'You have to dream' - veteran Forsyth eyes new Derby heights

Craig Forsyth has made 382 appearances for Derby since first arriving at the club on loan from Watford in March 2013

Six years ago, Craig Forsyth feared his career could be over.

And three years ago, he was concerned for Derby County's existence as the club crumbled financially around him and dropped into League One for the first time in 36 years.

But now, as the 36-year-old approaches his 13th full season at Pride Park, the Rams' longest serving player is looking to reach new heights - the sort that have been painfully elusive in the past - with a club where he is affectionally known to fans as 'Mr Derby County'.

"Football is about setbacks, highs and lows and how you deal with them," Forsyth told BBC Sport.

That comes from someone who has managed to play 382 games for Derby despite losing several years of his career to knee injuries.

In the 21 months between November 2015 and August 2017, Forsyth managed only four appearances after twice suffering ligament damage to his right knee.

He did the same to his left knee in 2018, and that cost him another 306 days on the sidelines. It was then that he questioned his future in the game.

"There were a few times, yeah," Forsyth responded when asked if he thought his career might have been ended by injury.

"It was probably with that last injury when you thought, 'is it time to call it a day?'

"But it's all I've known since I left school and you are a long time retired, so I just thought 'don't give up on it and keep going'.

"Thankfully I have managed to get another five or six years so far, and hopefully with a couple more to go."

After battling back from those serious injuries, the former Scotland international endured the anxiety of administration and the gloom of relegation to League One, before the relief of promotion back to the Championship.

That leaves getting Derby back to the Premier League as about the only thing that the defender hasn't done in Rams black and white.

Twice in Forsyth's time at Pride Park, Derby have fallen just one win short of promotion to the top flight, losing the Championship play-off final at Wembley against Queens Park Rangers in 2014, and Aston Villa in 2019.

"It still hurts," Forsyth said of the 1-0 defeat by QPR that he started in 11 years ago.

"You always think, what if that game had gone the other way and we had got promoted?

"There have certainly been opportunities missed. And that is what they are, opportunities to go up to the Premier League. Unfortunately for us, we didn't take them.

"And for us now it's about that next opportunity. Can we get another one to get there? That is what we are building for."

His efforts in helping the East Midlands club narrowly avoid relegation back to League One last season saw the veteran rewarded with a new two-year deal that will keep him at Pride Park beyond his 38th birthday.

Asked if that new contract - which is also set up to help him gain his coaching qualifications - has allowed him to dare to dream again of reaching the Premier League with Derby, Forsyth replied: "Of course, you have to.

"That is what everyone plays football for, to achieve their dreams and that is one thing that is still missing for me.

"So to be able to do that would be the ultimate thing on the top of everything at the end of my career, so we will see what happens."

'Fozzy never going to let you down'

The financial issues of the past - Forsyth admits there were times when the players "didn't know what was going on" during the 282 days the club spent in administration - means the Rams' Premier League aspirations are not bankrolled in the same record-breaking and near ruinous ways.

But years of measured spending by owner David Clowes - the property developer that took the club out of administration and funded their return to the Championship - has allowed head coach John Eustace to spend millions of pounds to bolster his side after they narrowly beat the drop last season.

And while cash has been splashed on the likes of United States striker Patrick Agyemang, whose fee could rise to £7.3m, Eustace made sure one of the first bits of business done this summer was keeping Derby's oldest player on the books for a few more years.

So long has Forsyth been at the club that Eustace played the final game of his career alongside the defender with County a decade ago.

And when Eustace returned as a head coach in February, he became the 11th full-time boss that Forsyth has worked under at Pride Park since first arriving on loan from Watford in 2013.

"Fozzy is a bit of a Derby County legend," Eustace told BBC East Midlands Today.

"He is a top professional and top performer still. He is never going to let you down."

For Eustace, Forsyth delivered in a way that transformed the trajectory of Derby's entire season.

Derby had lost all of Eustace's first three matches in charge and failed to score a single goal.

But Forsyth changed all that with the first goal of the Eustace era, which set the Rams up for a 2-1 victory against a promotion-chasing Blackburn Rovers that Eustace had left weeks earlier to take charge of relegation-threatened Derby.

"For everyone in the stadium and on pitch, it was just a relief to get that first goal and that monkey off our back after not scoring for a few games," Forsyth recalled.

"And that sort of kick-started us and got us on the run that ultimately kept us up."

Before that, Forsyth had struggled to hold down a starting spot.

After it, he played every minute of the 10 remaining matches, and crucially set up a goal in their 2-2 draw with Portsmouth and the winner against Hull City as the Rams narrowly avoided the drop.

"It was a bit close for comfort for us and it wasn't enjoyable at times," he said of their escape from relegation.

"It was tough and it was difficult, but everyone that was here has built that spirit from seeing it through and getting over the line in the end. And now it's about building upwards."

Craig Forsyth challenges for the ball against QPR's Jermaine Jenas in 2014 while Derby team-mate, and future Rams boss, John Eustace watches on in the background