Memories

I'm away for a week, so to make up for possible lack of posting gubbins, here's something to get those memories churning.

A simple question on a message board had a whole lot of Forest fans reaching for their keyboards. The simple question was this;

What were your top ten & worst ten Forest games you've been to ?

I answered off the cuff and listed two or three, but had to think about it further to come up with a proper response.

I've been going to Forest for over 33 years now, long before the glory days came (and went) and can remember the good times alongside the bad. A lot of the responses included European finals, but I've been strict and stuck to games I was at, and while I can claim to have been to all the home games in Europe, I didn't break my European away cherry until Auxerre in '95 (which is listed below).

The other problem I had was sifting it down to ten. As I went along, I kept remembering other matches that had to go in, without having the heart to remove one further down the line. So below are my ten worst games I've attended, some honorary mentions to some better games, but I'll start at number 12 of:

My Top Twelve Forest Games

12 Ipswich 2:1 Forest '93 I'll start with a defeat, which would seem to be a bit bizarre for one of my top games, but it wasn't the result that counted that day in May '93. Forest had lost their way big time in the final season under Clough, and had been relegated the week before at home to Sheff Utd (see below). This was to be Brian Clough's last game in charge of Nottingham Forest. The world and his dog travelled from Nottingham to Ipswich that weekend, and most of them seem to descend on Yarmouth on the Friday night. Ipswich had their biggest crowd of the season that day as Forest fans took over every stand of Portman Road. As the game ended, everyone piled onto the pitch to celebrate the great man's reign. It didn't matter that we'd lost, it didn't matter that the season had ended in defeat, what mattered was being a Forest fan on a football pitch 150 miles away from Nottingham. Happy days.

11 Man United 2:3 Forest '86 In the days of paying cash on the turnstiles at Old Trafford, a simple coach ticket was enough to guarantee door-to-door travel & top flight football. Forest were 1:0 up at half-time before going 2:1 down early in the second half. Colin Walsh broke the United offside trap with ten minutes to go before young Nigel popped up with a far post header to win it in the last minute. Cue scenes of bedlam in the Forest end leading to a good old 90 minute stay in the ground before the local meat-heads had gone home. And even then, they hadn't.

10 Man United 0:1 Forest '89 An integral part of the third happiest day of my life, an away FA Cup Qtr Final win at Old Trafford, with the added bonus of over 12,000 Forest fans to celebrate with. And I was one of the lucky ones who didn't get let out too quickly after.

9 Forest 7:0 Chelsea '91 As good a performance a Forest team has ever put together at home. Later Forest keeper Dave Beasant let them all in, but to be fair, they could have had three keepers in that day, we'd have still scored a hat-full.



8 Spurs 1:4 Forest '94 As Spurs redeveloped White Hart Lane, tickets were at a premium. With Ossie Ardiles playing a strange, exciting but ultimately unsurprisingly unsuccessful 2-3-5 formation and Forest on a promotion high, it was always going to be a goal-fest. With tickets in the Shelf among the hardcore Spurs faithful, I had to keep quiet when Forest scored their first, keep quiet when Spurs missed a penalty and keep quiet when Forest scored their second. By the end, I couldn't keep quiet any more and as the fourth went in, we were celebrating like we were sat with the away fans. On the way out, a Spurs fan questioned whether we deserved to win, I just tapped him on the shoulder and told him next time he should try watching the game facing the pitch. His friends laughed at him, I laughed at him, I laughed for the rest of the night !!!

7 Peterborough 2:3 Forest '94 Simple equation, if Forest drew and results went right we were promoted. BUT, a Forest win and it was irrelevant what happened elsewhere. The coach was organised, beer supplies refreshed, even the sunshine turned up. A brief stop off in Stamford for an early morning pint, a ring-side seat while two forest fans argued over a stolen butchers sign and a short remaining journey to the metropolis that is Peterborough. Ten minutes in and Peterborough were already two-nil up. Some Forest fans decided to go back to the pub at this point, predicting a pointless afternoon. But, they couldn't have imagined that Stan "The Man" Collymore would step up to save the day. If I were to list my top ten (or twelve, even) Forest goals, chances are Stan would appear several times, and the bullet last minute winner here would be near the top. We were back.



