The night of 19 October 2005 is one that sticks in the mind for all the wrong reasons; surely the worst performance by a Forest side in the last 50 years, as we went to Woking in the LDV Trophy, looked completely uninterested, sluggish and inept, and duly (and deservedly) lost to the Conference side. One of the few bright spots in that dismal evening, however, was the debut of a 6' 2", rangy German Under-18 International on the left side of midfield; Felix Bastians.

He looks skillful and can certainly both pass and cross, but he still has a lot of development to do before we'll really know whether he can go all the way (see Eugen Bopp for details of a fellow-countryman with oodles of talent but who fell by the way-side). Colin Calderwood has a sensible policy of sending young talent out on loan to develop in real competitive matches rather than the protected environment of youth or reserve football - hence 3 separate loans during 2006-2007. It remains to be seen whether he will have a bigger part to play this year.