Snowfall intervened last time round to postpone Derby County’s traditional ritual beating of neighbours Nothingham Forest - but signals from a snowy Pride Park tell us that Saturday’s match is ‘on’.
Rams fans hope that their team can complete another League ‘double’ over the unfortunates in the Bad Colour from the Dark Woods.
There have been frequent root & branch changes at Nothingham Forest in recent months. Shortly after the sad death of Reds’ Chairman and benefactor Nigel Doughty, Trees fans were jubilant and optimistic when the super-rich Kuwait-based Al-Hasawi family purchased the club last summer.
The new regime made immediately ambitious noises and executed a rapid change of manager, an action which they have since repeated in ditching Sean O'Driscoll and appointing Alex McLeish.
For even longer, Forest has succumbed to the urge to replace managers wholesale, a policy which usually spells insecurity and uneven results on and off the pitch. After the departure of Billy Davies and the hilarious Steve McLaren interlude, Steve Cotterill came and went, with O’Driscoll being instantly recruited as the new City Ground regime’s Chosen Man.
He did seem to be getting the measure of things after a mediocre opening period, during which the Rams won again at the City Ground (and Derby fans will recall the slow starts that promotion-bound Derby managers like Jim Smith and Billy Davies experienced). However, the Forest owners summarily adjudged that a change was needed.
Forest seem to have joined that small but worrying band of clubs that includes QPR, Southampton and Blackburn Rovers - clubs boasting rich overseas owners but chopping and changing rashly in the desperate quest for the Holy Grail of promotion, or Premier League survival.
These clubs possess ambition and capital via their ownerships but such regimes do lack knowledge and understanding of the English game. They all hope to buy success and polish their ‘train set’.
Having said that, the Trees have resided closer to the top of the table over sustained periods than the Rams have recently, and Forest have been within touching distance of promotion via the play-offs during those times.
The actions of Forest’s owners suggest that they have a short time-scale on this aim, whilst new Derby CEO Sam Rush can only re-word the progressive patient building that has characterised the Derby regime’s approach since the wasteful disarray of the Davies/Jewell eras.
Mr Rush has met some fans in a Pride Park Stadium forum already, and will have perceived an undercurrent of impatience and frustration from supporters that their club has been content to peddle along in the middle section - or largely, the bottom third - of the Championship table.
Forest have huge debts (or did have, maybe they’ve now been underwritten), whilst Rams’ owners GSE have trodden a careful and prudent survival path whilst accommodating annual losses of around £8m.
Neither club will break free of the restricted income levels of Football League existence until they ascend once more to the Premier League. Will either or both clubs make that massive step in the foreseeable future? Can either club be transformed into a so-called ‘global brand’?
This week, executive staff members at Forest were dismissed; the talismanic Frank Clark, a 'glory days' European Cup winner at Forest who was brought in after Doughty’s demise, went out of the revolving City Ground door along with Chief Executive Mark Arthur and the Head of Recruitment Keith Burt.
The dour and unexciting new Trees’ boss Alex McLeish, so beloved of Aston Villa fans, achieved his first win as Forest boss last week against Peterborough and the Reds have just nosed above Derby in the Championship table. Passion, rather than position, will decide the outcome of the 2013 A52 ‘derby’.
It’s likely that McLeish will have a much freer financial hand in the transfer market that his Derby counterpart Nigel Clough - but it remains to be seen whether McLeish will build a better and more successful side than Clough.
Nevertheless, rumours have now emerged that striker Dexter Blackstock (once a Derby loanee) is bound for Pride Park Stadium during the transfer window.
McLeish has begun his squad sort-out and Rams fans won’t be disappointed that he has fallen out with ex-Derby ‘keeper Lee Camp. Lee always seemed to play well against Derby but McLeish has placed his faith in young understudy Karl Darlow and is endeavouring to sign up Kuwaiti international goalkeeper Khalid Al-Rashidi.
Last season, a cataclysmic climax to the 2011-12 Rams-Trees clashes at Pride Park Stadium saw Jake Buxton claim his place in Derby folklore when he nudged in a late winner in a frantic goalmouth scramble. but Derby also suffered the loss of captain Shaun Barker with serious injury.
Forest’s new owners allowed manager O’Driscoll substantial outlay on players as 2012-13 got under way - but his team did not shoot up the table.
That expenditure could not prevent Derby winning 1-0 at the City Ground on 30th September 2012 through a 55th-minute Craig Bryson strike to retain the Brian Clough Trophy and strike up the early-season East Midlands’ bragging rights. For good measure, Forest also had striker Dexter Blackstock sent off.
It delights Derby fans that their recent results against their two biggest adversaries - Nothingham Forest and DirtyLeeds - have been consistently excellent. The rivalry must be something inherited within the Clough DNA, handed down from father to son - and it seems that Nigel is having an even better time against the Reds and the Dirties than Brian.
Jamie Ward seems fit and back to his buzzing best, and he has been a thorn in Forest’s side in recent clashes between the teams. If Jamie and Connor Sammon can link up successfully, Derby could find the fire-power to turn Forest over again.
Perhaps the young, inexperienced Forest 'keeper Karl Darlow may be the Trees' weakest link? McLeish is a defensively-minded manager and he will aim to leave PPS avoiding defeat in his first EM ‘Derby’ clash.
However, his Forest side is still unsettled and does not travel well at the moment; he is still getting the measure of many of his players. Derby’s home form is formidable and the 33,000 sell-out will ensure an electric atmosphere.
Do I think the Rams will beat Forest on Saturday to claim a fourth successive Championship win over their fiercest rivals? Yes! Do I think that Derby will finish above Forest in the Championship table? Yes again - though I’m not convinced that either club will enjoy a top six finish.
What do you think? Add to the Rams-Forest preview below and then come back after the game to chew over the action!
COME ON YOU RAMS!