6 Auxerre 0:1 Forest '95 My first trip abroad with the Tricky Trees and I ended up stuck on a coach, my 6'5" frame stuck in a window seat wedged for the entire journey to the middle of France and back. Just before we got to the ferry, we were told that even that little pleasure was to be withheld from our coach as we were heading for the alcohol-free tunnel. Bugger. Sod it, we thought, it's only an hours drinking and we'd already had plenty before leaving Nottingham, so opted to stay on our coach. This was a good decision, as most of the other people chose the ferry so changed to other coaches. Our coach (seats 70) contained the best part of two dozen people, all travelling in double-seat comfort. Bonus. A days drinking round the ridiculously small town of Auxerre, before standing on the concrete steps behind the goal in which Stevie Stone chipped the only goal. How Auxerre never scored is still in the hands of Interpol, the biggest European robbery this side of the Italian Job.



5 Arsenal 1:2 Forest '88 Back in the days when you could just turn up at a game and pay on the day, I got the tube to Highbury and was on the terraces for 1:30. A wonder strike from Paul Wilkinson in the first half before a sublime through ball from young Nigel to set up Brian Rice with a one-on-one with John Lukic. Brian Rice was never the most popular Forest player, despite being worshipped as something close to a God at former club Hibernian, but his delicate chip over the advancing keeper earned him a few thousand extra fans that day. A pointless Arsenal consolation couldn't stop Forest advancing to their first FA Cup Semi final for over 20 years.

4 Forest 3:0 Derby 04 My day started 500 miles away from Nottingham, stood on Keith train station in the cold at 6am. A flight from Aberdeen to Luton and a train up to Nottingham beckoned, all paid for by CapitalOne. An afternoon drinking, a job offer in Scotland phoned in mid-session, before a trip into town pre-match. I can honestly say I have never ever been as confident as I was this night, Forest going for a play-off place, Derby heading downward, John Gregory heading for the job centre. Seats up at the top of the Upper Brian Clough stand couldn't dampen the atmosphere as EVERY SINGLE Forest fan stood for the whole ninety minutes in one of the most one-sided games I have ever witnessed. A 1,200 mile round trip, but completely worth every yard.



3 Derby 0:2 Forest '94 When this game was originally scheduled, it was a local derby match between two fairly good sides. The rain put pay to a December kick-off, so when it was rescheduled at the end of April, it was a local derby between two sides battling for promotion to the Premier League. Demand for tickets was so great in Nottingham that a giant screen was erected on the pitch. I'd still got my ticket, a little dog-eared, but intact, and there was going to be no way I was selling it for beer money. But as my mate & I hit his works bar at 11:30am (for an evening kick-off !) we soon realised that beer-money wasn't going to be a problem. Two pints ordered, 80 pence requested in return. This was in the days when a decent pint would cost over a pound, so to get two for less was only going to lead to one thing, a big session. By the time we got to Derby, the wheels had been well and truly oiled. Forest went 1:0 up in the first half thanks to a Derby wall melting in front of a Colin Cooper free-kick. My mate spent most of the half-time break trying to hang his flag from one of the flood-light pylons before being talked down by a police-woman. He then spent the rest of the half-time break trying (in vain) to chat up same police-woman. The second half contained one of the most memorable moments of my life courtesy of Mr G Charles (more here). Oh yes.



2 Forest 3:2 Man United '84 Two nil down at half time, Man United fans everywhere, the knowledge that the game would be on Match of the Day, the world was not a good place to be at 4pm that particular Saturday afternoon. Forest fought back in the second half to make the game level, before Johnny Metgod lofted an edge-of-the-box free-kick over the United wall in injury time to win the game. We sang, we cheered, we sang some more. I was off school for a week after unable to talk.

1 Spurs 1:2 Forest 92 Where do I start with this one ? Following a truly inept performance by the linesman in the first leg of the League Cup semi-final, the two teams were level going into the second leg at White Hart Lane. A nice car journey down for an early afternoon kick-off, a good parking place less than half a mile from the ground and a place in the pub on the corner. Done and done. When some drunken, bearded tramp started telling us to get out of the pub, we thought he was taking the p**s, but it turned out he was the landlord, backed up by the local met. Apparently, there had been a bomb alert at the ground and there was to be a delay while it was checked out. Back to the car to polish off the packed lunch of the poor unfortunate who had got shunted away from the ground in the opposite direction, before a short journey to the pub next to the car. Back in those days, pubs weren't allowed to open on a Sunday afternoon, but the nice policeman said yes, so we all stayed dry and refreshed. The game itself took place in some of the worst rain I can remember, players sliding everywhere, and I could imagine the game being abandoned if it hadn't have been for the two fingers to the idiots ringing through the bomb warnings. Spurs came out for the second half in new shirts, a fact not lost on Brian Clough in his team-talk just before extra-time started. For the whole of the second half and extra time, Forest fans never stopped singing, never stopped jumping, never stopped chanting. Never before or since, have I been part of such a level of support, it was immense. The celebrations when Roy Keane bulleted the headed winner will never leave me. That was the ultimate moment of being a Forest fan for me. I may never see it again, but I'm glad I was there at the time.

