Kris Commons;

"The boys will be revved up to try and put things right, hopefully we'll play the football we know we can and get through to the next round.”

Hopefully?

My Manchester United supporting friends ask why “Derby don’t play like the play against United every week?” and it’s a good question.

The last couple of league games have been dire. We simply don’t look like scoring and our defence looks capable of folding at any time. We always here how the team have had a good week in training and how they are working hard yet it’s never in evidence on the pitch.

Take the fans current scapegoat Gary Teale – clearly the manage see’s him perform every day in training and must be impressed by him – yet he doesn’t seem capable of doing even the simplest thing on the pitch. His contribution is zero.

On Tuesday for example early in the second half he received the ball to his feet and it’s not much of an exaggeration to say that I could have got down from the stand and dispossessed him given the amount of time he wanted on the ball.

Yet he’s a professional footballer. He had some good times at Wigan and showed some real skill – where is it?

Confidence at Pride Park is low and it doesn’t take much to lower it even further. You can blame the hangover from last season if you like but it’s up to the senior players and the manager to gee the team up. We play another team in red tonight and we need to play as we’ve shown in flashes against Manchester United.

The fans wont accept less.

Andy Todd and Steve Davies are missing through injury while Kris Commons should be fit after having stitches in a gash on his leg.

Mick’s team

Bywater, Stewart, Albrechtsen, Nyatanga, Connolly, Green, Addison, Savage, Sterjovski, Commons, Barnes

What the Bookies think 

The Rams are favourites at 7/5 while the Trees are at 2/1. The draw is 11/5. The favourite to score for Forest is unsurprisingly Rob Earnshaw and given that his every touch is going to be booed, I would be surprised if he did. Rob Hulse is at 6/3 while Kris Commons is at 11/4.

Miles Addison is at 7/1 and given that he feels agreived at having his last ‘goals’ disallowed … Might be worth a flutter?

Information for travelling fans 

Driving: Take Brian Clough Way (the A52) towards Derby follow the signs for Pride Park and you will see the stadium on your right.  Follow signs for away supporter parking or stay on the A52 to Pentagon Island. You know where it is.

Parking: It used to be at the old Wilmorten College site however that is now a housing estate so away fans should park at Catalyst on London Rd opposite the Navigation pub. Its about 10-15 minutes walk from the ground. Dont be tempted to park at the shopping centre on Pride Park unless you fancy being clamped. You can also park for a œ5 at the hospital further up London Rd near the hospital and the Railway station. Another alternative is to park at Pentagon Island. Take the exit for the cattle market and turn left and after a few hundred yards you will come to The Cattle Market Car Park. It’s about 10 minutes walk to the ground from here.

Drinking: Given the Friday evening and the nature of the game, most of the pubs will be shut to away supporters.  It’s probably not a wise idea for Forest fans to be drinking on match days in Derby anyway.

Mick’s prediction 

The Cup is the great leveler and recent form means nothing. That said it’s undeniable that Forest are the form team at the moment and Earnshaw is scoring goals.

We do have some steel about us and if we can score home and away against Manchester United, we should not be afraid of Forest.  

I can see this going to The City Ground before it’s resolved

Photo: Action Images

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