Forest only have themselves to blame

Forest are really making me feel quite depressed at the moment. After winning four games in a row, I thought that at last our season had clicked into gear and we would easily pull away from relegation. But February has been an awful month with four defeats in our last five matches and now we can expect to be on the receiving end of another humiliating thrashing at the hands of a rejuvenated Derby side on Saturday. Life can sometimes be very cruel for Forest supporters.

Our trips to Birmingham and Ipswich would ordinarily seem quite difficult, but both teams were going through a bad run of form themselves, and yet we lost both the games. Ipswich had gone five home games without a win, a very similar situation to Birmingham, yet they proved to be much too strong for Forest even though they hardly set the world alight.

The trouble is our squad as it stands is just not good enough for Championship football. We can't afford to lose Paul Anderson and Rob Earnshaw. With those two players in the side we play a lot better, but even when they are in the team, we still have big problems at the back. Our defence is a complete mess. Paul Smith is awful. He's so bad that I'm beginning to actually hate him. His back four have no confidence in him whatsoever. I so wish Lee Camp could come back, but FA rules stipulate that he can't because he's already been here for three months. We also don't have any recognised full backs with central defenders being asked to do a job there instead. Joel Lynch is one of the worst players I've ever seen play for Forest. Why we bothered extending his loan, I don't know. Does the Forest hierarchy even bother watching the matches? If he couldn't get into Brighton's team in League One, surely that tells you something?

I'm really dreading Saturday as I can't see anything other than a crushing defeat. Derby are really full of confidence right now and Kris Commons can't keep scoring. If our defence allows him as much space as he got in the FA Cup game, he'll probably score a hat-trick. I really feel sick at the thought. I absolutely hate his guts and if he rubs our faces in it, he will probably need police protection after the game.

I am so furious with Nigel Doughty and Mark Arthur for getting Forest into this predicament. If we do get relegated, it will have been totally self-inflicted. The failure to back Billy Davies in the transfer market is criminal. Surely they can see what everybody else can – that this squad lacks the depth and quality to survive in the Championship. They are being too cautious financially. If they don't take risks, they will never achieve anything. If they aren't willing to break the bank to pay wages, then we will not attract good enough players, and we will be destined to remain a League One club for the long-term. And yet, despite all this, all we keep hearing from Doughty is that he wants Forest back in the Premiership. Yet it looks a strong possibility that we will be playing League One football next season instead, and who knows how low we will sink after that. When we've sold all our good players –Tyson, Earnshaw, Cohen and McGugan, we would need strong investment in the summer to create a squad that is good enough even for League One. And we could be looking for a new manager yet again as I can't see Davies wanting to hang around then, can you?