Well it's now 2002, which means that it is 12 years since we last won anything. Will this glorious year be the one that sees the Red Army back to trophy winning ways? A cold, wet afternoon in Sheffield soon put a stop to that! After an impressive and surprising Christmas period, this Tricky sought solace in the trip to Bramall Lane. Like many days in my life, I just shouldn’t have bothered!

My Christmas was spent in a climate far warmer than dear old blighty, and to be honest, it was a welcome break from the rigours of life. I for one didn’t anticipate Forest winning twice and drawing once in my absence so maybe I should go away more often! This run of form and the magic of the F.A. Cup meant I was highly optimistic for the trip to Sheffield in the first week of January. In fact, I was even confident of us getting a result! Having attending something like 300 odd Forest games, this one was comfortably in the top 10 worst games I have ever had the misfortune of seeing. Never before have I seen such good players play so consistently bad for the duration of the 90 minutes. Sheffield United weren’t much better if the truth be told, but we were dire. What made it worst was the fact that there was about 4,000 odd Trickies in attendance, it was freezing cold, and everyone had to cough up £18 for the pleasure! I am a big admirer of Gareth Williams, but on this occasion he had a shocker, but cause so many of them did, it almost seemed alright! I think it is largely due to the 'young' nature of the team and the state of the pitches, weather etc which played a part in the performance. Anyway I’ve never liked the Blunts!

As always, everyone’s favourite losers have been doing their best to keep our spirits up. The Sheep Shaggers have hit the panic button as I am sure you are aware with the sacking of Colin something or other and the desire to lose as many games as humanly possible! You have to laugh! The 3-1 defeat to Bristol Rovers was hilarious, especially as it wasn’t even a smash and grab type of affair. By all accounts, the Sheep got a right old pasting from the 3rd Division relegation battlers! Next season's encounter at the Sheep Dip should be pretty interesting as the Tricky Trees seek to renew acquaintances with our sheep bothering friends. Personally, I think we have 12 points already on the board, what with the Foxshaggers coming down too!

Now while your spirits are up, I think it’s time for a joke:

Q. What is the difference between humour and odour?
A. Humour is a shift of wit!

Now anyone not getting that can give me five press-ups!

Seeing as I mentioned the Les-der, did anyone see that programme Tonight with Trevor MacDonalds? For those that didn’t, it featured Les-der’s titanic (sic) 2-2 draw with Bolton around Christmas time. The point of the programme was to measure the heart rate and blood pressure of the two managers. Now this meant much thoughtful analysis from everyone’s favourite sherbert, Harry Bassett! Jesus Christ, the man has lost the plot, I just felt sorry for his poor wife who was bemoaning the pressures of the “modern” game. Speaking seriously though for a moment, what I thought was interesting was the influence Mickey Adams had on Bassett at a crucial time of the game, which makes you wonder who the manager is. I just sat there and felt slightly ill at the thought of these two clowns managing Forest. Oh shit they did!

What did provide much fun and merriment was a recent trawl through the archives to dig out a few video’s of the BBC series Match of the '70s. I’m sure many Reds will have watched this, especially the one’s near the end of the decade for obvious reasons. Seeing us give ManUre a stuffing on there own ground and knocking the Scousers out of the European Cup are ample enough reasons to set aside a couple of hours on a Sunday night before a trip to your local battlecruiser!

Just before I sign off, after reviewing my last issue, I felt I had possibly been a tad harsh on our Canadian lovely, Jim Brennan. Then I saw him once more in Sheffield and was laughing, it was that bad. Anyone who was there would have to agree!

With that expulsion of anger, I’m off find the light that never goes out!