A Sheeps Eye View Of Robert Earnshaw

Nottingham Forest's latest signing Robert Earnshaw, cost £2.65M. But what can we expect for the money we've spent and how come he never made it at Prideless Park? Chris from ramspace.co.uk gives us the low down on Little Earn and what we might expect from him.

Most Derby fans you speak to will no doubt tell you that Earnie is s**t and you've paid over the odds for him. However if I take a step back from the fact he's signed for Forest, I'd have to admit he just hasn't had a fair go at Derby.

We signed him from Norwich just after our promotion to widespread approval. A proven striker at all levels who looked liked a nailed on foil for Steve Howard. The only person who wasn't convinced it seemed was Billy Davies who simply refused to play him. Davies said he would play his part when the time came and spouted various excuses as to why he wasn't in the team. Reading between the lines, it seemed he wasn't going to run around enough which is where things went 'strange', as Earnie put it last week.

Anyone who knows football knows that Rob Earnshaw is not going to give 110%, chase back or provide a lot of nuisance value. However if he is given a site of goal, he will mostly score. If this wasn't the type of player we wanted, then why the f**k did we sign him in the first place?

I suppose the worrying aspect for Forest is that upon Billy Davies departure, Paul Jewell seemed to treat Earnie in the same way, suggesting there was some sort of problem and I'm sure you've heard the booze rumours. Still after paying £3.5m, 6 starts in a season like ours just wasn't really right.

If Earnie plays the majority of games, I am sure he won't be far of the 20 goal mark. However if Forest get off to a bad start, it will be interesting to see if Calderwood keeps him in the side or goes for a more team orientated player. One things for sure, he's nailed on for the first goal against us!

By Chris. Editor of Ramspace.co.uk.