English football is, strangely enough, extremely popular here in Norway. Both Liverpool and Man Utd have tens of thousands of supporters, organised in their own supporter clubs. Nottingham is probably more famous here in Norway because of Robin Hood. When it comes to the footie, Norwegians tend to support Liverpool or Man Utd.

Now, I'm not one of those. I chose not to chose Man Utd or Liverpool. Everybody else did. So why shouldn't I?

Football isn't about being rational, it's about feeling and heart. It's not about getting a nice brand on your overpriced replica shirt. I honestly see Man Utd more as a brand along with Coca Cola than as football club with a heart and soul. That's what I find at Forest!

So I've been following Forest for as long as I remember. Even from the days the first Norwegian player ended up in English football. Of course, he was a Forest player. Einar Aas was signed from Bayern Munich, and Cloughie even made him captain of the side. Well, for a while at least. Then he broke a leg, and went back here

Forest have had a tradition for signing Norwegian players. Jon Hjelde is the current resident Norwegian, but he follows in the footsteps of Kjetil Osvold (86/87), Lars Bohinen and Alfie Haaland.

Not all of them have been great, though. At least not when it comes to loyalty. How come Forest have signed so many players with personality disorders? Players who'd make Ivan the Terrible look mentally stable and fairly sympathetic? Names like Collymore, Van Somethingdonk and Bohinen spring to mind. Lars Bohinen used to be a fantastic player. Nowadays he's just an annoying, whining idiot, moving from subs bench to subs bench around Europe, complaining about his managers. How anyone can fail to impress at Derby is beyond me. And how a superb defender like Bjorn Bragstad can be left out of the Derby side is also something I quite can't comprehend. Just ask Jon Hjelde! They played together at Rosenborg.

Now, about this season. I'm impressed with the way Paul Hart has created a new optimism at Forest. And the way he uses his younger players. Seems as if being cash strapped really isn't all that difficult, as long as you invest in youth development. That's how most clubs survive here in Norway. Although, with a slight difference. Norwegian clubs have to sell their best players to foreign clubs. However, since some players (Solskjaer, Carew, Johnsen, Berg, Iversen) have succeeded, the prices have been inflated just as badly as in England. Nowadays, nobody would want to buy a Norwegian player. Not with a £5 millon price tag, anyway. Unless you're David Platt, that is. To me, it seems as if he was a more than decent coach, but his efforts in the transfer market were less than impressive.

I haven't been to the City Ground. Period. I watch Forest on the telly. Or in pubs showing Sky Sports. Here I watch Forest being thrashed by Wolves (last season), while hearing people around me bemoan the fact that they aren't showing United or Arsenal. I hate those. I honestly do. I have friends who love their football, and who love watching English football, even when Liverpool or United aren't playing. And they love watching Forest. Well, nowadays anyway. Not in the late eighties, they didn't. That's when Forest were a force to be reckoned with. All I get these days is a bit of lame sympathy. I don't need it. I know Forest are heading in the right direction, after all those years with Bassetts and Plattys and all that.

May the fiords be with you!