Today is a red-letter day for Leicester City fans like me. It's our biggest home game of the season. Unless the dodgy weather intervenes, Notts Forest are coming to the Walkers Stadium tonight. The thing is though, I'm not so sure it's a red-letter day for Forest fans. They've got the Rams of Derby to butt heads with. Leicester aren't such a high priority.
The problem for us Leicester fans is that we haven't really got local rivals. To the east, Forest and Derby have got one another, and to the west the big game for Coventry fans is Aston Villa. According to my Cov mate Steve it is, anyway. I haven't got the heart to remind him Cov and Villa haven't seen much of each other recently, and that Villa fans are more preoccupied with Birmingham City anyway.
Whatever Forest fans feel about Leicester though, for us, Forest is The Big One. I think we're desperate to get one over them because of all the success they had in the 70s, 80s and early 90s. While we yo-yoed between the top two divisions, Forest won the old First Division, two European Cups and various other bits of silverware. Strangely enough, Forest's fall from grace in the mid-90s coincided with Leicester spending six seasons in the Prem and winning a couple of trophies. The pendulum had swung the other way.
Over the last few years, East Midlands football has been in a bit of a slump. Leicester and Forest have been pretty much level pegging. We both lost out in the Championship Play-offs in May and we've both started patchily this season. Really, there's not much to choose between us. It would be nice to get three points tonight, but I'd settle for one. And maybe the next time Forest come to town, we could both be back in the big league.
Right then. Let's see what that weather is up to...
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