next seasons squad

GK Camp
GK Smith (contract expiring)
RB Gunter (likely to be sold for £2.5m)
RB Moloney
CB Chambers (contract expiring)
CB Lynch (contract expiring)
CB Higginbotham (loan expires)
CB Lascelles
CB Wooton (loan expires)
LB Cunningham (loan expires)
LB Elokobi (loan expires)
CDM Greening
CDM Moussi
CM Guedioura (loan expires)
CM Cohen
CDM Boateng (contract expiring)
CAM McGugan
CAM Majewski
RM Anderson (contract expiring)
RM McCleary (contract expiring)
LM Reid
ST Findley
ST Miller
ST Derbyshire (likely to be sold £200,000)
ST Blackstock
ST Tudgay
ST McGoldrick (likely to be sold £250,000)
ST Harewood (contract expiring)

that leaves:
GK Camp
RB Moloney
CB Lascelles
CDM Greening
CDM Moussi
CM Cohen
CAM McGugan
CAM Majewski
LM Reid
ST Findley
ST Miller
ST Blackstock
ST Tudgay

This is all hypothetical. i'm assuming we get a new owner who has average resources and stands by frank clark's statement that we will be a trading club not a selling club. what that sounds like to me is 'we can only spend what we get in' so i will base everything upon this.

ok so first i'd give a contract to lynch, chambers, anderson, smith and offer one to mccleary. however, it's likely he will go so i will assume he will move on.

i would try and get cunningham from man city. he will never get in to their side and he's nothing more than a championship left back. given city's resources, i don't think a few hundred thousand would make a huge difference to them so i reckon about £850,000 would be about right.

i'd get martin cranie from coventry who's out of contract this summer. they look as though they may go down so he'll surely jump at the chance at staying in the championship with forest. he can play centre back or right back so there's some needed versatility essentially doing the job wooton is currently doing.

next is greg halford from pompey. obviously their economic problems mean that all of their side is up for sale. halford has a good reputation so i reckon he will get some attention in the summer from championship clubs, but given the fact cotterill worked with him and signed him at portsmouth maybe we could get him. again around £850,000 could be enough given pompey's plight. he's another who can play centre back or right back so more versatility.

i'd also buy matt ritchie from swindon town. the winger has been league 2's player of the year and is only 22. i think we should take a punt on him. he could provide some pace after the inevitable loss of mccleary. him anderson and reid would compete for the wide positions. Bournemouth had a couple of bids rejected in january for him around the £500,000 mark. maybe £800,000 would be enough?

finally i'd bring in a goalscoring striker. matty fryatt has admitted he's put his house up for sale as he appears to be looking for a move back to the midlands. just over a million for him and i think we'll have bagged a proven championship goalscorer. i'm not sure how likely that is but he's the sort of guy i'd be looking for. other possibilities would be brett pitman from bristol city and lee novak from huddersfield. both of those would cost roughly a million again.

guedioura is a class act and i would love to see him at forest next season but i can't see it happening. with wolves coming down i reckon he could and definitely should get in their side. i think though that he's just provided the energy in midfield chris cohen gives us. if he returns to his best next year i think we will have an adequate replacement for guedioura.

that would leave the squad:
GK Camp
GK Smith
RB Moloney
RB Halford
CB Cranie
CB Chambers
CB Lynch
CB Lascelles
LB Cunningham
CDM Greening
CDM Moussi
CM Cohen
CAM McGugan
CAM Majewski
LM Reid
LM Ritchie
RM Anderson
ST Fryatt/Pitman/Novak
ST Findley
ST Miller
ST Blackstock
ST Tudgay

i think thats a pretty decent side to be honest. hopefully either anderson or ritchie would step up to the plate and fill the void left by mccleary. if we managed to, by some miracle keep mccleary, i honestly believe a play-off push is in store.

what do you reckon?