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Derby vs. Forest: Over A Century Of Bitter Rivalry - Part 2.
Derby vs. Forest: Over A Century Of Bitter Rivalry - Part 2.
Friday, 18th Jan 2013 22:27 by Paul Mortimer

Following on from Duncan's revived classic article yesterday which examined the great battles between Ram & Tree until 2000 - today we pick up from the turn of the millenium.

The decade started as much of it has progressed - with Nottingham Forest in a lower division than Derby County!

Not that the Rams had too much to write home about; season 2000-2001 saw Derby desperately stave off relegation from the Premier League, as Lionel Pickering’s crisis years deepened through declining performances and mounting debt from costly but mediocre signings.

Relegation for the Rams followed in 2001-2002, which saw the club’s bankers fatefully hand the club over to John Sleightholme’s regime for the princely sum of £3.00 with the club £31m in debt.

Derby’s squad had been briefly and unsuccessfully reworked by Colin Todd and John Gregory, the latter pretender suffering the indignation of suspension then removal during 2002-03. The Rams fought out a 0-0 Championship draw against Forest at Pride Park Stadium with an ignominious 0-3 defeat for Derby at the City Ground seeing The Purple One clearing his desk at Derby.

It was George Burley, working under duress from an incompetent and invasive regime during 2003-04 that brought Rams fans some rare pleasure. Although the Trees finished higher in the Championship at 14th with Derby battling to stay free of the relegation zone in 20th, the Rams took 4 points from that season’s encounters.

However, fans from both clubs were united in grief at the passing of Brian Clough in September 2004. In tribute, the A52 between the two cities now bears the name: ‘Brian Clough Way’.

There was a 1-1 Championship draw at the City Ground in September with Junior (remember him?) netting for Derby - but the Pride Park Stadium encounter in March 2004 was the memorable ‘Cuppie’ 4-2 game! It was a swirling maelstrom of a match, whipping winds and spitting rain making conditions unpredictable and especially hazardous for a goalie as dim as Forest’s Barry Roche.

Under no pressure from a routine back pass, Roche attempted to clear upfield but a little stray coffee cup sauntered across his field of vision, excited by the wind; Barry inexplicably did a better job of clearing the cup than the football and as the ball spun away feebly from his mis-hit, Roche was in no-man’s land.

The ever-alert Paul Peschisolido obligingly rapped in the loose ball to give Derby a sturdy 2-0 lead. Forest, already rocking after Ian Taylor had given the Rams an early lead, found Derby’s football irresistible; Pesch added another and local boy Marcus Tudgay also scored.

The Trees rallied but the result was never in doubt, 4-2 flattered Forest. Trees fans - don’t witter about ‘Cuppie’ altering the course of the game (it didn’t) - and none of it would ever diminish the hilarity of your goalie’s gaffe.

2004-05 saw the parting of the ways - Derby surprisingly finished in the play-off positions (4th) to ultimately succumb to Billy Davies’ Preston North End but the Trees were relegated to League One, finishing 2nd bottom.

In a schizophrenic season for Derby, troubles off the pitch mounted as mistrust of the boardroom regime saw supporter consciousness emerge - Sleightholme’s motley crew was living on borrowed time. The football flowed that season though, as the likes of Rasiak, Idiakez, Bisgaard and Tommy Smith gave Rams fans the best entertainment since Jim Smith’s cosmopolitan Premier League side of the 90s.

Burley walked out in the Spring, amidst growing off-field tension and financial decline but not before the Trees were royally stuffed by Grzegorz Rasiak. Forest took a 3-0 battering at Derby in December 2004 as Rasiak scored twice and Tommy Smith completed Forest’s misery.

Then a hard-fought 2-2 draw unfolded at the City Ground in February 2005 - when Forest desperately needed victories to survive. Rasiak scored again before Horacio Carbonari wrote himself into Derby folklore with a tricky foot-shuffle and shot to score a rare and classy goal to help Forest towards the basement trapdoor. They fell through it soon enough, just 3 months later.

Derby’s revival was rapid as Peter Gadsby’s local regime gained control and resolved the financial crisis. Forest failed to clamber out of Division One as their fans got value from their road maps to all sorts of interesting little towns.

As Jeremy Keith and Co came under investigation for various fraudulent activities whilst in control of Derby County, Billy Davies arrived to immediately build a promotion side that triumphed over West Bromwich Albion at Wembley Stadium in May 2007.

It was average football but a great climax to the season, as Stephen Pearson swept in the second-half winner in the “£60m match!”

