{"id":9113,"date":"2024-01-29T07:53:50","date_gmt":"2024-01-29T07:53:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=9113"},"modified":"2024-01-31T16:24:13","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T16:24:13","slug":"recollections-of-days-spent-in-with-the-forest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=9113","title":{"rendered":"Recollections of days spent in (with) the Forest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color:#fff;display:inline-block;font-family:Roboto,sans-serif;color:#a7a7a7;font-size:11px;width:100%;max-width:594px;\"><div style=\"padding:0;margin:0;text-align:left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/830648944\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div><div style=\"overflow:hidden;position:relative;height:0;padding:75.420876% 0 0 0;width:100%;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/830648944?et=9ilPYQJWRTNWyS2qL37yfg&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=ZmdAB_aTu7MB5DkEs2OPQkJKIXJT2feweZo9Az2GcCw=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"594\" height=\"448\" style=\"display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>It seems improbable but we play only our second league match of 2024 and only our third in all so far this year when we meet Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Tuesday night. When someone mentions Nottingham Forest to me I am transported back to January 1959. My grandfather arrived at our house round about midday on the first Saturday of the year with two tickets for a third round FA Cup tie between Forest and our nearest club &#8211; Isthmian League&#8217;s (when the Isthmian League was the strongest amateur league in the country) Tooting and Mitcham, at their homely ground about a mile away:&nbsp; Sandy Lane. I was heartbroken at not being able to accompany them although at seven my mother wouldn\u2019t let me go in the freezing cold to a&nbsp; primitive ground filled to the gunwales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I followed progress as best as I could on Grandstand. Forest were a good First Division side but to everyone\u2019s amazement they trailed 2-0 into the second half. Tooting were then subject to two enormous bits of bad luck. Firstly a pass back hit a rut on the awful, frozen pitch and skipped past the keeper into the net. A few minutes later, the Tooting left-half chested a ball in his penalty area and whipped it clear. The referee gave a penalty. Afterwards&nbsp;Murphy of Tooting showed the mark of the ball on his chest. It was an appalling decision and the penalty was converted, the game drawn 2-2, and in the replay Forest triumphed 3-0. They won the FA Cup that season for only the second (and last) time in their history. Had VAR existed the FA Cup would have had a different name on it that season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I attach a link to the replay game here:  <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/_4yOnZy5O2I\">https:\/\/youtu.be\/_4yOnZy5O2I<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It wasn\u2019t the greatest period in Forest\u2019s history (that came under Clough and Taylor when they won two European Cups) but it defined&nbsp;Forest to me as a seven year-old, soccer-mad little&nbsp;boy who had never seen a professional game then. I\u2019ve seen them many times since, not only at Arsenal but at Chelsea, Fulham, Palace and a small ground in N13. I\u2019ve even seen them play at Bristol City and Norwich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Forest are a very old club. In 1865 a group of shinty players met at a pub called the Clinton Arms (now renamed The Playwright) which lies at the junction of Nottingham&#8217;s Shakespeare Street and North Sherwood Street. A proposal to play association football instead of shinty was agreed (football is a LOT less dangerous than Shinty!) and Nottingham Forest Football Club was established. It was also agreed that the club would purchase twelve tasselled caps coloured &#8216;Garibaldi Red&#8217; (named after the leader of the Italian &#8216;Redshirt&#8217; fighters). That is how the club&#8217;s official colours were chosen.  Matches were originally played at Forest Racecourse, the&nbsp;source of the word &#8216;Forest&#8217; in the team&#8217;s name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Forest have played their home games at the City Ground since 1898. They have won two European Cups (now the UEFA Champions League), and are&nbsp; one of six English clubs to have won the European Cup. They have also won one UEFA Super Cup, one League title, two FA Cups, four League Cups, and one FA Charity Shield. The club has competed in the top two tiers of English football since its admission to the Football League, with the exception of five seasons in the third tier. Its most successful period was under the management of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which included back-to-back wins in the then European Cup in 1979 and 1980.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Forest famously demonstrated a benevolent and charitable&nbsp;approach to their rivals and&nbsp;helped clubs like Liverpool, Arsenal and Brighton &amp; Hove Albion to form. In 1886, Forest donated a set of red shirted football kits to help Arsenal establish themselves. It is a nice link between the clubs. Many years later as if to pay them back for their generosity we sold them Joe Baker, one of the best strikers in our history and a great favourite of Goonerholic &#8211; and me! Forest also donated shirts to Everton and helped secure a site to play on for Brighton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fast forward to the present day and we find Forest struggling in 16th position in the Premier League having lost three of their last five games. They are now managed by Nuno Esp\u00edrito Santo, after parting company with Steve Cooper.  