I’ve struggled to get excited about the supposed rivalry between Forest and Palace. You can’t manufacture these mutual hatreds, just because you’ve got a crap Chairman who doesn’t understand how to open up his emails.

I think the rivalry said more about the provincial ambitions of Palace, than it does about where Forest plan to be in the next three to five years.

Having said that, I did find myself singing along to the Marinakis chants shortly after KO. I don’t think that the Big Fat Greek was actually in the ground. But that’s not the point.

It was a lively start from both teams. Brennan was a worry for the first ten minutes or so. He then seemed to sack off the rest of the match and looked an imposter to the player who sold on to Spurs for £50M. I’d rather have Ryan Yates, any day.

It was nice to see Hendo again, this time in goal for Palace. He served Forest under very testing circumstances. Making the ‘keeper your Captain tells you all you need to know about the situation Place currently find themselves in.

Elsewhere on the pitch, and Hughes was living up to his Pantomime villain persona. To be fair to the D***y reject, he’s done rather well for himself managing to earn a Premier League wedge on very limited talent.

Standing out for Forest in the first half was MGW. He saw his chance in the box and took it. We need more goals from midfield. Harry Hodge made a career out of this. With all the current Forest talk currently fixated on forwards, we tend to forget the value of a box to box goalscorer.

It was at this point that I started to obsessively refresh the BBC live PL table. Blimey - that looks a lot better. We’ll be in touching distance of Europe soon.

Oh hang on - Neco was in touching distance of the ball whilst defending the goal line. WHAT A SAVE! To be fair, it’s the one mistake that he has made wearing the Garibaldi Red. Backs against the wall time, fellas. The second half is going to be a HORRID watch.

Morato Time came about 45 minutes too early for my liking. I was also surprised with the appearance of Ndyoe, instead of, y’know, the two recognised strikers that we have on the bench. It makes me think that Lucca isn’t match fit, and poor old Taiwo can’t be exposed to any injury ahead of a possible shipping out in the morning.

And so what looked like a cruising to three home points after the first five minutes, then became a well-deserved point. It makes the Chelsea win over West Ham all the more important.

Never a dull day down at the World Famous.

The Europa suits were on show again on Thursday evening at the World Famous. ‘cos that worked out well in Braga last time round… We’re not talking Liverpool Spice Boys. It was more Man at C&A. This felt like a Paul Smith wasted opportunity. But hey! This isn’t a fashion show. It’s Forest back on the European stage.

BBC radio Nottingham has the usual excellent pre-match build up. SHOUT OUT to our Man in Kazakhstan, who was interviewed ahead of KO having made the epic journey. I felt a bit of a fraud, sitting back home in Weird Wiv, waiting for Fletch on TNT. I was free all day to travel, and match day tickets were still available.

The team news landed. TWO Academy players starting, wearing the two stars on the badge. I like that. We should make more use of Zac Abbott. Finding somewhere for him to slot into a PL team is tricky.

Sir Colin of West Bridgford explained rather helpfully the odds of Forest progressing to the next round, and avoiding a play-off: 117,000-1. I Believe in Miracles, etc.

The game kicked off. Oh - we appear to be 1-0 up. It was a reverse Yates OG for the poor fella from Ferencvaros. I felt for him.

Another JESUS moment soon followed. At £16M he’s proving to be quite a steal. It would be SUCH a Forest thing to do if we sell him in the window before Monday evening.

With Fletch mooted, Sir Colin mentioned that by scoring a second goal, Forest had slipped from 10th in the League down to 12th. This was an evening for refreshing the BBC live table.

2-0 up and cruising. The main aim now was to try and rehabilitate McaTee into this team. Good luck…

Meanwhile, Ryan Yates was having the game of his life. Only a fool would write him off.

A second goal followed for Jesus. It was a shame he couldn’t hang around to complete a probable hat trick against what was a very poor Ferencvaros.

I had a bit of an OH SHIT moment when the penalty was awarded and MGW looked interested. Thankfully McaTee stepped up and completed the next stage of his rehab.