Derby’s new regime had struck up a charity dedication trophy, The Brian Clough Trophy, to be retained by whichever of the Derby and Nottingham rivals won a ‘derby’ game in any competition, and Derby won the inaugural game in a canter 2-0 in a pre-season friendly in July 2007, with goals from Jay McEveley and Craig Fagan in front of over 25,000 at Pride Park Stadium.

Forest acclimatised to the third division; presumably they liked it there as they again failed to win promotion, whilst Derby were catapulted out of the Premier League at the end of season 2007-08 after the worst season imaginable. Billy Davies wasted no time in falling out with his bosses when the going got tough and Paul Jewell replaced him.

Bad management, instability, under-investment and inadequate players sent Derby County scuttling back to the Championship tout-suite.

Forest had won promotion back to the Championship, Nigel Doughty electing to reach into his deep pockets to fund a Trees’ renaissance. Derby failed to bounce back in 2008-09 and the unsuccessful Paul Jewell walked away from the disarray he and Davies had inflicted on Derby’s playing squad.

The Rams failed to find form and consistency despite using almost 40 players with ex-Forest star Nigel Clough becoming Derby manager amid a romantic media publicity avalanche.

Forest had struggled too on their return to the Championship but avoided relegation. We’d seen the departure of dour Gary Megson, the colourful Joe Kinnear and the colourless Colin Calderwood during Forest’s ups and downs (or should that be downs and ups?) and as the wheels of football fate turned again, Billy Davies took the helm at the City Ground.

Derby had the better of things last season as the on-pitch rivalry was resumed when the clubs clashed in League and FA Cup. Forest scraped to Championship safety and Derby didn’t fare much better - but at least the Rams had finished above the Trees in the final 2008-09 table.

The change in ownership at Derby has seen the American-led GSE consortium assume full control, with a patient, ‘slow build’ philosophy that has yet to see any serious billionaire input into the club financially for team-building towards the promised restoration of Derby County to the Premier League.

There were two draws and two Derby victories - and Forest couldn’t have complained if it had been 4 straight wins for Derby last season! The League clash in November 2007 saw rookie ref Stuart Attewell save Forest’s bacon with his inept decisions. The game ended 1-1, Tito Villa contriving both goals with a first-half own goal and his own equaliser - but the closing stages crammed in all the drama!

Miles Addison powered in a header only for the duff ref to give a penalty to Derby instead; ex-Ram Lee Camp saved Barazite’s spot-kick, Attewell ruled out another Addison header - and apologised, and was demoted for his errors later - as Forest escaped with a point.

The return at the City Ground saw Derby pile on Forest’s relegation worries as Clough’s side rallied well in League and Cups. Derby won 3-1, cruising to a 3-0 lead through Nyatanga, Hulse and a Steve Davies penalty before Derby reject Rob Earnshaw netted a late consolation for Forest.

Sandwiched in between the Championship clashes was an FA Cup 4th Round feast, Derby winning through in style after a replay in Nottingham.

In the original tie at Derby, the Rams took control and Rob Hulse gave them the lead; Forest rallied after the break and Earnshaw won them a replay.

As with Lee Camp in the November League clash, Forest’s goalkeeping heroics denied the Rams at the death, Paul Smith bravely keeping Kris Commons, Rob Hulse and Luke Varney at bay.

The replay was a firecracker of a game, as Forest galloped out of the traps to rush into a 2-0 lead within the first quarter-hour. Derby clambered back into the match; Rob Hulse headed in after half an hour and the second half was a no-contest, as Derby chopped the Trees down!

Paul Green shot an equaliser after an hour and then, after Kris Commons had hit the post as Derby swept forward, ex-Tree Commons slammed in the winner to clinch a 3-2 victory and a date with Manchester United at Pride Park Stadium in the 5th Round.

Robbie Savage endeared himself to Rams fans as his personal renaissance occurred under Clough, twirling a black-and-white scarf at the Derby end in celebration after that glorious Cup victory.

The circle turns again though, as Billy Davies - after a slow start to 2009-10 but with a useful player budget - has taken Forest into a promotion challenge. Derby continue to regroup and rebuild under Clough with a transitional team reinforced by loanees sees them trudling between mid-table and the drop zone.

The Brian Clough Trophy slipped from Derby’s grasp for the first time as they lost 3-2 in Nottingham in the Championship at the end of August 2009, with 28,000 in attendance. Derby started in comatose manner, going a goal down inside a minute, then being overwhelmed to trail 3-0 at the break.

Playing for half a game rarely brings victory and however spectacular the Rams recovery was in the second period, so it proved. Derby could not salvage a point after Sammy Morgan had scored an own goal and then Jake Livermore netted after the hour mark.

