THREE wins and a draw in the five games since Stuart Pearce took over have helped Forest part of the way out of the woods. On Saturday they beat Ipswich 3-0 in the third round of the FA Cup. Tonight however, they enter a steamy jungle of political intrigue which, some say, could threaten the very future of this normally peaceable - footballing outpost.

"Unless the takeover of Forest is sorted out tonight, this club could crumble," warned the passionate general manager Alan Hill. Even Pearce calls it: "The most important meeting in the club's history".

Whatever the outcome, the jungle that is tonight's Extraordinary General Meeting is bound to be alive with accusations of snake in the grass behaviour and monkey business as the 209 Forest shareholders vote on whether to accept the only takeover bid on the table, or wait for two consortiums hovering in the background to present their plans formally.

The one firm bid, from a Nottinghamshire consortium headed by local millionaire - Sandy Anderson, promises £13 million ford players immediately, and more later. The other two groups are ready to promise similar sums, but more importantly to some of the 209, in the form of a large payment to the shareholders themselves.

Tonight, there may be just enough of these rebels - taunted with chants of "greedy bastards" by ordinary Forest fans on Saturday - to block the 75 per cent majority needed to accept the Anderson bid and delay a decision by a month so the other consortiums can enter the game.

Hill, though believes this delay could cost Forest dear. If the team is to avoid relegation, it needs strengthening now, while Forest's bank is also pressing for £2 million to be knocked off the estimated £10 million overdraft by the end of this month. A delay in takeover money would force Forest to sell one of their best players.

Hill, however, is forecasting "a disaster" tonight, for he believes the Anderson bid will be blocked. The rebel shareholders' tastebuds appear to be tantalised by the carrots on offer from a consortium headed by video tycoon, Grant Bovey. And, more particularly by a group comprising the former Tottenham chairman Irving Scholar local author - Phil Soar and Nigel Wray, a London millionaire who recently pumped £2.5 million into Saracens rugby club and who yesterday, for the first time, confirmed reports of his interest in taking over Nottingham Forest.

Wray is ready to offer the club's shareholders 20 per cent of the new company if they vote for him, compared with Anderson's five per cent.

Whatever happens, Pearce has still to decide whether to take the manager's job permanently, although Saturday's performance will have reminded him that the team needs strengthening urgently.

He hopes, this week, to swap the reserve keeper Tommy Wright and full back Des Lyttle for Manchester City's Nigel Clough who has been on loan at Forest.

But more signings are needed. Despite winning 3-0 on Saturday against Ipswich, Forest allowed the visitors to dominate large, portions of the game with some sweet passing that, despite the impressive efforts of James Scowcroft, lacked just a cutting edge up front.

Ipswich's problems will not be eased for tomorrow's Coca Cola Cup quarter final against Leicester by a long injury list that sees the absence of a number of key players. What Forest would give for such simple problems.