And so a play off place awaits. You’d be a very brave person to make a possible away trip to Panathinaikos. Betcha the Big Fat Greek won’t be holding back.

I honestly didn’t give a shit about this game after the disaster away in Braga on Thursday. My usual pre-match preparations of endless Forest podcast listening, and tuning into BBC Radio Nottingham ahead of KO, were AWOL. I had no nerves, no expectations. If the team can’t be bothered, then neither can I.

The team news landed - I think. I didn’t even give it a shifty until 15 minutes before KO. No surprises to see that it was the exact same starting eleven that battled so well for the point at home to Arsenal. It’s no secret that Forest have a core of eleven or twelve players that are trusted, whilst the rest can be written off as a summer transfer window that went very wrong.

With no Luiz even on the bench, it looks like the Bearded One has played his last game in the Garibaldi. I would hesitate to say GOOD. But we haven’t exactly seen the superstar Luiz that was billed back in those optimistic days of September. Any Forest player that gets the City Ground light show as part of the signing announcement tends to flop.

Sir Colin of West Bridgford played out the highlights of the 3-1 reverse fixture under Nuno at the start of the season. The world was a very different place back then. Forest were on course for another generation defining season, whilst the Brentford PE teacher Coach was odds for the Sack Race.

I stuck with the BBC commentary and muted the telly. Sir Colin and Perchy were in stitches when the Only Fools and Horses theme was played out over the Gtech speakers. The last time I checked, the TW8 postcode ain’t in Peckham, Bruv.

Forest started superbly. SHIT THE BED. The control and then volley from Jesus was spectacular. If this has been scored by a Cartel 6 club then it would be a shoe in for Goal of the Season. Who needs new strikers, anyway?

This team is infuriating to watch. From the ‘what the fucking hell was that’ in Braga, and then fantasy football away in bloody Brentford only three days later. Is it Morato time yet?

The second half was always going to be ugly. We had to play Nuno Ball, minus the spring of the attack. Elanga would have run riot through a static Brentford back line.

DEFEND! DEFEND!

DEFEND! DEFEND! DEFEND!

And then my own highlight of the season to date dropped.

OH TAIWO. Give that man a ten year contract. This was the Taiwo of old, bullying the defence and using his muscle to bulldoze his way through to the goal. The final shot was half decent as well.

We all know that the old Taiwo won’t come back, but this could add another £5m to his price tag during the last week of the window. If it’s a sign off for Forest, then what a way to say farewell.

The two goal cushion made for a comfortable final ten minutes or so. It was good to silence Brentford and their crappy Hey Jude celebrations come full time. I’ll take Brentford over Braga, any day.

This was always Nuno’s fixture for me. When the draw was made back in September, Nuno’s eyes lit up when enthusing about Braga in his home country. Little did we know at the time that Nuno was well aware that he was unlikely to be the Forest Coach by the time the jolly to Portugal came around. September now seems like a lifetime ago in Forest world.

The team news dropped. It was more or less what I predicted in my head during my afternoon spa session. Honest. I needed a mind game to keep me awake and not start snoring in public. Savona would give Neco a rest, likewise for Morato with Murillo. This fixture was made for Yates I thought, as I drifted in and out of sleep. Seven hours later and Yates would be sleep walking to a European OG.

I also thought it was time to rehabilitate Luiz and Bakwa. McAtee I wasn’t so sure about. Ndoye was a case of needs must when it comes to how Forest have fucked up with forwards in recent weeks. Still, a half decent team, with the Big Guns on the bench, just in case.

The rain ahead of KO was a bit of a concern. For half an hour or so, Sir Colin of West Bridgford seemed convinced that the match would be called off. He even went as far as explaining that Friday afternoon behind closed doors at a different stadium was the fallback option. With Brentford away only two days later, I started my own rain dance in the kitchen.

Out came the players to have a shifty at the Portuguese rain-sodden pitch. Ooooh - blazers with the badge on. Nice. I’ve not seen Forest wear these since the European Glory Days forty five years ago. I’d pay good money for a dodgy eBay club blazer knock off. I’d never wear it, mind.

