Welcome back, it’s the beginning of season five in this moderately epic adventure with Burnley FC.  Somehow, last year, we managed to win not only the FA Cup but also the Champions League, not bad for a team who a) hadn’t made it past the fourth round of a cup competition before and b) could at best be described as consistently inconsistent.  Thanks to a solid final third of the season, and the fact that all the teams were so close on points we managed to move from thirteen up to third place in the final thirteen matches of the season.

Some big changes needed to be made over the summer, we have committed ourselves to the old faithful, 2-3-1-2-2.  M/FL Damien Duff was so good at wing back (avg 7.00!) I’ve re-signed Bjorn Daelemans for £2.2 million a year after selling him to Antwerp, he’s going to play right wing back.

I’ve also made a marquee Bene & Hot signing, Thierry was still at Monaco, they needed some money, he was interested, a perfect combination, £4.6 million later and young Va Va Voom is a Claret.

We also pick up a few regens, Irwin, Enzo and Oliveira reborn join the group.

We have to say goodbye to some fan favourites to make room for these additions.  Two of the original Bene boys, Johnny Candles and Freddy Nee have to go, I can only put three Frenchies into the match day squad and wasting a Hot position on a keeper is no longer viable.  The other lads leaving are Donal Prenderville, who is John Aldridge’s regen, Alessandro Ricardinho, is Julio Cesar reborn, unfortunately his work permit ran out, so he had to be let go and finally Vandenbergh, who had a cool name but was rubbish.

With all that out of the way we are competing for a trophy, ish, in our first game of the season, the coveted Charity Shield.  Dangerous Dave OG starts on the bench, however with the scores tied he joins the action in the 58th minute and makes the most of his chance to shine.

Flying high after the Charity Shield Sheffield Wednesday are brushed aside, as we make a winning start to the Premier League season.  J-Pap Jnr and Captain Babb with the goals, Belgian keeper Stef De Meersman keeping a clean sheet is also a positive sign.

Two matches into the season and marquee signing Terry Henry pulls up in training and won’t be back till mid November.  The only positive is, we are stacked up top and J-Pap Jnr is ready for more game time.

Due to our incredible lack of discipline last season Pistol Petko is half way through serving a four match suspension.  Dangerous 2.0 and J-Pap Jnr make the most of Forest’s poor defending.

Sunderland have signed an aging Bobbie Baggio from Man Utd and despite him getting a goal, we breeze by thanks to 2.0 and Mully.

After winning three on the bounce, it seems like a good time to face Wiki rivals Leeds.  Unfortunately, only CB Rob Quinn, plays well for us, we are limp and ineffective throughout and end up losing 0-1.  

After being the only bright light is a sea of darkness last time out, Rob Quinn gets himself sent off just before half time in the following match.  Fortunately, we were 2-0 when it happened and we manage to hang on to win against Coventry.

The following game is away to Leicester, we play better than we did away against Leeds, but Bengt Andersson is unbeatable at Filbert Street and it finishes 0-0.

The Moor has been a fortress so far this season and Pistol gets off the mark against Ipswich, scoring a hat-trick in his first game back.

Our Champions League group contains Galatasaray, Marseille and PSV.  The first game is at home to Galatasaray.  We go a goal behind 10 minutes before half time, but Dangerous 2.0 levels the tie five minutes into the second half.  J-Pap Jnr has the chance to win the game from the spot but squanders the opportunity.  Not the best start for the unlikely defending champions.

We travel to London for the weekend, an away match against Crystal Palace.  Right wingback/forward Bjorn gets his first goal, of his second spell and Pistol fires in two more for another league win.

Long term injury layoff Savio returns from his 11 months on the sideline, however J-Pap Jnr decides to join Terry on injured reserve.

Fortunately we still have Dangerous 1.0, 2.0 and Pistol available, and the latter two make mincemeat of Liverpool.  After so few Turf Roars in the League last season we’ve won all our home matches so far.  Although we are 0 for 2 on penalties this season. 

After Liverpool, we travel to the South of France to face Marseille, Domingos gives Marseille and early lead before Dangerous 2.0 equalises.  Pistol’s having an off game so Dangerous 1.0 comes on with 18 minutes to go and scores the winner with a minute left on the clock!

After the highs of Marseille come the lows of the Lane!  Spurs score after four minutes and we have nothing left in the locker, we don’t even put up a fight, it’s a poor result. 

We’ve already got J-Pap Jnr and Terry on the injury list and now we need to add captain and defensive rock Denis Babb to the list, he gets injured during the international window.

We are back at the Moor for the clash of the Clarets.  Rob Quinn steps up as captain in Denis’ absence and 2.0 and Pistol supply the goals as we lift the first Claret jug of the season.

Despite the Docs saying he will be out for three months Terry is back in two and on the bench for the Champions League tie against PSV.  Unfortunately, it’s one of those games where the opposition keeper is near unbeatable, Ad Drenth with the MOM display helping PSV to a 1-2 win, who is Ad Drenth you ask.  Just some 20 year old grey bossing it in goal for PSV.  Cool name though.

Last season Huddersfield keeper Derek O’Connor was a thorn in our side and he’s at it again this season.  We pepper the Huddersfield goal, but Derek keeps the score line down to 0-2 before James Scowcroft makes it 2-2 with 20 minutes left.  Derek continues to save shot after shot, until Terry shows us why he is our £4.6 million marquee signing.

The win against Huddersfield is our ninth of the season, it’s a much better start than last season, as we sit three points behind Liverpool.

It’s tight in the Champions League at the halfway stage and two of our three matches are away from home, with such a low total it’s win the group or bust. 

Join us next week for the middle third of the season where we will see if we can continue our positive start in the League and make it through to the Champions League Quarter Finals.