On Saturday 6th January Forest welcomed fifteen overpaid, poncing, self deluded footballers to the City Ground then we stuck it up ?em Jonsey and they didn?t like it!

It?s becoming a feature of this season that following an emphatic defeat the group have displayed a certain ?bouncebackability? with an emphatic response. None more so than that win over Charlton off the back of a drumming from Oldham.

When the draw was made, many at the City Ground would have been rubbing their hands in glee as the game had all the ingredients for an upset. Yet with the arrival of Alan Pardew at the Valley I feared that the fire would have been re-ignited under a team playing aggressive attacking football ? everything this Forest team would have hated.
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It?s taken me a little while to come to terms with the Christmas Woe Ho we?ve had at Nottingham Forest. It is as if Santa came down that chimney, ate the mince pie, drunk the sherry and nicked all the prezzies then left naught but a traditional Yule log in the fire place. After being such good people all year you have to feel the injustice of being completely shat upon at the end of it.

Not that losing a seven point lead and slipping into third in the league really bothers me that much. It may be the kick up the backside that our increasingly complacent-looking squad require, although the way we have bottled it combined with our less than average penalty record this season does not bode well if we need to go through the back door via the play-offs to get out of this division.
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Everyone loves a striker. Their goals can trigger raptures of jubilant celebration and are replayed the following Monday over and over. Should they score enough of them then their status at a club may become worthy of worship by the fans so much so that Chairmen are often prepared to pay the highest fees and the highest wages for their services.

That said then, the decision by Forest to sell their top scorer this season in the January transfer window may at first seem a little odd. Downright ludicrous in fact even if I did tell you that we have so many forwards on the books we are prepared to delay the return from injury of one of the better ones to ease the pressure upon squad rotation.
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Football is not simply a game and it is far more than an art, it is a drama played out in the great and minor theatres all across the globe. As with all dramas it offers up the hero?s and the villains and perhaps the most evil characters of all are the club directors.

Heart of Midlothian?s Vladamir Romanov has written himself into the most recent plot by threatening to put his entire first team up for sale should they fail to beat Dunfermline. In fact Romanov?s entire reign at Hearts has been a roller coaster ride that has provided some interesting stories however where the Eastern European has shown eccentricity and the flamboyant streak, in the City Ground boardroom over the last decade there has been a flair for idiocy that has doomed the club to the lowest league position in its history.
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They say that leagues are won from set pieces. Well eight minutes into the fifteenth game of the season and Nicky Southall banged in the winner from a free kick in a 1-0 home result against second place Bristol City and Forest ease five points clear.

Regular readers of State of the Game will recall a few weeks back I wrote about League One?s Scintillating Saturday where first place at the time took on second, third took on forth. Embarrassingly both games ended 0-0 although from a Forest perspective it was a good point which could easily have ended a win after an onslaught in the last ten minutes.
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?The table does not lie?

A well used phrase, most recently employed by the beleaguered fans of the, eh, pride of the East Midland?s Nottingham Forest. Yet Andy Gray and his band of Merry Men over at Sky, having hit the bull?s eye again on Saturday, may beg to differ after proving to the world that the above comment may not always be true. So what went wrong?

Sky must love the former (emphasis on ?former?) European Champions who have managed to deliver that ?giant killing? act live on TV for the third time in a year. The hoodoo of the camera has struck again it would seem. Twice in one season and Colin Calderwood?s reputation must be getting a battering. He will know though that the bad performance was far from being the result of a show-time freeze but rather the stark illustration of a managerial error.
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The one and possibly only contribution that ITV has made to modern day football is introducing U2?s Beautiful Day as an anthem for British footballing culture. It is another classic from the Dublin boys that I would like to propose head all previews to the forthcoming weekend?s matches though. Forget ?Smackdown Sunday? where the supposed top four of the Premiership went head to head in a blatant and unashamed choreographing of the fixture list by Sky. This ?Scintillating Saturday? throws up two clashes to be savoured between another of England?s top four clubs. Yes League One?s Port Vale versus Bristol City and Tranmere Rovers versus Nottm Forest is in the eyes of this footie fanatic, Even Better Than The Real Thing.

