Ipswich Town vs Nottingham Forest 
Saturday 2nd December 2017 – 15:00
Portman Road
Pre-Match Thoughts - Bluemike
With only Four games to go until we reach the halfway point in the season it is pleasing to see that we are still very much in the race for the coveted play off places despite being the bookies pre season certs for the drop. Tuesday nights victory at Pride Park saw Town haul themselves back up to just Three points off the Top Six with a dogged and resilient display of which we should all be proud, without being too Knee jerk I think it also dispels the ridiculous notion that we were somehow doomed to the drop or at the very least a Relegation scrap, our spending power may well point to this being the likliest scenario but at present we are punching well above our weight and winning more games than we are losing, as I have said previously how strange is this situation the club finds itself in, with many having given up on Mick and want him gone (myself included after Cardiff) can we really expect much more than we are getting right now ? We really have no divine right to be where we are and yet we keep pulling big results out of the bag to make the whole scenario just plain crazy. As it is we are now a mere Three points off Sixth place, we are the Third highest scorers in the division and our current form is Two defeats in the last Seven matches, if only we had not thrown away those Two points against Sheffield Wednesday, not to mention the Hull game when they were there for the taking, Four extra points would have made it look really good but even so as it stands we are defying the odds.
The performance at Derby was for me one of the best this season so far especially when taking into account the opposition and their current run of form and while Derby had a fair share of the play in the second half it was hardly a siege or a backs to the wall effort, certainly before the break we more than held our own and can feel pleased with how we went about the task in hand, it was satisfying to get through Ninety minutes without one of the boys in Blue making one of those errors that always seem to get punished, the clean sheet was most welcome and will do the defence no end of good. I picked Callum Connolly out as my MOTM and rightly so but it was a real team effort, everyone stuck to the task and we actually looked quite confident in what we were doing which cannot always be said for Town. The Defence stood firm, our holding Midfielders had excellent games, our wide players broke with real pace and made things tough for the Derby defence while at opposite ends of the field Bart & Waggy did the business in their respective ways so all in all much of what we did was to be applauded. A team without Garner, Didsy, Adeyemi and Bishop was still able to record a fantastic win, we do have strength in depth, getting them all fit is the issue and has been all season. Something else that impressed me was the way Flynn Downes & Tristan Nydam acquitted themselves when being thrust into battle, Downes just loves to get stuck in and doesn't shirk a tackle, he also tries to pass the ball and none of this hoofing it away while Nydam is a real terrier and closes down and gets in your face, he too isn't afraid of a physical battle and these Two players look to have big futures in the game.
The real important thing is that we follow up Tuesday's super win with another Three points against Nottingham Forest, like us Forest seem to win one lose one and are still to share the spoils, as it stands they are Two points and one place behind us so this is a vital game against one of our rivals to gatecrash the top Six. Our attack could be key as Forest have conceded a lot of goals so far, in fact only Four teams in the Championship have conceded more so it looks like a case of "go for it" again, it is hoped that Joe Garner will be back after missing out at Derby and this is good news as we already have Didsy on the sidelines. Saturday's game will also see the return of a certain Daryl Murphy and the big man is certain to get a great reception, hopefully he has a real off day and Webster and co keep him quiet, others in the Forest squad to have taken the eye recently are Dowell, Osborn and McKay all of which are attack minded players so another defensive display like Tuesday will be the order of the day, Three more points will really have us in a good place and with another tough away trip on the horizon next weekend a win here is very important to keep us hot on the heels of the leading pack. It won't be easy, no game ever is but I can see Town carrying on their winning ways with another close and hard fought win. COYB'S
The Opposition - Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest F.C. was founded in 1865 shortly after their neighbours Notts County, thought to be the world's oldest surviving professional association football club. They joined the Football Alliance in 1889 and then entered to The Football League. In 1890, Forest moved to the Town Ground, playing in the first ever match to use goal nets.
Forest claimed their first major honour when they won the 1898 FA Cup, beating Derby County.
The club spent most of the first half of the twentieth century in the Second Division. In 1949, they were relegated to the Third Division but were promoted two years later as champions.
Forest regained First Division status in 1957 and won the FA Cup for a second time in 1959.
After being runners-up in the League and Cup semi-finalists in 1967, Forest were relegated from the First Division in 1972.
Forest were considered an underachieving club by English league standards until the mid-1970s, when Brian Clough and his assistant Peter Taylor took the helm at the club. Clough became the most successful manager in the history of Nottingham Forest.
