Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Garabaldi Red, a Nottingham Forest podcast. I'm Max Hayes, channeling my inner Jim White at half past 11:00 PM on this Friday evening. For all of us Forest fans and just general football fans, it's like Christmas Day. This isn't it? Deadline Day, and we'll be here for the next, I don't know, half an hour, 45 minutes, depends if we fall asleep by then, to discuss, of course, Deadline Day and Nottingham Forest transfer window on a on a whole, really. And as they make two more additions today, which we'll get on to very shortly, joined first of all by, well, I'd actually say our very own Jim White, our very own nocturnal man, Dave Asprey. Dave, do you know what I was thinking this morning, Max, you're going to get back from working in media all day. You're going to be quite tired. It's going to be quite late. Who better to get on and to keep you awake and just to keep talking at you? So there we go. Hence your arrival.

I think they might be asleep in five minutes given the booming drone of my voice, Max. But who better to get on the graveyard shift than a rotting old cadaval like I am, mate? You know what I mean? So it's really good, Good to see you.

Good.

I do like this unorthodox idea of doing one at this time. I'm all for like, Midnight with Max becoming a thing down the line, mate. So no, it's really good to see you. I feel quite wide awake, but then I'm a pretty minimal sleeper. I'm terrified of missing stuff, missing a football result or a racing resort or a Gus Atkinson century in the test match or Hawkingston Rovers against Salford or whatever it might be. You know what I mean? So, yeah, I'm good to go, mate. It's nice to be here.

Good stuff. Well, I couldn't find a yellow tie for Deadline Day, so sadly, you just have to deal with us in our smart casual wear. It is smart casual in the media these days, isn't it? Mark Turner will also be joining us from the States very shortly. It's pretty much afternoon for him, so he's got the whole day ahead of him, and he'll be joining us shortly. But Dave, let's get into it, actually. And we'll start with Deadline Day. Forest, just in the last 20 minutes or so, announcing James Ward-Browse on a season long loan from West Ham. He's a man that has caused Forest many problems in the past in terms of set pieces. We'll get on to all of that. And also joining Forest, of course, the Benfica central defender Morato. Morato. There we go. We'll get there with the pronunciations one day. There's so many Ms, Dave. Too many Ms, isn't there, around for us? Yeah, there are, mate. But I guess first of all, mate, just your initial thoughts on a good window and an even better maybe transfer deadline day.

Yeah, I think, Max, we've learned the lessons of the last couple of years where we were cluster bombing and it was scattergun, and it was just like, grab this guy from over here, grab this guy from over there. And they I think the last couple of seasons, we started off with an idea of a strategy, and then it's gone a little bit haywire. I think we've been incredibly measured this win. I mean, he's gone yellow-type, I'm as goth as they come. So I think what we've done, Max, has been commendable. It's interesting. I've just been watching a couple of friends channels on YouTube, a Tottenham and an Arsenal, and they are falling over themselves to be unhappy about what they've done or what they've not done. Whereas I'm looking at us and thinking that the adults have got in the room at last. And I really like what we've done. It says something when you can turn down a £35 million bid for Anthony Alanger, it says that Forrest have made this progression from the last two seasons. I mean, as regards to two that have come in today, Marato, I don't really know much about him.

I've had a look at his stats. He's not played all that many games. In the Portuguese League, but he's a powerful left-sided defender. So I guess he's been brought in as the next cab on the run behind Marillo in that spot. James Ford Price, I really like. I've I just admired James Ward-Priest. I thought before he went to West Ham, wouldn't it be really nice to nip in there ahead of Moises in his lot and take James Ward-Priest and bring him up here and show him a beautiful river and a lovely cosmopolitan city with great clubs and nightlife and whatever else. So we've got him. It's a year after I really wanted him, but a season long loan, I think it's a smashing move for us because he brings great experience, international football. I was on a pod last night and referred to him as the Liam Neeson have taken because he's got a particular set of skills which are going to come in handy for any team that has these services. I just think it's a really good sign. It's a good move for James as well. He was Really, actually, it's amazing how he fell off the cliff at West Ham and tumbled down the pecking order.

A guy that talent that clearly the people at West Ham didn't see him fitting in or didn't rate him. I think Nuno will probably have admired him for quite a while, and I think he's going to come to a place where he's going to be made to feel welcome. And I think he's going to come straight in and be a guy with immense knowledge, and he'll have that seniority in the squad because it is still across On the board, it's a relatively young squad. I imagine he'll go into that leadership group with Woody and Morgan, Yatesy, people like that. So I think it's a really good bit of business. Marato, as I say, I don't really know a lot about other than, it sounds to me like, were anything to happen to Al Morillo, then he would come in. But they just shown a graphic on Sky Sports. Actually, no, I was looking at another pod, and the graphic We had two players for every position.

I hope it was ours, Dave.

I'm not a pain to name the other source match, but we have two players in every position now. I think that Nuno wanted to de-bloat the squad, but he wanted to have that particular level of depth. I think we've arrived at that point now, mate.

Yeah, we certainly have. Good points, mate. Good points. Also, joining us below, he just magically appeared in true Jim White fashion. If you are watching live on Facebook and YouTube. Look at him in his yellow tie. He could almost be Jim White. I'm not going to ask him for his best Jim White impression because an American/Skottish accent. And then, yeah, I don't know how that would go. Mark, go on. Here you go. Time to shine. Over to you, Jim White.

Hello.

Dave and I are of a similar age. If I try to do a Scottish accent, it's going to be Russ Abbott influence. It'll be. There you go.

That's much better. Apologies to all our Scottish viewers.

Yeah, apologies.

The first thing I want to say is the city ground, currently has become Hyphenation Station, because now we have Morgan Gibbs-White, Callum Hudson-O'Doy, James Ford-Prowse. I mean, surely it's any amount of time for Trent Alexander Arnold and Carl Walker Peter's rocker.

Absolutely, mate. That'd be great.

Is this the most hyphenated forest has ever been in its history, Dave?

You think? I think it may well be. I don't remember any hyphenation in the glory Days of Clough and Taylor.

