NOTTINGHAM FOREST

Last season was abysmal... let’s just leave it there.

This season will be different to last because we’ll hopefully have a new chief executive in Dane Murphy, and won’t have added 16 new players to our bloated squad.

I’ve really missed the social side. It’s never been clearer what meeting the lads for a pint on matchday can do for a person’s mental wellbeing.

I won’t be happy unless we start prioritising quality over quantity in the transfer market.

Our most underrated player is our keeper Brice Samba. He gets a lot flak but we’d have been closer to relegation were it not for him.

Look out for Brennan Johnson, our 20- year- old attacking midfielder who had a brilliant season in League One on loan at Lincoln. The player I’d happily drive to another club is Nuno da Costa, who cost us £ 2m in January 2020 and hasn’t done a thing since.

The opposition player I secretly admire is Alex Mowatt – a fantastic footballer who’s bagged a top move to West Brom.

The pantomime villain will be Wayne Rooney, probably. The one change I’d make would be sorting out our recruitment strategy. Thankfully, the club are taking steps to ensure changes will be made.

Save the date for Derby away in our fifth league game of the campaign. There could be fireworks.

The best thing about matchday at Forest is Mull of Kintyre ringing around the City Ground just before 3pm. Boy, we’ve all missed that.

The ground I’m most looking forward to visiting is Bramall Lane – it’s good to see that one back. Bloomfield Road is a highlight too.

Our key player will be Joe Worrall [ above]. Or it could be Johnson – he has to get a chance this season. The fans’ opinion of the gaffer is that he’s under pressure to start well. The vast majority want Chris Hughton [ below] to work out, but it’s fair to say we underachieved last season. Let’s hope he gets it right. We’ll finish 10th.