I fired up the Forest app just ahead of KO for the BBC Radio Nottingham commentary - you know, the one that I pay for. It sounded like Sir Colin was broadcasting from underneath some of the puddles. I unmuted TNT on the telly. It was a nice surprise to hear Fletch having another Forest European jolly, all in the name of paid employment.

I felt confident for the first fifteen minutes or so. Braga were poor, and offered nothing apart from an interesting architectural ground. Also offering nothing were Bakwa and McAtee. I don’t want to go all Dyche and call out individual players, but we ight as well have been out there with nine men. Of course it didn’t help that Dyche had effectively tarred and brushed them both in public after Wrexham away.

The Forest fans were magnificent throughout. I’ve watched visiting German or Spanish teams on the telly in recent years takeover Premier League grounds with their noise. I could only dream that this would be Forest one day. Sadly the show of support didn’t filter down to the players.

I was amazed to see the Wrexham Two hadn’t been hooked at HT. To be fair, they weren’t the only candidates who could have been pulled. It’s saying something that McAtee’s only contribution in a Forest shirt since arriving in September was to win a dodgy penalty away in Braga.

Don’t do your stupid skippy thing, Morgan. DON’T DO YOUR STUPID SKIPPY THING, MOGAN.

Oh shit. He’s done his stupid skippy thing.

Less than a minute later and we were a goal down with what was an horrendous OG. It had to be the Forest Skipper putting the ball through his own net in Europe. One of our own, etc. 5Live the following morning described it as a “grubby” goal. You get the idea.

This had Sabri at home to Stoke vibes all over it. Forest started the match in pole position, yet without any help from the opposition, they managed to find a non-existent banana skin in which to slip up.

On came the cavalry. They couldn’t help out, either. Anderson, CHO and Sangare weren’t bad, but they didn’t exactly help Forest to find the attacking flair that we know this team is capable of.

This was a disgraceful performance. It’s on par for me with the Boxing Day disaster at home to Doncaster in 2008. We booed them off at HT, we booed them back on again at the start of the second. SHOUT OUT to the drenched Forest fans in Braga that made their feelings heard to the players, as well as live on the telly.

Fletch tried to filter his disappointment. You could tell he was crushed as well. This was a performance that might just tip the Big Fat Greek into thinking about a fourth manager in one season. It sounds bat shit crazy, but the longer Dyche gets to coach these world class players, the worse they get.

Something has to change.

I do miss Nuno.

The 3pm KO results did Forest no favours. A draw for Burnley, and late, late wins for both Leeds and West Ham. Bloody Agent Nuno! The pressure was on Forest for the evening telly game. Losing to Arsenal would mean that we are four points from the drop.

The team news landed. It looked decent, but wtf was the summer transfer window all about? £200M spunked, with only one summer recruit in the starting line up. JESUS, etc.

Forest got off to a decent start. This surprised me, and no doubt the 30,000 or so at the World Famous. Earlier in the afternoon I had told my Man Utd pal at Wiv Town that a two or three nil defeat would be fine. Just don’t bloody BATTER us on the telly.

Ana looked fighting fit. It’s too much to pin on one man, but he manages to balance the back four so we are a complete unit. Imagine what might have been if Wood hadn’t missed all season. Oh, and how about Nuno not shouting his mouth off as well? Why not go full circle and get Elanga back on loan. Sigh. We were bloody good last season.

Dominguez also impressed. He was clearly up for the scrap. This is exactly what we need right now. I remember during the first relegation season back in 1992-3 when a returning Neil Webb declared himself fit for BC, and ready to fight relegation. Webby was a classy player, but he was no Dominguez Dog of War. There’s no jingoism in there, btw. Phew.

I just knew Arsenal would score. That’s the Forest way - play well in front of the telly cameras, but then allow the big boys to take the lead.

Hang on, this hasn’t happened. Blimey. I went into HT feeling very happy.

Behind this resurgence was Murillo, MGW and Anderson all back on form. Every Forest player was a 7/10 or above as the game progressed. My optimism grew as the game continued knowing that we had Sels back in goal. wtf was Dyche thinking in dropping him?