Whereas Arsenal v Manchester United and Chelsea v Liverpool sets up the biggest clubs in Britain with Premiership title aspirations thrown together in a must see for the viewing public worldwide, they are hardly the in-form teams of their division. The tenth game of the Coca-Cola 2006/07 League One campaign however will match up first with second, third with fourth.
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A frustrating night for Reds fans as Forest stuttered for the first time in the league this season in a match that was all too easy for Oldham.

The team that to be fair has not played their best this season were finally punished for failing to grind up the gears early on. A large part is due to Athletic putting in a workmanlike performance closing down their opponents and looked dangerous when in possession. Forest were unable to control the pace in this home encounter as Oldham kept the ball well in stark contrast to the Reds. The performance was sloppy as passes were misplaced even when not under pressure. The midfield often looked lethargic with its dynamo, Sammy Clingan not performing to his usual standard.

Oldham?s first breakthrough though came from Paul Smith?s second piece of misgoalkeeping this season. Unfortunately for the man who has been outstanding so far between the sticks, it lead to another goal as Porter capitalised upon a save carelessly palmed to his feet. At one nothing down, Forest already had their work cut out as Oldham were quick to close down and had a comfortable grasp on the first half.
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Saturday 22 October 2005 and the away game to Yeovil represented a marked shift in my attitude as a Forest supporter. It was with a certain amount of arrogance that upon relegation from the Championship at the end of the 2004/05 season that I, like many others, expected a swift return with nothing less than automatic promotion. Yet this small matter was proving tougher than first thought, at this point of the season we were only eighth in the table.

Defeat during midweek to Woking in the LDV Trophy marked a serious low in Forest history, nevertheless the league is what was important and the match at Yeovil represented a chance to bounce back and continue an improving league form during a month where we had actually won more games than we had lost.

Not having been able to go to the match, I checked up on the final score with Sky Sports News in high spirits. A three to nothing defeat. The result struck me the way an mallet would have done, swung with full force by the recent winner of the Highland Games. Disappointment turned to disbelief upon the news that Megson had invited three fans in the dressing room after the game to confront the players. Either the manager was proving to be a innovational motivational genius, or a mad man in desperate need of someone else to do his job for him. In hindsight it proved to be the latter.

So that was 2005. As bleak a year as any Tricky could have had. 2006 is proving to be far kinder to us and here we are again making the long journey to somewhere in Somerset. This game for me will be a marker of exactly how far we have come over the last eight months. As a result it was a fixture I looked for with some dread when the schedule was first released.

The Glovers have had a solid start to the season, dispite loosing star player Jevons in the summer. Russell Slade has drawn inspiration from club motto “Achieve By Unity” and built an impressive team who will work hard for each other. Having beaten early fliers Port Vale at home and achieving a good draw away to Swansea, they will fancy putting another one over the Reds at Huish Park. A Forest win will continue an impressive start to the season and go a long way to exorcising the ghosts of last season.

Should we loose; I would not expect any more fans to put into practice a question in from the Forest match day programme supporter interview: “What would you say to the players in your team talk?”

David Johnson looks set to retire following a frustrating start to the season for the former Ipswich Town striker. After succumming to a long term back injury Johhno has been out of action for the first six games of the league campaign.

Making his debut for Forest against Crystal Palace in January 2001 and has made 138 appearances and scored 50 goals. However the popular striker had a torrid 2005/06 making only 21 appearances and scoring 3 goals. The season was cut short for him in December to undergo a surgery and since then he has been working hard to be able to join the rest of the squad in full training early this season. This looks unlikely though as the Forest number 26 has yet to even feature for the reserves this season.

Unable to play for former Ipswich colleague Richard Naylor’s testimonial it was stated in the match day programme that his absence was down to his imminent retirement.

Johnson has since dismissed the report stating:

“I’m waiting to step up to more training. I’m taking my time, but I’m joining in with the lads in training now.

“I’ve not set any targets yet. I tried that last time and I’m still getting back to fitness now.”
With Scot Dobie making his first start for the reserves tonight and with the arrival of Junior Agogo from Bristol Rovers it looks likely that the 30 year old will be no more than a bit-part of Calderwoods plans should he make a full recovery.

Dobie plays his third Pontins Holiday League game against Bradford at Valley Parade tonight having previously come off the bench in previous two and will partner Junior Agogo up front.