Ian Storymore is the end of what I think Ian Storey more.

And I tell you what, don't get me started on him. What a player. What a great player Ian Storymore. There was enough hyphen in that one man to cover Generations, Mark. Wonderful. It's great to shout that, mate.

This is the first time I've been on the show with you, Dave. So, Max, you can go and head off to bed now, mate. It's like it's passed your bed time. It is mate, it's passionate time.

I'm off, I'm finished.

It's lovely to be on with you, Mark, at last mate. Bless you. Absolutely fine.

Right. Let's get into it. We've got a lot of people watching. We've got over about 150, and it's 20 to midnight here in the UK, so we will take that. So all of us night hours that are still up. Right, let's get into it, and I'll read out a few comments. First, of all, Mark says, Jane Mord's Proust, awesome signings. David says, from Australia, of course, one of our podcast contributors, Just waking up. What's the update? Who did we sign? Wait out and find out for the next 30 minutes. Harry Coole.

Glenn says, Good evening.

Good evening. Great window. Such strength and depth in most areas. Alex says, Some commitment chaps. Tell us about it. On the On the Graveyard shift. Well, it's not actually the Graveyard shift for you, is it, Mark? You've got your whole day ahead of you, mate.

This is great for me. Usually I'm in the pajamas. Right now, it's 10:00 to five in the afternoon. This is brilliant.

Right, Mark, you kick us off, really, with your thoughts on James Ward-Prowse. I know we've just touched on him there, but I'll read out a few stats in a minute. I can't go a stream without reading out some statistics that I've sourced. But as Dave alluded to, he's a player that I think Forest would have been interested in a while and when he became available at West Ham, and the name was on the list last night. According to many people, Forest contacted him quickly this morning. He had his medical and officially signed on the dotted line and announced just about 40 minutes ago now. And that for me, it's a bit of a statement sign in as well as James Ward-Prowse being an excellent player, but it's a statement sign in that Forest, a well-run club now off the pitch, and this has been a very good window, and we've ended it on a very big high, would you agree?

Yeah, I absolutely would. I'm entirely in lockstep with Dave in regards to when Southampton went down, I would love to have seen Jwp at the city ground at that point in time. You have to remember, this is a player that when Southampton got relegated from midfield, he still contributed at 11 goals that season, which is pretty remarkable. And he hasn't been a slouch at West Ham as well. I think he's seven goals to the good and almost double that in terms of of assists, many of which, as we know, come from dead ball situations, which, hey, guess what? Forrest have sucked at those for the last two seasons. They have. So to Dave's point, I mean, joined up thinking all ends up. And Quite frankly, if they only wheel on James Wall-Prowse whenever we have a crucial dead ball situation in the final minutes of the game to win all three points, I'll be perfectly happy with that. But you have to remember, this is a player very much in and around the England set up as recently as 18 months, two years ago, and he's not done. He's not done on that front. No.

The better thing that's happening with Morgan gives white this week to underscore the fact that players are still in the mix. Jack Grealish is back in the England team. I mean, James Wall-Prowse is not done. And if he shows up and has a fantastic season at the city ground this year, could be big things for him. So, yeah, delighted to have him in the Garibaldi.

Yeah, good stuff. And totally agree. Let's read out a few of his statistics provided by the brilliant Double WT analysis again, and he's done a little player map on him, and apologies for reading from my phone. But in terms of this was at West Ham Marks, you were right. He had seven goals, six assists, Minutes played 3,365. He ranked his possession and keeping the ball as an A plus. His creativity a B, he's attacking an A, he's scoring an A. And obviously, as you can imagine, expected assists per 90 were up there with the highest in the league, and not just the Premier League, but he was also, while Just at Southampton, the best player for taking set pieces in terms of, statistically speaking, in the whole of the football league. So not a bad player.

I think you have more assists, including Cup games, I want to say. I don't want to come across WT there because they know their stuff. One other thing I want to say, Max, as well. For me, as you well know, arguably the best player against Newcastle the other night was Moreno. I don't think that's any accident. This is a fellow who's on loan, who's got something to prove, whether it's to his mother club or getting himself a contract with Forest. James Wall-Prowse is in exactly the same boat.

Like Callum Hudson, the guy he was.

Exactly. Yeah, absolutely.

Any guy that's on a redemption mission... I absolutely love Callum to pieces. After what happened at Chelsea and the injuries, and he could have gone here for big money and all that. He's really come and he's shown real down to earth, excellent attitude, Callum. And I think Moreno is in the same boat. James will come and he'll want to say, Right, I want play some football now. Because bottom line is for all the money and the glamor and the luxury that these guys earn for themselves. It's about kicking a football on a piece of grass. That's what it's all about. And I think these lads have... Callum's showing it Moreno, as Mark rightly says, Moreno showed it the other night, it fit straight in. To my way of thinking, this last week has been an extension of the best period for our club since we got promoted. I think from the minute we did this really great work to avoid a points deduction, which was that to me was the, let's get rid of that straight away so we can concentrate. We're not looking over our shoulder money-wise. The players that we sold to deal with that.

Good lads, but not absolutely essential to us. My fear leaving Burnley on May the 19th, Sunday afternoon was, if we're going to avoid a point seduction, either Morgan or Morello are going to have to go. They're still here. And I think what we've seen off the field has been really canny and measured and considered. I think the football throughout preseason was watchable. Wasn't fantastic, but watchable. And that theme has continued. In many ways, the best performance Forrest has put on for a long, long time is Wednesday night. Because going into that match, you think, well, Eddie's put a side out here that wants to win this Cup. Eddie's playing his big guns, right? And you look at Forrest and you think, well, Nuno is clearly having a look see at the supporting gas. Then you can see it after 20 seconds. And I'm sat there in the 1010 thinking, this is going to be a long, arduous night. And then that supporting cast with Elliot Anderson pretty much pulling the strings. I thought he was outstanding, Elliot Anderson. The next club after the Big Six, if you like, Them and Villa, gave them a real good game.

