They used to be a fabulous club, when run by the God-like (and that's meant respectfully) Brian Clough. they aren't big enough to sustain themselves without such genius at the helm...
To save linking, here's some of the quotes from the enormous brain and ego of Brian Clough. I can attest to the accuracy of most of them...
"I certainly wouldn't say I'm the best manager in the business, but I'm in the top one."
"Get in there - that's what I pay you for!" - to Derby County players at a training session.
"As far as I'm concerned you can throw all those medals you've won in the bin, because you won them all by cheating" - to the Leeds United players on his first day as manager.
" This is a terrible day.....for Leeds United" - exiting Elland Road after being sacked after 44 days as manager.
"If a chairman sacks a manager that he initially appointed, then he should go as well."
"John Robertson was a very unattractive young man. If, one day, I was feeling a bit off colour, I would sit next to him. I was bloody Errol Flynn compared to him."
"If God had intended for us to play football in the clouds he wouldn't have put grass on the ground." - referring to the long ball game.
"If a player had said to Bill Shankly 'I've got to speak to my agent', Bill would have hit him. And I would have held him while he hit him."
"It was like a morgue in the dressing room after the game, and it's still like a morgue now. If that's what defeat feels like, we don't want to go through it again - oh, it's rotten" - interview with ITV after defeat for Forest in the 1980 League Cup final.
"Derby County were here a long time before Robert Maxwell" - on agreeing with a protest by Derby fans against Maxwell's ownership of the club.
"They thought I was going to change it lock, stock and barrel. They were shrewd because that's exactly what I would have done" - on why he was rejected by the FA for the England job.
"I'd ask him how he thinks it should be done, have a chat about it for twenty minutes and then decide I was right" - on dealing with players disagreeing with his methods.
"I like my women to be feminine and not rolling around in mud" on what he thought of women's football.
"Don't send me flowers when I'm dead, send them to me now if you like me."
"I want no epitaphs of profound history or all that kind of thing. I contributed, I hope they would say that and I hope that somebody liked me."
"For all his horses, knighthoods and championships, he hasn't got two of what I've got. And I don't mean balls." - on Sir Alex Ferguson's failure to match his record of two European Cup wins.
"Who thought Derby County could be turned into League champions; that any manager could bounce back from getting the bullet after 44 days with a great club and go on to prove himself among the best managers of all time; that what was done at Derby could be repeated at Forest; that after winning one European Cup, we could retain it; that a brash, self-opinionated young footballer, cut down by injury in his prime, would go on to achieve more impressive fame as a brash, highly successful manager?"
"It only takes a second to score a goal."
