I don't know where to start this week, there's just so much to talk about. Well firstly, let's take the FA Cup game at Forest Green. We all knew it could be a banana skin and that's what it very nearly turned out to be. At least we stuck at it and won through in the end. I think it does actually show that confidence isn't too lacking because last season, the bunch of no-hopers we had representing us would never have come back to win that game. The bottom line is we were in the hat for the next round.

And what with our friends from the wrong end of Brian Clough Way recently appointing Billy Davies in addition to springing something of a surprise at Man City, it was always going to be that we'd find ourselves facing them in the next round. I'm probably at odds with many if not most people here because F*rest is the last team I wanted to draw in the 4th Round. For one thing, I've never enjoyed games against the Red Dogs.

Oh I've enjoyed the results on many occasions but the tension and expectation beforehand spoils the fixture for me. What's more, if Billy Davies never sets foot in PPS again, it would be too soon for me. Yes he did brilliantly by getting us into the Premier League ahead of time but his ego subsequently set the club back years and almost destroyed it. I just hope we give them a good spanking and then I'll be able to look back on the fixture and say yes, I did enjoy it.

In the meantime the Rams' search for a new manager has been central to all the sports pages. It now looks very much like the job is Nigel Clough's to turn down. I have to say I have mixed feelings about this. I'm not a Burton Albion fan but nothing would please me more than to see Clough Jr finish the job he started ten years ago and take the Brewers up into the Football League. Personally, I don't think I could walk away from such a task if I was so close to completing it after so much effort over so long a time.

I just feel that if he did stay at Burton and get them promoted, he would have the option of either staying on or deciding he'd given it best and leave to look for a new challenge. And of course if Burton were to miss out, he could say the same thing, that he'd given it best and it was time to move on. We don't know the whole story though. Maybe one day Nigel will write his memoirs and we'll find out.

Like others, I am a little worried that the board might appoint him for the wrong reasons, ie the publicity his appointment would bring. I just hope that whoever they do appoint, it will be for the right reasons.

Major amongst those reasons would be that whoever the next Rams manager is, I believe he must excel at getting the best out of the players he has available. I don't think we've been very good at this as a club for several seasons. Nigel would certainly fit the bill in that respect as Albion is one of the few Blue Square Premier clubs to still be a part-time outfit. Nigel of course, had the same mentor as Martin O'Neill and while O'Neill's teams aren't always the most exciting to watch (neither was Clough Snr's Derby, some of the time), he does keep the game simple and effective.

Darren Ferguson is another name linked with the Rams. I think he'd be a good choice and I might just prefer him over Clough Jr. He's another one who's had a terrific mentor and he's doing a great job at Peterborough. He'd probably jump at the chance to try his hand at a bigger club and I think he'd do a good job.

Will he get that chance though? Even as I write this, the bookies have suspended betting on Nigel Clough. Well, if he does follow his father's footsteps into the Derby county manager's office he'll certainly have my full support. He's going to need time and I think Rams fans would give him that time. It's probably going to take three to five years and I for one would much rather see slow but steady progress rather than the explosive progress we made under Billy Davies (not that that's in any way a criticism of Davies of course).

Tom Glick seems to me to be an intelligent man and a quick learner. In rebuffing an apparent "hostile" approach from Saudi Arabia he stated that the Rams were not for sale and in doing so, implied that GSE were in it for the long haul. That's encouraging as the last thing we need is investors who see the chance to recoupt their investment in these financially difficult times or who get cold feet if things aren't quite going to plan.

Oh, and another thing's just occurred to me! GSE have said they want to model their ownership of the Rams along those of fellow American, Randy Lerner at Aston Villa. There's that O'Neill/Clough style of management link again. Maybe the job really is Nigel's to turn down.

We'll know one way or the other very soon now anyway.

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