Doughty by name but not by nature

I can't believe that we are still not in the relegation zone. We definitely deserve to be, and part of me almost wants us there so it might serve as a wake-up call to those slimeballs Nigel Doughty and Mark Arthur to stop messing the Club around and allow Billy Davies to do his job properly. It beggars belief that neither was present at the City Ground yesterday as another pathetic home display for Forest saw them crash to their third straight defeat and their second in less than a month to fierce rivals Derby.

I was dreading the game anyway and expected a thrashing, but that was because I thought we had no chance with just Nathan Tyson on his own up front as Joe Garner was injured (or most likely fallen out with Davies). But the news that both Paul Anderson and Rob Earnshaw were in the starting line-up despite Davies saying the day before that they were still a week away from a comeback, was a welcome surprise, and it gave me a bit of hope that we might get something from the match.

However, all the pre-match optimism with the backdrop of glorious sunshine and a packed to the rafters City Ground quickly dissipated when Derby took the lead after only four minutes. Forest's heads instantly dropped and they remained very much second best for the rest of the match as they slipped into a 3-0 deficit as Derby scored almost immediately after the restart, and put the game beyond reasonable doubt, as if it wasn't already, from the penalty spot twenty five minutes from the end. Earnshaw did at least salvage a bit of pride for us in the closing stages, but that only happened after Derby were reduced to ten men after they had used all of their substitutes.

There were too many players out there who gave mediocre performances, but what do we expect? Most of them are mediocre players and belong in League One at best. Some of them wouldn't even be out of place in the division below that. Our entire defence, Paul Smith included, needs binning, even though I do admire Wes Morgan's efforts to get attacks going. At least he shows a bit of passion, but the rest just really annoy me. They don't belong at a club like Forest. We deserve better. If we go down this season, and god forbid it is looking extremely likely, we will lose our few decent players. What I didn't know was that according to rumour some of them have relegation release clauses in their contracts. Surely that can't be true, can it? If it is, we will lose the likes of Earnshaw and Tyson, and fail to make any money which presumably would go towards rebuilding the squad. We will be well and truly shafted if that happens, and the only way out then would be for Doughty to put the Club up for sale so we can attract investors. Even though I am against the idea of Forest being in the hands of foreign owners, if it means Forest being able to buy good players, then I think we'll have to accept it. If teams like QPR are attractive enough to really rich owners, then Forest must be, with their trophy-laden history, their geographical location and their fan base. I don't believe for one minute that nobody would be interested, but it will simply not happen until Doughty stops being so stubborn, holds his hands up and admit he has failed, and go back to watching from the stands like the rest of us. If he really cared about Forest, that is exactly what he'd do.