And then they were into penalties with the lottery. I thought there was so much It reminded me of when we went to Liverpool two seasons ago and we lost three, two. Everybody came out of Anfield or we'd watch the match. And nobody minded that we lost because there was so much to admire in what we did. And it was the same on Wednesday night. And I just think, I looked it and I thought, Nuno will be so pleased. Yeah, he'll be upset that losing and he'll be upset for Ibra to miss the penalty and for Tyler to miss the penalty because nobody wants to see lads like that. I'm the lads. But I think he will look to it and I thought, oh, Jotty Silver has put his hand Ramon Sosa has put his hand up. Alex Moreno has put his hand up. Eric De Silva-Merrera for like, what, one and a half million has put his hand up. Carlos Miguel doesn't have to put his hand up because he's just so much taller than everybody else anyway. Lebron, as I now call him. So I think, and then getting James in today and getting Morato in today, I think it neatly tops and tails what we've been doing.

I'm never going over the top, but I'm quietly pleased about what we've done. And I think it's given us a nice platform. Obviously, let's hope we win tomorrow to top the week off perfectly.

Me too, Dave. Me too. I'll sit here with my nice forest pen from the singing season ticket.

Oh, the singing season card. The singing season card is the greatest football innovation in the history of the universe. Not one other club on this planet or Jupiter, or Saturn, or Mercury, or Uranus, or Neptune has ever done it. And I think it's brilliant. For me, it's the world leaders in season card presentation. It's amazing.

Dave Asprey. Dave Asprey on a Friday evening, 30th of August at 10:00 to midnight, full of enthusiasm. The club are going to click that.

The club are going to click that.

Mark, honestly, It's a shame that you where you are. I mean, there's lots of good things about being in the States, mate, but you don't get a singing season card. Here in Little Stoke and Trent and nothing, and we get a singing season cards mate. Honestly, it's just the best thing ever.

Can I tell you what? I'll tell you what we do get here very quickly, Dave, because this will tickle you. So our local team here in Colorado Springs is called the Colorado Springs Switchbacks. They play in US now, which is the tier below MLS. You have a full 90 minutes all the way up to Denver to go see the terrible rapids, which I'm not going to bother with. So anyway, go see the Switchbacks. Every single home game is themed. So this last one we just had was Wizard themed. Sorry, Max.

You can swear. I'm so tempted to digress and go off the water shed.

It was Wizard themed. We have one that's superhero themed. We also have one that was, and I don't quite know what the theme was, but they gave away free underwear, for real, seriously, Yeah, right. Yeah. Every single home game has a theme. I'll get you guys the list. I'll put it up for the rest of the Forest fans can enjoy it. You don't get that in the city grounds.

No, you certainly don't.

I'm so tempted to digress and go off the list. I'm so tempted to digress and go off the list. I'm so I'm not singing underpense now, but I don't think I'll bother. I actually meant you not.

Right. Back to transfers, which is what we're here for. I'm the youngest one, and it's controlling to Controlling to young kids.

It's carrying the community, Max. That's what it is. The reason I do this podcast.

From the Harry Enfield show.

I do remember that, yeah. Well, I do remember that, yeah. Well, I I wasn't around when it was released, but I've seen clips. Right, back on to transfers. And a bit of information that's just come out of Forest is that Alex Miten has joined MLS Side San Diego on a permanent deal. So it all ties together. It all ties together, Mark. So there you go. He signed on a two and a half year contract, of course, the 22 year old Winger for Forest. He'd been involved slightly in the Championship and he's been at the club a while, an academy prospect, but he's departed Forest officially now. We will probably never see him again. So best of luck to Alex. And other departures today from Forest was Josh Bowler, of course, on a season long loan to Preston. We won't touch much on that, probably. We'll talk about the news surrounding Anthony Alanga and the links close to the end of deadline day in a short while. However, we've got to touch on the other player that Forest brought in today, which was the central defender from Ben Fika, Mareto. Mark, what did you make of him, as Dave alluded to slightly earlier in the podcast, we don't know much about him, but it's more depth.

It's another central defender who's apparently really good, airily, according to a mate, a Ben Fika friend. He says he's very good at defending and attacking set pieces. So Forrest have brought him in. They've brought Malencovitchin, who's great in the air, and they've brought James Ward-Prowse, who's brilliant at taking set pieces. It all lines up right. But just your thoughts on that signing, Mark, and really maybe where you see him fitting in at Forest as well.

Yeah, absolutely. Before we do that quickly, they might I think, is an interesting one. He's moving to a new franchise in MLS, which means he's probably going to get a fair crack of the whip right out of the day. And I think you have to remember as well, he has American parentage or grandparentage. Yeah, he does.

He does.

He shows up in America He blows up an MLS. It's a good opportunity. He might end up in Posh's plans in the US National team. Don't be surprised if you see Alex Nighting featuring in the World Cup here in a couple of years. It could happen. Stranger Things Have. In terms of a lad from Ben Benfica. Well, firstly, Benfica is, weirdly, my Portuguese team. So I have this weird little thing that I do. Obviously, forests are in my heart, in my head, love them forever. No team comes above Nottingham Forest. But in order for me to be interested in other league, Max, I need to have a dog in the hunt. So I've actually, and this was from a very early age, adopted clubs in every one of the major Leagues. For no rhyme nor reason, other than I thought their logo was good and I like their kit color. Surprise, surprise, surprise, it was red. I adopted Ben Fika about 20 plus years ago. So I can tell you a little bit about this bloke. Well, actually, I can't tell you much more than what you already summarized, all of which, at least I can say, is true.

He's very good in the air. He's very physical, very strong, decent over 10 yards. I wouldn't call him Kyle Walker quick, but he's not, and I say this with all love, not Joe Warrall-Paste. He's a little nippier than that, again, particularly over the first 5 to 10 yards. I think what is most galling, Max, is that Forest have now signed another defender whose name begins with M. I mean, Max, what are they trying to do to us, mate? How are we going to keep this square? The entire fence begin with M. This is mental, pun intended.

They're going to sign me and you next, Mark and Max.

