TV, the Internet and newspapers: My primary source of Forest-related news. And now also Championship Manager 01/02. Having watched Forest beat Coventry 2-1 at the City Ground, on what I hope was a bad day, I thought I'd give my newly acquired copy of this football hit a whirl.

My computer was probably one of the prototypes made by IBM in the early 60's (1760's that is), so I had to wait a while for the game to get ready. I entered my name, selected Nottingham Forest as my club and I was ready to go. Okay. This is realism for you. From the start of the season, I had no money to spend and £15 millions in debt. Although the board was looking forward to "a long and successful era under your management", mr Tomas Nilsen also found out that the board expected us to "battle bravely against relegation".

Right. So I might keep my job then. Should all else fail. Chelsea wanted Prutton. However, they found £10 millions a bit steep. What? Considering the 'talent' they have amassed. Prutts remained unfazed by my rejection of the Chelsea bid and contended he was happy to stay at the club. Next awaited a pre-season tour to Northern Ireland. Since I had no money to spend, I just assigned my players to what I felt was appropriate training and sent scouts out to look for bargains. I already found one out of contract Romanian defender, who might be a useful cover at the back. But, back to Belfast. My Forest team, which was distinctly unfit, but all in all should be better than Glentoran, was beaten by the odd goal. However, it was realistic, since we had a lot of chances, but the strikers failed to capitalise on any of them. And that Summerbee sure knew how and when to cross the ball... I'll get back to this whenever anything interesting happens. Still in pre-season (due to sluggish computer)...

Back to what I had seen earlier that day.

Forest were definitely not comfortable playing a Coventry side that were in a fighting mood. The game got a bit ugly too. However, one player really impressed me in this game: Stern John. He worked exceptionally well as a lone striker when Forest got reduced to 10 men, and before that he was the only threat to the Coventry defence. I hope - no - I pray, that Forest will have the money to offer him a new contract. If partnered by a faster forward, like Lester (who did well when he was brought on), John will continue to deliver, I believe. Even from the rather poor service he got from the midfield in that game, he was still a threat. And so was Jim Brennan on the left. I must say I really like those full-backs who dare to attack.

So, what did the Norwegian commentators say about the game? In the end, both the commentator and expert pundit Egil 'Drillo' Olsen agreed that Forest's win was deserved, although it was a close contest. Both did, however, feel that Forest was "a disappointment" this season. Why on Earth? Because Forest weren't top of the table? Even as a Forest fan, I've come to lower my expectations... And they were of course very interested in the off-pitch developments concerning both Coventry and Forest's economy. Apparently Coventry are also almost bankrupt. I suppose I'll just say: Welcome to my world!