The Times They Are A-Changin’

In 2005, when Forest were first assigned their place in League 1, the third tier of English football, few thought we would be here for at least three seasons. No one can argue that we are now fully paid up members of the League 1 scene and have until now, been thoroughly deserving of that status.

Arrogance is a word often levelled at Forest fans on the message boards, as well as living in the past. But any mention of past glories is usually initiated by the opposition. For a long time now, supporters of Nottingham Forest have had to endure a fair amount of ridicule about our fall from grace. Comments of ‘how the mighty have fallen’ and ‘you’re not famous anymore’ are the usual weapons of choice, but it looks as though we may be getting the ammunition to fight back.

Years of underinvestment and bad appointments are why we are so firmly established in this League, but if the events of the past fortnight or so are anything to go by, we might be waving goodbye to our days in this football wilderness. The first signing of the summer at the City Ground, Neil Lennon, was something of a coup. But it was nothing more than a warning shot to those in League 1 that we mean business. Startling revelation number two, was the fact that NFFC were moving house and getting a shiny new gaffe, with an eventual capacity for no less than 50.000 faithful followers. That little bombshell was greeted with howls of laughter in rival camps, but it was yet another statement of intent by the clubs’ hierarchy that we do in fact mean business.

It seems as though the powers that be, have finally woken up to the fact that to get out of this division the squad needed vast improvements. This is being taken care of almost as we speak. The Lennon signing was followed up with another impressive piece of business in the acquisition of Matty Lockwood from Orient. As impressive as these signatures were, they were to be eclipsed by the double swoop on Yeovil Town, in taking Cohen and Davies off their hands and all for a rumoured fee of over a million quid. Word on the street is that more are to follow, which can only be good news for the fans and there is no denying we’ve needed some of that.

Throwing money at footballing problems has been the downfall of many a club, but there is no sign of that happening here. Calderwood has invested his funds wisely and can’t be faulted for any of the people he’s brought in. These are heady and exciting times at Forest and for the first time in many a long year, fans are looking to the start of the season with a renewed sense of optimism. It will be another hard and difficult campaign, but if the actions of the club in recent weeks are anything to go by, then success on the pitch is a distinct possibility. Yes, the times, they are indeed a changing.