Well, at the back, we've got Millie Mollet and we've got Mabba Daily at the back, Rilé Morato, Moreno, Mollet Mayna, Mito Millions.

To your point, to your point on that, he's going to provide depth, obviously, in those positions. No willy-bolling won't go on forever. And we do need depth in those positions as well. I think we've been talking for the last few weeks, Max, about how we're one injury away from being desperate up top of the field, and we haven't really resolved that in this transfer window. We're not too far away from being desperate at the back either. If Marillo or Milošeńko gets injured, then Milošević, excuse me, gets injured, if He's using it with another transfer signing. We could be in a little bit of dire straits there, too. I think the cover we have is maybe a little sketchy. So I do like seeing depth in that area, and I think that's what he'll provide.

Yeah, for sure. Lots of comments coming in on YouTube and Facebook Live. This comment, we now have a side full of assists. Moreno, Joe. Is that Mark Turner commenting? Callum Hudson, Adoy. James Ward-Browse, Morgan gives white, Anderson. It's exciting to be a red right now. Well done all at Forest. David says, Yates is a starter in It's been a bit filled. Finally put to bed now. I'm not sure. Prediction of 12th is looking good now. I told you. Yates is going to hate. Positivity is the way forward. This big comment from Liam, which covers Mark, says, Two great set pieces. Takers in Sosa and Ward-Prowse We have a team of nine players, which we have cried out now for two seasons, battling every position. Yes, we need a striker, but I see that key target in January. I believe we can get the best out of wood with the service. He will now get into him with the new additions, two class keepers in which last season, having Turner and Blackadimos was a key reason for some of the goals we conceded. Really good to see. We also kept hold of key players. Looks an exciting season ahead.

Liam, that was an essay, mate, but I love that comment. Great comment and some really good points there. It's an odd one, isn't it, Marta? You mentioned about Loretto and another Forest player, another defender signing for Forest. You can tell the late night is kicking in. Is that what Forest needed? I was shocked I know he can play left-back, but I was shocked to see another player sign, particularly in central defense. Or as you mentioned, you think that they need that depth, Mark?

Yeah, no, I do think they need a depth there. I think the challenge is at center I think people would have glossed over a little bit the lack of depth at centre-back. We have two fantastic starting centre-backs. There's no doubt about that. I mean, I'd say as good as any pairing outside of the top six, quite frankly, and maybe as good as even a couple of teams within the top six, assuming they stay fit. So if either one get injured, I do get a little bit worried. So I think additional debt there isn't an issue, particularly at the price point, Max. I am still, though, concerned about the other end of the field. We see Eddie and Ketia secured, has moved to Crystal Palace for 30 million quid. I don't know that I would have wanted to spend 30 million quid on Eddie and Ketia, but it does concern me that we haven't shored that up. That being said, coming back to the comment from, I apologize, the gentleman who just put that huge dissertation up over my face. Liam. Thank you, Liam. We do have an abundance.

That's beautiful. You've got a lot, Mark.

Yeah, we do have an... I couldn't even see it. That's right. We do have an abundance of assists now. And beyond that, we have a lot of, I think, creativity in that top end of the field as well. So we saw that a little bit against Newcastle. A lot of interchange in play, a lot of players moving around, taking up different positions, the fullbacks getting in behind, which was really encouraging. So not I'm having an out and out focal point beyond Chris Wood. I don't think we have that right now because I'm not even going to rate Tywo at this moment in time. I think he's well off the pace. It doesn't concern me massively, but it is an area of weakness, so I think.

Yeah, I was going to say with the striker, I was going to get onto it in a minute, but we have to discuss the striker situation. For us, we're interested really late on, and I know that they were exploring options, some that weren't even revealed in the media as well. But Dave, it is a bit of a funny one, and you don't want Forrest to be desperate and you don't want them to panic by. But I think after watching the Newcastle game, the one negative I just thought of was that Forrest really needed a striker. Saying that, yes, we can maybe rely on Chris Wood. Yes, he scored all those goals last season, but you just worry with Tywo not being fully fit with stuff obviously off the pitch happening with him. He looks a player low on confidence that Forest really did need to go out and sign a a striker today. Or do you think, hang on a minute, let's stop panicking. We're going to be all right. Tywo is still fit. He's not injured at the moment. He's going to be working on his confidence. He's going to be working on himself.

And that football is a long time, but we've got a few months till January. So if all goes wrong, we can get a striker then. Or is that easier said than done?

I thought the other night that he was trying his damnest, like he always does. So the attitude of Taewo never He's ever in doubt. He's as honest as the days are on. He gives a lot to this club. He gives a lot every time he plays. I've run teams in the past where a lad will give 100 % one week and he's awful, and a lad will give the exact same the next week, and he's brilliant because that's just human imperfection. It's the ups and downs of this institutes of life. And Tywo is having a little bit of a low time. But who's not to say that Tywo will come good? He's a good guy, like all of our lads. All of our guys are good guys. We've got a squad full of extremely likable and admirable young men. They are worth my time. They are worth the emotion I invest in them. I love them to pieces, all of them. I'm so proud of what I see of them. Now, Woody, the conversation we had about Woody exactly this time last year was the same as the one we're having about to have now, this guy.

And I was as guilty of it as thinking, has Chris just gone over the top? What a season he had. He's absolutely outstanding. With Woody, and I don't want to get all sentimental, but my dear old man, in those months leading up to the time he passed, was telling me, Chris Wood's a good player. He'll come good, son. He came good at Burnley, he came good at Leeds, he came good at Newcastle. He'll do for his to turn. And I was like, I'm not so sure, dad. I think he's like... Almost to the moment when the old boy went, Woody started scurring. And Woody has become a key man for us. He's a leader on and off the field. So I was reading an article today where somebody was saying, Well, people might be panicking. Chris Woody is a tried and trusted source of goals, so I have no worries about Woody. The tie away thing does worry me a little bit. It's almost as if the injuries have caught up with him. That's not his fault. That's just a lad trying hard, getting... I hate this idea that people seem to... He's injury prone as if the guy means to be injury prone.

