Forest fire up a promotion charge

After a frustrating festive season, with games abandoned and Forest left behind by a group of sides, few would have dared to dream of the consistency shown since and the position in the table that Forest now occupy.

However, whilst the Reds find themselves in fifth place, with a game in hand that would see them level with second-place side Cardiff and a mere three points behind the league leaders, QPR, is this a sustainable promotion charge that Forest are entertaining? Do Forest have the resources, the mental capability and the strength to maintain an unbeaten home record whilst picking up points on the road?

The major premise of this article may seem a loose one, but my point is, why not? Why shouldn’t Forest be able to sustain the push and find themselves in with a shout come the end of the season? In the true style of scientific verification I will look at those attributes that seem necessary to put a promotion campaign in place, and see if I can prove this assertion wrong.

Clearly, one of the most prominent obstacles to a Forest promotion is the nature of the opposition they face. Whilst the Championship has as much strength in depth as ever, with talented squads like Burnley, Leicester and Middlesbrough not yet in direct contention, but there is no stand out side this year, despite the relative successes of Cardiff, QPR, Norwich and Leeds.

As Billy Davies keeps mentioning, this is a squad who have known been together for a great deal of time. Many of these players helped drag us out of dark depths of League One, and even fairly recent signings like Camp, Blackstock et al seem to be completely integrated, as if they’ve always been here. The strength that a group of players can achieve from being together for such a period of time should certainly not be underestimated.

Seemingly always partly the subject of any piece I write is the potential or imminent signings that Forest need, or are looking for, and in this case things are no different. Forgetting the potential of further transfers toward the end of this January transfer window, Forest have essentially strengthened their arsenal in front of goal, with Tudgay and Findley now permanent members of the side. Tudgay has been mainly good, as I thought he may be, in a previous article at his time of signing, although perhaps a little tiredness creeping in after recent games and Findley is the sort of pacey, unknown quality that could be a fantastic weapon in this league.

All in all, more would be desired, but our dealings so far certainly don’t rule Forest out of being able to get promoted from this league.