‘After a harrowing and tortured early life David Johnson has at last found his redemption on the football field.
The 26-year-old's traumatic beginnings: early emigration from Jamaica to Birmingham; his mother murdered by his father; children's home; adoption by loving and loved foster parents. And while his adult life might not have seen the same traumas as his younger years, Johnson has still had to face career crises with dizzying regularity.
For example, the teenaged Johnson was spotted by Manchester United and signed for the club in the Wembley dressing room before a Charity Shield against Liverpool. Alex Ferguson laid an avuncular hand on his shoulder as he did so, and his new family, United's stellar first-team squad, all applauded.
After winning the Youth Cup with David Beckham and the rest, Johnson snapped a cruciate ligament and spent his convalescence hobbling from nightclub to Chinese restaurant. His 5ft 6in frame swelled to over 13st and, while his team-mates like Beckham and Paul Scholes were treating their young bodies like temples, Johnson's looked like a bouncy castle. Uncle Alex sent him to Bury.
All of that explains why Johnson coolly goes into today's East Midlands showdown with Derby, letting the acclaim wash by him. He began the weekend as the First Division's top scorer with 13 goals, producing in Forest's last six games and closing in on the club's century-old record of eight consecutive scoring games. Yet it was only the end of last season he was loaned to Burnley and Sheffield Wednesday, as skint Forest desperately tried to recoup some of the £3 million they paid Ipswich for him in January 2001.
Don Masson, who played for Derby against Forest said: "The difference with Johnson now is that Forest have clicked as a team and they're playing well. You can feel the excitement rising in the city of Nottingham before the game, because the Forest fans are very optimistic.