Nottingham forest make a trip to Stamford Bridge in the third round of the Carabao Cup to face Chelsea.
The former European Champions have in their ranks an ex-Chelsea academy starlet Michael Mancienne.
The 29-year-old who faces his former side recently said that there is every chance that he could have “rotted away” had he stayed at Chelsea.
The defender claims that he left the London side in order to make a name for himself.
Mancienne joined Chelsea at the age of nine but made just a handful of appearances for the club. He had loan spells at QPR and Wolves before taking the decision to move to Germany and SV Hamburg in 2011 in search of first-team football.
He switched to the City Ground three years later and is now preparing to face the Blues for the first time since his departure.
“I was in the comfort zone at Chelsea and it is easy for players to rot away in that environment,” Mancienne told The Telegraph.
“When you’re at a big club you can easily get caught in a bubble because everything is done for you. There are so many people doing things for you that when you go out on loan you’re thrown into real life.
“I was 21 when I made my debut and it was a great moment. I thought it would be the time when I kicked on but there were too many players in front of me, many of them captains for their countries.
“The likes of John Terry, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and Joe Cole were the best role models to have, and seeing people like John break into the first team obviously gave you that hope and desire to do the same thing.
“But I don’t think there is one player from the academy in or around my age group that is still there. Ryan Bertrand, Jack Cork, and Sam Hutchinson have all left, and Liam Bridcutt is with me now at Forest. I had to make a decision as I wanted to make a name for myself and play games.”
Mancienne has racked up over 100 appearances for the side and even took a pay-cut in the summer when he signed a new contract extending his stay with the reds.
After the chaotic regime of previous owner Fawaz Al Hasawi, when off-field issues dominated the headlines, Mancienne says there is more stability with Evangelos Marinakis at the helm and Mark Warburton in charge as manager.
“It’s been a rollercoaster, I’m just glad the club finally feels stable now,” he said. “The team has got more of an identity when we play and everything seems to be clicking into place.
“The lack of stability (under Al Hasawi) was killing the team. We weren’t getting paid on time, it affects the players who have got mortgages to pay and then you’re playing for someone who’s not respecting you. The little things added up and people don’t realise how much that damages the team.
“Thankfully it’s all changing now and we’ve got no excuses. We’ve got a good manager, good ownership, and the training ground is improving every single week.
“Forest is a massive club and it feels like we’re going places. We beat Newcastle in the last round (of the cup) and obviously we are going to Chelsea as underdogs but that takes the pressure off and means we can play with a bit more freedom.”
