The first steps I took to being a Forest fan came in a strange surrounding, Meadow Lane the home of Notts County FC. I was about 7 or 8 years old and getting interested in football, I must have been influenced by my granddad for a start, and he was football mad. He used to play a bit himself and his brothers also played quite a lot. The best of his brothers, Arthur played for Luton town. They used to say one played for Derby County. But this was all before, during and just after the Great War. Our family always referred to the footballers on the Roe side.

Why the Reds? Well my Granddad Willie Roe watched both Forest and Notts and in the early 60’s the Reds were in the top flight and playing in Division 1 while Notts struggled in the third. The memory of the 1959 FA Cup final win was pretty fresh in everybody’s minds, Roy Dwight scoring then getting his leg broke. The ten-man victory is still something in the history books.

My dad, who always seemed to be at work (and I suppose I should be thankful), encouraged me to play football on picnics and holidays but he wasn’t an attendee to proper matches; mainly because he was still loading a stint of coal out on a Saturday morning.

My Granddad however was a regular, Notts one week and Forest the other. Although he preferred Forest from what I could gather, my first match was Notts County versus Halifax Town. I didn’t know at the time but it was my tester; if I could behave myself and not get lost or into trouble at a small attended match, then I would be allowed to go to see a big match at the City Ground.

I got through the test OK and behaved. I also couldn’t get over how green the pitch was (bearing in mind it looks grey on a black and white telly). The players’ strip looked almost pristine and the football was a bright orange colour, wow! My casey was a worn out dark brown heavy laced one and never in this world was it round.

Another thing was how far and hard the players could kick a ball. The goalies could launch it right into the opposition’s half. I also started learning all the jargon; you see, I said “opposition” just then.

The following week I was drawing pictures of football, the nets, the flags the pitch markings, etc, in fact anything to do with football. My Granddad said we we’re going to watch Forest next Saturday. I knew they were a first division team and the better of the two Nottingham sides so I looked forward to it. The day came and I was cleaned up and dressed warmly to go to my first Forest match. Well, what a difference.

As we walked towards Trent Bridge the crowds grew massive; I held on to my Granddad’s hand and skipped along to the City Ground. He showed me the ground from off of the bridge and it looked similar to Meadow Lane in size but there was something about this one. Maybe it was the amount of people and the atmosphere they were creating. You could smell the cigarette smoke and the odd pipe or cigar and, as we pushed forth into the ground, I saw the pitch with it’s white markings; I got to look straight down the touch line and it was the straightest thing I have ever seen. What did they use for a ruler?

The goals looked the size of our football area at home, I wouldn’t be able to touch that crossbar on my dad’s shoulders. I hadn’t realised that men played on such big pitches. I think being as close to the wall as it was known made me realise I was still just a little kid and this was men’s stuff.

The ground began to fill and I was ushered to the front away from Granddad. Was this in order? I never dared let my mam’s hand go while going through town or anywhere: especially as I got lost at the ABC picture house on my debut, to see ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance’, and screamed the foyer down! All the kids were allowed to get to the front and for reassurance I looked back for my Granddad, he was a few steps behind so it was OK.

I found out all about the match day programme and what it was for. Inside there were pictures of previous matches and I learned the names of the Forest players; they were in the centre pages with their positions and numbers. Goalie, Peter Grummitt, full backs Mochan and Wilson, but my granddad said Wilson was on the injury list or something. That meant he had a knock and wasn’t going to play today, why ever it’s called an injury list I’ll never know (I thought).

Half backs, no’s 4, 5 and 6. Whitefoot, McKinley and Newton. They were what Granddad Roe must have been because he spoke of the positions as if he should be playing there today. Then forwards, the men who score the goals we are about to see. Addison, Quigley, Le Flem, Vowden and Hockey. But again that dreaded injury list had taken away Hockey and Vowden and we had to wait to see who had took their place. I hope we aren’t going to start off with only 9 men, we’ll get beat easily, I knew that from experience.

David Pleat and Mike Kear were the replacements so we had 11 a side. I kept turning back to see if Granddad was there and he was, he chatted to the men around him and I wondered how come he knew everyone here! The other team was Tottenham Hotspurs; I was told they were called just Spurs. They played in white shirts, navy shorts and white stockings according to the programme. What did they mean stockings? Didn’t women wear those? No I had often heard Granddad say stockings when talking about football, they did mean socks.

Out came the teams and they did a bit of practice before starting (‘kicking in’, it was later known as to me). The Spurs were a well-known team with Danny Blanchflower, Terry Dyson and Roy Brown mentioned by granddad among others. The word “Internationals” was mentioned in context with Spurs, didn’t know much about that then.

I looked around the ground and then it appeared to be much bigger than Notts County’s but maybe because there was such a crowd and such a noise as the game got underway. I don’t remember much about the actual game but I know we scored but lost. There was a hell of a cheer when Forest scored, the sound was all around the ground, phew! What an experience. A bit different from the Notts County match, I know who my favourite team are now.

And so it was written.

• Gary Roe’s Forest Chronicles continue here with the visit of Stanley Matthews to the City Ground.