He managed to weld thirty new players into a functional squad last season and kept them up, ensuring survival in their final home&nbsp; game with Arsenal. Their owner Evangelos Marinakis also owns Olympiakos and famously was blamed for giving a Covid infection to Mikel Arteta in 2020, which led to the temporary&nbsp;shutdown of English football in March 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They have struggled at home this season but on recent visits to the City Ground we have lost 1-0 (last time in the league last season), and gone down twice in the third round of the FA Cup &#8211; 4-2 in&nbsp;2018 and 1-0 in 2022. Our intrepid travellers Countryman100 and CountrymanJunior were present for our last two defeats, and will be back at the City Ground on Tuesday night. That is sterling support at this time of year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So what might we expect? Forest appear to have a number of injuries, including Awoniyi who notched against us last season and at Arsenal in the first game of the season. Morgan Gibbs-White is their playmaker and is reportedly doubtful for the game. But they have the&nbsp;squad to cope, at least numerically! On Friday night they produced a stalemate in a 0-0 draw in the FA Cup fourth round at Bristol City . Hopefully this will have drained their energy before they meet us. We may welcome back Thomas Partey at last ( although he is likely to be on the bench)&nbsp;and expect Rice and Gabriel to recover from their injuries sustained against Palace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My suggested team is<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Raya<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">White &#8212; Saliba &#8212; Gabriel &#8212;  Zinchenko<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Rice &#8212; Odegaard &#8212; Havertz<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Saka &#8212; Jes\u00fas &#8212; Martinelli<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trossard may retain his place out wide and Jorginho may replace Havertz to provide more control in midfield but I suspect Arteta will play quite an attacking side as Arsenal really need to win this match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A lack of energy should not be a problem for us.&nbsp; Fresh from our trip to Dubai we had a comfortable runout against Palace last week and might fear ring rust rather than fatigue as we face a vital game. Forest away has often been a game that was pivotal in Arsenal seasons that ended in triumph. In the first double season we won 3-0 at the City Ground in our run-in to the title. In&nbsp; 1979 we were drawn to play Clough\u2019s almost unbeatable team at the City Ground. Dave Faber recounted the peril of being chased to and from Nottingham Station by a welcoming party of Forest thugs. When he arrived at the match he saw a marvellous defensive display garnished by a classic Stapleton header which took us back eventually to Wembley where we beat United. In 1989 George Graham\u2019s emerging side thrashed Forest 4-1in Nottingham in an early indication of the quality we had. That season ended in glory at Anfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Will we be able to produce a similarly significant performance on Tuesday night? The following facts from the bookmaker show pretty positive trends<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2022 The most common result in matches between Nottingham Forest and Arsenal FC is 0-1. 3 matches have ended with this result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2022 During the last 8 meetings with Nottingham Forest playing at home, Nottingham Forest have won 4 times, there has been 1 draw, and Arsenal&nbsp; have won 3 times. The goal difference is 11-10 in favour of Arsenal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2022 During the last 15 meetings, Nottingham Forest have won 4 times, there have been 2 draws while Arsenal&nbsp; have won 9 times. The goal difference is 29-13 in favour of Arsenal FC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2022 Arsenal\u2019s last away win against Nottingham Forest was in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bookmaker (Oddspedia) suggest Forest are 7-1 to win, a draw is 41\/10 and an Arsenal win is priced at a shade under 2-1. Those are very unattractive odds but Bet365 are offering 13\/2 for a 2-0 Arsenal win and were I a betting man that would be my wager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NES is a canny, if slightly negative manager and the first goal on a cold January night will be very important. Forest will attempt to play at a high tempo but the impact of an FA Cup tie a few days before will be significant and if Gibbs-White is absent that will be very important. Expect us to have the bulk of possession (as usual) but let us hope we use it better than we did in Nottingham last year and in some of our recent less creative performances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a chance for us to prepare for the titanic clash with Liverpool in a positive frame of mind and to continue to further fuel a renewed title challenge. Safe travel to the Countrymen and let us hope they return full of a super East Midlands curry having witnessed a fine Arsenal performance and a comfortable win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images It seems improbable but we play only our second league match of 2024 and only our third in all so far this year when we meet Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Tuesday night. When someone mentions Nottingham Forest to me I am transported back to January 1959. My grandfather [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9113"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9113"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9123,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9113\/revisions\/9123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}