An after-match controversy clouded the game, however, as both clubs faced FA charges after Nathan Tyson stupidly paraded a corner flag under the noses of Rams fans and the Rams players reacted strongly.

It was Commons that delivered the perfect near-post cross from which Hulse buried the decisive header in Derby’s 1-0 victory in this fixture last season. A tight, fractious affair that spilled over into hostility when Trees players took exception to Jay McEveley’s relaxed attitude to taking a throw-in, as Derby ran down the game.

The resulting fracas added to the FA charges levelled at both clubs after their altercations at the City Ground earlier that season, ensuring further disciplinary charges and fines. Then Billy Davies made scarcely credible legal accusations of assault by Nigel Clough - which the wee Scot has neither justified nor withdrawn in all this time.

He looks idiotic and petty. Billy tries to score moral points all the time but it was the Rams that took the points in that sweet but hard-fought victory.

It can’t be denied that the Trees have stormed up the table in 2010-11 and are again playing tenacious, cohesive football in the style of their manager. They showed they were on they by dismantling the Rams earlier this season 5-2 as Derby were on the slide with their early season form waning.

Minus their Captain through suspension and some of the Rams recent additions looking more like Rabbits caught in a spotlight, Derby capitulated in the most embarrassing fashion.

The Trees ended season 2010-11 a long way further up the Championship table than the Rams.

They completed the ‘double’ over Derby in that return game at Pride Park Stadium in January 2011, when ex-Ram Rob Earnshaw grabbed a late winning goal. Trees fans expected their progress to be maintained in 2011-12, whilst Rams fans demanded better of their team as manager Nigel Clough rang the changes.

There has been plenty of change - especially at the City Ground - in the intervening year. At Derby, Kris Commons went to Glasgow Celtic and Robbie Savage retired from playing, whilst Nigel Clough steered the club away from relegation danger then recruited a bundle of new players. He has continued his squad-building plans and moved out the deadwood from the Davies and Jewell eras.

An excellent start to 2011-12 saw Derby among the Championship front-runners before a run of defeats set the team back. A strong recent recovery with an unbeaten start to 2012 put the Rams back on track, though a Jekyll-and-Hyde performance at Barnsley brought the fine run to an end.

Though again beset by injuries until December, manager Clough has seen successes with the form of Craig Bryson and Jason Shackell and the emergence of young players like Callum Ball, Jeff Hendrick and Mark O’Brien. The team is working hard and defending well to gain results, even if genuine quality and ruthlessness are still at a premium.

The Trees have been going backwards all season; Billy Davies was sacked before a ball was kicked, after he irritated his latest employers once too often. Wee Billy is living off his latest big pay-off again.

There followed the short but hilarious interlude that was Agent Steve McLaren’s tenure as the Trees’ boss. Owner and chief benefactor Nigel Doughty stepped down as chairman after that fiasco and the club now has the small matter of a £75m debt owed to him.

[Postscript: since publishing this article, RamZone has learned of the shock death of Forest owner Nigel Doughty, on he eve of the 2012 'derby' match, at the age of only 54 years. It's only right to record our condolences to Mr Doughty's family and friends and to Forest fans on his sad passing].

With Forest still struggling in the lower reaches of the Championship, Steve Cotterill replaced Mac and he has carried on the good work as the Trees are now anchored in the bottom two, five points from a ‘safety’ place. They have an atrocious home record and with Northampton Town (bottom of League Two) have the worst goal difference in the Football League.

Forest’s grip on the Brian Clough Trophy was yanked away by Derby in mid-September this season, when the Rams won 2-1 at the City Ground. The victory came courtesy of a brilliant individual goal from Jamie Ward and a cool, decisive finish by teenager Jeff Hendrick, who became a local hero after just a handful of starts since promotion from the Rams’ Academy.

All that came after Derby handed the Trees the best possible start, conceding a penalty that Reid converted to give Forest an early lead, with Derby keeper Frank Fielding sent off in conceding the spot kick.

The Ram roared back in a gutsy display to win the game and set the trend for Forest’s shocking home record. The classic phrase: “we only had ten men!” has been heard in the Derbyshire air, worn on t-shirts and even seen in the skies on occasion ever since!

 

 

Tomorrow on RamZone - Paul Mortimer brings us up to date with recent clashes and a preview of the big match on Saturday!

Check back on Saturday for Pauls next installment:

Derby County vs. Nothingham Forest - January 2013: Turn It On Again!

 

Photo: Action Images



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