As far as I know, scoring goals is a priority among strikers. But don’t tell Nicolas Anelka. Or David Johnson. In fact, keep this a secret from all strikers at Nottingham Forest at the moment. If there are any of them left, that is. I thought I’d just mention it; how about a new forward being brought to the club soon? Just as a backup for those left, I mean.

The season is more or less over, and thanks to a more draws than I can remember Forest ever having; it’s a mid-table finish after all. Soccernet (I believe) tipped Forest for 20th place this season. At least we’re better than that. And Marlon Harewood has suddenly turned into a goal machine. Amazing what a little confidence can do, isn’t it?

I’m not bemoaning the way the players have come through this season. When off-pitch activities (like playing for a club with more debt than Argentina) take so much of the spotlight, I must say I’m impressed with the way the team has handled itself. And I have plenty of respect for Paul Hart. Like Frank Worthington said to TeamTalk recently about Dave Bassett: “I don’t think fans would bemoan their team losing if the players tried to play football. With Bassett in charge, the players don’t.” I couldn’t agree more.

Next season. There’s always next season. Unless there’s a mid-summer clean up at Forest - well, some other club cleans us out, taking all talented players away for a song (not Rigobert) - I’m optimistic on behalf of the club. Although it’d be unfair to say that the economic problems are solved, they are less severe than last summer. And, of course, there might be the possibility of new players actually joining Forest now.

Oh, and soon there’s the new season in Norway. In Oslo, the biggest club is Vålerenga, and they’re finally back in top-flight football. So I’ll follow Vålerenga then. They’re quite similar to Forest anyway. Big club with lots of debts, and some exciting young players. This week, they’ve already been denied access to their own training facilities due to lack of payments. And their players probably won’t get paid for quite a while. Oh, and of course, there’s the old boardroom squabble, where members of the board fall out with each other. This seems to be well on its way of becoming something of a tradition in football,

I’ll keep you posted with some ‘gems’ from Norwegian football.