Why I’m A Red
Nick Hill: Like Gary Haywood, I can also claim to be a Forest fan from birth.
My only pre-birth pollution was my father's tragic love for Birmingham City. Everyone else, Forest. Curiously, this led to the moment-of-birth dissatisfaction. I was born at 5:00pm on a Saturday afternoon (12 December, 1959 - what was the result that day?) and my father delayed his visit to see his bawling first born to acquire the meaningless knowledge of by how much Birmingham City had lost that day from Sports Report.
Steeped as I was in family history (my great-grandfather, Angus MacInnes, won an FA Cup
winners' medal with Nottingham Forest in 1898), my grandfather took me to my first Forest game just before I was two (a reserve match, I am told). I remained a regular attendee until I was seven when we left Nottingham. Since then, from Sussex, where we lived, or Durham, where I went to university, I tried to go to Forest at least once a season. Apart from that confusing time when we were the best team in the world, I have enjoyed throughout the exciting end of season fights (how many teams have a game that matters on the last day of the season, every
season?).
I have lived in Hong Kong for 16 years now, but I still try to get back to watch a game each year. This can have unfortunate consequences. Unable to buy a seat in the Forest end at Upton Park for last year's FA Cup third round game (despite pathetically asking the stewards if it was full) I had to sit a few yards away among the Hammers fans. The game was an unsatisfactory experience - Johnson's missed penalty and disallowed goal - other than for the tasty East End bird that I was next to who kept offering me fags. But by far the low point was having to stand up to watch the game as everyone around you sang "Stand up if you hate the Forest". It was also a bit dodgy when Forest took the lead.
Go Forest!
Adam Robinson, Portland, Dorset: I've been supporting Forest all my life. When I was about six my dad said to me: "Which team do you want to support son, Chelsea or Forest?" and I immediately said Forest because at that time we had come third in the league and I thought, oh yeah great! But a few seasons later things went downhill we got relegated in 1999 and all the kids at school took the micky but I didn't mind. My first time at the City Ground was the 2000/01 season and it was great. The day before the match I went to the club shop and got a shirt. The next day my dad and I went to see them play Coventry and won 1-0. The second time I went was earlier this season when we played Norwich and won 2-0, Johnson and good old Marlon Harewood scored the other - shame he went to West Ham.
James Prentice: For
me it's a really weird, jumbled-up situation really!
I grew up in Lincoln (where I remain to this day, though I should
be moving to Nottingham to go to uni in September if everything
goes to plan!), though my parents had no connections with the
East Midlands at all. With my dad being from Scotland, I was
brought up as a Rangers fan and am damn proud of it eleven years
on! However, as I could only get up to Glasgow every month or so
for games, I started going to watch my local side, Lincoln City,
on occasional Saturdays. At the age of about 16 I realised the
poverty of play I had been watching and decided to branch out and
go and see a side no more than fifty miles away. Sheffield was
too expensive to go to on the train at the time (and besides, I
had and still have a big anti-Yorkshire thing going on!), so I
decided it had to be a game at the City Ground.
I came to my first game in November 2000, and Forest beat Preston
3-1, two goals from the Bart-Man and one from the wizardry of Ben
OIsen. From then on I was hooked, although in the last two
seasons I haven't been as much as I would have liked to. But
seeing as Ebby travels far and wide to support the Reds, I guess
it kinds of put things into perspective for me, as I only live 35
miles along the road! Anyway, I've met lots of interesting (many
half pissed-up) people at Forest, especially at away games, in
which I think we have a great atmosphere. And ever since I saw
that first game when we were under David Pratt (a season in which
we unfortunately lacked a lot of consistency), I have always
dreamed of one day strolling to the City Ground on a sunny August
afternoon and watching the Reds play their first game back in the
Premiership, where they belong. May that day come soon.
Gary Haywood: Not
many fans could probably claim this feat, but I would say I've
been been a Forest fan since birth.
My dad and his family are from Nottingham and I can remember him
being a big fan when I was young. He would always try and
encourage me and my brother to play football and try and make a
career out of it, but sadly I was born a few weeks after Michael
Owen and was blessed with a lot less skill.
Anyway, I was born in August 1980, after Forest's second European
Cup triumph, and as a sign of respect my dad decided to abandom
the name he and mum had agreed on for me (Robin) and pop down the
council to sort my birth cirtificate out. These were the days
when you apparently didn't need both parents to sign the thing!
