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Yorkshire Dragons rocked up at the Essex Sports Arena short benched. Just make sure that no one gets fouled out of the game, right? The tactics were clear for the men from Coach Hart: draw the fouls, pick them off, one at a time…

The 31-22 scoreline at the end of the first quarter sounds like a half decent game. In truth, it was a little flat. A lot of the Sunday evening family crowd had disappeared, with the first working day of the new year about to bash you on the head.

Dragons managed a decent comeback in the second, with Rebels taking a slender 48-43 lead into the HT buzzer. Mr DJ dropped some classic De La Soul during the break. I’m still grinning, tbh. Woh. That sounded fresh coming over the Arena PA.

Somehow the Rebs found themselves locked into a one point game. Miles ‘Chef’ (he’s cooking…) Brown carried the Rebels with some BIG three pointers, as well as keeping his cool under the free throw line. Tyrese Hudson had his best game in a Rebs jersey for some time.

The scoreboard was showing the Rebs leading 81-79 going into the final quarter. I didn’t quite follow the exact gameplay, but some dark arts on the court led to two Dragons players being fouled out of the game. Given that they only travelled with a bench of seven, this was a little unfortunate.

The away team had to play the final five minutes or so with no subs. Rebs read the situation well, playing out the remainder of the game at tremendous pace, tiring out the opposition, whilst making regular substitution themselves.

The final score of 104-92 in favour of the Rebs was a masterclass in coaching. There was a little friction on the home bench at one stage, but I think we got there in the end.

An early fixture for the Rebels to start 2026. The 4th January date meant that campus was deserted. We were expecting a crowd of maybe double figures.

It was impressive to see more than half of the main stand at the Sports Arena full. This shows that the Rebels have a strong local base, and not just amongst students.

After a slow start, the Rebs stretched to a 21-19 lead at the end of the first quarter. Some great passing was on show from the home team, cutting apart the Wildcats defence with precision.

Don’t look up now… Oh dear. We appear to be on the big video screen in the Sports Arena. “SMILE!” came the instruction from the Voice of the Rebs. I don’t smile. But I made an exception for this one occasion.

The HT score of 51-39 hinted at a big points tally being racked up for the Rebs. They didn’t allow Nottingham back into the game, and were ruthless at both ends of the court.

Nottingham never quite stretched what is a very decent team for the women this year. It was great to see smiles all round from the home bench as they carried a 75-88 lead into the final quarter.

The chase was on to top 100 points, Rebs fell short by four. But a FT score on the buzzer of 96-78 is a great way to start the new year.

Up the Rebs!

“Perhaps the fact remains that Dyche is indeed the best pair of hands for this club at the moment, but this in itself is a deeply sobering thought, which gives rise to the nagging feeling that we were onto a really good thing not so long ago and we’ve gone and made a right old mess of it all.”

Tell It Like It Is

“Do you feel powerless to communicate online unless it serves the interests of the people who own the networks you post to? Why not own your own means of distribution, managed as a co-op, and only responsible to you, as a member and customer. No VC, no billionaire, no government control”

via Dave Winer.

The PM vowed to abolish the Lords. Why is he stuffing it with allies instead?

Because he is a centrist knob.

“Theft is now legal in Britain”: Only 0.5% of station bike thefts lead to charges

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.

There was a young family of four playing at the Table of Dreams when we first rocked up. It was quite lovely to see. The wind was bitter, the temperature was hovering around zero. Any momentary annoyance that we couldn’t get on was put aside. We kept on walking for a brief circuit. It would warm us up, if nothing else.

Fifteen minutes or so later, and the table was clear. The light was fading rapidly. There was just enough time for a brief game under some challenging conditions. It meant that my usual 5-0 hammering couldn’t be played out. I only lost 4-0 this afternoon.

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.

It’s been a while since The Postman Delivered some CD’s tbh. I’ve been rather restrained in my late night online spending sprees. I’ve managed to resist the daily ebay emails for what seems like half the back catalogue in the entire history of popular music.

But then two searches hit the spot with prices that I couldn’t ignore: Stephen Stills' debut, and Genesis' Selling England by the Pound. They’re hardly cutting edge new music to carry me into 2026. Don’t worry. I still dip my toe into some DIRTY D ‘n’ B each week.

Both albums came via the 1,001 Albums list. I’ve already ticked off the entire list, apparently. But each day, a new offering is sent m way. If we’re looking to point the finger at anyone for my CD addiction, then the 1,001 Albums list is a decent starting point.

The Stephen Still debut was a lot more soulful than I was expecting. It all hangs together with a lovely Hammond organ lilt. I’ve always had a soft spot for Genesis - the earlier, the better. Selling England drifts in places, but I love the Wardrobe song.

Less than a tenner all in - not bad. I do need to seriously address the CD storage situation sometime this year.

High water down at the Hythe as I cycled through on Friday morning. Which can only mean one thing: Haven Road is flooded, innit. I don’t quite understand the physical geography of why Haven Road cops it, whilst King Eddie Quay somehow gets away with no extra water. I don’t think the stalled Hythe Taskforce does either. I’m just grateful for having a safe passage and the opportunity for a few cheeky sunshine snaps.

Right from the opening beats of Buffalo Stance, Sushi is pure joy. Uplifting, thoughtful, cheeky, experimental and funny as fuck in places. This is what I ask for in my music.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

The state of the left and right

Some half decent analysis shocker. And yes, Badenoch is cooking of late.

“Our team probably went into the dressing room afterwards to tidy up for them and wave them onto the bus, just to complete their royal visit to Nottingham.”

Tell It Like It Is