McKenna & co can make us winners!

It feels really good to be a Forest supporter at the moment. Our summer signings, which now include Chris Gunter and Paul McKenna, have been absolutely superb. I'm really amazed that we have managed to sign all the loan players that we wanted to.

I didn't expect Tottenham to be willing to let Gunter leave permanently. The best I thought we could hope for was a season on loan. But to land him for £1.75 million on a four-year-contract is brilliant. Now at last we have a proper right back, and a very good one at that. It's just wonderful to hear him say how much he wanted to play for us, describing it as a dream move! He hasn't come from some non-League team. He's left one of the biggest clubs in the country, Tottenham, to join us!

I won't pretend that I know much about Paul McKenna, but I gather he was a very important player at Preston. In fact, he was their equivalent of Stuart Pearce. He was one of their most longest-serving players ever, and made more than 400 appearances during a 12-year spell. He was their Club captain for the past couple of seasons, and Preston's supporters are gutted to be losing him. It is quite a rarity in the modern game to have only played for one club having reached one's thirties, but it just goes to show the pulling power that Forest, with Billy Davies at the helm, now has. The chance to work under Davies just proved too strong for him. He will be 32 in October, but an older head is just what Forest needs in the centre of midfield. We have paid £750,000 for him, which Preston finally agreed to after knocking back three previous bids. I think he has been brought in specifically to be our new captain. It is about time, too, that we had a proper leader on and off the pitch.

There are very strong rumours that we have also got a deal nearly sorted out to sign Dexter Blackstock. He is expected to complete his move later this week, and all being well, will become the sixth striker in the squad. The players have obviously accepted that Davies intends to rotate the centre forwards to suit each game, because they can't all play at once! All six of them are very good players, and after Nathan Tyson scored a hat-trick in a 4-1 win at Burton Albion at the weekend in a pre-season friendly, it has given Davies even more food for thought. Competition is a marvellous thing, because it drives people on to perform their best in order to get noticed. Even our bench is going to look very strong this season, and some players you might expect to be in the first team might not even make it into the matchday squad. But it has to be like that in the Championship because every year, the division gets stronger and stronger, with the addition of more teams dropping down from the Premiership. Forest's big spending spree which was approaching £6 million at the last count is raising a few eyebrows and forcing worried bookmakers to slash their odds on us winning promotion!

We've been to Europe. We've won another cup!

I am not usually that interested in pre-season friendlies, but the surprise win over Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon has really made me feel quite proud, especially after seeing the players parade a cup around the stadium after the match. I'm not sure what that was all about, but it's just nice to see Forest get their hands on some silverware for a change!

Thanks to the marvel that is the internet, I was able to watch the game live. It was on Portuguese TV, so I couldn't understand a word, except when they mentioned Forest, or our players, but it didn't really matter anyway. The picture was surprisingly very good, considering I didn't pay for it. It's becoming a bit of a regular habit every summer now watching pre-season friendlies on the internet. Last year, though, being a mug that I am, I paid nearly £30 to Setanta Sports so I could watch us lose in a friendly against Sunderland. Suffice to say I'm glad there's no threat of Setanta broadcasting one of our other friendlies this summer, as they've gone bust. Oops.

I thought we played really well, and looked like we were taking the match really seriously. Everybody was trying their hardest to impress Billy Davies, so hopefully this is a good sign that there are more signings on the way. Sporting without doubt had the better chances, but we defended pretty well, and Lee Camp, fresh from his move from QPR, looked solid in goal. We didn't really create much going forward, so it was a surprise when we took the lead eleven minutes from time through Paul Anderson. It was a good piece of build-up play that led to the goal, and

Anderson's finish was impressive. Hopefully we'll see him score more this season, as he only scored twice last term, having scored eleven the previous season with Swansea, albeit in League One.

It was very amusing watching our post-match 'celebrations'. I don't know why we were given a cup, but I'm not going to complain! Luke Chambers, who was made captain for the game, looked like he was enjoying it as he lifted the trophy, and then ran around the stadium with it. I am not sure why he was made skipper. He has experience of it at Northampton, so maybe Davies was just testing him out. It looks like Davies has finally decided to play him as a central defender, where he does a pretty good job, so perhaps if he is to remain a first team regular this season, he might be given the armband.

It's very important that Forest have a regular captain, as all the best teams do. We don't really have a leader on the pitch. Some people say Chris Cohen should get the job, but he's very young, and I think captains should be over 25 at least. If we eventually manage to sign Paul McKenna from Preston, he'll probably be made the skipper, but Preston keep rejecting Forest's bids, so I don't know what is happening there.

I'm very happy with Forest's summer signings so far, but I'll be disappointed if we don't sign anybody else. Now that most of our loan signings have gone back, our squad is looking thin again, especially in defence. I hope that we're working on a deal to bring Chris Gunter back on loan, as he loves playing for Forest, and really made a huge difference at right back as we fought a successful battle against relegation last season.

Player passion presages a bright future

To all those who were moaning about Forest not signing anyone, are you happy now?! Goalkeeper Lee Camp has finally joined us permanently from QPR, and becomes our fourth summer recruit of the week, following the captures of Dele Adebola, David McGoldrick, and Paul Anderson.

I am delighted that Camp is officially a Forest player. It has to be one of the most drawn-out transfer sagas in Forest history, as we've wanted to sign him ever since he joined us on loan last November. He's always been very clear that he's desperate to play for us, and he was very disappointed when we didn't move for him back in January. I was really worried when he went back to QPR, as I thought having Paul Smith back in goal would really affect our chances of staying up. When we were thrashed at Burnley 5-0, my fears seemed to be well-founded, but though we signed a replacement in Iain Turner, he was then injured and Smith returned between the posts. But happily Smith didn't let us down too much for the remaining games as we secured our place in the Championship. Nevertheless, in the wake of Camp's arrival, Smith has now been handed the number 21 shirt, so will find himself playing a substitute role next season - that's if he doesn't leave for first team football elsewhere.

Camp already has secured a place in Forest folklore following his heroics in those now infamous last few minutes in the game at Derby last year. He has a tremendous rapport with the fans, and he loves playing for Forest, which is good news for everybody. The more players we have who are proud to be representing the Club, the better. It's very refreshing to hear young players who have nothing to do with Nottingham say how much they love the Club. Paul Anderson said his heart was set on joining us permanently, even turning down the possibility of Premiership football with Wigan. Chris Gunter was only at Forest for a handful of games at the end of last season, but in that short space of time developed a strong affection for the Club and now wants to come back for another season on loan, if not long-term if Spurs are willing to sell him. And we had no problem persuading Chris Cohen to sign a new deal without hesitation. Forest are once again an attractive club with a great future, and that in my opinion is largely thanks to Billy Davies. I'm not going to get too carried away, but I honestly believe that if he is given time, he could turn out to be the best manager we've had since Brian Clough.