Colin Calderwood, the Nottingham Forest manager, has taken the bull by the horns by saying that those who are gunning for his head should do well to brace themselves for a surprise. The outspoken manager insisted that despite lurking at the bottom three of the Championship table, his team is ready to take on the mantel of a champion and rise to the very top. He pointed out that for the first time he has a full strength team at his disposal, which was never the case earlier.

Calderwood has a valid point to feel optimistic though, as key players like Lewis McGugan, Robbie Earnshaw, Joe Garner, Paul Anderson have been declared fit, while Nathan Tyson has completed his ban and Julian Bennet finally making a comeback. The recent results too are encouraging with a confidence boasting victory over Barnsley followed by an entertaining draw at the Ricoh Arena.

He said that having a fit and injury free team is one of the most important criteria to have a crack at the Championship, which thankfully he has now. He added that being a Championship team means being in the division come at the end of the season; but teams can only flourish only when they have their top players firing on all cylinders. So we will see if Calderwood can keep his predication alive, and even put ourselves in his obviously precarious shoes by managing Nottingham Forest in Football Manager 2009. At any rate, Calderwood definitely has a strong argument that he will have completely different team without any injuries.

The last match played between the team and Coventry turned out to be a real humdinger, with the former twice fighting back to restore parity. Coventry had taken the lead as early as in the 2nd minute itself when Coventry centre back Elliot Ward scored his fourth goal of the season from a Guillaume Beuzelin centre, only to see it equalized barely a few moments later by Earnshaw.