I didn't want us in the playoffs this season anyway!

[ramAnag]

Its the hope that kills you. No I didn't expect a late surge into the play offs, my glasses aren't as rose tinted as RA's!! But I did kind of hope we'd turned the corner, even gave the team leeway against Northampton on the basis of many chnages but to lose at ****ing Luton?!

Then Cocu says the defence isn't doing as expected? No **** sherlock! WE are absolute ****e!!

Not really ‘rose tinted glasses’, Swale...I’m just not as full of doom and despondency as some...not necessarily you.

I’ve just thought that, with the right additions, we might be capable of a late charge to the play offs.

Looks very unlikely now...as do any of the ‘right additions’ and I think all that is likely to matter for the rest of this season is sorting out all the accusations and possible sanctions.

Don’t think we can blame Cocu for much. The Keogh affair and the EFL investigation(s) are all, imo, circumstances beyond his control.

In some ways the season is not a write off as the establishment of Lowe, Bird, Holmes and Knight as first team regulars is a huge positive. They’ll only get stronger and better but the question remains...can we establish ourselves as promotion contenders next season and will that be from the Championship or League One?

Suspect our failure to make any signings is very much linked to the EFL investigation and possible points deduction.
Who’d join Derby not knowing what level they’ll be playing at next season?
It really needs sorting ASAP but I suspect some damage has already been done...I don’t know if we’ve done wrong or not but I’m pretty sure the EFL’s handling of matters has been seriously incompetent.

[MadAmster]

It seems like one of PC's targets has already gone elsewhere and the big questions are (a) can we afford, financially, to bring someone in and (b) are we in too much EFL (FA too?) trouble to be an attractive prospect for anything other than a loanee?

[AdiSalisbury]

I don't think the season has been a write off.

We really punched above our weight last year with 3 exceptional loans, this season was always going to be a struggle, without drink gate and EFL pressures. I also think that Lampard has to take a good share of the blame, he gutted our squad, propped it up with loans, bought some questionable players, and left us barely into the job. We are exactly where we should be, unfortunately, that's a long way from when the Mac moved on.

There has been some promising signs from the youngsters, but will they become established League One, Championship, or Premier League players? We're going to have to rebuild, and this season is part of the process.

[MadAmster]

I don't think the season has been a write off.

We really punched above our weight last year with 3 exceptional loans, this season was always going to be a struggle, without drink gate and EFL pressures. I also think that Lampard has to take a good share of the blame, he gutted our squad, propped it up with loans, bought some questionable players, and left us barely into the job. We are exactly where we should be, unfortunately, that's a long way from when the Mac moved on.

There has been some promising signs from the youngsters, but will they become established League One, Championship, or Premier League players? We're going to have to rebuild, and this season is part of the process.

Cocu has 3 years on his contract after this season. He will have known, IMO, the financial constraints before signing and relished the chance to bring the young guns on. The problem with fans is that they want success each season and a 2 to 3 year rebuilding programme doesn't sit well.

[Geoff Parkstone]

Agree MA, most fans are impatient and short termist. Not helped by Forest having a half decent season so far. We might be 2 divisions apart next year, but more likely in the same one.

As for me, I too expected mid table obscurity season, and we've got it. Not a bad thing, too much "almost success" breeds expectations in many

[macstheman]

The problem is it won't be easy rebuilding from League One!
IMO Coco is not getting the best from this group of players, too many of them are way below their best and the question must be asked 'why'. One problem is that he's asking them to play in a way that is alien to them. Yes, he may need two or three years to get the players who can play his way but this is the here and now and not some fantasy world farther down the line. He's asking them to adapt their game but is reluctant to adapt his! He won't get better than the current squad in League One so the chances of his way becoming embedded needs flexibility now to open the door for the future!I Utilise the best of a players natural game and develop that game as the sqad develops!!

[ramAnag]

Nice to see such an outbreak of common sense and lack of hysteria on here at least.
Still hoping for something better on Friday night.

[Geoff Parkstone]

From "An Essay on Man" by Alexander Pope

or

A track from "Power of Eternity" by Wishbone Ash

or

The subtitle of "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption"

[swaledale]

Agree MA, most fans are impatient and short termist. Not helped by Forest having a half decent season so far. We might be 2 divisions apart next year, but more likely in the same one.

As for me, I too expected mid table obscurity season, and we've got it. Not a bad thing, too much "almost success" breeds expectations in many

Well there is that, though look at the miilions that have been paid out in transfer fees and wages, look at the turnover of managers (yes Lampard wasn't down to us, but then one could question why give him the opportunity to cut his teeth in management with us, when it was very likely he'd move on?) but Cocu's appointment was in my eyes an error, however I guess having experienced the stability under Clough Jnr, when the football was dire but the "wise sages" were talking about building slowly and stability I guess I can stomach another couple of years of "stability" under Cocu until its discovered he isn't the man for us after all, but then thats another couple of years gone past.

Unlike RA I do blame Cocu for drinkgate, if senior players are under the impression that behaviour was OK, then who allowed that message to be the case, the buck stops with the manager.

I'm not impressed with Mel's ownership of the club, I haven't been impressed with his managerial appointments and frankly watching the team is a bore.

Last word, if losing to the ****ing bottom club of the league isn't cause for concern, when Ra do you actually get worried?

Frankly the majority of the football

[ramAnag]

Well there is that, though look at the miilions that have been paid out in transfer fees and wages, look at the turnover of managers (yes Lampard wasn't down to us, but then one could question why give him the opportunity to cut his teeth in management with us, when it was very likely he'd move on?) but Cocu's appointment was in my eyes an error, however I guess having experienced the stability under Clough
, when the football was dire but the "wise sages" were talking about building slowly and stability I guess I can stomach another couple of years of "stability" under Cocu until its discovered he isn't the man for us after all, but then thats another couple of years gone past.

Unlike RA I do blame Cocu for drinkgate, if senior players are under the impression that behaviour was OK, then who allowed that message to be the case, the buck stops with the manager.

I'm not impressed with Mel's ownership of the club, I haven't been impressed with his managerial appointments and frankly watching the team is a bore.

Last word, if losing to the ****ing bottom club of the league isn't cause for concern, when Ra do you actually get worried?

Frankly the majority of the football

Where have I said I’m not ‘worried’, Swale?

I’m very concerned about how this is going to unfold but ultimately it’s not going to be determined by what happens on the pitch.

Like last season we contrive to come unstuck against teams from the bottom - Bolton, Rotherham - but the only thing that will send us down is a points deduction, imo, and that IS a major ‘worry’.

As regards Cocu and ‘drinkgate’ please don’t try and tell me that any drinking culture at the club and TL’s alleged alcohol issues suddenly materialised in the six weeks or so between Cocu’s appointment and ‘Joinersgate’.

It was, I believe, there long before and seems actually to have often been applauded under ‘just one of the lads’ Lampard...but of course that was when we were winning.

Was it reasonable for a foreign manager, still within his first two months at the club, to expect the club captain and other grown men/professional sportsmen to get themselves home safely after a club day/night out?

In my opinion...absolutely and utterly reasonable. He’s a manager not a child minder. Cocu may or may not prove to be the answer, but the problems we face are emphatically not of his making.