“Hell is other people”, as Jean-Paul Sartre said – doubly so when those other people happen to support different teams to you. One of the hardest things to take about Forest’s current predicament is the taunting from other fans. Fortunately, Jean Sibelius reminds us
to “pay no attention to what the critics say … a statue has never been set up in honour of a critic,” while Confucius advises us:
“Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles.”The fact is, we’re not going to give up our support of the club just because of a few cruel words. Friedrich Nietzsche said: “There is always some madness in love,” which is certainly true when it comes to following Forest, but he added, “there is also always some reason in madness.”
Nietzsche also declared: “God is dead.” He certainly is. Clough’s passing last year made us all yearn for the past. The author Florence King wrote: “True nostalgia is an ephemeral composition of disjointed memories.” Maybe she’s right and we’re forgetting the whole story about our history. After all, before Clough we were a struggling Second Tier team, as we are now. It is only because most fans today have grown up in good times that the present situation seems so bad, or, as Euripides pronounced: “You were a stranger to sorrow: therefore fate has cursed you.”
Lao-tzu warned: “There is no calamity greater than lavish desires. There is no greater guilt than discontentment. And there is not greater disaster than greed.” But I do not think Forest fans are guilty of greed.
Aristotle said: “Dignity consists not in possessing honours, but in the consciousness that we deserve them.” That is the problem Forest fans face at the moment – we don’t necessarily need a constant supply of trophies at the City Ground, but we do expect our team to play in a style that resembles the great football witnessed in the glory years. You will never take away our past success, not as long as Forest continue to be renowned for playing good passing football.
Benjamin Disraeli advised us that “to believe in the heroic makes heroes”. There is nothing wrong with remembering our past achievements. In fact, maybe the club needs to remember them to restore confidence in itself. “Have no fear of perfection,” said Salvador Dali, “you'll never reach it.” There is nothing wrong with aiming high. What we certainly should not be doing is being negative about our prospects.
“Never discourage anyone who continually makes progress, no matter how slow,” said Plato. Gary Megson certainly is making progress, even if it is a little slow. As Cato suggested, “Patience is the greatest of all virtues,” after all.
Homer reminds us: “It is not possible to fight beyond your strength, even if you strive”. This thought isn’t very comforting as it implies that we may never get out of the relegation zone, no matter how much of a fight we put up. But Socrates asks us to “remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs; therefore avoid undue elation in prosperity, or undue depression in adversity.”
The poet Robert Frost wrote: “Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length.” This club reached heights way beyond our dreams, and to be fair it lasted a long time. But it’s over now. And what does the future hold for us? Nigel Doughty may well want to follow Confucius’ advice: “He who will not economise will have to agonise,” where perhaps he should listen to T. S. Eliot: “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
And if it does all goes wrong and the worst comes to the worst, I leave you with the words of Charles Dickens in Great Expectations: “We need never be ashamed of our tears.”