It's 3rd Round of the Cup day on Saturday, and we've dragged along a Forest supporter and given him the third degree about his club.

1) Who are ya and how long have you been watching Forest for?

David Marples - one third of Inthetopone.com - not the best Nottingham Forest site in the world but...

I've been traipsing along to the City Ground since 1982: just after we were really good but in time enough to see Brian Clough's great second Forest side that went to Wembley quite a lot. Des Walker, Neil Webb, Garry Parker, Gary Crosby and some dude called Stuart Pearce tend to make those of a similar generation as me go all wobbly and nostalgic.

3) Top of the league in August, and arguably a good bit of business in the transfer window, why's it gone so horribly wrong?

How long have you got? In retrospect, we were quite fortunate in some of our early season results, notably stealing away wins at Bournemouth and Sheffield Wednesday. Since then, we've managed to produce an excellent 45 minutes at Wolves and a fantastic 20 minutes at home to Fulham and that's about it. We are heavily reliant on Michail Antonio and Britt Assombalonga and when they are snuffed out, it doesn't look pretty. Like all fans, it would be remiss not to blame injuries so here it is: Andy Reid, Jack Hobbs and captain/general hero Chris Cohen all suffered long term injuries in September. We miss them more than you could imagine.

4) Without wanting to incur the wrath of Kevin Keegan, but surely Stuart Pearce would have gone had he been manager at any other club?

Very probably so. Quite honestly, we are producing relegation form at the moment with only two wins in eighteen games and generally speaking, playing some fairly uninspiring stuff. Some feel he should go but most don't want to go back to the seeing the revolving door at Forest spinning out of control, as it is wont to do under Fawaz. Despite losing against Birmingham on the tele on Sunday, Pearce's name was chanted by most fans towards the end. It's complicated but essentially, there is a an acknowledgement that the very least he deserves is to be given a fair crack of the whip. If we can't give an actual living legend a chance, it might be time to pack it all in and go home. Unless, of course, we find ourselves in the midst of a relegation scrap. Stability is all well and good but not in League One again.

5) Obviously, we'll all well aware of the success of the Clough years, but where do Nottingham Forest fit in modern day football?

It might surprise you to point out that it is 1999 since we were last in the Premier League and since then, we even waggled our toes in League One for three years. This means that we are one of many Championship teams who feel they should be in the Premier League. To be honest, the last fifteen years or so have generally been miserable with perhaps a highly dramatic last day of the season victory to get us out of League One being the high point. But then there were the play-off defeats...don't make me write about those.

But like most fans, we love a bit of nostalgia and it might surprise you to learn that we went to Europe and won the cup twice, but we don't like to mention it or harp on about it...much. We are certainly not famous anymore but that won't stop us being fiercely proud of once being very famous and indeed very good.

6) I think the last player to leave Spotland for Forest was Grant Holt. Is he someone Forest fans have fond memories of?

To be fair to everyone's favourite ex-tyre fitter, he was quite good for us when down in League One, in a lumbering sort of bustling kind of way. He wasn't helped by Colin Calderwood's bizarre decision to play him on the left wing. He does have strengths does Grant Holt but a tricky, pacy winger, he most certainly wasn't and isn't. File him in the drawer alongside numerous other strikers labelled 'players who once served us but now regularly score against us'. It's quite a full one though.

7) I know its the first ever game between the two sides, but any opinions on us?

Generally scratching around in the lower divisions since the dinosaurs - then Keith Hill happened. A bit of slippage followed by the second coming of Keith Hill. I am lead to believe you play some decent football under Hill and any team who can dump Leeds United out of the cup gets a 'yes' from us. However, I recall a slip against FC United of Manchester in the cup.

8) Why is it the biggest crime in football to call you Notts Forest?

It just is, ok? Deal with it and move on!

Seriously though, our neighbours across the Trent have cornered the market in terms of 'Notts' and we are way different from them since we are called 'Nottingham'. It is probably something we should all just chill out about and not get so het up but it's part of our essence: this and reminding all that we won the European Cup twice. I guess it just boils down to being called a name that you are not. Imagine a teacher calling your name out wrongly in the register and you taking pride in correcting them about it and getting all huffy since they didn't even know your name...something like that.

9) Who should we look out for on Saturday?

On paper, we are pretty awesome. Britt scores goals, Antonio is a beast and scores goals, Karl Darlow and Jamaal Lascelles are Premier League players in waiting, Kelvin Wilson once shackled Lionel Messi out of a game for Celtic, Michael Mancienne has a rich pedigree having represented England U21 and Hamburg, Jamie Paterson singlehandedly destroyed West Ham United this time last year and Matty Fryatt scores goals for fun at this level.

Of course, that's all good and well but in reality, all of the above are suffering from a severe shortage of confidence and are playing in a distinctly average manner at the moment. Perhaps the players who are avoiding the flak most are Robert Tesche and Ben Osborn. Tesche was brought in on a free from Hamburg in the summer and keeps us ticking over in the middle of the park and Osborn is a young lad who makes things happen.

If you can prevent Antonio seeing much of the ball and prevent him getting a run at your full back, you may well find yourselves feeling underwhelmed by our supposedly star-studded team.

10) Predictions for the game

From our perspective, we are a bit worried about this one - it really would not be much of a surprise were you to turn us over. Having said that, we really are due a win and a slice of good fortune. All thing being equal then, a 2-2 scoreline featuring a lucky, late equaliser from Antonio.

Photo: Action Images

itschalky added 16:14 - Dec 30 We won the European Cup...twice....blah blah blah We should be in The Premiership blah blah blah... They can't help themselves.... I hope that you have widened the turnstiles so that they can get their heads through...
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TVOS1907 added 18:03 - Dec 30 One of their forum seems to think you're one of us, chalky.
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Sandyman added 15:40 - Jan 2 "All thing being equal then, a 2-2 scoreline featuring a lucky, late equaliser" - A popular scenario in Notts / Nottingham when visiting Spotland .....
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