The season starts now!

A very quick one before I have to dash off to my sister in law's birthday bash. Not only will I not be in Nottingham for the derby today, I may not even be able to follow it at all. Fingers crossed that I can get a pc somewhere that I can have a peek at now and again.

Up and down season, so far. Well, more down than up, obviously, especially in the league. 2 points out of 4 games is not good, not by any standard. Not with the squad we have. Then again, we've progressed further in the League Cup than we have in ages, so there are some positives. And judging by the last game, we should be able to turn the corner. Coming from behind to beat Boro is not something many clubs will do this season. Of course we needed extra time, but it still means that in a regular game, we would get a point out of it. Which isn't bad, considering they are among the favourites to win the Championship.

So I suggest we forget about the league so far. The season starts now. And it looks like a perfect day to slaughter some sheep...

Thomas and I will both be wearing our home kits, so we're there, in a way.

COME ON YOU REDS!

Be good!

RD

Told you so!

Strange title for a pre-season post! I know. But it is what I hope to be able to say at the end of this season. I have been able to say it twice in a row now and it would be great to get to three. Halfway the 07-08 season, many FF's doubted if Colin Calderwood could get us up out of League One. I was always sure, upto even eight games from the end, when we needed a massive run-in to get there. We did it, winning 19 points out of 21 to finish second after Swansea. I was in the car for the last game, on our way back home from Provence, with my mate Bones texting me about our own game and those of Doncaster and Carlisle. We made it somehow. I'll never forget the excitement. The relief. The pride. The justification. The feeling of: "Told you so!"

Last season was no less dramatic, with Forest in the drop zone or at least in view of it upto the second last game. We got a life saving point away at Blackpool to secure survival in the Championship and beat Saints 3-1 on the final day, just to make sure we ended on a high note. A lovely feeling. Again, I had said at the beginning of the season that we would stay up. A change of manager and some important long-term injuries in spite, we did it. Again: "Told you so."

So, to the 2009-2010 season. We have a new manager in place. Billy Davies was not my first choice when Colin Calderwood had to go. My first choice was always for Calderwood to stay, but he had lost most of the fans. Long-term thinking is not for modern football, so when the results were bad for a spell, he had to go, even if at that very point, we seemed to be getting better, be it very slowly. An admittedly horrible result at home against Doncaster did it. Straw, camel, back. In came Billy Davies. He didn't convince me at first, seemingly alienating some young players and mouthing off at the board from the first weeks. The results weren't good either. We lost twice against D**by in three weeks' time, going out of the cup in a 3-2 replay at home and the losing 3-1 in the league as well.

But the way Billy handled the crisis made me change my mind. He brought in some very good loan signings. And even if our form was shifty, he did enough to keep us up. He impressed every one with the signings he has made in the summer. Nigel Doughty has opened up his wallet to bring some very good players in. Forest look like a very tough proposition this season. We nearly have two good players for every position, so even if we did get the same bad luck with injuries we did last season, it wouldn't have as much of an impact. Only in defence we could do with a little more cover. I have heard Sol Campbell is available on a free. Many FFF's wouldn't agree, but I really think his experience, vision and passion for winning games would work perfectly in a mix with the young players we have at the club. Get him in for a season, make him captain and he'll have them fighting for every ball.

Then there is a dream transfer that will never happen. Anthony Vanden Borre. Belgian international, ex-Anderlecht, now property of Fiorentina. But he doesn't know yet where he will be next season and wants to get out of Italy after a bad experience at the club he played for last season, Genoa. He wouldn't be cheap, but it would be fantastic if he could be convinced to come to a club who have a program for the future. And he would certainly help our bid for promotion. He can play right wing, right midfield, right back and as a holding player. His passing is incredible, he is fast, strong and has brilliant control. Like I said, just dreaming out loud. Oh, and he's used to playing in Red, too!

There were some predictions going around recently. I'll go for anything between 3rd and 6th at the end of the season. That's all I'll say. The play-offs are too unpredictable. 5th and play-offs would be brilliant. Anything else is a bonus. I think Boro and WBA or Newcastle will go up through the automatic places. Then us in the chasing pack. Hope to say I told you so. Again.

It all starts in half an hour...

Be good!

Red Devil

Goodbye Sir Bobby

It was with great sadness that I learned on Saturday that the great Sir Bobby Robson had passed away. It's not that I was shocked, as Sir Bobby's long battle against illness was well documented. One could even say we were all waiting for the inevitable news to come one day. Still it hit me with a dull thud to the stomach and brought tears to my eyes.

My first real memories of Sir Bobby are mixed. Italy 1990. The Stadio Renato Dall'Ara on the 26th June. 119 minutes of superior football, with England clinging on for dear life in a game that Belgium could have, possibly should have won. There had been two Belgian efforts off the woodwork, one Enzo Scifo screamer that would easily have made Goal of the Tournament had it gone in. England had a valid goal disallowed for off side as well. It was a brilliant game of football, played between a Belgian side as strong as I have ever seen, and an England side that should really have gone on to win the World Cup. A fair game, too, with hardly any bookings. Just good, attacking football from both sides. Then, from a Paul Gascoigne free kick, came David Platt's moment. Many Forest fans would learn to hate him later, but he was England's hero of the day. And he is still possibly the most hated football player in our country, which surprised him no end, as he explained in a documentary about "that" game on Belgian television. He was just a player doing a job, he said. A player subbed in by Bobby Robson because he thought maybe the then young player of the season might give the team some extra options. If ever a substitution came off...

Bobby Robson's reaction after the game was what made me sit up and notice. A true gentleman, Robson said that this game should not have had a losing side, that he understood how cruel it was to the Belgian team and their fans. Our national manager cried, according to aforementioned documentary. So did most of Belgium, myself included. My passion for English football, however, made me follow England for the rest of that tournament, and I cried again when Chris Waddle missed that last penalty against Germany. England should have won that game and the tournament, because surely the Argentina of that edition would have been no match for Bobby's team in the final.

It would have made Bobby Robson immortal, even more of a legend than he is now, and probably a Sir long before his knighthood eventually came around. How he must have felt when Andreas Brehme converted that cheated penalty in the final to win the World Cup, we can only imagine. I sure know how I felt. That should have been England lifting that world cup. Arguably the best team in two successive world cups, cheated out in 1986, then out on penalties in 1990. Twice against the eventual world champions. Did England have the best players? No, but Bobby Robson moulded them into a superb, winning team.

Bobby went on to successes with Sporting Portugal, Porto, Barcelona and PSV before ending up at Newcastle. After three seasons of good results, mostly finishing just outside the "big four" places, with some decent runs in Europe, Sir Bobby was ousted at St-James' Park in a manner which I remember finding incredibly rude and lacking in any respect for the institution that Robson had by then become.

Things went rather quiet after that. And now the great Sir Bobby Robson is no more, leaving us with a lot of memories, and leaving the world of football orphaned. There will certainly be a minute's silence around the country at the start of the new season, just like there was at PSV's first game on Saturday. A minute that will chill me to the bone and may well bring a tear to my eye.

Rest in peace, Sir Bobby. Thanks for the memories, even "that" one.