IT seems an odd statement, but there is a sound logic to it.

Come May, Lee Camp has his fingers firmly crossed that he will not retain his crown as Nottingham Forest's player of the year.

The keeper's spectacular performances last season not only helped the Reds sustain their challenge for promotion, but also helped him, deservedly, scoop the accolade.

But, this time around, Camp is honest in his hope that there will be a different recipient.

"I hope I am not player of the year, I really do," he said. "I hope somebody else scores 35 goals and takes us into the Premier League. I hope I don't have to touch the ball very often.

"It was nice to be player of the year last season. It was a great honour for me and, after the hard work I put in, it was a nice reward.

"But I would be happy to sit in the background and let Earnie or somebody else take all the plaudits for scoring goals.

"You don't want your keeper to be player of the year, because it suggests he has had a lot to do.

"And we don't want that this season. As I said, I hope I barely ever have to touch the ball."

As a keeper, Camp is required to have a calm head on the pitch. But he is also a calming influence in the dressing room.

And, while Forest may not have made the best of starts to their season, that is not about to change.

"We never panic, we didn't panic last season," he said.

"It was the media that made a mountain out of a molehill, at the start of last season (when Forest won one of their first eight games).

"Nothing is won in the first eight games of the season, as we proved last time round. And certainly nothing is won in the first two or three.

"You have to look at performances and, if you play as well as we have, we will win more games than we lose."

Prior to the Leeds game, Camp issued the bluntest of messages, insisting that some complacency had been allowed to seep into the Forest dressing room.

And, if the Reds are to be a success under Billy Davies this season, he says there has to be a sense of unity and ambition at the City Ground.

"I look at Manchester United as the prime example," he said. "The perception of United players is very good. Wayne Rooney has been in the news papers recently, but that was one night out.

"In their dressing room, they always seem to have a togetherness. You can imagine them talking about what they want to achieve, they are all on board with it.

"When they walk away from the training ground, that is not the end of it. They have a 24 hour respect for what they do.

"That is why they are so successful. All they do is geared towards success.

"That is why they are always in the mix, that is why they always challenge."

"Whether I am vice-captain or not, I came here to get into the Premier League. I want to win things, I want to play at a high level. I am ambitious. It is difficult because you need people to have that ambition with you.

"We have that throughout the side but, at the same time, the manager was right to say there is maybe an air of complacency."

Last season, a string of 19 clean sheets from Camp were the bedrock for a Forest side that knew how to keep things tight, particularly away from home.

"All the good teams keep clean sheets and concede very few goals," said Camp.

"We want to keep clean sheets and we want to win games. We want as many clean sheets as we had last season.

"When teams come to the City Ground they are slightly cautious. They know that if they open themselves up, we can take them apart.

"We have that much quality that we can hurt teams. So teams do tend to come with a defensive mind-set.

"Away from home, we are probably more cautious ourselves. But that still helps us to keep clean sheets as well."

If Camp can keep another 19 Championship clean sheets, he will again be a contender for the end of season awards.

But, if Earnshaw or another striker can match that with a similar number of goals, then everyone at the club may also be celebrating a return to the top flight.