And so farewell Garibaldi Red podcast. Your sporadic appearances over the past season or so were welcome, even if the frequency of the pod appearances suggested a mothball.

Young Max has done a half decent job over the past couple of years. He had a mighty tough act to follow with the breakaway Forest Focus going solo with Matt Davies.

I wouldn’t go as far as calling it Podcast Wars, but as we know with Brixton Buzz, when you have a similar platform publishing independently, there is always going to be some rivalry.

The professionalism, contacts and daily dose of FF meant that Garibaldi was always going lose out in any Forest Podcast Wars.

But that’s not to downplay what Max has his team has achieved over the past couple of seasons. Max has really grown into his hosting role. It’s no great secret that he is a legacy media personality in the making.

The final sign off hinted at some political developments behind the scenes. That’s no surprise when you are dealing with a corporate beast such as Reach PLC.

The agile, one man band of FF has no such restrictions. It shows in the truly independent nature of the podcasts.

Tell It Like It Is - with no one hovering over your shoulder.

I’ll mist the odd diversion into Garibaldi Red. It has become something of a time drain though, trying to soak up as much online Forest content as possible. My new music explorations have suffered.

There was always an honest and respectful analysis of Forest coming out of Garibaldi Red. I just wish we had that same approach off the pitch right now.

Ah, so back to the “Forest bubble will burst” bollocks.

Cheers, Bob.

Back in the day and Bob Wilson on a now unrecognisable Football Focus claimed that the bubble would burst for BC’s Forest.

How did that one work out, Bob?

A league Championship and two European Cups later, etc.

Whaddyamean we’re dining out on past glories?

And then last season, the bubble bollocks came back to bite us on the bum. The same claims were made against Nuno’s Forest as we scored an early goal, and then shut up shop.

Repeat.

All the way through until around mid-March, and then whoops. Oh dear. We’ve failed to get over the line. We would have got BATTERED in the Champions League, anyway.

What is so disappointing about proving the mainstream pundits right this time round is that it is all self-inflicted.

Forest have done a Forest and fucked it up without too much help from the outside.

We’re not Spursy, whatever that might mean. But we are a bonkers, bonkers club where some very strange things have happened over the years.

If only Nuno had kept his mouth shut at the start of the season. Two crazy press conferences later, and we are where we are.

We had such optimism and expectation at the start of this season. The Europa Conference upgrade to the Europa League was an added bonus.

And then Forest go and balls it all up, with only the club itself to blame.

Or perhaps that should be #BlameEdu - who seems to be getting somethng of a free pass right now, with little evidence to show what he actually brings to the club.

Speaking of Bob Wilson and That Championship Feeling - I’m going off on a tangent here, but the Peter Shilton biog is proving to be a bloody good read.

Sure, skip through all the L******er nonsense, and the chapter or two on the Miracle Men manages to uncover some new stories that seem genuinely new.

Even the most obsessive of Forest fans [HELLO!] can get a little jaded when the old pro’s trot out the tired old Clough tropes on the podcast circuit.

Shitls in particular has a cracking ghost written chapter on the swift decline of the Miracle Men. I love reading these stories in general about the fall of empires, football teams, bands etc.

It’s no fun reading about their rise. The dark appeal to me is seeing how it all fell apart.

And coming full circle, Forest have managed to even outdo Forest and the 70’s Miracle Men, imploding in the space of two crazy, crazy press conferences.

Bubble well and truly burst.

”We go into Europe, all the money is spent and we’re back in the same situation we were when we got promoted,”

Tell It Like It Is Forest Focus.

My matchday routine now starts with the early post on the Forest Insta feed. What clues will be given away?

My reasoning is that any player featured in the Matchday post is likely to be in the starting eleven.

Oh look: there’s Douglas Luiz. He’s wearing that shitty Forest cream kit that looks like a dirty white.

A big thumbs up for Luiz, who I thought would be rested. The cream kit can go back in the City Ground washing machine, and preferably at a high temperature.

The team news dropped shortly after 12:30pm. And yep, there he was, Douglas Luiz. Goodo.

I do worry about James McAtee, absent once again from even the bench. Online rumours hinted at a possible bug. I fear that his face doesn’t fit at Forest.

#BlameEdu etc.

Still, it was an attacking team, suggesting that Dyche was after a win with another positive performance. A cursory glance at the league table and OH MY DAYS, yes we deffo could do with three points here.

KO came. Bournemouth were relentless from the start. The plan seemed to be to put the willies up Forest, knowing that they don’t like it up them.

It didn’t take long for the first goal. I’m not giving away any spoilers here when I speculate that Matt Selz is unlikely to trouble the Golden Glove shortlist this season.

A second soon followed.

