It’s hard not to have watched events unfold at Bolton Wanderers in recent weeks with a degree of sadness.
One of English football’s great clubs are seemingly being driven into the ground and with no sign of a positive end to their sorry state which has thrown the end of the season into a state of absolute calamity, quite frankly.
To have a game called off because the players have gone on strike is a sad indictment of English football, especially given the amount of money awash in the game at the top level, and it shouldn't be allowed to happen.
Nottingham Forest find themselves caught up in the chaos because they are scheduled to play Phil Parkinson’s side on Sunday at the City Ground, although what sort of team will step off the coach about 11am on the morning remains to be seen.
Given where Forest have come from, under the previous ownership of Fawaz Al Hasawi, it does make you appreciate how good we now have it at the City Ground.
Evangelos Marinakis has invested heavily into the club since taking over a couple of years ago, and the latest plans for the upgrade of the stadium remain hugely exciting and something to look forward to.
It really goes to show you how lucky we are to have an ownership who care greatly about the club’s present and future.
Gone are the days when you’d have to worry about bills not being paid on time, local suppliers losing out and wages not being paid because of a Bank Holiday.
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Forest are a club on an upward curve, they’re moving in the right direction and in time, I’m sure will be back in the Premier League, which is where we all want to be, but let us just be thankful we have reason to be optimistic and positive, unlike those in Bolton.
What has frustrated me in the last few days, however, is those people criticising Bolton’s players for going on strike, suggesting that because they’re footballers, they should continue to play.
They’re only human like the rest of us, they have bills to pay and families to support and I applaud them for making a stand, for fighting for what they feel is the right thing to do, anybody would do the same.
If you’re not being paid for a job you’re doing, you’re understandably going to be furious.
The players have also been standing up for the staff behind the scenes at the University of Bolton Stadium, the cooks, the cleaners, the ticket office staff, those who operate the media department – none of whom will be earning big salaries and will be struggling to make ends meet, it's a terrible situation.
This isn’t just about players who may earn thousands of pounds per week, and let’s have it right, some of the players at Bolton won’t be earning huge sums of money, certainly by today’s standards.
Nobody quite knows what the Bolton team will look like come 12:30pm on Sunday lunchtime, will it be first team players if Laurence Bassini completes his takeover and they get paid, or will it be a team made up of younger players who probably won’t be in a great frame of mind either?
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One thing is for sure, I expect Martin O’Neill and his players will be fully focussed on putting on a performance for what looks like being another sell-out crowd at the City Ground.
Forest, while sympathetic to Bolton’s cause I’m sure, will be keen to sign off their season with a positive result and make it three wins in a row, which going into the summer will provide everybody with a big boost - they can't feel sorry for the Trotters.
The Reds have a job to do and having watched them in training at the City Ground on Tuesday, there's certainly an intensity there and a desire to put on a show.
The win against Middlesbrough was superb and it was backed up by a solid, hard-working display at QPR last Saturday, a result which put an end to talk about a lack of away win since November and no back-to-back wins for even longer.
That’s a pressure lifted and it has also quietened down some of the criticism being levelled at Martin and his coaching staff, which goes to show what a fickle nature the business can be.
Win a couple of games and suddenly, all is forgotten – as it should be, because, without wishing to labour the point, I’ve said it numerous times in this column that the manager needs time and space to stamp his own authority on the squad.
While the season will ultimately end in frustration at missing out on a play-off place at the very least, we should be pleased with the progress that has been made on and off the field, and look forward to a busy summer and a new campaign with real excitement.