No, get that out of the way. But I've been thinking since Wednesday night, there might actually be a guy who could do as a job in and around and Woody if we needed to put somebody in the box. And I thought, Jotter Silva. Look where Jotter Silva was when he scored that brilliant goal. Yeah, it's a good point. He also got into the middle of the box to pressurize Popey by getting under in He was trying to head it in. And Jotter Silver, he got the Man of the Match award the other night, and he was excellent. And he's just got this little bit of terrier about him. He's got a bit of personality. And I think he... I don't think Raman Sousa is a winger, Callan is a winger, Anthony is a winger. Jota Silva, to me, looks like he's sitting, Go and play off Woody or go and play off time and we'll play up front. And he'd love it. I mean, that goal was... I was in the Trent And he hit it that well. I thought he had hit the post and come back out. What he did, he hit the post and it hit the bar at the back of the net that holds the net down and came out.

It was a thing of beauty. And that, to me, was an instinctive strike of a guy who, This guy's a goal or two in him. So at Mark's point, the creativity is absolutely there. But I don't think we need... I mean, I did fancy having a striker, but it just might... Our efforts have fallen on stone and ground. Sergio Jimenez was never going to come. He's holding out to be with his uncle Arnie slot at Liverpool. Yoan Visser, I thought, was a really audacious little move because, oh, Ivan Tony's going. But to my way, thinking Brentford are better than Boomer and Visser than they were with Tony. You know what I mean? So he was never going to come. Any Enketia, I thought, he won't go out of London. He'll stay where he is. He can stay at home and just move across to play for Palace. So he's never going to come back. But having seen, I don't know, maybe I'm hooking too much on Jota Silva. Having seen him the other night, I think there's a player there, and he might be an option there. But I think what we'll probably see is that when January Hove's interview, then it'll be striker, and then anything else is a bonus striker might well be.

But we just need to see between tomorrow and when the window reopens again. I was a few weeks ago. I was a bit, we need a I like it, but then I'm not so much now. So I think we've brought a real good core of a squad together with plenty of options. No, I'm not pestered at all. My quiet optimism perpetuates.

Yeah. You're turning me there a little bit, Dave, only because the reality is we don't need to get to the end of the season with what we have. We just need to get to the January transfer window.

Absolutely. Well, that's my view, Mark. Yeah.

Yeah. And I think there's an abundance of attacking talent in this team, number nine per se, but there's enough goals and assists in the players we have to ensure that we're in a good spot, we're safe, come the January transfer window. And then maybe bring another target man in or an out and out number nine if it feels necessary.

Do you know what, Mark? When I was a kid, I grew up watching English football, every team in the old first division, late '60s, early '70s, We had a big striker, Jeff Astle at West Brom, Martin Chivers at Tottenham, John Richie at Stoke, John Radford at Arsenal, Andy Lockheed at the Villa. Every team had it. Derek Dugan at- That was a part. Yeah, absolutely. But to me, the number nine, there aren't many... There's early in Holland, there's Tony, Cain. They're becoming a bit of a... I don't know if they're an outdated species, but they're becoming more of a rare beast. And a lot of teams these days aren't playing with what you would consider a big number nine. So Woody, there aren't many Chris Wood's about. If you like, the thing with Chris Wood, if we're not adding my season, we've probably been playing Queensport I tell you what, talking to number nine, I watched Queensport Reins against Luton tonight, and they got a big guy up from QPRF called Michael Fray, and he's your ultimate number nine. Whether he's Premier League class, I don't know, but he was big and he strongly put himself about, and That's why QPR won tonight.

But they're so difficult to find, I think, those guys.

Yeah, they are. And we'll see what happens in January. But one thing's for sure, the window's shut. So Forest haven't signed another striker, and we shall see What happens certainly with Taewo Thomas asks, does anyone know if deal sheets were submitted for any Forest plays after the deadline? As far as I'm aware, Thomas, not at all. Forest are finished, they're closed, that's that. And it means that the signings this window become nine. It's not 30. There's not going to be another Wacker Wacker chant or anything like that. The players that came through the city ground door were... I'm just going to get them up so I can get them absolutely right. The players that came through the door were Raymond Sosa for Forest, Jota Silva, Elliot Anderson, Alex Moreno on loan, Eric de Silva-Merrera, Mareto today, Nicar, I'm not going to pronounce that. Milencovitch, James Ward-Prowse, and Stay In Port, most importantly, Morgan gives white, Murillo, Callum Woodson, Adoy, Anthony Alanga, and most others.

Great thing for Fletch today on his podcast, on the BBC podcast, Max, where he was talking about Oasis song titles for obvious reasons, right? Oasis in the zeitgeist right now. And it was Oasis song title, Spliced with Football Players. And the one that made me chuckle was, Don't Look Back in a Langer.

What is it were you bringing puns to this podcast? I thought that was my thing And then now it, yeah.

And you know about outgoing? It just occurred to me. So did Mangala leave Forest and join Everton via Lyon in the same transfer window?

He's gone on loan to Everton from Lyon.

Forest sold Forest, obviously, loan Mangala out. Was it the second half of last season? And then it was obviously a loan with an option to buy. That was made permanent.

And they did loan back to Everton within the same window. So there you go. What do you guys think? You think he'll get a good reception when he comes back to the city ground?

I think so. Yeah, I think he will. He wasn't an unpopular player, I don't think. He was a lad... I remember him early on the first The season back, we played Everton at Goodison, a one-one draw, and I thought he played... It was him and Louis O'Brien in me, and I put Oral Mangala, the large swathes of that game, controlled it. It's a strange one, really, because he's a Belgian international. He played in the Euros. But if you're being loaned out from one team to another that then signs you and then loans you out, I'd almost be like, Hey, I don't want that. Let me sign for a club. Let me be permanent at the club and let me do my business and get on with It's like Josh Bowler, right? Josh, you're not going to get a game at Forest. Alex Martin has done the right thing. He's gone and got himself a new life and a new career. And I think this idea of lads being unknown, I mean, okay, Dale Taylor is a slightly different because he's a young lad that I think is a decent future. But they can't imagine how many Amazon packages Josh Bowler's lost.

