Sort the defence out, and we might just have a team

I was listening to TalkSport just before kick off, and I remember them saying that there was 'very little chance' of there being a goalless draw between Reading and Forest considering the amount of forwards we had at our disposal.
But, just like last year, a game that on paper promised plenty of attacking football and one or two goals turned out to be quite drab. But from our point of view, it was a very good point to start the campaign, especially as we finished the game with ten men after Luke Chambers was sent off.

I thought we played quite well, and despite the well-documented lack of defensive options we have at the moment, we did defend quite soundly, restricting Reading to very few chances. Lee Camp had a very solid game, and dealt with crosses magnificently, and he made one or two good saves, as well. Reading's finishing let them down, too, so we did get away with it a little bit, but overall we definitely deserved the point, as we had one or two chances ourselves.

Our starting line-up made quite interesting reading, as there were so many notable names missing, with Rob Earnshaw, Nathan Tyson, Paul Anderson, Lewis McGugan, and Dexter Blackstock all having to be content with a place on the bench. David McGoldrick and Dele Adebola were the lucky pair to get the nod to start up front, while Joe Garner, strangely, was asked to play on the right wing. So much for Davies' pledge to stop sticking round pegs in square holes.

Of the players making their first appearances, Paul McKenna had a promising game in the heart of midfield, and it looks like he will make a big difference there as he will bring organisation to the side. And although he started to tire towards the end, the Polish recruit Radoslaw Majewski showed some real glimpses of talent out on the left wing. McGoldrick was a little quiet, but Adebola looked very sharp, and won a lot in the air. He holds the ball up very well indeed, and if he keeps that sort of performance up, he will play more than a bit-part role this season.

When Chambers was red-carded with just a couple of minutes of normal time remaining, I conceded defeat. I thought there was no way we were going to hang on then, because we didn't have a replacement defender to come on for him, but somehow we survived a Reading onslaught in the last few minutes. I don't know what Chambers was dismissed for, but some people say he lashed out after being pushed. He had already been booked, so I guess he had to go. Perhaps something positive will come out of it, though, because it will force the Club to bring in a central defender or two, because we are dreadfully thin on the ground in that department. It's a good job we've got so many goalscorers at the club at the moment because as things stand we're going to need them just to draw games! Having said all that, we did get a clean sheet with ten men at one of the teams expected to be challenging for automatic promotion. But make no mistake, we will not get away with it for long.

Forest are Reading and raring to go!

The new season is less than a week away now, and Forest look like they're in pretty good shape for the big kick-off against Reading on Saturday.

Robert Earnshaw's late strike against Premiership new boys Birmingham earned them a confidence-boosting victory at the City Ground at the weekend, and according to the man from Sky Sports News, they looked very impressive going forward. To be honest, I would expect nothing less with the amount of quality we have up front!

We've not had a bad pre-season really. If you forget the 2-1 defeat at Notts County, which was rather inevitable with all the crazy press coverage going on in the wake of Sven Goran Erikisson's shock appointment, we've done really well. In the past few years, Forest have usually been very lacklustre during pre-season, and as a result taken a while to get going once the campaign gets underway. But it looks as though they've had a really tough pre-season under Billy Davies, and hopefully this means that we will have an enjoyable autumn this year, and our season starts in August rather than in January.

This summer has been one of the best Forest have had in a long time, regarding transfers. No fewer than nine players have been brought in, eight of them permanently. The other, Polish winger Radoslaw Majewski, has signed on loan for the season, with the option of him joining long-term next year. Majewski looks quite a good prospect, and he has been starting every game so far in the friendlies, so Davies obviously is impressed with him. It took him just two minutes to score on his debut against Rushden and Diamonds last week. I think I'm going to have to learn how to say his name correctly, as I've got a feeling he's going to become something of a regular fixture in the team this season!

I haven't been this excited in years about Forest, and it's about time, too. We've been put through the emotional wringer over the past five years, but we've stuck by them in numbers. We deserve a bit of happiness for a change. Nobody's saying we're going to get promoted, but a top ten finish in the Championship would be something to build on for the season after.

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.

Welcome aboard Messrs Adebola, McGoldrick and Anderson!

Finally after weeks of speculation, Forest have officially announced the signings of three players, and if the rumour mill is anything to go by, there will be plenty more to follow!

The free transfer capture of 6ft 3 veteran striker Dele Adebola from Bristol City came as a surprise to nobody as we were told unofficially by the media that this deal had been done weeks ago. He may be getting on a bit at the age of 34, but there's no doubting that his physical presence will offer something to our attack, which was crying out for a big target man last season. I am not sure what Billy Davies' plans are for him. Will he mainly be used as a substitute, or does he intend to play him a lot from the start? But as a free transfer, we don't have much to lose. He will be very handy to have in the squad.

We've also signed 21-year-old David McGoldrick from Southampton for £1 million. He was born in Nottingham and started his career with Notts County, so is really happy to be playing for his home town club. He scored a respectable 14 goals for Southampton last season when they went down, so if he's part of a good team, which I think Forest will be next season, he might be capable of hitting the 20-goal mark. With McGoldrick, Adebola, Rob Earnshaw, Joe Garner, and Nathan Tyson all on our books, I don't think Forest will have to worry too much about scoring goals next season! Davies did say that he wanted six strikers, so we may well see the addition of another one soon. If we can sign Dexter Blackstock permanently from QPR, I will be very happy.

