But where exactly was it that it all went wrong? Was it the fact that we waited until the end of the pre-season to sign the players that nobody else wanted? The ones that were cheap? Was it Paul Hart's reluctance to scrap his diamond formation which as a result of his dire work in the way of transfers we no longer had the players for? Or was it just the fact that football is changing, we are no longer a big club yet we chose not to accept it and that our expectations are to high. Could this have been the reason that 'Harty' felt the need to splash out on whatever players he could find to keep up with the Forest fans demand? Could he have been waiting for a quality player to come along but then with then with us fans complaining that we weren't signing enough players he just had to do something? Who knows but what we do know is that at the close of this season we will have to begin rebuilding our staff, our players and indeed our club.

In order to do this we will need to sell a few of our players, possibly/probably Dawson and Reid, in order to generate some much needed money for transfer funding unless Chairman Nigel Doughty is willing to dip into his own pocket. I would applaud him if he did, and Kinnear is trying his best to pressure him in doing so, but I can't really imagine him doing so. Would you, however, rather have a fully fit Reid and Dawson, who would be amazing in your side, or be in the first Division yet have a team made up of players that had to be purchased for 1m. Not many players in this league are worth that much so to have a team full of them would make promotion an almost certainty.

Also, I feel that if we are to fulfill our potential we need to do some work on our stadium. The Main Stand is a mess! The rest of the ground is modern and up to premiership standards but the Main Stand is a disgrace. Rebuilding this stand is now more of a necessity than last season when we were doing well as we have proved that we can fill our current stadium capacity at any given time no matter how well we are performing in the league. This would cost the club a lot of money but in turn it would see an increase in gate receipts and generate more money than it lost.

The final thing in which I am going to mention is that unless Nigel Doughty begins to express some ambition, that we should all support the Nottingham Forest Supporters' Club. The current board has appointed bad manager after bad manager in people such as David Platt and Paul Hart and now it is time for a change. Now it is time for us to have a say in the running of the Reds.

"The clearly stated and long term aim of this trust is to raise enough money to buy the club outright and ensure financial and organisational stability. this will ensure the future of the club forever, not 6 months, 6 years, or even 60. Things look a little rosier now we have a white knight, but how long will this one last?, and is it fair on all of us to depend on the finances of one man?. Is it SAFE to do that? As much as we welcome the recent news, we cannot fail to think deep in our hearts that being £5m less in debt than we were a few weeks ago does not mean we are secure. We still intend to buy the club whether it takes 10 months or 100 years. We feel there is a lot we can do in the meantime with the money we are raising though. Fund the Academy, help pay off some of the debt, buy a directorship, lobby the current board to listen to issues the fans have."

As aforementioned it is time for a change. It is time for the club to make a name for itself once more, return to the 'big' club status that we once possessed. It's what our loyal fans deserve. If other clubs can do it then so can we.

Nottingham Forest Supporters' Trust

©ForestFC.co.uk, 2004