Whatever happened to Nottingham Forest?
Don’t worry, read on, it’s not another inquest into the Great Decline of the 90s (or the Greater one of the 2000s, for that matter).
I’m talking about summer 2009 – the preseason that’s rewriting the rulebook, and probably preparing us for eternal disappointment hereafter.
It’s been the summer of action; of rumours with substance, of Evening Post promises that materialise, of deals being completed without the Ebay-style bidding policy of working from ‘derisory’ upwards.
The summer of gratification for the daydreaming legion whose cursors twitch around ‘Refresh’ from the moment a ‘source’ spots Neil Danns in Greggs.
It’s not very Forest, is it? But then neither was the armchair ending to the torturous season before us; months of nail-shearing ending in a dozy evening with Sky Sports.
And neither is the signing of players like Dele Adebola and Paul McKenna who are neither young nor born in Nottingham.
And am I right in recalling that the season ticket prices were published before June 30?
Something isn’t right.
I’m not sure I’m comfortable without being able to indulge in metaphors about doom and the apocalypse, and the forums don’t look right without threads like: “WHERE THE F**K ARE THE SIGNINGS FOREST YOU CUN...”
So what does it all mean? As a supporter group we are manically depressed and those who sobbed a bucket as Rob Jones signed for Scunthorpe are now predicting a Champions League spot.
The sensible conclusion has to be somewhere in the between.
We’ve made a string of solid signings, ranging from satisfactory to sensational, and the squad is taking shape.
Even stripped to its bare bones the squad looked meatier with Davies’ calculated ringing through it. Now it looks strong in its own right, and with another couple of additions it will be the strongest side we’ve had for a very long time.
We’ve added real men to the team. While Calderwood’s fancy was for the scrawny and etiolated, Davies has added meat to the bones with Adebola and McGoldrick – a burly centre-half will surely follow.
And we’ve taken a forward stride in targeting young talents who have already proven themselves at the right level.
But we have to be cautious. None of the players we’ve signed are world-beaters (at least not yet) and few have the Premiership strut that carries sides like Wolves into the big time. Those expecting a siege for the automatic places will probably be disappointed.
For the time being we have to be satisfied that we finally have a manager we can believe in - and a chairman who knows he has a manager to believe in.
This might not be our time, but all the signs are that our time is not too far away...
Final Thought: What on earth will compulsive-attendee Ebby do when Forest kick off two different games at 3pm tomorrow? His head may well explode.