And he spent his address half a dozen times in the last days. He was a poor fella.

Don't care smart, really. It can't be good for a lad's life and his family, girlfriend, wife, kids, whatever. Being in one place at one time and being another. So I just like the idea of Commit yourself to a club and get on and do your business.

Yeah, some good point. Sorry, I have my mic on mute. The podcast producer Dan just messaged to say, Max, can I go to bed now? It's him, of course.

This is like one of Ken Dodges' shows. We're going to go on for hours. This needs to be a charity show.

We should have a number on a tape. Contribution, Max's College Fund.

Yeah, Max the Thon.

Stop it, Dave, after it.

It's pun-ish, isn't it? It really is.

I'm going to swear on this podcast because we're past eight minutes past midnight in a minute. Right, let's discuss the outgoings and the possible outgoings that Boris could have seen just before we get on to Anthony Alanga. Let's touch on Josh Bowler going out on loan. I mean, we won't touch on that long, but Mark, that was expected. He was a player that you'd have thought Forest would have shipped off during the window, and he's just never really featured at Forest. I think if we were in the Championship, it may be a different story, but good signing for Preston. Would you agree?

I mean, Sure. It's really hard for me to comment on a player I've not seen a minute off. I mean, I've seen bits and pieces here and there on the YouTube's, but yeah, I really have nothing to say other than wish the guy the best of luck. I mean, Dave and I were joking about forwarding address after forwarding address on his mail, but that's no way to live a life. That's no way to have to deal with a profession. So hopefully he settles and wish him all the best.

The Blackpool, Josh Boller in the Championship is an asset. When he was at Blackpool, I think we played them in the Championship in both games. Okay, I think we won both games the last time we played them. But Josh Bowler stood out as by far Blackpool's best player. Now, interestingly, he's gone on loan to Blackpool's great rival, Preston. That's interesting, isn't it?

Have you thought about that?

Very interesting.

Yeah, there we go. And we'll say obviously Preston is a new management as well. So it would be interesting to see him get a role under Paul Hackingboton, shall we say. Right, let's discuss Anthony Alanga Because there was interest. There was big interest from Newcastle.

We're talking about outgoing, so we're not going to spend at least 10 minutes talking about Harry Arta. This is what you need to be focused on, Dave. This is the monumental. You're talking about the great position the clubs in. I was joined up thinking in the transfer market, how proud you are of these young men who represent us in Garibald. What you should be talking about is this is the bloody transfer window where we finally offloaded the biggest dead one we've had in more than a time.

Absolutely. Yeah, it's a good point. I don't mean to be off to Harry Arta, but we've cut the tumor out, have we not? When a guy I knew, I was really excited about when he came- He represents what went before, doesn't he?

Joking aside, he represents the bad old days.

Yes, he does. I remember we lost at home in an empty stadium to Bristol City 2:1. He did an interview after the match and I watched it and I thought, Boy, does this guy not like us? Boy, does this guy not want to be at the city ground. And then when he's texting Dan Gozlin from inside the camp to say, Don't come here, and then he ends up making thousands of pounds afterwards. I mean, fair play to his agent, but actually, come to think of it, getting rid of Harry Arta is a fantastic bit of work because that is probably the most damaging signing we've made in a long time. Yeah.

Right. Let's discuss Anthony Alanger, who was heavily linked with New Castle. It's a player that Eddie House kept a close eye on. And I think one day, as much as we love Forest, Anthony Alanga will probably move on in the next few years, I can imagine. And he's only getting better at Forest and really thriving given gain time, unlike when he was at, obviously, Manchester United. So let's talk about that, Dave, and maybe if you just kick it off. I think Forest played the cards right, shall we say, by saying a stupid offer and we'd maybe accept it. It's to put it out there to Newcastle, almost come on trials. But the athletic quickly reported it. It was then quickly shut down. Forest made it clear they didn't want to sell one of their best assets in a way, and he remains as a Forest player, positive It would have been really, really disappointed to see Anthony Alanger depart tonight, wouldn't it?

It would. But I saw enough on Wednesday night to think there are some other options. I mean, interestingly, Ramon Souser, Jotter Silva, there's plenty. To my way of thinking, there are only two that I was absolutely... They must stay, and I've mentioned them already. Anthony Langer. Now, Anthony Langer, he'll have a good game. He'll have a nice good game. Occasionally, Anthony flatters the disease. I believe he'll beat two or three men and then run into a brick wall. There needs to be more end product. There's a little bit of dear old France car about him. I absolutely love that. France would beat him and never put a ball in. So my way of thinking was that if Anthony went, I wouldn't be as heartbroken as if we were to lose Morgan. That is going to break my heart. I love Morgan and the same in Moreno. But it's only two years ago since Brent were offering 18, 23, and we were really tempted and then Tottenham offered something. Now we're saying, No, We're not in your forest. We've grown, we've evolved. We don't need your 35 million. We're going to keep what we've got. And I guess it's the first manifestation of, Hang on, we're not always going to be a selling club.

Not always. A lot of the time we are, but not always. So I think Forest saying, Look, Newcastle, we let you have the penalty shootout, but you're not having our answer now. I think that's really good on Forest part of that.

Yeah, it is. Do you agree there, Mark? You think that if a stupid bid would have come in, we're talking over maybe 60 million here, would you have accepted?

I'm just going to put a little nuance on David's last point there about we're not a selling club. I think that we might not want to think we're selling club. We're still a selling club. I think what's changed is we're now selling club at the right price, not just end of the course.

Yeah, I agree.

Oh, gosh, we got to get somebody out the door. It's like, you know what? We have great players here. You want one of them? Yeah, we'll sell one. But it's got to It's really the right price, and it's a stupid price. But I agree with Dave wholeheartedly. I would have been very sad to see a langer go because I love him. But Max, to your point, he's not yet fulfilled his potential. Give him another season, you might tack another 20 mil on that price. But to Dave's point, we have blokes, quite literally, waiting in the wings to step into those positions. And when there was talk about Alanga going to New Castle, possibly in a trade with Wilson, I would have bitten your hand off for Callum Wilson. Yeah, me too. Yeah. Do I think he's the greatest striker in England? No. But he's got pedigree. He's done the Chris Wood thing. He's been top in a couple of different clubs. Again, the features of the England team as recently as 18 months, two years ago, especially behind him. But that would have been another really good old head to about in the roster.

