Battle of the Scots

The Owls take a trip down the M1 on Saturday to face high flying Forest, Wednesday will be looking to try and carry on their recent good form but face a side sitting 3rd in the table and on a run of 1 defeat in the last 20 games, it’s also a battle of the Manager of the Month candidates with both Alan Irvine and Billy Davies up for the January award. 

Owls News

Wednesday will be forced into one change for the trip to Forest with Lewis Buxton set to be ruled out for a month with a hamstring injury, he joins Francis Jeffers (surprise surprise), Jermaine Johnson (hamstring) and Tommy Miller on the sidelines.

Alan Irvine will be hoping to get his team performing to a better level than the one that won three points against Plymouth, the Owls were on the back foot for the majority of the time but still ground out a 2-1 win, the tactics will have to be spot on against Billy Davies’ Forest.

Frank Simek looks set to be given the nod in place of the injured Buxton, the American right back replaced the former Stoke man last weekend and makes his first start in the league since the Boxing Day draw with the Geordies, the likeable full back is playing for a contract as his current deal runs out in the summer.

Lee Grant will continue in goal with a back four of Simek, Purse, Beevers and Spurr ahead of him hoping to repel a dangerous Forest attacking threat.

Alan Irvines two banks of four means the midfield will probably stay the same as last weekend with Soares, Potter, O’Connor and Michael Gray tasked with offering a shield in front of the defence whilst giving the front two of Luke Varney and Marcus Tudgay options, Leon Clarke will be back on the bench after missing the win at Peterborough with a knock he sustained at Scunthorpe.

Team News

Team (possible): Grant, Simek, Purse, Beevers, Spurr; Soares, Potter, O’Connor, Gray; Varney, Tudgay.

(subs from)Jameson, Clarke, Hinds, Wragg, Modest, McAllisters, Boden, Esajas.

Nottingham Forest News

Forest will be licking their wounds a little after their 19 game unbeaten run in the league was ended by fierce rivals Derby County last time out, it also ended their impressive unbeaten run away in the league this season as well, the two sets players once again clashed en masse and repercussions could impact on both sides depending on how the FA view it.

Forest dropped a place in the league to 3rd in midweek following a win for West Brom away at Blackpool, they sit 1 point behind the Baggies in the table.

Nottingham Forest

Forest are one of the sides in the division I have time a lot of time for, people say they harp on about their history, damn right they should, they have achieved things clubs like Chelsea and Arsenal dream about.

Forest like Wednesday have to go back too far for the really good days, it’s been nearly 15 years since Forest
were an established Premier League side and their last trophy came just a year before ours when they beat Oldham 1-0 in the League Cup final.

The club were formed way back in 1865 making them the third oldest club still in existence in the Football league, city rivals Notts County and Stoke are the others, the club were born out of the Nottingham Forest Football and Bandy club, the joined the Football Alliance in 1888, winning it 4 years later before being elected to the Football League.

In 1898 Forest won their first major trophy, beating fierce rivals Derby County in the FA Cup final but that was to be their only highlight in the first part of their illustrious history, the club spent the majority of the first half of the 20th century rummaging around the lower echelons of the second division, even having to apply for re-election to the league in 1914, they won the 2nd tier title twice during this time as well, in 1907 and 1922.

Disaster struck in 1949 when the club found itself in the 3rd division for the first time but it was to be a short lived tenure as the they bounced back as champions just 2 years later, within 5 years they were back in the top division and became the dominant force in Nottingham, Forest won the FA Cup again in 1959, cup glory saw Forest settle in the top flight for the next 15 years before being relegated in 1972.

Forest’s real heyday began back in the mid 70’s when Brian Clough took over the reigns at the City Ground, he began his job as manager in January 1975 and within three years they had been promoted from the Second division and became League Champions, disposing perennial winner Liverpool from top spot. Clough and Forest then shocked the footballing world by guiding Forest to back-to-back European Cup success, a feat I believe rarely gets the credit it deserves nor will be repeated, they also went a staggering 42 games undefeated.

The end of the Clough era came in 1993 with his beloved Forest relegated from the inaugural Premier League, it ended his 18 year association with the club, Frank Clarke took the reigns at the City Ground and won promotion at the first attempt and the club finished 3rd in their first season back in the top division with Stan Collymore the star of the side.

Unfortunately that was as good as it got they were relegated again in 97, promoted in 98 and back down a year later, in 2005 they were relegated to the third tier where they remained for three seasons until finishing 2nd to Swansea in the 2007/08 season, they finished 19th last season.

