Later today – or in NZ time, very early tomorrow morning – Nottingham Forest play the second leg of the Championship Playoff against Sheffield United.
We played the first leg at their ground last Saturday and won, 1-2.
It should have been 2 nil … but it wouldn’t be Forest without letting in a needless goal on the 90th minute so they still have a chance to scupper us.
And don’t think I’m just being a doom-fan, they did just that in 2003 when we were in this position … beating us 4-3 at home. ARGHHHHHH.
But beating them tonight isn’t just about revenge.
Nor is it even about getting closer to the Premiership.
It would be another way I can get my revenge at the RHCP for sacking me.
What am I talking about?
Well I recently saw this article in a Yorkshire newspaper …
… and while Flea was pretty decent to me, at this point – with the scale of this result at stake – all alliances are well and truly off, hahaha.
But even with that, this is already beyond our wildest dreams.
At the start of the season, we were rock-solid bottom of the league with just 1 miserly point after 7 games played..
It was our worst start in 108 years.
ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHT.
So to be in this position is beyond anything anyone could have hoped for – especially as we all expected it would be a relegation battle season, rather than a chance at getting in the Premiership.
For all our amazing success, Forest have been fucking pants for 2 decades.
Even a couple of years ago, when we were in the playoff position for basically the whole season, we managed to lose the very last game by enough goals to ensure we ended up outside the playoff position
I honestly took over a year to recover from that … but here we are, potentially 180 minutes from the big time. Back where I would like to say we belong but have not been there for 23 years.
Hell, if we had not just had a meltdown against Bournemouth a couple of weeks ago, we could have even made automatic promotion – and that would have just been nuts.
So while I still am burned from 23+ years of broken dreams and false promises, I hope they make it. I still feel they’ll slip up as that is just what I’ve been conditioned to expect – but it would be amazing for them, the manager and the city as a whole if they didn’t.
I would cry.
Proper cry.
Not just because I’d be so proud of them, but it would take me back to being a kid when being from Nottingham meant you were part of Clough’s all-conquering team and that felt so special.
And while they will never win the European Cup again, getting back to the Premiership would be something worth celebrating for years.
But even that wouldn’t be as huge as this teams ability to make me – and the whole city of Nottingham – fall in love with Forest and football again.
The scenes this year are arguably better than anything I saw even in the glory years … so while I desperately want to see them win, in some ways, they already have.
Good luck Forest.
Come on your reds.