Nottingham Forest won promotion to the top division at the end of the 1976–77 season after finishing third in the Second Division, but no-one could have predicted how successful Clough's team would be over the next three seasons. Nottingham Forest became one of the few teams (and the most recent team to date) to win the English First Division Championship a year after winning promotion from the English Second Division (1977–78 season).
In 1978–79, Forest went on to win the European Cup by beating Malmö and retained the trophy in 1979–80, beating Hamburg.
They also won the European Super Cup and two League Cups. Beside Shilton, key players of that era included right-back Viv Anderson (the first black player to play for the England national team), midfielder Martin O'Neill, striker Trevor Francis and a trio of Scottish internationals: winger John Robertson, midfielder Archie Gemmill and defender Kenny Burns. The club reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup in 1983–84 but were knocked out by Anderlecht in controversial circumstances. It later emerged that in the second leg, the Belgian club had bribed the referee but the referee in question had since died in a car accident and was hence not able to be held to account.
Nottingham Forest's next significant trophy came in 1989 when they beat Luton Town in the League Cup final. For most of the season they had been hopeful of completing a unique domestic treble, but were beaten into third place in the League by Arsenal and Liverpool and lost to Liverpool in the replay of the FA Cup semi-final, originally held at Hillsborough, where 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death.
Clough's side retained the League Cup in 1990 when they beat Oldham Athletic and were runner-up in the 1991 FA Cup Final.
Brian Clough's 18-year reign as manager ended in May 1993 when Forest were relegated from the inaugural Premier League after 16 illustrious years of top-flight football which had seen a league title, two European Cups and four League Cups.
Frank Clark, who had been a left-back in Nottingham Forest's 1979 European Cup winning team, returned to the club in May 1993 and was able to achieve a return to the Premier League when the club finished Division One runners-up at the end of the 1993–94 season.
Forest finished third in 1994–95 and qualified for the UEFA Cup – their first entry to European competition in the post-Heysel era. The club reached the quarter-finals, the furthest an English team reached in UEFA competitions that season. The 1996–97 season became a relegation battle and Clark left the club in December.
34-year-old captain Stuart Pearce was installed as player-manager and in March 1997 he was replaced on a permanent basis by Dave Bassett. Forest were unable to avoid relegation and finished the season in bottom place. They won promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt, being crowned Division One champions in 1997–98, however Bassett was sacked in January 1999, with Ron Atkinson replacing him.
Ron Atkinson was unable to prevent Forest from once again slipping back into the Football League with a succession of poor results.
David Platt succeeded Atkinson and spent approximately £12 million on players, which yielded two mid-table finishes before departing to manage England U-21s.
Paul Hart became the Reds' new boss just two hours after the departure of Platt. Despite off-field difficulties, due to the ITV Digital collapse, Forest finished 2002–03 in sixth place and qualified for the play-offs, where they lost to Sheffield United in the semi-finals. A poor league run the following season, led to the sacking of Hart in February 2004 in order to prevent relegation.
Joe Kinnear was subsequently appointed and led the club to 14th place in the final league table. The 2004–05 season saw Forest drop into the relegation zone once more, leading to Kinnear's resignation in December 2004.
Following the brief caretaker stewardship of Mick Harford, Gary Megson took charge of Forest in January 2005 but failed to stave off relegation as the club ended the season second from bottom in 23rd place, becoming the first European Cup-winners ever to fall into their domestic third division.
In Forest's first season in the English third tier in 54 years, Megson survived until February 2006 when he left by "mutual consent" leaving the club only four points above the relegation zone. Frank Barlow and Ian McParland took temporary charge for the remainder of the 2005–06 season, engineering a six-match winning run and remaining unbeaten in ten games, taking 28 points from a possible 39 under the two, narrowly missing out on a play-off place, as they finished in 7th place.
Colin Calderwood was appointed as the twelfth manager of Forest in thirteen years in May 2006 and became the longest-serving manager since Frank Clark. The Calderwood era was ultimately one of rebuilding. In his first season he led the club to the play-offs, and achieved automatic promotion in his second year at the club. Calderwood's side struggled to adapt to life in the Championship in the 2008–09 campaign, and having been unable to steer Forest out of the relegation zone, Calderwood was sacked following a Boxing Day defeat.
Under the temporary stewardship of John Pemberton, Forest finally climbed out of the relegation zone, and Billy Davies was confirmed as the new manager on 1 January 2009. They avoided relegation as they finished 19th in the Championship, securing survival with one game to go.