The Ndoye sub was interesting. Dyche was clearly sending out a transfer window message to the Big Fat Greek. And to Taiwo. QPR would be a good fit for T right now. Or even D***y, for shit ‘n’ giggles.

Forest somehow got away with what I thought was a very valid penalty claim from Arsenal. You win some, you lose some.

Or rather you don’t. I’ve not celebrated a 0-0 draw with such enthusiasm for some time. We’re still deep in the relegation scrap. I hope we focus on the PL, and treat the Europa as a bit of a break. Dropping back down to the Championship horrifies me.

Truth be told, I wasn’t really up for the Cup. Honest. I wasn’t really up for the Cup when we reached the semis last year. The Wembley “we’ve had a lovely day out” experience for the semis is all about the commercialisation of the Cup. I may have let my guard drop a little if we had reached the Final.

Yeah, yeah - that’s an easy thing to say. Especially in hindsight after watching yet another lacklustre display from Forest away at Wrexham on Friday evening. The first half Shit Show hurt even more, knowing that Forest were being exposed yet again with a live TV audience.

This was the weird prism in which I use to watch Forest in the 80’s and 90’s. I could handle a defeat I had seen in the flesh, as long as my friends from around the country at the time hadn’t seen us play poorly. I was quite the social climber back in the day, with fancy friends in far flung places such as Barking and Ilford.

But now the game has changed. Every crappy little half-arsed tackle is clipped up and put up on X, seconds after slapping my forehead back at home at how shit Forest have become this season. What a world we live in.

Which is a long-winded way of saying that I could write a highbrow tactical essay here to explain how Forest’s second string struggled in the first half at Wrexham going 2-0 down, before the big boy cavalry came on and added a little fight pulling a goal back; we were exposed and were down and out at 3-1. CHO then came to the rescue and took us to extra time and pens. Poor young Omari - although he was off the pace for most of the game.

You’ll get to read far more in-depth analysis of how fragile the fringe players at Forest are elsewhere. The Forest Focus post-match stream in particular did the usual excellent job of explaining what went wrong, and more crucially, why. tl;dr it’s all about chaos at the club and the lack of stability since the summer months.

I only half watched the game to be honest. I was double screening, with most of my attention spent BALLS DEEP in a spreadsheet, trying to work out some fiddly code that was causing my latest creation to crash. I bet that’s how Sean Dyche feels on the bus back from Wrexham. It’s a fiddly thing. One rogue mistake and you’re fucked.

From what I did see, I thought Morato started well. That didn’t last long, obvs. Bakwa looked promising - my notes say here. Both players were hooked at HT, showing my complete inability to read a game of football. I’m always from that old school that thinks 606 became unlistenable when it lost the two Danny’s and became a comedy tactical show instead. Give me fan culture, not armchair critics.

I could see that Luiz struggled to get into the game. He looks the part - a proper Rolls Royce elite player with the immaculate beard and fancy foreign swagger. Looks can often deceive.

McAtee meanwhile was AWOL throughout the entire 45 minutes he was on the pitch. wtf has happened here? The narrative over the summer was that Forest should feel honoured that he has chosen us, rather than a big payday over in Germany. I would seriously pick up the phone to Young Nigel at Mansfield and loan him out in Division One for the rest of the season.

The refereeing in the first half was also poor. It was Sunday League standard with the Luiz Hand of God goal. I was convinced this wasn’t a goal after the first half a dozen replays. I’m open now to thinking that maybe the ball hit his shoulder, and not his arm.

But that’s just papering over the many cracks in what is a very fragile Forest team. Even a win away in Wrexham wouldn’t have disguised the problems we have ahead in the PL.

I upped my own spreadsheet game in the second half. Like I said - I wasn’t up for the Cup. I followed the flow of the game, but not the detail. I was surprised we managed to take to pens. SHOUT OUT to CHO with what was a superb goal to draw us level.

I did watch the shoot out. Not Taiwo, please, NOT TAIWO was my mantra. I would have preferred to see Murillo rather than Omari step up for the all important fifth kick.

And then we come to Dyche. I didn’t listen to the interview with Sir Colin of West Bridgford late in the evening. It was way past my bedtime. I saw a brief tease online, and then caught up with the trashing of his team in the morning.

