On the recent situation at the City Ground

It's been a while since I've updated this site, but recent events at the City Ground mean there is no way I'm giving up this platform for my views.

Never before as a Forest fan have I felt such a sullen aura around the club I love. Even when these former European champions sunk to the depths of League One there was always a prevailing sense that Forest would be on the rebound, that we were still sleeping giants. That optimism and however is proving ever more evasive.

There is a dawning sense amongst Forest fans that we are nothing more than a championship club (at best). A provincial and unfashionable FC that simply doesn't feature in the list of 'big clubs' an armchair fan might compile. The odd pre-match nod to the successes of Brian Clough before a live television game the only remnant of what once was.

The harsh reality is that Nigel Doughty has undone all the good at Forest and we are worse off than when he arrived at the club. Upon Doughty's arrival we were in somewhat of a decline but nothing of the sort we now see. We were expected to bounce back, trouncing minnows on a week-by-week basis. Now unfortunately we look set to become those minnows. If it wasn't for Notts County's drop in form of late, it would be likely that not only were we set to lose our place in the Championship, but also as Nottingham's highest placed team.

Either Doughty is entirely oblivious to what he has done to Forest, or just doesn't care. In a circulating letter allegedly from the invisible man at the top, the owner points to his many achievements at Forest. He counts among his achievements promotion from the third tier of English football, a place no other former European champion has ever been. He also counts Forest's youth academy as something to be proud of. For years now the club have been telling us this was one of the best in the country. Odd you might think for a club that rarely bothers giving youth players a chance before releasing them where they often find their level at non-league sides. Every season it is claimed that the current batch of youngsters is the most promising yet. Much like the much maligned "we're ready for promotion" slogan: bollocks. Dougty needs to come back or get out of the club and stop claiming he simply cannot. He is either owner of the club or he isn't, but he cannot have his cake and eat it whilst leaving the club in a limbo like a ghost with unfinished business.

A grown man should not be throwing his toys out of the pram; the mark of a man is taking responsibility for his wrongdoing.

Forest veteran Andy Reid is one of the few that look bothered

There is a sense at the City Ground recently that this dire financial situation and the on-pitch results would be all the more easy to stomach if the team were at least playing football. Instead our midfield appears about as visible as Nigel Doughty, and our team appears to be playing so spinelessly that you’d be forgiven for confusing our players with a bunch of invertebrates.

It is so hard to be proud of Nottingham Forest when the players don't even look like they want to wear the shirt and the gaffer seems so inept that you wonder whether he is simply passing himself off as one. Leaving substitutions until we're already out of the game, leaving our players that we know can perform in favour of geriatrics and his claims the squad are ultra-confident and just unlucky count among fair criticisms of Steve Cotterill. One goal in eleven is NOT acceptable and there are no excuses. The man can blame off-pitch matters all he wants but the simple fact is there is more he and the players could be doing and it is his job to get it out of them. His position is untenable and if he ever wants to be employed again he should leave without compensation. By staying at the club he is only sending out a bad message to possible future employers.

Something has to change. But for fans it feels like there is nothing we can do. A protest or boycott would likely be a massive blow to already fragile confidence within the club, and of course we can't start supporting another team, that's treason.

For now it seems Forest fans will have to take solace in their own greatness. For fans of a team playing this badly to turn up in their droves every week and sell-out most away fans in this division means that whilst Rome falls apart all around us, we as fans CAN maintain our pride. We are Forest. We are the best fans in the country and through all the crap we are served up we keep our dignity.

For all his failings, Steve McClaren did get one thing right. When you walk into our ground you can literally ‘smell the history.’ And that doesn’t just mean the rotting wood of the main stand. What we have achieved will never be repeated.