Nottingham Forest legend Garry Birtles says the Reds are well-placed to challenge for promotion from the Championship this season because of how well they recruited over the summer.

After missing out on the play-offs under Martin O'Neill last season, Forest have made a very promising start their new campaign under Sabri Lamouchi and are currently second in the Championship table - level on points with leaders West Brom.

Lamouchi took charge at the City Ground this summer and brought in several new players, with the aim of building a team capable of challenging for a return to the Premier League.

Forest made two key off-field appointments this week, with the club confirming the appointments of Francois Modesto as the club's Technical Director and that of Jose Anigo as the club’s Head of International Recruitment.

Although their appointments were only confirmed by the club this week, the duo have been involved with the club for a while now and played a key role in their recruitment over the summer.

Forest legend Birtles has been very impressed with the players that the club were able to bring in this summer and says that the Reds now have a good balance of quality and grit in their squad.

"You need a mixture of quality and grit, along with determination and experience to be successful at any level, particularly this one," Birtles told the Nottingham Post.

"Pure quality does not always get you where you want to be, especially in a league as tough as the Championship. You need players that are prepared to roll up their sleeves and battle for the cause – look at Michael Dawson, Joe Worrall and Ben Watson.

[freshpress-poll ]

"There are three players that are never going to win awards for their crisp strikes from 25 yards or their mazy runs and finishes, they will however, do a lot of the work that will enable Joe Lolley, Joao Carvalho or Lewis Grabban to get their names up in lights.

"You have to have that mixture of grit, desire and determination coupled with the quality in your ranks to be successful, and their recruitment this summer has largely worked out well, even if the worry over cover for Grabban remains."

The Verdict

Lamouchi looks as though he could be an excellent appointment for Nottingham Forest. The players he's brought to the club - the likes of defensive midfielder Samba Sow and keeper Brice Samba - have all added something to the team.

Recruiting well is key to achieving success at this level so bringing in Modesto and Anigo looks like a very smart move and I'm sure they'll have already started thinking about possible January transfer targets.

I think Birtles is right. The Championship is such a difficult league to get out of and it's important that teams have the right balance in their squad and that's something that Forest have at the moment.

If the club can continue to attract quality players, they have every chance of winning promotion to the Pemier League in the near future.