Sorry, I agree.

American. No. Squad that you could have brought in for Chris Wood or just even got on on rotation. And you're getting a similar player, very like for like those two. Yeah. So that would have been great. If we could have gotten, I don't know, 30 mil for a langer and Chuck Callum Wilson in to sweeten the deal. I'd have taken that.

Yeah, I would not. That's a great shot, mate.

I agree with this comment. Wait in the wings now.

That was intentional on this occasion, but yeah.

I wrote my thumb down. I'm actually working on them as we're sitting here. And it's basically it can be summarized as the old boy with the glasses on, it needs to get a life for it.

Don't worry, Dave. We're all bad for it, right? But yeah, it's an interesting point, Mark. You mentioned Callum Wilson there. I think if Forrest would have signed Callum Wilson, then I'd have been getting the flights booked for next year's European tour. Remember, he came on in a World Cup.

This guy's, again, another guy with a really good experience.

He's a good player. He's just not in his prime. But then neither was Chris Wood. And to your point, Dave, Chris Wood blew it up last Last year. Thank God for him. Otherwise, this would be a championship pod and Max wouldn't be hosting it because it'd be beyond him.

Not true.

You'd have been hosting it, Mark.

It would have been your big chance, Phil, for the viewers. You'd have really had to wear the yellow tie then. Let's summarize before we touch on a game. For us to play in today, it's 17 minutes past midnight on a Saturday. Forrest are playing. We've got to be at the city ground. That's right.

Yeah. It's still Friday here.

That's right. It's the first time we've done a pod across two days. Yeah, it will be. Record. Get that in the record, booksmark.

Are we the first forest pod? Are we the first one of the 362 forest pods that exist to do that? Good grief.

No comment. Right. Let's summarize the transfer window and very quickly, easier said than done with you two, let's mark the window out of 10. I'll start and I'm going to kick it off with a solid 8.5. It would have been a 9.5, a 10 out of 10 if we'd have signed a striker. But for me, good window, good off the pitch, recruitment this summer, going in the right direction, nothing more to add. I think Elliot Anderson is going to become one hell of a player for 35 million people criticized that. But watching him against his former club, watching him the last few weeks, just following him closely. I urge Forest fans to do the same tomorrow. If he starts, I'm assuming he will against Wolves. He is one hell of a player.

They are.

That's good sleep. He was caught up to the England Under-21s yesterday after Morgan, of course, getting his well-deserved England call up. Dave, let's start with you. Your rating out of 10 and why?

8.5. And for exactly the same reasons as you, Max. I would have liked another striker, but I'm happy with what we've done. Some evidence of the rarity of what we did was there against Newcastle the other night. I mean, that Newcastle game was hugely informative, most importantly for Nuno and his team say, well, we've got some debt there. We've got some options. So the business that was done early, Alice Miguel, Justin Silva, Eric De Silva-Merrera, Sosa, and then Latterly Moreno, all of them played well the other night. We haven't touched much on Sosa. What a fantastic free kick he wipped in, right? But I think the croc of gold is Elliot Anderson. I watched him. He's come in, he's sitting in straight away. At Southampton in the first half, he gave us a fantastic fluency going forward that we've lacked. Before, it's been two holding midfielders, and there's been this slight void between those two and Morgan and what the other three up front do. Elliot Anderson was moving between the two of them. And the other night, I thought he wrest control of the midfield away from Bruno Guimaraes and Joe Linton, and that is no mean feat.

When he gets to the point where he's fit enough to go through a 90 minute, he could be the guy who will control the game for Forest, and we've not had somebody like that for a long time. And I think he might be a fantastic foil for Morgan to say to Morgan, look, Morgan, you don't go and have to... Because she capt in, and I know we all know, Morgan, that you're honest as a days long and you care about the fee that was paid and you need to pay it back. But, Morgan, you don't have to do everything for everybody. And Elliot, I think, will say, It's all right, Morgan, leave this bit to me. You go and do that bit and the balance of the side will be better. I think some people who's views on football I really respect, Dez Alden has been raving about Elliot Anderson. And if Dez Alden says he's a good player, he's a good player. And I think Elliot Anderson might well be the dual, the nice It's sweet in the bag. But the rest of it, the rest of the confection, I think it's pretty decent.

An eight five for me.

Mark, do you want to summarize for us?

I'm surprised that Dave didn't start talking about haulings and wothers given his age.

It's going to be only about two years between us, mate, to be perfectly honest.

But anyway, now I agree on the Anderson comments. And honestly, if we're going to stay with things that are delicious. How tasty is the prospect? We know Anderson could probably fill in for Morgan Gibbs-White, but if Morgan Gibbs-White is our starting number 10, how tasty is the prospect of being able to move Anderson, Yates, Dominguez, Sengare in behind him? I mean, there are so many combinations there. It's fantastic. In terms of ranking the window, Max, if I break the squad up into goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, stroke wingers, and then your center forwards, and we're going to rank it at a 10 and assign 2.5 to each of those areas. I think we did great with the goalkeepers. We have a good deep bench there. Defense looks good. I think we bolster ourselves both centrally and on the flanks. Very, I'm very happy with the midfield, both in the middle and out wide. No complaints there. Again, it's disappointing to come up short in bringing another striker into the mix. I give us a good solid seven and a half. It's tipped up to eight just because the jot was goal the other night. That was special.

So I'll go with an eight as well.

That was special. Right. It's very late. So just before we get going- It's not even dinner time. It is for me. You get class tomorrow.

No, All right, tomorrow's Saturday. No class for you. You're all right. You sleep in.

I don't start uni for another month, but I'm a working student. I'm a working student, Mark. Lay off me. All right?