The Ground



Forest moved to the City Ground way back in 1898 after a Bond scheme to raise £3k from supporters, club members and local business raised the majority of the capital required to fund the move, it was given the name the City Ground to highlight Nottingham’s change in status a year previously, technically the ground was outside the City though.

The current capacity at the City Ground is 30,602 and was a host stadium in Euro 96.

The Main Stand is the oldest remaining structure still in use; it was re-built in the late 60’s after a fire and currently holds 5,708 and runs down the touchline. Directly opposite the old structure is the Brian Clough stand which is the largest stand at the ground and holds 10,000, the stand was funded by the monies earned from Forest European success of the late 70’s and was built in 1980, it was redeveloped to it’s current state in the mid 90’s and opened by the great man himself.

The Trent End is the newest stand at Forest, the impressive double tiered structure was opened in time for the Euro’s and has a capacity of 7,338, it river baring it’s name runs along the back of the stand and is situated behind the goal.

Wednesdayites will be housed in the stand opposite the Trent End, nearly 5,000 fans can be held in the Lower Bridgford end with home fans above them in the Upper tier which holds around 2,700.


Prior to the move to the City Ground the club began playing their matches at the Forest Recreation Ground before moving onto the Meadows in 1879, a year later they began using Trent Bridge for the all their games, a move to Lenton in 1882 preceded a move to the newly build Town Ground in 1890 before the club moved across the river in 1898 to their current location.

Forest have submitted plans to move to a new 50k in the Gamston area of the City.

The Gaffer



Billy Davies followed the late great Brian Clough when he crossed the A52 divide to manage Forest, he’d previously been the boss of Derby County and guided the Rams into the Premiership in his first season as boss but was sacked in November 2007 following an horrific start to the season by Derby.

Davies began his managerial career with Motherwell after ending his playing career at the Fir Park club, he took the ‘Well to the brink of European qualification but a poor start to the 2001/02 season saw him dismissed as boss.

Davies was then appointed assistant manager at Preston North End in 2002 following Craig Brown move to Deepdale as boss, he succeeded Brown in August 2004 and guided North End to the play-off final in his first season only for West Ham to beat them in final.

Twelve months later he again guided the Lilywhites to the play-offs but after earning a vital draw away at Leeds in the first leg Davies’ arrogance got the better of him and in the second leg Leeds rammed his words down his throat with a 2-0 win.

He accepted the job at Derby County in June 2006 and spent 17 months at Pride Park where he transformed relegation haunted side into a Premiership football club only for it come undone in the top flight. After 14 months out of the game he took over at Nottingham Forest on January 1st of last year.

Davies is not a man to shy away from controversy and his touchline antics have recently seen him in the news, the fiery Scot refused to shake Nigel Clough’s hand after their defeat at Pride Park, he claimed Clough had kneed him in the back of the leg during the last minute melee on the pitch, he has done a great job at the Reds and until last week were unbeaten in 19 and currently look a good bet for promotion.

Key Players

Dexter Blackstock



Dexter joined the Reds in the summer from QPR after successfully helping the club stay in the division with 2 goals in six games whilst on a loan spell at the end of last season.

Dexter began his career with home town club Oxford United but was snapped up by Southampton as a youngster for £275k in 2003 whilst the Saints were still in the Premier League, he progressed through the Saints academy set up.

He made his debut for Saints in the 2004/05 season and scored a hat-trick in only his third game in a League
Cup tie with Colchester, he followed this up with another in the same competition before getting his first league goal in a 2-1 over derby rivals Portsmouth. He joined Plymouth in February 2005 on loan to further his education whilst the Saints battled against the drop in the top flight, he scored 4 in 14 for the Pilgrims in his 3 month spell.

He returned to the Saints for the 2005/06 season and he scored just once in the League Cup and was allowed out on loan again with Derby taking the pacy striker, he netted 3 times for the Rams in 9 match spell before being recalled to the Saints following George Burley’s appointment as manager, he scored 3 times for Saints on his return in 16 games.

He moved to QPR ahead in August 2006 for a reputed £500k fee but many believe it was much lower than this, he quickly settled in at Rangers scoring 14 goals in his debut season for the R’s in 42 appearances, however he struggled the following season with just 6 goals in 36 appearances.

