FOR much of the last few years, communication was not exactly frequent, when it came to the Nottingham Forest hierarchy.

Former chairman Nigel Doughty was never one to seek the glare of publicity and, equally, never seemed exactly comfortable when raising his head above the parapet to offer what was often little more than a biannual interview.

But times have changed.

While Frank Clark may not exactly court the media spotlight, a fresh sense of openness and blunt candour has swept through the City Ground since his appointment.

Following a painful transfer window and an equally testing run of form, that has left the club firmly marooned in the bottom three, the Reds chairman decided it was again time to talk.

And, amid an hour-long informal chat in the plush surrounds of the boardroom, no subject is off the agenda.

The only topic that is not discussed at length is the future of manager Steve Cotterill.

And that is only because, right from the very off, Clark makes it clear there is nothing to discuss on that front.

As far as Forest are concerned, Cotterill's job is safe. That is that.

But, while the manager's future is not up for debate, the future of many of the Forest squad is in question, with their contracts set to expire in a few months time.

And, having seen both Wes Morgan and Patrick Bamford sold during January, partly because their deals were set to expire, Clark admits this is an issue he views with great importance.

"I am confident we can get things sorted, when it comes to new contracts," said Clark, who admits the role of chairman has been one of his most challenging yet, following spells as a player and manager.

"I am not 100 per cent certain of the history, because things have been going on for a while. But Wes and Chambers should have been sorted out a long time ago. I do not mean to be critical when I say that.

"We needed to be looking at this before now. But I am hopeful we can sort things out.

"Steve, from day one, would have liked to have gone to all the boys – Wes, Luke Chambers, Paul Anderson, Joel Lynch and Garath McCleary – and got them all sorted out.

"Nobody would cast any aspersions against any of them, in terms of them not giving 100 per cent. But it will be an issue.

"Some of them will be quite worried about what will happen to them at the end of the season.

"Not all players are glad when they are out of contract at the end of the season.

"Not many players are in a position where they can be confident of signing for another club and making a fortune.

"Many of them will be worried about what might happen. We need to deal with that problem, because if you are worried or concerned, it can influence your performance levels.

"We will be looking at that as a matter of urgency in the next few weeks.

"The money that has come in during the window will allow us to look at the players whose contracts expire in the summer.

"There are players who have intimated that they really want to stay. We will be looking at their situation to see if we can come up with contract offers that will be good enough to persuade them to sign."

In addition to the efforts to tie existing players to new deals, the emergency loan window opens next week and Clark says Cotterill will be backed financially if he wishes to make further additions.

"It is possible that Steve could go out and get more loan players," he said. "We will look at that over the next few weeks.

"What we do have is few of the injured lads coming back. We had three senior strikers on the bench on Tuesday who, had they been fit, would all have been potential first team players.

"It might seem a bit daft to say it right now, when we don't seem to be able to score a goal to save our lives. But, numerically we are quite well off for strikers. Obviously we still haven't explored all the permutations and partnerships.

"Steve has not been able to do that, because they have not been all fit and fighting to get into the team at the same time.

"I look at the squad and what was on the bench on Tuesday and there is the quality there in the squad (to keep Forest up).

"But we will be looking for signings and there will be finance available if the manager wants to make additions."

Clark also revealed that Forest could recoup more money from the sale of Bamford on top of the initial £1.5m Chelsea paid.

"The deal is done, the money is there and we will hopefully be able to use it in the summer to help restructure the squad," he said. "There are also some additional clauses, some add-ons, including a sell-on clause that could take the deal over the £2m mark. If he is really successful, that sell-on could be worth millions."

At the opposite end of the pitch, Clark does concede that Forest have been gambling by retaining such limited defensive resources for the past few seasons.

The Reds kick-started the campaign with Morgan, Chambers, Lynch, Chris Gunter and Brendan Moloney as their only defenders with any level of experience.

And Clark admitted: "There has been a worrying scenario there, in the back four.

"I have been thinking that for a while, because I had been coming down to most of the home games for a long time anyway.

"I used to think that we were getting away with murder, at the back (with the squad they had).

"The back four have always been superb, in recent years. I lost count of the games we won 1-0 here and I left the ground thinking that we had been fantastic, defensively.

"But it was the same four lads, most of the time, with the odd change at left-back. And, when I looked at the squad, I would think that we would be in trouble if one of them got injured.

"And then, sure enough, it happened. Wes never got injured, he was there, week after week, heading it and kicking it.

"That was the big miss for me. When he was not in the side.

"Hopefully we have addressed the defence by bringing in Danny Higginbotham and Scott Wootton on loan.

"When I look at the squad, in general, I do honestly think we have enough about us to get out of trouble.

"But we also know that it has to happen quickly now. We have to start winning matches."

Clark talks with enthusiasm and gusto – and also has confidence that Forest can pull clear of trouble.

Not that he is underestimating the challenge they are facing.

"I am enjoying the role, but I am not enjoying the results. I would not have pictured this run in my worst nightmares," he said.

"We won four of the first six or seven games and I started to think that this chairman business would be easy.

"But, since then, it has been an absolute nightmare.

"In some games, we have not played well. I accept that. But we also have not had a break.

"We have to keep battling away to turn things around. There is no magic wand, but we have to keep at it.

"We need to keep the club in the Championship this season."