Blimey. Talk about throwing half your team under the bus. Dyche basically told his fringe players in a very public outing that they aren’t worthy of playing for Forest. BC might have got away with this back in the day, but Dyche still has a lot to learn from the Master.

This leaves us with effectively two teams, two dressing rooms. The trusted twelve or so may just get us over the relegation red line in the PL, but if anything happens to any of them then we’re in deep shit.

A Cup run would have been bloody awful. But OF COURSE you would day that. But in-between fire fighting at home in the PL, and then taking a few fancy foreign trips in the Europa League, I could well do without the likes of another Exeter midweek away day.

Stick that in your silly spreadsheet.

The Postman Delivers: Forest home, 1994. So what if I owned an original back in the day, wore it pretty much 24/7 for around three years, and then flogged it for a small fortune on ebay a couple of years ago?

Whoops.

The arrival of the kit today was of course a replica, and not an original. I did think when I was buying that it was one of the club endorsed Copa kits, but now I think it’s a Far East knock off. It’s spot on with the detail, as well as the quality.

I remember when the kit was first introduced. It was quite a departure with the black bands running parallel along the front. I wasn’t a fan at first. I had finally grown to love the 1992 pinstripe relegation design. We also wore this in the promotion season.

It’s funny how your passion for a particular football kit is more about the memories of the time, rather than the actual design. I’m not holding much love for the current Forest pinstripe effort.

After the Postman had Delivered this morning, I took the kit up to my Forest kit box. Yes - it really does exist. The current count is fourteen. I thought I was still on single figures.

But OF COURSE I never get to wear them all. But that’s not the point. Ditto with CD buying and listening.

The joy of writing a Crap Match Report is that it is just that: complete nonsense. I had the foresight almost twenty five years ago (!) to give myself a get out of jail card. You’re not going to read about tactical substitutions, in game analysis and XG bollocks on this blog.

And so in short: Fuck. I don’t ever want to see that again from Forest. That was a bloody horrid watch, It was exhausting. It came close to ruining what had - by my own low standards - an almost half decent day.

The hour leading up to KO with Sir Colin of West Bridgford was a little emotional. We had the highlights of Nuno’s time at the World Famous being played out once again. It was a Greatest Hits compilation including The VAR is a Luton fan, Why Colin, Why? Plus also a reminder as to how high the highs from last season actually took us.

LIVE the dream. I wish I had at the time, rather than look at endless spreadsheets and graphs to see how that CL tracker was playing out.

And then we came to KO at the London Stadium this evening. SHOUT OUT to the 2,000 or so Forest fans who made the trip on a nasty evening of weather in East London.

West Ham have been spamming me on Facebook for the past month or so, trying to flog me £15 tickets. The crappy algorithm of being a 50 something bloke living in Essex makes me prime marketing material for the Hammers.

I resisted, but then had the half thought earlier in the morning that I could make the trip. A cheapo train ticket to Stratford could be snaffled up, and then £15 to sit on my hands alongside the most miserable fan base in the PL - that’s West Ham, not Forest, btw.

Come full time and I’m pleased that I opted for the telly coverage instead. It was a miserable first half for both teams. The game was a race to the bottom to see which manager wanted to lose his job first. Both Nuno and Dyche were in serious danger of being turfed out during the half time break.

Forest has zero attacking threat up front. Jesus cut a lone figure - and not for the first time, etc. The best thing I can say about the first forty five minutes was that I rather liked the old school Umbro badge on the West Ham kit.

Murilo’s OG was unfortunate. At least it might divert the gaze away from him from any circling European super power clubs. And there ends my first half notes.

The second half wasn’t much better. I feel for these players after being fucked around by Forest with three managers in one season. Oh go on then - why not try a fourth? It can hardly make matters any worse.

There’s the usual SHOUT OUT to Neco, and now also Ola. Both of them never let us down.

A surprise addition to this reliability category for Forest is VAR. Bloody hell. We looked down and out at 2-0 down. The thought of VAR intervention didn’t even cross my mind as Nuno leapt up for his little jig along the touchline.