The 2008/09 season was a better one for Dexter on a personal note, he netted 12 times for the R’s in 38 games, he however found himself surplus to requirements with the club turning over more managers than Sainsburys and was loaned to Forest in April with a permanent deal in the offing should he perform well.

He has made 27 appearances for the club this season and netted on 9 occasions, he has form for scoring against the Owls as well, netting 3 times in past encounters.

Squad Number 23

Paul Anderson



Leicestershire born winger Paul joined the club permanently in the summer from Liverpool after impressing on a season long loan last year, he cost the club £250k which given his displays this season can be deemed a bargain.

Paul came through the ranks at West Brom but failed to secure a professional deal at the Hawthorns and joined Hull City’s academy, he was quickly scouted by Liverpool and after impressing during a trial he joined the Reds with John Welsh moving the other way.

Opportunities were hard to come by at Anfield with Rafa’s buying owt foreign policy denying Anderson the chance to impress and he failed to make an appearance in his three years with the Reds, he was sent on loan to Swansea for the 2007/08 season, he made 41 appearances for Roberto Martinez’s men and scored 10 goals in all competitions to help the club to promotion.

Last season he joined Forest on loan and made 28 appearances for the Reds despite suffering two injuries that sidelined him for several months, he scored twice, so far this year he has appeared 28 times netting four times.

Squad Number 7

Lee Camp



Goalkeeper Lee Camp signed for the club last summer, following a loan spell that had been very fruitful last campaign until the dismissal of Colin Calderwood as Forest boss.

Born in Derby he came through the ranks at the club but his league debut came under current County boss Nigel Clough who was managing Burton Albion, he spent a month on loan with the Brewers playing five times in early 2003.

He returned to Derby to make his Rams debut in a 3-2 defeat at Walsall as a substitute, after that he found himself struggling to break into the side with current Owls custodian Lee Grant ahead of him in the pecking order, in March 2004 he moved to QPR on loan and was part of their promotion winning side that sealed Championship football with a 3-1 win at Hillsborough.

He started the 2004/05 season as Derby’s No1 and appeared in all bar two of their games that season as the Rams reached the play-offs but lost out to Preston in the semi-finals. He was again first choice the following and made 41 starts as the Rams narrowly avoided the drop.

The 2006/07 season saw Camp start the season with Derby but end back at QPR with a loan spell at Norwich in between, he started the first three games with the Rams but after a 4-3 defeat to Colchester he was dropped for loanee Stephen Bywater, he moved to Norwich in late November 2006 where he played in three games and netted an OG v Wednesday. He signed on emergency loan for Rangers in February 2007 before completing a permanent deal a week later, he played 61 times for the Hoops before being transferred back north in the summer.

He has kept 11 clean sheets this season including 7 in his last eleven games.

Squad Number 1

Team News

Team (possible): Camp, Cohen, Morgan, Wilson, Gunter; Majewski, McKenna, Perch. Anderson; Blackstock, Earnshaw.

(subs from) Smith, Adebola, McGoldrick, Chambers, McGugan. Tyson, Davies, McCleary, Mitchell, Moussi, Garner, Lynch.

Head to Head

A late winner by James Chambers saw the hosts gain a valuable 3 points when the two clubs met last season, Jermaine Johnson put Wednesday ahead before Nathan Tyson leveled for Forest, the Owls then lost Francis Jeffers to a reckless red card leaving Wednesday more than half the game to hold out, unfortunately they couldn’t.

The hosts ran rampant when the sides met in August 2002 goals from David Johnson, Jack Lester and a Riccy Scimeca brace sealed a 4-0 win, the Owls also had Gerald Sibon dismissed in a horror show for the Wednesday faithful.

The season previous Owen Morrison lashed home from the edge of the box in the dying embers of the game to secure all three points for the struggling Owls, repeating the feat of Gerald Sibon in February 2001 when he smashed home a 75th minute winner for Peter Shreeves men.

The two clubs first met in Nottingham way back in 1883 in an FA Cup tie that ended in a 2-2 draw, the first clash at the City Ground was in January 1899, the game again ended all square.

Overall at Nottingham :

Owls: 21
Draw: 15
Forest: 27

Final thoughts

A big crowd is expected at the City Ground with the Owls all but selling out their 4,700ish allocation whilst the hosts had less than 2,000 tickets available during the week, Wednesdayites will be hoping they can roar the Owls to a 5th win in 6 whilst the hosts will look to try and catch both West Brom and Newcastle, it’s a massive game for differing reasons for both clubs.

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