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.

What were we worrying for? The Reds are STAYING UP!!!!!!!!

I'm feeling very emotional right now. As I write this my face is still wet from tears. I wanted this so badly that it made me physically ache. The past nine months have been at times sheer mental torture, from thinking Forest were definitely heading back to League One, then believing we were going to escape, and then back again. But none of that matters now. Our Championship place next season has been assured for next season after Reading beat Norwich 2-0 at Carrow Road, to leave Norwich unable to catch us on the last day. Breath a huge sigh of relief, everyone!

I was not coping with my nerves at all, and had been doing my best to keep busy to try and take my mind off it, so I'm just so happy that it's all over now, and I can enjoy the rest of my week and look forward to the final game on Sunday, which if we lose, DOES NOT MATTER...NOT ONE BIT! Now how good does that sound? Now spare a thought for Norwich, who must win at Charlton, but will still go down if Barnsley get so much as a point at Plymouth. Actually, I couldn't give a damn...hee hee! It would be rather funny for Norwich to go down as I can still remember Sammy Clingan's comments when he signed for them, saying that he believed he was joining a big club and it was a step up in his career! On the other hand, my mum's friend is an ardent Norwich supporter, and I feel a bit guilty because they said they hoped Forest would stay up even if it meant they went down, as they know how devastated I would have been. For that reason, I must hope that Barnsley go down instead, but to be honest I don't care now! I'm just so, so relieved that it's not going to happen to us!

When the Saints come marching in, all Forest need to do is win!

If only we had beaten Blackpool. We would be guaranteed of our Championship place by now and we could breath a collective huge sigh of relief, but unless Norwich lose to Reading tomorrow night (please God!), it will all come down to a final day showdown with already-relegated Southampton. And then anything could happen...

I am feeling incredibly nervous about it all. I know that our chances of staying up are good – beat Southampton and we are definitely safe – but if Norwich beat Reading on Monday, it means that if both Norwich and Barnsley win their last games, we absolutely must beat the Saints. A draw would not be good enough as it would only take us on to 51 points, which Plymouth currently have, and they have a far superior goal difference. They happen to be playing Barnsley at home, and if they beat them, it means we are safe no matter what happens, so I for one will be cheering for a Plymouth win as well as a Forest win, obviously!

Preston's surprise win at Birmingham might just have done us a bit of a favour as it means Reading have something to play for against Norwich. They will be putting in more effort than they might otherwise have done. They have an outside chance of going up automatically still, and their play-off place isn't mathematically assured, either, so they will be going all out to win at Carrow Road! So come on Reading!

The situation would have been out of our hands if we lost at Blackpool, and if they hadn't been reduced to ten men, I think they might well have gone on to beat us. DJ Campbell caused us a lot of trouble, but when they had a player sent off for bringing down Joe Garner when clean through, they had to play Campbell on his own up front, and they were not much of a threat. How typical that Brett Ormerod would be the one to score the equaliser, which cancelled out Dexter Blackstock's earlier strike, and put our survival celebrations on hold.

Saturday was extremely stressful as not only did I have to sit through Forest's game, but I then had to worry about the other matches as well. When Barnsley went into the lead against Wolves, my heart sank, but fortunately Wolves equalised late on and Barnsley, along with Norwich, remain behind us going into the final game. Let's pray that at least one of them is still there next Sunday evening...

The sweet smell of survival is getting stronger

There are just two games remaining, and Championship safety is almost within our grasp, but that won't stop me worrying myself sick until it is 1000% certain for us not to end up in the bottom three.

I felt terrible during the match against Coventry. The tension was so bad that by the end when Coventry kept pinging the ball into our area, I was screaming blue murder. I could hardly stand up straight when it was time to leave. I'm just amazed that this morning I didn't wake up with a headache. I wouldn't have minded seeing as Forest won, and that's all that this weekend was about - getting those all-important three points. And we did...just. The first half display was very nervy and uninspiring, which given the circumstances, I suppose was understandable. Any thoughts that the Coventry players were already thinking of their summer holidays were forgotten as they were much the better side and were very unfortunate to not be in the lead at half time. Our defence looked very shaky, and only poor finishing saved us.

But the second half was a completely different story. We got off to the best possible start when James Perch drove in a low shot, just thirty seconds after the restart. From then on Forest poured forward, looking like a side high on confidence, and not one with the fear of relegation hanging over their heads. I think what changed the game was Paul Anderson going off injured at half time. He had not been himself at all in the first half, so I wasn't all that disappointed to lose him, and I was confident that his replacement Gareth McCleary would pose a few problems for Coventry, which he did with some excellent runs. He really breathed new life into our forward line, which had been very ineffective before the break.

Coventry weren't much of a threat at all until the final few minutes when Forest lost Lewis McGugan to injury and with Ian Breckin coming on to replace him, Forest reshuffled at the back with Luke Chambers switching back to right back from central defence, where he was given a rare opportunity to show off his talent. And to be fair to him he looked a much better player there, which will give Billy Davies food for thought when he reassesses his squad in the summer.

Fortunately Forest held on for a massive three points. It was an almost perfect weekend for us with Norwich losing their East Anglia derby at Ipswich and Southampton lost at Sheffield Wednesday, which means that we are now three points clear with just two games to go. Barnsley drew at Reading, which leaves them two points behind us, but they can go above us on Tuesday if they win at Coventry. Wouldn't it be fantastic if next Saturday we still have both Barnsley and Norwich below us going into the Blackpool match? If we win next week, Norwich would have to beat Reading on the Monday night to stop us from staying up!