The best piece of news is that we've managed to persuade Paul Anderson to join us permanently from Liverpool! When was the last time Forest signed a promising young player from a big club like them? I don't recall it ever happening. What's more, we've only paid £250,000, which is an absolute bargain. It did seem like he was going back to Swansea where he was on loan the season before last as they had a bid accepted, but after Robert Martinez left for Wigan, Anderson didn't want to go there any more. We already know what he can offer to the team following his year on loan with us, so we know what we're getting, and that is a winger with plenty of pace and an eye for goal. We have not really seen the best of him yet, as his season was blighted by injury, but when he was in the side, there's no doubt that his contribution was immense as the vast majority of Forest's victories were earned when he featured. In particular, he offered us a very good attacking outlet away from home. It's a great bit of business, which underlines how ambitious the Club are in trying to regain their Premiership status.

Not such a bad season in the end, was it?

As Colin Fray put it on Radio Nottingham, Forest's final-day win over Southampton summed up the entire season: For three-quarters of the game, we had been quite poor, but we came good right at the end and ensured that we ended the campaign on a winning note.

I was not bothered if we didn't win, but I definitely didn't want to lose, even if the game wasn't important. I thought I would find it hard to feel motivated about the match itself, and wanted to be at the City Ground more to say thank you and goodbye to Billy Davies and the players, but when Southampton took the lead early in the game, I began to care more and more and was desperate for us to score an equaliser. It didn't look like it was going to come as Southampton began to dominate and take control of the game, but Forest finally gave the majority of the 29,000 sell-out crowd something to cheer about when substitute Joe Garner, for the second time this season, lobbed Saints goalkeeper Kelvin Davies to equalise out of nothing. And just three minutes from time Luke Chambers, who had impressed in his preferred centre-half position, powered home a header from a corner to give Forest the lead, which was a bit harsh on Southampton who had at least deserved a point. Then Rob Earnshaw made certain of the three points with virtually the last kick of the game to take his tally for the season to 17 goals.

I was a bit disappointed with the atmosphere, as I thought the fans would be in good voice, but I suppose the fact that we were losing the game until the last 15 minutes was a bit of a dampener. Thankfully, though, it all went right in the end, and we ended the season on a high, with a six-match unbeaten run, with three wins at home and three draws away – exactly the kind of form that was required to pull away from the relegation zone. In the end we finished seven points clear of the drop zone in 19th place, with five teams below us. Many Forest fans had a feeling for much of the season that it would be either us or Norwich who would be joining Southampton and Charlton in League One, and although Norwich were above us in the table just a fortnight ago, they lost their last three games, while we earned seven points from nine. When we looked at the run-ins of the teams fighting against relegation, ours appeared to be the easiest, and Norwich and Barnsley's seemed quite tough. I thought Barnsley would go, but even though their win over Plymouth on the final day was their first win in nine matches, they still avoided relegation by six points. Norwich went down with a whimper, losing 4-2 at rock-bottom Charlton.

Even though they were for much of the season our enemies, I couldn't help but feel a pang of sorrow for the thousands of green and yellow-clad people who were watching at the Valley and back at home on a big TV screen. It just reminded me of what we went through four years ago as Forest fans, as Norwich and Forest are very similar clubs with big fan bases. Norwich are currently going through what Forest were back in 2005. They have no direction and a complete lack of team spirit. They will go down to League One and be forced to rebuild and like us will emerge a stronger Club when they finally come back to the Championship. I think relegation is not necessarily a bad thing sometimes, even though it hurts like hell when it's confirmed.

I'm still feeling so happy that Forest stayed up. It's probably the best feeling I've ever had actually. I think it tops last season because I didn't spend nine or ten months last year with my stomach churning. To be honest, we were so rubbish for most of the season that I didn't expect to get promoted at all. The last day when we went up after beating Yeovil was and still is the best day of my life, but the feeling of incredible relief that I have had ever since Monday night is something else, I can tell you. If I could bottle that feeling, I'd be a multi-millionaire. Now I'm really looking forward to the summer and experiencing a 'Billy Davies pre-season'. There's already plenty of rumours of signing this player and that, and there was even a piece in the Daily Mirror about us having £20 million to spend! I don't believe that for one second, but Nigel Doughty knows that we must strengthen the squad significantly this summer to avoid a repeat of this season. Next season we will hopefully be capable of challenging for a top six position. I cannot see us being involved in a relegation scrap with Davies at the helm.

He is the best manager we have had in a very long time, and he knows exactly what he's doing. He has already identified several transfer targets, and apparently we are very close to clinching a double deal with QPR for both Dexter Blackstock and Lee Camp! Camp would be a very welcome permanent addition to the squad and he has made no secret of his desire to return to the City Ground after such a successful loan spell with us. We should have bought him in January, but for one reason or another the deal never materialised, and we ended up having to risk playing Paul Smith until we brought in Iain Turner, who then got injured for the last few games. Luckily for us when Smith came back in he performed very well. But if Camp does sign this summer, would Smith be content playing a substitute role for the whole season? His shot-stopping is excellent at times, but he needs more than that to be a successful goalkeeper at this level, and unfortunately he is found wanting in several areas.

There's no doubt that Davies' loan signings have played a massive part in our survival, and it would be nice to think that several of them might come back next season. As already mentioned, Blackstock looks likely to sign, and we may also be signing Chris Gunter on a long-term loan deal. Gunter has said in various interviews how much he's enjoying playing at Forest and he's very keen to return, even on a permanent basis if Spurs are willing to sell him. Spurs signed him only little over a year ago for £3 million. They would probably want to recoup a significant portion of that if they were to let Gunter leave, but I don't think they would want to let him go anyway. I think our best bet is getting him here on loan for the whole season. I hope some kind of a deal can be reached as he's really made a huge difference in defence in the seven games he's played. His attitude is also first class, and if Forest want to be a team with a winning mentality, it's players like Gunter who will help them achieve it.