How the chuff do you score from so far out with a daisy cutter? I thought only Collymore in all his pomp was capable of that.

Bloody Bournemouth. Go away. Don’t come back. Never again, etc - which was another fond Trent End ditty from back in the day.

Oh we had FUN in the old Trent End.

HT couldn’t come quick enough. Time to regroup. The next goal was going to be MASSIVE - which is exactly what I said to my mate Johnno at HT in the Simmod Cup Final, surely the greatest Forest game ever.

The big surprise - and a very welcome one - was the appearance of Taiwo out of the tunnel.

TAIWO!

Shit the bed.

His role these days is as a Chris Wood not so Mini Me. Which doesn’t bode well for Jesus who was hooked.

Christ, etc.

The second half was a little better, but only marginally. It was like switching from an Aldi microwave curry to a more upmarket Lidl equivalent.

Whaddya mean you can’t taste the difference?

This was one game too many for Anderson. Sure, he’s far from shot. But the poor lad desperately needs a breather.

It all felt very Cooper-esque with plenty of puffing, but not much end product. It was the kind of performance that might make the Big Fat Greek kick another telly ahead of an incoming P45.

But we’re not there. Not yet, anyway.

Hutchinson shouldn’t be anywhere near corners. MGW still isn’t the MGW model of seasons one, two and three in the PL. I found myself wanting Sangaré. It was that kinda match.

THIRTEEN summer signings, and we still had limited options coming off the bench.

Like I said, #BlameEdu.

This was an off day for the whole team - something you simply can’t accept in the PL. No one was able to raise their game above five out of ten.

Training ground set pieces need to be drilled home throughout all of next week. Everyday is a GAFFER DAY, right?

It’s probably time for Dyche to introduce them to those training ground nettles.

Forest have scored a solitary goal in the past seven PL matches. It was this weekend last year when the CL dream first started to stir.

LIVE the dream.

How did that one work out?

Still - the PL bottom three has a nice Nuno feel to it.

Hey hoe.

We’re in deep shit. We’re in a relegation battle.

The team selection was a slight surprise. I wasn’t expecting to see Zinchenko in there. Disclaimer: in there can mean absolutely bloody anywhere on the left hand side of the pitch, given previous performances.

It was good to see the balance on the wings. Forest always play better with width; Brenan, Franz Carr, Robbo - you can trace the lineage.

The reception for Woan and Stone for the warm up alone was a little emotional. Bloody hell - it’s good to see those two Forest boys back at the World Famous wearing the badge.

Dyche’s introduction was rightly downplayed. He did what he had to - which was to make the short walk from the home dressing room to the home dugout. Not as easy as you might think. Ask Big Ron.

Welcome to the World Famous, Gaffer.

It was a rare occasion for me where I unmuted the telly and turned off Sir Colin of West Bridgford on BBC Radio Nottingham. You have to make the most of Fletch calling the shots in the telly gallery.

He didn’t let us down, although I had slight panic attacks each time he mentioned the name Rosario.

The Zinchenko early injury was a worry. Not so much for the game itself, but the nature in which it leaves the full back cupboard a little bare over the coming weeks.

The ref was bloody awful. How difficult can it be to avoid being hit by the ball on a pitch that size? Booking an attacking player and giving a free kick, to then being reversed for a home team penalty is one hell of a reverse ferret, fella.

The MGW pen itself was a little nervy. Don’t fanny about, mate.

POW. Right in the kisser. And thank chuff for that. It was good to see MGW starting to find his puppet master strings once again.

2-0 up and…

Defend! Defend!

Defend! Defend! Defend!

…as we use to sing back in the old Trent End days. We knew how to amuse ourselves each time Wimbledon rocked up in town.

The clean sheet was a bonus. I had forgotten how precious these are.

SHOUT OUT to Big Wily at FT for being the official Forest Cheerleader. Likewise for Ola celebrating in the tunnel. Pretty in pink, etc.

The Premier Grill fireworks were a welcome return. It’s been a while. Forest All Over the World had me singing after my three pints of Bank’s Bitter.

Chin chin.

As for Dyche?

P1 W1

I’ll take that.

There’s a slight concern about McAtee, Kalimuendo, Bakwa (injured?) and the Europa AWOL Hutchinson. This could be the most expensive set of Forest flops since Hartford, Wallace and Fashanu.

Onwards. To Bournemouth.

Oh Lordy.

I bloody LOVE this from Dyche. As the comments suggest, he’s probably rehearsed the line in the mirror beforehand. But it works.

The legacy media wet dreams over Guardiola go right over my head. Unlike the ball, etc.

#AgainstModernFootball is a hashtag I can get behind.