So, on a whim my dad thought he'd name me GARY BIRTLES BRIAN
CLOUGH PETER TAYLOR HAYWOOD after player, manager and assistant
manager. Obviously it seems he wasn't a big enough fan to know
that Garry Birtles' name was spelt with 2 R's, but never mind.
And so this makes me a fan since birth, cos realistically I
couldn't bring myself to support any other team once I'd
discovered where my name came from, and I can't ever really
remember not being a fan, and I've had many happy and sad times
since my first trip to the City Ground when we beat Newcastle 3-0
in the FA Cup in 1990 which is a fond memory as I now live in
Newcastle and have to put up with geordie gits going on about JJ
and how good they are.
Steven Potts: My
Dad was working abroad but my grandparents lived in West
Bridgford so, for the shorter school holidays, I went to stay
with them. In those days (early 1960s), it was OK for a young lad
to wander about by himself and I used to end up down near the
Trent watching the Forest team (or maybe reserves) practising.
My grandparents' next-door-neighbour was a County fan and used to
get complimentary tickets and would drag me along with him to
Meadow Lane. Despite this, I kept a fancy for the boys in red.
First match I went to was against Leeds at home - we lost. I
think I went by myself. I certainly went alone to an evening game
against Man Utd for my first visit to the Trent End. Being very
short (at eight years old) I didn't see much of the game over the
heads of the rest of the crowd, but was hooked.
I also tried to fill a book by collecting soccer stamps for each
of the First division teams and Forest were the only team to get
their all players to sign the cards I sent in. Then went to
school near Derby in the early '70s and suffered a lot of abuse
because they were doing so well.
The only moment of glory I remember was Ian Storey-Moore getting
an England cap. Unfortunately, I then spent the glory years of
1975-1980 in America and missed out on watching Forest and
getting my revenge on the smug Derby fans.
Tried to pass on my allegiance to my son but there aren't many
Forest fans down in darkest Hampshire. He was really embarrassed
to wear a Forest shirt to a holiday soccer camp until it
transpired that it was run by Colin Cooper. He only follows
Forest on sufferance, thus avoiding the purgatory that I put
myself through season after season.
Martin Seconde: Why
I became, and stayed, a Red - I was born in Newark Hospital, in
1959. My father was not there, as the Reds were playing away that
weekend. Around the age of four, I seem to recall my Dad and his
brothers, Maurice (Mo) and Gordon, were the first to
take me to a Reds match at the City Ground. I can remember
standing on the terraces (or sitting on the metal bars) watching
what seemed like an eternity offootball. The taste of OXO at
half-time still lingers on to this day.
When the family picked up and moved to London, I tried to become
a West Ham fan, wearing the funny colored kit and all. Bobby
Moore was a hero. My dad would have none of it.
In 1967, the family packed up once again and made the drastic
move to America. Football, as I knew it, was over. I kept up with
Forest through the unsteady stream of English newspapers that
would filter into the house from various sources. The World Cup
is about the only coverage football ever received over here.
Those were the dark years. Very dark years.
I did manage to retain enough skills to star on my school teams,
pairing up with another local English lad to form a decent strike
partnership. We won a few cups, but not much to write about.
Eventually I married and started a family. Now that I have my own
son, and football overhere has started to take off, football has
come back into my life. The internet brings Forest to life as
never before. Though I have been back to England many times to
visit, and take in a few matches, I can't wait until my next
visit when I will bring my own son to his first match at the City
Ground. Hopefully next year. Hopefully against a Premiership
opponent.
As I coach my sons (and daughters) youth teams, I can only hope
that their loveof the game, and the Reds, will live on. I make
sure they research Forestresults each week as part of their
training and learning experience.
Andrew Coupe: My grandad, Harry English (God rest his soul), loved footie. He followed West Ham being born down there. He moved up to Nottingham before the war and whenever Forest played the Iron he would attend. This was also my first match,, a 1-1 draw. I stood in the Trent End grandad in the seats. I knew I belonged - this was my team, not my grandad's - mine. I have seen them win in Europe twice as well as countless other trophies, and four weeks ago in Turkey I found a bar showing the Coventry match. In the bar wasa fellow Forest fan from Long Eaton - we were family for two hours. Two lads, two Reds together.
Laith Gibani: When
people actually ask me why I support Forest, I really have no
answer for them because basically I can't remember! It doesn't
actually make any sense, because, I have absolutely no links
through family or friends to the Midlands let alone Nottingham.
