The Traitors Who Dared To Be Both Red & Ram!
Saturday, 19th Mar 2016 10:57 by Daniel J Sewart & Nathan Morley

After last season’s clash at the iPro played out with neither Derby nor Forest having a genuine traitor in their ranks — this Saturday Jamie Ward will fill that void.

Over the years some great names have crossed the great divide and been champions for both, names like Peter Shilton and Alan Hinton spring to mind.

But instead of those genuine champions we all know and love, let’s look back at some of the more recent, not always so loved, double agents - who did the unforgivable and dared to pull on one shirt, only to trade it for the other.

From a Red to a Ram - Nathan Tyson:

Tyson made the move across the A52 in the summer of 2011 after rejecting a contract offer to stay with Nottingham Forest. He wasn't a stranger to scoring in big East Midlands derbies, having scored in a few of these clashes whilst playing in red.

His time at Derby was blighted with injuries, forcing a long wait for a decent performance - let alone a goal. Some Derby fans never forgave him for the flag incident back in 2009.

Just as he finally found fitness and some form, he fell from favour with Clough (amidst claims Nigel ignored him in his final months) and was shipped off to Blackpool. He only managed 10 games for the Seasiders before being loaned to Fleetwood Town and Notts County. He is currently plying his trade at Doncaster where he has been since 2014 - playing 61 matches and scoring 18 goals for the League One outfit who currently sit in the bottom 3.

Unfortunately for Nathan - not much to wave flags about these days.

From a Ram to a Red - Lee Camp:

The Northern Ireland international was a product of Derby’s academy and made over 90 appearances between the sticks as a Rams player. After a few loan spells away from Pride Park and a spell at QPR, he moved to Forest. When on loan at Forest in 2008, he saved a Derby penalty from Nacer Barazite in a controversial 1-1 draw at Pride Park.

He went on to make 182 league appearances for Forest before joining West Brom and then Bournemouth. After only 8 appearances for the Cherries last season Camp signed for Rotherham, featuring in last weekend’s 3-3 draw, kindly letting 3 in before watching his team steal 3 back. The less we talk about that one the better!

From a Ram to a Red - Robert Earnshaw:

Derby unfortunately wasted £3.5 million on this so called striker back in 2007, having just won promotion to the Premier League. He scored just 2 goals in a Derby shirt and moved to the City Ground in 2008 for a fee of around for £2.65 million.

His only Premier League goal for the Rams came against Arsenal in a 2-6 loss to the Gunners.

His spell at Forest was a much more successful one where he scored 35 goals in 98 matches. Earnshaw moved on to play for Toronto FC but after one season in the MLS before moving to Blackpool for a grand result of one match. He then moved back to the U.S with Chicago Fire followed by the Vancouver Whitecaps where he scored 2 goals in 3 games before announcing his retirement on January 28th this year.

He is currently head coach of the Vancouver U-14 Pre-Residency team — probably teaching them how to best pack a suitcase.

A true journey man who has left a trail of fans wishing he had journeyed elsewhere.

From a Red to a Ram - Kris Commons:

Commons was one of the more popular players who made the cross from Red to Ram. He moved to Derby in 2008, after turning down a contract offer from Forest, and that season scored a wonderful goal against The Reds in the FA Cup, to complete a comeback of 2-0 down and win the tie 3-2.

His strike against Manchester United in the League Cup Semi-Finals will live on in the memories of Rams fans for a many a year.

Despite proclaiming his love for Derby, as he did for Forest before leaving them, he moved on to play for SPL side Celtic after a move in January 2011.

He has notched up an impressive 91 goals in his 220 appearances for the Scottish champs and has won multiple player of the year awards, as part of Celtic’s title winning campaigns. This season he has been made 27 appearances for 9 goals.

Even more impressively during contract negotiations last season, he proclaimed his love for Celtic and then (drumroll) he stayed… he finally found true love!

From a Red to a Ram — Patrick Bamford:

Born and bred in Nottingham, Patrick Bamford ran out for the Rams last season to become another in a long line of turncoats to represent both clubs.

From Nottingham Forest school boy, to their local Academy, Bamford got his start in Red before having the good sense to move on to a proper club in Chelsea.

He made 21 appearances for Derby scoring 8 goals while on loan at Derby in 2014 but despite doing well, it seems as if he and McClaren did not see eye to eye on where he should play and instead of returning to Derby, he ended up at Boro on loan scoring 17 goals in 39 matches. This of course included a match where he tore the Rams to shreds - what else would you expect!

Since then Chelsea have kept him on the books, loaning him out to Crystal Palace and more recently Norwich. It seems Bamford believes he belongs at the highest level and regularly throws a tantrum so everyone knows it. Hopefully one day this talented guy will settle down and his undoubted talent can do the talking.

He never knocked one in against the Trees for Derby but when he did score — it was more often than not - a genuine cracker.

From a Ram to a Red — Jamie Ward:

And finally the latest addition to our rogues gallery — poor old Jamie Ward…

I hate writing this one, as if there was ever a player who did not want to leave the Rams it was Jamie Ward. He loved his time at Derby and was surprisingly shipped out after the departure of Steve McClaren but interestingly before Paul Clement was appointed so it is hard to know who made the decision on this one.

From 2010 when he originally joined the Rams on loan, to 2015 when he was bundled off down the road, Jamie Ward played 149 matches, scoring 34 goals.

He was a speedy little terrier with quite the temper, always on hand should someone give him even the slightest reason to fire up on the pitch.

A fan favourite who most fans wanted to do well, as there was never any doubt that he left little on the tank when pulling on a Rams shirt on both his good and bad days.

Some may suggest he was let go because he was often injured and missed a lot of football but interestingly he never played less than 25 matches in his four full seasons for the Rams (37, 25, 38, 25).

Since joining Forest he has managed 28 games to date and looks to have put to bed any suggestions he would be out more than in if he had remained at the iPro. Plus could he have really done much worse than the big money signings that replaced him?

He has only managed 3 goals at his new home, and to his credit, he didn’t score when we met him at their place earlier in the season. Without quality players around him at the Forest ground, the poor chap has no doubt been having to do more heavy lifting than an attacking player should be required to.

Or perhaps he just simply left his heart in Derby!

Ward recently stated in the build up to this weekend’s clash, that despite wanting to beat his old club on the day; “I will applaud the Derby fans, I owe it to them as I didn’t get the chance when I left”.

I am sure many fans will return the clap and wish our former hero a belated goodbye, as long as he doesn’t score and Forest don’t win.

Affection will only get you so far young man!

Whatever shirt he wears now, Ward provided one of the greatest ever highlights in these historic clashes. The Rams were down to ten men and under the pump at the Forest ground, they came from 1-0 down to win and it was all inspired by a fabulous Jamie Ward goal, when he cut in from the left, beat 3 red dogs and scored!

Re-live that fabulous day in the video below — a day when Jamie Ward was a Ram!