Dominguez did well to get us back in the game. I’m now firmly of the opinion that we can’t waste £25M on Luiz, with Sangare also back with us hopefully soon. Dominguez does the job.

I was all settled to take a point away from the London Stadium, and then have a rethink about what the chuff comes next. The punch to MGW in the face was just what Forest needed. POW! Right in the kisser, etc.

Don’t take the penalty, Morgan. DON’T TAKE THE PENALTY, MORGAN.

Oh shit. He’s taking the penalty. Just don’t do your stupid hop, skip and a jump thing then.

Bloody hell. We’re 2-1 up. This was a game that deserved a negative deficit for goals being scored. How three were managed throughout the ninety minutes is beyond me.

It was heartbreaking to see Nuno look so crushed at FT. It was even more heartbreaking watching him hug the Forest players he became such a father figure to.

Oh Nuno. Why oh why couldn’t you keep your mouth shut during those early pressers? Ride it out. We’d be top eight, riding high in Europe and the whole Forest fan base would still be on the piss with you.

Meanwhile we’re left with Dyche. We all knew it would develop to be played out like this. We all know what the ending is likely to be with the Big Fat Greek.

What a horrid, DIRTY DIRTY game of football to watch.

Never again.

As we approach the opening of the transfer window, now seems like a good enough time to assess the current state of the Forest squad. Those optimistic days of a £200M boost back in August feels like a lifetime ago. Nuno who?

Build from the back was always the mantra of BC. And so I’ll start with the goalkeeper, and work my way forward. Who stays? Who goes? Who comes in? I’m not sure who the Robert Rosario of 2026 is.

Big John between the sticks has had the opportunity to claim the keeper’s jersey. He came close to holding on to it. Not a lot was done wrong - until Villa away and that horrendous ‘keeper come sweeper error. With a competent replacement in Matz Sels ready to step in, we can’t risk Big John away at West Ham.

The M and M partnership in central defence stays. Morato Time is not coming around anytime soon. Neither of them have done much wrong; neither of them have performed to the high levels of last season. It’s no surprise, when they have been coached to do one thing under Nuno, and then the exact opposite under Ange the Clown. Some more stability is needed with Dyche getting them back to being a solid pairing.

Neco Williams is the Player of the Season so far. He is pretty much reliable, week in, week out. Savona was a slightly better stand in for Ola than anyone was expecting. With Ola back fit once again, we now need to go back to what was the tried and tested immense back four from last season. Ola will take a little time to get back to fitness. Savona can shore things up after sixty, seventy minutes.

Elliot Anderson can’t be dropped. But he has been below par in the past few weeks. He needs reminding that a starting place for England in the World Cup is not guaranteed. You have to earn the right to play, just as he earned the right to be picked in the first place.

Another rare positive this season has been the performances of Sangare alongside Anderson. Oh how we miss him whilst he is aware at AFCON. It’s no mean feat to keep Douglas Luiz out of the starting eleven. But with Dominguez taking over from Sangare, I think the Luiz experiment has run its course. He’s getting dangerously close to the number of minutes when the loan clause becomes an obligation to buy. I think Dyche and the Forest hierarchy have already decided on this. Arrivederci, mate.

At the top of the midfield, MGW keeps his place, but we need more solidity here. A relegation battle is not the ideal moment in which to show off your BALLER skills. He can still provide a useful role with his box to box runs, controlling and dominating the midfield. It’s another case of the England carrot needing to be dangled.

And then we come to the wings. Woh. _Where to start? _Hutchinson stays. He will go from strength to strength. He now seems to have overcome the record signing tag that was weighing him down. I’m excited to see how far he can progress with Forest over the coming seasons.

CHO has been hit and miss. He’s clearly talented, but we can’t carry a wide player who will turn it on for Spurs at home, and then go AWOL when we play the likes of Everton.

The problem is that there’s not a great deal out there to compete for the wide position. We look like we’ve been sold a dud with Ndyoe, despite his international performances for Switzerland. He’s the Remo Freuler for the Class of ‘26.