Part of me wants to celebrate our survival with thousands of other fans all going crazy on the City Ground pitch just like we did last season when we got promotion, but I'm not sure my nerves can take much more, so it would be nice if it could all be sorted out before then. But then again this is Forest we're talking about. I still think it will go to the last day with defeat against Southampton making it possible for us to go down. But I am a born worrier, so don't take any notice of me. It will probably be ok...probably.

Precious point sets us up nicely for the Great Escape

As expected we've gone back into the bottom three only 48 hours after Dexter Blackstock blasted us out of it, but it seems very unfair on Forest, who managed to hold Sheffield United to a goalless draw at Bramall Lane, despite being reduced to ten men after only 15 minutes of the match.

The odds seemed to be steeped in United's favour on the back of five straight wins and Forest being ravaged by yet more injury problems with Iain Turner ruled out possibly for the rest of the season with a broken toe, and the news that Rob Earnshaw could also miss the last few games with a knee problem was a big psychological blow.

When Kelvin Wilson was sent off for stupidly head-butting Greg Halford, I thought, 'that's it, we've lost'. To be honest, I had thought that when I heard the team news, so the fact that we have come away with a point is absolutely brilliant, and a huge confidence boost going into our last three fixtures against Coventry, Blackpool and Southampton. I do not want to tempt fate, but all those games look very winnable to me, and we probably don't even need to win them all. A quick glance at Barnsley's last four matches (they have a game in hand) tells me that they should be made the favourites to be relegated ahead of Forest and Norwich. They lost at home to Swansea today, and have only won one in their last eight matches. They have Reading and Coventry away next, followed by a home game against Wolves and then another away trip to Plymouth on the final day. I'm very hopeful that Forest will end up with a better points yield than Barnsley from the final games, and in which case, providing Southampton don't overtake us, will stay up!

I suspected that both Norwich and Southampton would win their home games today, but I thought we'd lose and that Barnsley would also win, so to be level on points with two other clubs is a boost. To claim four points from two good teams in Bristol City and Sheffield United is excellent, and it sets us up nicely for the home game against Coventry next weekend. If we win that, we will probably be out of the relegation zone as it's unlikely that both Norwich and Barnsley will win their away games. Norwich are at Ipswich, who are in very bad form right now, but when it comes to local derbies, anything can happen. Barnsley would do well to get a point at Reading. So even if we draw against Coventry, we could get out of the bottom three if Barnsley lose.

All Forest can do is win their remaining three games, and if they do that, they will be able to call themselves a Championship team when the season kicks off in August. Are you sitting comfortably? All will be revealed very soon...

Was that the goal that saved Forest's season?

The name's Blackstock. Dexter Blackstock. Just how important will the last-gasp win over Bristol City turn out to be when the season finally draws to its conclusion in three weeks' time?

With just eight minutes left we were 2-1 down and staring League One in the face. True, we would still only have been one point away from safety by virtual of Norwich's defeat at Swansea, but psychologically, I think defeat would have finished us off, especially with the prospect of a trip to automatic promotion-chasing Sheffield United to dread on Easter Monday. So to come back from a goal down in the last ten minutes to clinch a crucial, crucial win in our fight against relegation is a tremendous tonic. The sending-off of right back Bradley Orr for a second bookable offence was the turning point as substitute Joe Garner equalised from the resultant free-kick, and that paved the way for Forest to push on for the winner.

When Blackstock's volley crashed into the back of the net, the atmosphere at the City Ground was incredible. I had my headphones on so I could keep in touch with the other scores, but I couldn't hear a thing in the last ten minutes. I had no idea if Swansea had managed to hold on against Norwich, or whether Barnsley had scored a late goal at Watford. Fortunately for us both results went our way with Barnsley only managing a draw and Norwich losing 2-1, and as a result they are just one point away from us now and right in the thick of the relegation battle. Our last-gasp win saw us leapfrog Norwich and go two points clear of them and four clear of Southampton, who look to be down and out whether or not they will get deducted points. But let's not get too carried away. In all probability we will be back in the bottom three by the end of Monday's round of matches as it will be extremely tough to get anything from the Sheffield United game, and Norwich will probably win their home game against Watford.

I won't worry too much if we are in the bottom three as I think we'll be back out of it next Saturday with victory over Coventry, who suffered a 4-0 hammering at the hands of Plymouth yesterday. That result should ensure Plymouth have a place in the Championship next season as they are now six points clear of the bottom three. I honestly thought they would go down, but a couple of wins on the bounce has seen them pull clear. Coventry's confidence will be really dented after that, so perhaps it's a good time to play them. I reckon we need two more wins, and a draw from our final four games, and with Coventry and Southampton being our last two opponents at the City Ground, I think we have an excellent chance of staying up.

It could have been oh so different if we had not beaten City. I would not have been happy with a draw at all, even if the equaliser did come late on. Everybody was saying before the match that it was our home games that mattered, and if we were to win all three of them, we would probably stay up, so when Dele Adebola, whom Forest incidentally had tried to sign a couple of months ago, pounced on a terrible error by Iain Turner to give his side the lead with twelve minutes to go, my heart sank. I couldn't see a way back and was by then trying to come to terms with a return to League One football. I sat there thinking 'we're just not good enough for the Championship'. And no doubt did thousands of others, some of whom decided to up and leave at that moment. Shame on them for missing such a thrilling climax to a great game of football.