The 2009–10 campaign was a successful one for Forest with the club holding a top-three position for the majority of the season, narrowly missing out on automatic promotion to West Bromwich Albion, and then lost to Blackpool in the playoffs.
The 2010–11 season saw Forest finish in sixth place in the Championship table putting them into a play-off campaign for the fourth time in the space of eight years, this time around they lost to Swansea over the two playoff semi-final legs.
In June 2011 Billy Davies's contract was terminated, and he was replaced as manager by Steve McClaren, who signed a three-year contract.
Forest started the 2011–12 season with several poor results and McClaren resigned, and chairman Nigel Doughty announced that he intended to resign at the end of the season. In October 2011, Nottingham Forest underwent several changes. These changes included the appointment of Frank Clark as new chairman of the club and also that of Steve Cotterill as manager.
Nigel Doughty, owner and previous chairman of the club died on 4 February 2012, marking the end of a 13-year association with the club, with many estimating his total contribution as £100,000,000.
The Al-Hasawi family, from Kuwait, purchased the club and became the new owners in July 2012.The Al-Hasawi family told press that they had a long-term vision for the club based around a 3–5-year plan, and after interviewing several potential new managers, appointed Sean O'Driscoll, he was known for playing an attractive brand of passing football and what football fans would consider the Forest way.
As of 15 December 2012 after the teams 0–0 draw away at Brighton, Forest sat in 9th position with 33 points, just 3 points off the play-off positions. Just over two weeks later Sean O'Driscoll was sacked following a 4–2 victory over Leeds United with the club stating their intentions of a change ahead of the January transfer window and hopes of appointing a manager with Premiership experience. The man to replace O'Driscoll was Alex McLeish. On 5 February 2013 Nottingham Forest and Alex McLeish had parted company by mutual agreement, just 40 days after McLeish took charge of Forest.
On 7 February 2013, the club re-appointed Billy Davies as manager, having been sacked as the team's manager twenty months previously. His first match in charge was a draw, followed by a run of 10 undefeated games. On 24 March 2014 the club announced they had terminated Davies' employment, following a defeat by Derby County. After initially rejecting the job in March 2014, fans favourite, Stuart Pearce was named as the man to replace Billy Davies on a two year contract, taking over from caretaker manager Gary Brazil.
After a bright start to his tenure, Forest started to slip down the table and on the 1st February 2015, Dougie Freedman was appointed manager of the club in place of Pearce.
On 13 March 2016 Freedman was sacked and Rennes head coach Philippe Montanier was appointed on a two-year contract on June 27, 2016, but sacked after 7 months.
Mark Warburton was named as the club's new manager on 14 March 2017.
On 18 May 2017 it was confirmed that Evangelos Marinakis had completed his takeover of Nottingham Forest, bringing an end to Al-Hasawi's reign as Forest owner.
Last season Forest narrowly avoided the drop on the last day of the season finishing in 21st place with 51 points.
The Manager – Mark Warburton
Past Match - Video Highlights - Trev
Media Watch - K L Blue
Town Ladies gain a draw
https://www.mkdons.com/news/2017/novemb ... -2-ladies/
Stuart Watson's view on Derby win
http://www.greenun24.co.uk/ipswich-town ... -1-5299867
Connolly on the goal
http://www.greenun24.co.uk/ipswich-town ... -1-5299837
Form Guide
Ipswich Last 5 Matches - Currently in 9th place on 29 points
4 Nov Ipswich Town 3 - 0 Preston
18 Nov Hull City 2 - 2 Ipswich Town
22 Nov Ipswich Town 2 - 2 Sheffield Wed
25 Nov Aston Villa 2 - 0 Ipswich Town
28 Nov Derby County 0 - 1 Ipswich Town
Forest Last 5 Matches - Currently in 10th place on 27 points
31 Oct Reading 3 - 1 Nottm Forest
4 Nov Nottm Forest 4 - 0 QP Rangers
18 Nov Birmingham City 1 - 0 Nottm Forest
21 Nov Nottm Forest 1 - 0 Norwich City
26 Nov Nottm Forest 0 - 2 Cardiff City
Fixtures of Interest
LEEDS UTD VS ASTON VILLA
SHEFF. WEDNESDAY VS HULL CITY
BRENTFORD VS FULHAM
Match Referee – Darren Bond
IPSWICH TOWN 2 NOTTINGHAM FOREST 1