Before we go, I've been thinking about it a whole pod. And so you can fit in with the new developing Hyphenated Forest Squad. I think by deed poll, you change your name to first name, Matchday hyphenated with Max. Yeah. There you go.

There you go. Hey, Max.

Matchday, what time you get in there tomorrow, Matchday? Matchday, come and get your tea. Come on, your tea's ready, Matchday. Can you imagine, Alison and Ben? Honestly, Mark, Alison and Ben are going, Where's our Matchday gone? Is he giving us a lift today? Was that your idea?

Was Matchday with Max your idea? Was that your old man?

It was my old man.

We were sat waiting for a...

God, this podcast goes off on a tangent, doesn't it? We were We were waiting for a pizza, 10-year... Was it... No, it was probably a bit less, about six years ago now, and it was rebranded.

You didn't even speak it at that point then.

No, it wasn't. My voice was a lot more squeecey and it was a lot more smaller. I couldn't grow a beard then, Mark, believe me. And we were sat waiting for a pizza and I said to my dad, I said, We need a catchy name. I said, We need something unique. And he was like, What everyone talks about when they get up for a morning, it's match day, don't they? How good is it that football is back on a match day and beer is on a match day. So how about you tie in with a bit of alliteration match day with Max? And it was a slight play on match of the day. So there you go. So I think, hopefully, if I ever get the match of the day gig, we can call that match of the day with Max.

Dave, can you imagine it? If we just hang on in there, mate, we could be on the BBC because he's going to take us with him, truly.

He'll have me on saying, And you'll not win anything with kids.

I'm going to go for the more Houston approach.

And if Forrest win the Premier League, Mark, he'll have to do the first show the next season in just these skitties, won't he? You know what I mean?

He might be the first in the neighborhood.

I might go. I might beat Lineker because he didn't really do it properly. He had swimming shorts on, so I might challenge him and say, I'll do it nude. So there you go. Click that. If Forrest ever wins the Premier League, I'm not doing the Garabaldi Red podcast nude, but I'll do much of the day.

Well, thank you, Kevin. You can tell this is a late night one, can't you? Honest, look. Right.

Just before we go, just before we go, final predictions for tomorrow's game against Wolves. Forest could make it seven points at In the first three games, we could be in that lovely top seven or eight in the Premier League table. Dave, just summarize how you're feeling going into tomorrow.

Worry, because I know for a fact that Gary and his lads will be really smarting from what happened last week in that second half. I ran a team for 17 years and I was always very, very wary of a team that had had a thumping. Personally speaking, I would be liking Wolves to come to us tomorrow having knocked Chelsea off last week. As it is, they win in the Carabal, they beat Burnley. But my view is that they would have been on the training ground this week and Gary O'Neill would have been telling them very, very strongly, It does not happen again. I expect Wolverhampton Wonders to come and be really obdure it. And I think Wolves, it's not going to be a spectacular match, I don't believe. I mean, the 2-2 last year was a cracking match. It was end-to-end. Cooney scored two really good players. He's a good player, Cooney. They got some good lads. I don't know what happened to them second half last week. They themselves, there was a loss to explain it. Gary couldn't work it out. Cooney was interviewed after the game. I don't know where we went. It was It was like Chelsea came out in the second half.

Madawakey had to come out and tell a man what he actually really liked, Wolf Brampton after what he said. I think Wolf stayed in the dressing room and watched the episodes of Only Calls and Horses on TV, Gold all afternoon, rather than coming out the second half All right? But the thing is, a lot of people are thinking, We'll beat the Wolf because they lost 6-2 last week. It does not work like that. Brian Pluff would be telling them, Our Boys, tomorrow, This is not going to be easy. I'll tell you what, Max, I said it on a pod last night. Heart says 1-0, Forest. Head says 1-1 because it's that game where if I was going to that and they will do, they'll go in, I will beat the Wolves because they haven't got any points yet. They just got beat 6-2. It doesn't work like that. I wonder '1-0' will win tomorrow and I'll be elated as I was last week. What I would say about Forest is if they recreate what they did at Southampton and a lot of what the second string did on Wednesday night and they're able to take the essences of those and put them on that pitch tomorrow, Forest will win.

But write walls off at your peril. '1-0' Forest, I'm going to go within the heart.

Yeah, we will take that, which brings us to the end, really. That's it. I said we'd get done before half past midnight to let everyone go to bed. So sorry, Mark, you don't get your thoughts. I know you are.

I can give you a 10 second one if you want.

All right, go on then. Count in. Ready? Three, two, one, go.

For us to win to win, Morgan Gibbs-White to score and assist the winner.

Nine seconds. Well, no, I'm joking. It was much less than that. Well done. He's took his tie off. Oh, no, don't strip, Mark. Don't strip, all right. Yeah. Not that late, mate. Come on. I'm not going to start phoning in soon. Right, that does us nicely. Get me to bed. Right, thanks for all the comments. We've had so many. 106 people are still watching now at 28 minutes past the night, which is crazy. So thank you Everybody for all the support recently. This podcast is doing well and we appreciate it. And thank you very much. It means a lot given that it was a bit of a challenge at the start, but we found our feet. We'll be honest. And we're here and we'll be here throughout the whole season. And when Forest, of course, ultimately win the Champions League in 10 years, although maybe there'll be somebody new then presenting the podcast. But yeah, fingers crossed for a Forest win. I don't think so, Dave. Fingers crossed for a Forest win tomorrow against Wolves. And we shall see you on Monday as well for our main episode. Sarah should be back with us then.

So we look forward to having her return after a few weeks off. So we look forward to that and we look forward to talking more Forest. Mark, Dave, thank you very much. I'm not going to say you can have your final words because otherwise we'll be here for another five minutes. But look, Dave, I just wanted to say to you, mate, at the end of this podcast, there's a lot of people that have obviously been talking about the amount of Ms being signed in terms of that forest back four and even the goalkeepers. And there's two people on the podcast tonight, Max and Mark. But what I will say, Dave, is don't get upset, right? There's no need to get upset. Don't look back in anger. Just look back at Max and Mark from all of us at Caribole, you read. Happy deadline, bye-bye.