It’s not that I want Forest to play a BC old school style 4-4-2. Nuno tried that once at home to Fulham and was found out.

But please don’t hold up Guardiola as some GOD of evolving football tactics. Forest - and others - were doing this decades ago. It was just called football back in the day.

I’ve not watched the full presser. It was over an hour long. I don’t think he mentioned Burnley or Everton once.

Et tu, Mad Ange?

As I type, Dyche has yet to even take his heated seat in the Forest dug out. He’s won me over with this short clip alone.

Let’s see how I feel at FT following the Porto match.

Some half decent thoughts on Forest from Matt Forde on the latest Forest Focus.

I can’t say I’m a fan of the centrist political bollocks he usually comes out with - and yep, he even manages to get a dig in at Corbyn on a Forest pod, ffs.

But he is the voice of reason when it comes to our current situation, with talk of the “Forest family.”

“I don’t really care what anyone else thinks about it.”

The point is that he doesn’t give a shit what other clubs and mainstream media are saying about us. We’re a family and we stick together.

Plus also it’s better that we are being talked about, rather than being Championship fodder and an irrelevance.

Forde then adds to his theory, referencing that underneath all the current mainstream madness, many fans of other clubs are still rooting for us.

I think this is true, but it’s not high on my agenda.

There was a patronising feeling when we were first promoted that it was good to have little old Forest back in the PL.

And then when we started to sign up twenty three players, this soon switched to wtf are Forest doing?

We’re here to compete, mate, not make up the numbers.

Yes, there is a constant noise around the WFCG, largely due to an ‘enthusiastic’ owner. But I would rather have my owner on the pitch after a game than being on the other side of the world, not giving a shit.

There’s still a nostalgia for us and the Glory Days amongst a certain strand of football supporters. We’ll never lose that, and nor would we want to.

But I’m warming to the “I don’t really care what anyone else thinks about it” perspective, as long as we are doing our thing and winning.

Have I become a bloody centrist in the course of one podcast listening?

Send help.

The daily Forest Fan TV catch up.

Oh Lordy.

“You’re much better than Sean Dyche”

…said Everton Mike. And he should know.

I went to bed full of optimism for what’s about to follow at the World Famous City Ground. I woke up with a great big POW! Right in the kisser.

And that bloody hurt.

As ever, I am hopeless at making any objective, rational views when it comes to all things Forest. I even thought Mad Ange’s final team selection for Chelsea at home looked half decent.

If they’re wearing THAT badge with the two stars, then everything will be OK, yeah?

Although Taiwo did make me chuckle…

I know that FFTV is clickbait, albeit a little more restrained in the longer form interviews. But I’m tending to side with Wolfie right now, thinking that maybe Dyche isn’t what we need.

Two wins on the bounce - a big ask - and the season is back on track.

And Forest have yet to click a ball under Dyche.

Fickle football fans, innit.

I am enjoying all the Forest p0Rn, currently being pumped out by the club showing an Old Boy’s reunion.

Woan and McGovern together?

SWOON.

Catching up with the Monday Night Club on 5Live from last night. It’s usually a half decent listen. I try and at least dip into some of the headline points each week, either live, or via BBC Sounds.

No surprises that Postecoglou’s sacking at Forest led the agenda on Monday evening. It’s better than not being talked about, back in the dark, dark days of the Championship.

I think?

Anyway - Chris Sutton was as ever, the flag waver for Postecoglou. No surprises there. Sutton of course sees Postecoglou through the lens of what he achieved in a two team division up in Scotland.

I like Sutton - I really do. More so the MNC Sutton when he usually Tells It Like It Is, as opposed to the piss poor comedy act with Robbie Savage on 606. This has become more or less unlistenable of late.

On Monday evening, Sutton chose to target his Postecoglou anger at Ryan Yates. The basis for the rant was a post-match interview that the Forest Captain gave following the Chelsea debacle.

Yates was the only club person to do ANY media post-Postecoglou’s sacking on Saturday evening. He did the entire round of international, national and local media. No one else within the club - those behind the decision - were brave enough to step forward.

It’s not clear which interview Sutton listened to, but he was adamant that Yates had gone behind Postecoglou’s back to the Big Fat Greek, saying that he doesn’t like his manager. No evidence of this exists.

“Who does he think he is?”

…asked Sutton.

Erm, the Forest Captain, whose role and responsibilities include fronting up for the club, when others are too ashamed to justify their own actions.

Hopefully Sutton and Savage will now drop their OH SO FUNNY running gag of Forest being Sutton’s “Your Nottingham Forest.”

I don’t recall seeing Sutton down in the Sheep Dip back in the day at the old BBG, giving it some to the D***y fans.

Modern football. Funny old game, innit.