What if? Sitting in the pub with Cardiff City and Nottingham Forest fans | OneFootball

It is Wednesday afternoon, so where better to be than in the Hermits Cave in Camberwell.

Time to chew the cud of the football season over a few pints with my mates who are Cardiff City and Nottingham Forest fans.

All of us agree it is a strange sense of relief that the season is over and the last few weeks have been tense and nervous.

Leighton, from the Valleys, has had a little more time to come to terms with relegation and is not looking forward to League One. A horrible place to be and difficult to get out of, as so many League One teams are solid in that division and will look forward to a big scalp.

My Forest mate Haddock knows too well how difficult League One is and recalls their away days at Gillingham and the Forest rumble with the MK Dons and the local Police.

Sunderland struggled to get out of League One, which is not a benchmark I suppose, but they have done the unthinkable and are now in the Premiership.

When Forest came up their chant was “30 signings, who gives a f…, the Reds are staying up” And so they did.

This last (2024/25) season they were in the driving seat for so long in a Champions League spot.

Will Sunderland stay up? Who knows? I hope not.

Will they spend big bucks as Forest did? Who really knows how PSR works? Chelsea and Man City seem to have dibs on the rule book.

How much are Newcastle United allowed to spend and who will they get in the summer break?

I am just pleased we got the result we earned in the end and a deserved Champions League place.

Haddock is obviously disappointed that his team didn’t make Champions League, but a place in the European Conference League for a team that has experienced League One and the Championship for the last two decades or so, means he is a happy though frustrated Forest fan.

Leighton is obviously gutted and will be at Leyton Orient next season. League One is a hellhole my mates tell me.

Which brings me to the day Newcastle United nearly went down to the old third division, as it was then.