Bakwa is another of the summer signing misfits. We need to offload him, along with McAtee, ASAP. I’ve no idea what’s gone wrong with McAtee. I did feel sorry for the fella when he was rolled out for the pre-match pressers ahead of the Utrecht game, only to get hooked at HT.

Up front and we’re looking stuffed. Which is a bit of an issue, when the game is all about scoring goals. Chris Wood’s season is over. Even if he comes back in late March, He’ll need another month at least to get back match fit. A relegation battle doesn’t allow you this time.

Jesus has been very good standing in, but is showing signs of tiredness. It doesn’t help when your goalscorer can’t score goals…

Taiwo is shot. We’ve all known this for the past couple of years. He seems to do remarkably well with his sense of timing at Forest. He should have been out on loan to the likes of Cardiff at the start of the season. He managed to blag a place in the PL squad because of the injury to Ola.

I’ve no idea what the story is with Kalimuendo. But he looks far from PL ready, and his bag already appears to be packed on a flight out to Germany.

This is the problem position for Forest. We need at least one new striker coming in, possibly two. But where the chuff do you find these in January, and how far are you prepared to push the PSR game? It would be SO Forest to get relegated on PSR.

Any new signings in the wide positions or up front will tell us a lot about the future of Dyche as well. I can’t see him being at the World Famous for the start of the new season. Does the Big Fat Greek make some Dyche signings now to keep us up, or is he already looking ahead to the arrival of Silva or someone else?

Looking towards the bench: Morato can stay for a Cup run. Angus Gunn is a gonner. Get Well Soon Ryan Yates. I’d love to see more of Jair Cunha. Willy Boly is a relatively expensive bench warmer. Zinchenko can do one. Zach Abbott needs to stay, if only to keep that proud homegrown record going.

Never a dull moment at Forest. I’m still there, week in, week out - well in front of a dodgy internet stream. A return to the Championship is not an option. I would rather we Dyche Ball it, and then dismantle the squad in the summer and start all over again.

The team news dropped.

OH HAI Ola!

That was a decent way to start Saturday lunchtime. Oh how we’ve missed his ability to defend and attack; oh how we’ve missed his humour.

Villa away is usually an entertaining fixture. I’ve always liked our Midland neighbours. I think it’s something to do with sharing the same European pedigree.

It wasn’t a great opening for Forest. Big John started as meant to carry on. Somehow we survived twenty minutes or so, playing what can at best be described as Cooper Ball.

Last season was clearly an outlier, with talk of the Champions League and attracting the best talent in Europe. We’re no better off now than we were under Cooper, struggling to find a plan in the PL, with players that are borderline up to the standard.

This was characterised by one of the crappest corners you will ever see at the top level. We took it short, Hutchinson managed to lose possession and Villa were away on the break. It’s the kind of attack that took us so far last season.

I lost count of the number of penalty appeals made by Villa in the first half. None of them were worthy shouts, but it showed how clumsy and nervous we are when it comes to defending.

The Villa goal when it finally arrived came as no surprise. The shot from Watkins was sweet. The defending was a little sour.

Bakwa struggled to clear for Villa’s second shortly after the break. He’s another name to add to the growing list of summer transfer misfits.

I couldn’t but help think that we’re no better than Wolves. But then later in the day, Wolves managed to smash West Ham 3-0. Maybe Wolves are actually a better team than Forest right now?

And then came the MGW goal on the break. Where did that come from? This was NO WAY a 2-1 game. But I’ll take anything right now. It led to Forest finally waking up and threatening to make a game of it.

No one told Big John it seems. I’ve watched Villa’s third goal more than a dozen times now. That’s the kind of thing you do when you’re BALLS DEEP in a relegation scrap. I still can’t work out what the chuff he was trying to do, coming rushing out from his goal.

Bye bye, Big John.

And so 3-1 away at Villa. I’m struggling for positives. At least Ola was back. McAtee doesn’t appear to have been completely written off just yet. Thankfully Taiwo remained a bench warmer.

West Ham away is going to be bloody HORRID. Don’t even think about what a Forest Vs Villa Europa League Final might look like.