TREVOR Francis hopes Nottingham Forest boss Colin Calderwood is allowed to bring in fresh blood in January to bolster his squad.

The former City Ground striker was delighted to see the Reds win promotion back to the Championship in May.

But he is upset at how their first campaign back in the second tier of English football has been one of struggle.

As an outsider looking in, he has been encouraged by recent results and believes the relatively inexperienced squad are slowly getting used to life in the Championship.

But he hopes chairman Nigel Doughty backs Calderwood to freshen his squad up when the transfer window opens to help in the battle against relegation.

"What would be a huge incentive or huge help would be if the manager was allowed to bring in two or three players in the January transfer window," said Francis, who scored the winner in Forest's first European triumph in 1979.

"I think it is needed to strengthen the squad and it also generates great interest from supporters.

"Supporters, no matter who they are or who they support, like to see a new face.

"If the selection is one that helps the squad, then great.

"But there is no point bringing players in who are not as good or as strong as they have here.

"But if they can make the right selection, and that is always the most difficult part of management, trying to improve your squad, that would help them in the second half of the season."

Francis has vast experience as a manager at this level and understands just how difficult a division the Championship is.

But although it is a challenge, he is confident Forest can stay in the division. "It is a very competitive league and it has never changed," he said.

"I had five-and-a-half years at Birmingham trying to get the team out of the Championship and into the Premiership.

"On three occasions we got to the play-offs and then I had 18 months at Crystal Palace.

"It is a very, very difficult league and when you look at some of the teams near the bottom, there are a lot of big clubs down there.

"Something like 16 teams in this league have actually been in the Premiership so when you look at the size of some of the clubs and the stadiums they play in, you realise there are some big clubs in there."