Bill's Take: The Road To Wembley No Longer Runs Through Nottingham Thursday, 17th Apr 2014 07:45 by Bill Riordan I suppose that all Rams fans will occasionally have their thoughts turn, whether they want it or not, to Nottingham Forest. This happened to me recently, when I remembered something I had written in this column a while back. It went a little something like this; “If the playoffs began tomorrow, then the Rams would be playing Forest with the first leg at the City Ground”. Most fans stay reasonably current with football events, but for those who don't, I can unofficially announce that the scenario described above will not now happen. Not this year, anyway. The culprit is not my misreading of the league table back then, but Forest's run of 12 League matches without a win. What caused me to dwell on this fact was the realisation - you may have known this but I had forgotten - that Forest's abysmal run began with their 3-1 FA Cup defeat against Nigel Clough's Sheffield United. What was it that Forest fans used to call the former Rams manager - Agent Clough? Nigel doesn't seem to do them any favours, does he? Ooooh, the irony! That irony was probably lost on the Middle Eastern owners in charge at the City Ground, but they do seem to have picked up quite quickly on one of our most cherished of football traditions when things aren’t going the best; they sacked the manager! Thus Billy Davies, the diminutive Harbinger of Dashed Hopes can console himself by counting the pennies in one more paid-up contract; not all bad news, is it Billy? While dwelling on my statements — in a recent column I contrasted the Rams' results in matches, where John Eustace started and matches where he didn't start, and concluded that the Rams must sign Eustace to another year, or find a very similar player to replace him. It’s looking as though we now have our answer to that quandary. I don't think Eustace will be with the Rams next season. George Thorne looks like an excellent replacement, but I'm sure I won't be the only one to wonder whether he will be beyond the Rams' means. Promotion or not will quite likely be the driver but that's just one more thing to contemplate over what promises to be an interesting summer. In other news; congratulations to Jake Buxton on receiving the 'Supporters' Club Player of the Year Award'. As pleased as I am for Jake, I think he's an odd choice, giving the award to a defender suggests that the club has had a poor season. He would be a more suitable pick if the club had just avoided the drop. Still, there could be a real bonus to this; players such as Craig Bryson and Chris Martin will realise that they need to do better next season. And so on to Doncaster on Friday. I maintain that a point will be enough to see the Rams in the playoffs: with our goal difference, it would be (almost) impossible not to make it with 76 points. Finally, having alluded to a couple of observations of mine that did not come to fruition, allow me to credit a friend for his spot-on prediction. My mate Richard has alerted me that on BBC East Midlands Today there is a sports reporter named Natalie Jackson, who recently made a comment that “Derby are now third and who would have thought that at the beginning of the season?” Natalie is obviously a deep thinker and a perceptive analyst of the beautiful game but despite her shock at Derby’s rapid rise, Richard reminds me that before a ball was kicked he predicted, to anyone who would listen, that the Rams would finish third. He may yet be right.
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