To the end
15/02/05 | by Neil Heath

Talking to me about the Reds this season has been, largely, a negative experience. I’ve been increasingly uttering downbeat remarks such as “Forest, the bane of my life” and “I’m fed up of caring” or, in extreme circumstances, “f**k ‘em”! I’ve even contemplated what would have to happen for me to stop going completely. Believe it or not, I’m usually quite buoyant. However, I’ve found the perfect tonic to wage war up on my pessimism and restore some pride in being a Nottingham Forest fan.

My wife and I took on the daunting task of sorting out our loft over the weekend; you do stuff like that when you’re married. There I discovered my old Forest videos. The one I chose to watch that afternoon was Nottingham Forest Season Review 1988/89. On the cover Forest’s Lee Chapman is holding off Everton’s Pat Van Den Hawe on a run towards goal – it may have been a photograph from the Simod Cup final, where Chapman scored two.

The 1988/89 season began inauspiciously for Forest; it wasn’t until October that they recorded their first league win, but after that, in-between only eight defeats all season, Forest were absolutely superb. They finished third and had they not drawn so many games (13) they could have easily given Liverpool and Arsenal a chase to the title. They did win the Littlewoods Cup and Simod Cup, one trophy more than Liverpool won that year, and reached the semi-final of the FA Cup – a feat any side would be proud of. 

My Dad took us all to the Simod Cup final that year; he also taped the repeat when we came home victorious. Watching the replay we found that the camera had caught us in our seats. As Brian Clough returned to his bench after half-time, you can see, clearly, the 10-year-old me in a silly red and white cap, as well as my Mum, sister and my Dad – who, hysterically, has a bushy black moustache. 

Now, would I, with the aid of a time machine, tell that little boy about the pain he would have to endure in the future? Would I ask him politely to take down those posters of Nigel Clough and Stuart Pearce and advise him to find another interest, girls maybe? No way.

Watching the video began to restore my pride – this is why I’m a Forest fan; this is why I put up with the all shit that’s happened over the past five years; this is why I choose to stay, when others leave, right until the final whistle – sod the traffic, we might pull two back yet! I’m a Forest fan and no matter who we have to play next season, if it be Leicester or Hartlepool, I’ll always have the fantastic memories from the past and no one can take that away from me. 

I’ll finish with a question. Would you swap all the success Forest has had in the last 25 years for Premiership mediocrity (like Newcastle who despite their money, players and status haven’t won a sausage in around fifty years of football)? I wouldn’t. No matter how much the Sheep bleat about us living off past glories, it’s better to have had a ‘past’ and had some ‘glory’ then very little or none at all.