Nottingham Forest's season began with such high hopes. but has petered out to another one of disappointment and despair.

The Reds gambled on promotion in the summer, bringing in quality foreign players such as Gil Dias and Joao Carvalho, but have failed to deliver the Premier League spot their owners are so desperate for.

Aitor Karanka paid for the failure with his job, but his replacement has struggled to impose a method on the squad that works.

They've fallen away to 11th, with yesterday's resounding win against Middlesbrough arresting a slump of four straight defeats. Whilst the green shoots of recovery are evident, Quest TV pundit Dean Ashton thinks it's going to be a big summer at the City Ground.

“I think it’s a difficult one for Martin O’Neill," he said exclusively to Football League World.

“If you look at the beginning of the season they played some nice football and if you look at some of their players, the likes of Matty Cash and Joe Lolley, as well as Lewis Grabban, it’s more a case of filling out the squad with quality."

Whilst filling those gaps will be a priority, the means by which he does it is something that interests former West Ham striker Ashton.

”I’m pretty sure he’ll already be looking at the squad. With the money they spent this summer, it’ll be interesting to see if they can do that again or go down another route.”

Forest face a trip to QPR before completing their season at home against relegated Bolton Wanderers.

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