Honorary mentions

Liverpool 0:0 Forest 93 Not particularly for the match, although Gary Bannister should have buried his effort from six yards at the Kop-end, but more for the Forest fans in the local pubs before the game. We came, we sang, we took over the pubs in a peaceful way and we sang some more.

Everton 3:0 Forest 93 Another defeat, and the defeat that ordered the relegation coffin for the nails to go into. Another fantastic performance from the Forest fans. Altogether now: "Goodbye horse, goodbye horse ....."

Grimsby p:p Forest 94 On the way into Cleethorpes, the temperature gauges on the side of the chemical plants were reading between -5 and -10. There was going to be no way the game was going ahead. They decided to call it off at 7:15, by which time we'd already frozen our nuts off stood outside an off-license unable to get into any of the local pubs. The journey back took us into Doncaster to one of the pubs serviced by the Mansfield Brewery rep in our party. Cue free beer & sandwiches for the rest of the evening. The ironic thing being that we got back later that night than had we gone to the game.

Man United 0:1 Forest 90 3 months on from Italia 90 and crowds up and down the country had a reason to have a go at Stuart Pearce. This day, the Stretford End decided to chant abuse at him. Pearce just decided to stick a free-kick into the back of the net to shut them up. Because he could.

Forest 2:1 West Ham 86 A cracking finish to the game as Brian Rice found himself with the ball at his feet 6 yards out to win the game in the last minute against a very good West Ham side aiming for a top three finish. But this will live long in the memory for another (and more famous) Johnny Metgod free-kick. Phil Parkes in the West Ham goal had to move out of the way, or it would have just taken his hands off. Enjoy



Worst ten

10 Forest 1:2 Leeds 07 A very recent game, we outplayed them, they stole the points undeservedly in the last minute. And their fans are animals.

9 Barnsley 1:0 Forest c92 An away game in some tin-pot long since forgotten Mickey Mouse trophy on a cold Tuesday night. My half-time pie was still frozen in the middle, we lost, and we had to drive back at 65 miles an hour due to being followed all the way back down the M1 by a police car. Which then turned out to be a taxi.

8 Forest 0:3 Norwich c93 The one and only game I have ever left early. A truly abysmal performance that showed we were heading down. I took my frustration out on a sink in the Bridgford End on the way out. It's still got the dent.

7 Forest 0:2 Barnsley c06 On a cold Friday night, with a television audience. The last game I've taken my dad, he's an unlucky omen. And Nathan Tyson got sent off towards the end. Rubbish.

6 Forest 0:2 Sheff Utd 93 The fans came to celebrate Clough's reign and the Sheff Utd fans joined in. The players froze and we were relegated without so much as a whimper. Roy Keane cried in the showers (if his autobiography is to be believed) while the rest of the players joked about which night-club they would be visiting that night. Nottingham that night was a very strange place to be, and had it not been for a very friendly off-duty policewoman, our group could have got into quite a lot of unwarranted trouble.

5 Forest 0:1 Man United 92 The fans turned up in force at Wembley, it was just a shame that there were so many Man United fans in the Forest end, some of the worst trouble I've seen inside a ground. The Forest players just didn't turn up at all and were beaten by a very poor United side.

4 Portsmouth 1:0 Forest 92 I didn't go out on the p**s the night before this game as I knew I'd be travelling to Portsmouth the day after. It's a shame that Mark Crossley couldn't have been similarly concerned. A long way to go to see us lose to a poor goal-keeping error.

3 Sunderland 1:0 Forest 91 When the Forest players came out with their sleeves pulled over their arms, I knew they weren't up for it. Cold didn't cover it, although most of the Sunderland fans were still walking round in t-shirts.

2 Liverpool 3:0 Forest 87 Crashed the car on the way to Anfield, got beat, then attacked on the bus back to the train station.

1 Forest 2:5 Yeovil 07 Felt like watching a car crash in slow-motion. It was clear to everyone what was happening, but you could do nothing about it. The talk of Wembley before the game just felt wrong, wrong, wrong. There's a large part of me that's still numb.