My dad came to live in the UK in the late '70s and I've been born
and raised in North Wales all of my life. I usually give one of
the following reasons when asked...
1) I vaguely remember my dad
telling me that I should support Forest sometime in late 92 (as a
naive eight-year-old), which was probably a cruel joke because I
wasn't aware that we were bottom of the league at the time,
resulting in laughs from the 'local' United and Liverpool fans
that my school was full of.
2) I thought Stuart Pearce
looked cool in a poster from a really old copy of Match.
3) I thought it sounded good to be the only Forest fan (that i
know of) in North Wales.
4) Because I wanted to pay a fortune to travel to every game I
wanted to go to, especially since theres no supporters club here
5) "No really, I don't
mind losing"
Good work on the site guys,
come on you Reds!
Ian 'Nibs' Simpson: 1978
- Worcester, a city with little footballing pedigree (apart from
the City beating liverpool in the FA cup about 200 years ago).
Most football fans choose from the local mix such as the Baggies,
the Blues, the Vile or Wolves. Others, (my family) choose the
more successful outfits like Man U, Arsenal etc. It was here that
I had to make the first and probably most important decision of
my life, do I follow the family, friends, local knowledge or do I
'branch' out alone?
I was 6 years old and at a crossroads, where do I turn?
Got it ... who's got the best name and the best badge? ... who
else? Nottingham Forest (we were also top of the league -
that helped in the decision I'm sure!) I've got no
connections that I know of to the city, no family history
passed down ... I just liked the badge! That tree has been with
me ever since.
As we all know these family traditions have to start somewhere
and this particular one has been cemented with thousands of
long and sometimes lonely hours on motorways and public
transport, all thanks to the design prowess of the person asked
to come up with that beautiful club crest.
Thankfully this obsession has probably prevented me being drawn
into things like forestry or conservation. It could be
worse, I could be Swampy.
As for the family of footballing ne'erdowells I was reared with
... I hardly think a couple of free corporate tickets at Old
Trafford constitutes following football. They scoffed then ...
and yes the bastards scoff now!
When the time comes that I am ready to procreate I assure you all
that my offspring will have no such ethical quandry to debate. By
this time Forest will be European Cup winners again (causing much
confusion in the A-Block when our favourite chant has to be
tinkered with) and we will be captained by the mercurial
Romeo Beckham and managed by ... well ... who do you think? Those
in Worcester who follow success will have to look no further than
the banks of the River Trent.
Michael Finlay: I grew up in Lincoln and my Family are from Ulster. Coming back on the plane, you could at one point see the city ground on a matchnight. This would have been about 1982 I guess and then I saw them on TV and remembered the name from being told on the plane. I was Forest from that day forth, although at the time I recall having some Man Utd sweatbands, Brian Robson shinpads and a Kevin Keegan Football!
Ken Morrison: I have followed the results for the Reds and Derby (that must be a criminal offence now) for many years and I suspect Cloughie had a lot to do with that. During the 1996 European Championships my eldest daughter, then 11 years old, started to take an interest and in Psycho especially. Sometime after we went to some reserve games which were played at Field Mill and then we stated to go to selected first team games at the City ground. I was then pestered about the possibility of getting season tickets and eventually I succumbed the bug and for the last three years we have had season tickets and last season went to a few away games as well. Despite the problems of the last few years we can not imagine having to go without our visits to see the Reds. We still follow the Derby results but now for a different reason.
RJC: Hi fellow Forest fans. Love the site. Just a quick e-mail to tell you my reason of being a Red - the fact I'm Nottingham born and bred. Although I didnt come from a footballing family, I have been a Forest fan since my first match when I was about 10, after getting free tickets from my school for representing them. I'm a proud person and can't ever imagine supporting another team. Nowadays I have a season ticket and regulary follow the Reds away. There's my story, nothin special, but there it is.
Philip Wood: This is possibly the wierdest reason you will come across. When I was about seven or eight my sister and I were both Man Utd fans (as all seven or eight-year-olds were) mainly because I hadn't heard of any other teams in the Premiership. We were both collecting those Merlin stickers, and both of us were trying to complete our Man Utd collections. However, she had more and so forced me to hand over all the Man Utd players I had that she needed. I said "Who am I supposed to collect then?" and she passed me Ian Woan. I started collecting Forest stickers and have been a massive fan ever since.