From third bottom to third from top: what a difference a year makes

Even if it was just for three hours, seeing Forest in second place in the Championship made me feel really warm inside. If I'm not too careful, I'm going to get a real taste for it!

Forest have become a formidable force away from home this season, and will now enter 2010 unbeaten on their travels since last March. That is a remarkable statistic by anyone's standards, let alone a team that was struggling against relegation to the third tier little more than six months ago. Home teams must be really scared of playing us. It must affect their confidence, but the longer this record goes on, the harder teams are going to try and beat us, and sooner or later we are going to come unstuck. I very much doubt we will see the season out unscathed, but let's hope when we do finally succumb that we will bounce back and not let it damage our confidence.

At Watford, mind you, we did ride our luck a bit. We played very well in the first half, but in the later stages of the second 45 minutes, we were run ragged a little bit. We could count ourselves very fortunate indeed that the referee Andy D'Urso, a man who is no stranger to controversy, failed to spot Nicky Shorey's blatant handball clearance off the line in stoppage time. It would have resulted in a penalty for Watford and Shorey's dismissal, so we rather got away with it. In terms of our overall performance, though, defeat would have been harsh, and it would have been a cruel way to see our proud record be ruined in such a way, not to mention spoil Christmas.

Speaking of which, it has now been a whole year since Colin Calderwood was given the old heave-ho on Boxing Day! A few of the players that day may still be in the team, but Forest are completely unrecognisable one year on. This time last year after that dreadful 4-2 defeat at the hands of Doncaster we were third from bottom. If you'd told me that a year later the table would be completely reversed and we'd be sitting in third position, I'd have given you a funny look. It just goes to show that Billy Davies has a magical midas touch wherever he goes. I think the only thing we've got to worry about in 2010 is that clubs in the Premiership will be keeping tabs on Billy's progress. Because if I was a chairman looking to appoint somebody, Davies' name would certainly be high on my list. He will want to test himself in the top flight again, make no mistake. He will be remembered for overseeing the first few months of Derby's disastrous season in the Premiership, but he didn't get the right financial backing from the board. I think if we do get promoted this season, Nigel Doughty will continue to invest millions, as he does every season, and Davies will certainly be given until at least Christmas to prove himself. But let's not jump the gun here. There's another half of the season to play yet. We're not quite safe from relegation, although I have to admit, even I have stopped worrying about that now! Three more wins and a draw should do it.