Football Days

City Ground - Nottingham Forest FC

Nottingham Forest 3-1 Aston Villa

04/08/12 - Pre-Season Friendly

Att: 12,442

Despite numerous trips across the river to Meadow Lane, I'd never made it to the City Ground, so when this pre-season fixture was announced it was one that I immediately wanted to go to. Once it became apparent that Notts County would play AEK Athens the following day it was booked as a weekend and a pre-season double header. Tickets in the Villa end were acquired with relative ease, even though Villa's initial 3,500 allocation sold out for the match.

It was an early start, with an 8am train out of Farnborough, changing at Waterloo and St Pancras before going straight through to Nottingham, arriving at 11am. Once there we checked in at the hotel and set up camp in the bar, before taking a wander down to Meadow Lane where the bar was open for away supporters. It was a nice little place with reasonable prices and a good atmosphere before the game.

One thing that's always amazed me about Nottingham is how close all three sporting venues are, with Trent Bridge, Meadow Lane and the City Ground being within a stone's throw of each other and once we'd finished our beers we took a short stroll across the river and headed towards the home of Nottingham Forest. As you walk over the bridge the ground looks superb, with the Brian Clough Stand clearly visible over the smaller Main Stand on the near-side. From first impressions it's a stadium that clearly wouldn't look out of place in the top flight.

Forest's home since 1898 has been largely re-developed over the last 30 years. The Brian Clough Stand (originally named The Executive Stand) was built in 1980 following the club's back-to-back European Cup victories, it's a large two tiered stand with a capacity of around 10,000. Behind one goal is The Bridgford Stand, built in 1992 and allocated to the away supporters. It's a two tiered stand, with the upper tier only going half the way across due to a planning requirement to allow sunlight to nearby houses. At the other end is the impressive Trent End, a big imposing end with a capacity of over 7,000. It was built in time for Euro 96 and fits in with The Brian Clough Stand very nicely. The Main Stand, built in the 1960's, is the oldest part of the ground and lets it down a bit in my opinion, while it's still a superb venue, I think redeveloping this side of the ground would provide a much more balanced look and would make it one of the best grounds in the country.

Much of Nottingham Forest's history and fame is down to the 18 year reign of Brian Clough. Before Clough took over the second tier side in 1975, Forest only had two FA Cups in the their trophy cabinet. By 1990, they had a league title, four League Cups, a European Super Cup and two European Cups to their name. Clough left the club following relegation in 1993. They bounced back a year later, but went back down in 97, before coming back in 98 and going back down again in 99 (relegation was confirmed at Aston Villa, my first game at Villa Park) and Forest haven't been in the top flight since. In 2005 Forest became the first former European Champions to drop the 3rd tier of their respective country, but bounced back after three seasons in the third tier. Forest have knocked on the door of the Premier League in recent times, missing out in the play offs in 2010 and 2011, but last season was a disappointment as Forest struggled for much of the campaign.

This summer saw the Al-Hasawi family take control of the club. The Kuwaiti-based businessmen sacked Steve Cotterill and promised fans an "iconic" manager, with all the usual names banded about in the media. Therefore it came as quite a surprise when they announced the appointment of former Doncaster manager Sean O'Driscoll, who left Crawley Town without taking charge of a match. Perhaps some fans were underwhelmed by the appointment, but I think he could do a good job and it's nice to see a sensible choice instead of someone like Sven, who appears wherever there's a bit of money and disappears just as quickly.

Kick off for the match was delayed by 15 minutes due to crowd congestion, I assume this was down the large travelling support as the upper tiers of the Trent End and the Brian Clough Stand were both closed off, with the lower tiers not approaching capacity either. Once the game finally got underway there was a decent atmosphere in the away end, but once the tedium of a pre-season kick about set in, the atmosphere died off. Villa were knocking it around well and looked threatening without creating too much. The main talking point of the first half was Villa having a goal disallowed, but that was about all that happened. Second half saw Forest ring the changes, while Paul Lambert decided to give most of his players a full 90 minute run out. With fatigue playing a factor Forest were on top and took the lead with 20 minutes remaining through McGugan. The lead didn't last long however, as a Barry Bannan free kick bought Villa level. It didn't take long for Forest to regain the advantage however, as substitute Tudgay made an instant impact. With 10 minutes remaining the scoring was completed as McGugan's free kick beat Guzan to make the victory safe for The Reds.

It was a mad 10 minutes in a match that was largely pretty dull. After the boredom of last week's match at Telford I've been reminded why I usually go into hibernation during the pre-season period and I think will do in the future as well. After the match we went back to the hotel, before spending the night in the Trent Bridge Inn sinking pints and watching Team GB crash out of the Olympics.

Despite it being a dull friendly I was glad I finally made it to a match at The City Ground. It's a superb venue and a great club which I'm sure would be welcomed back to the top flight with open arms by the majority. With their new owners and potential new investment, it seems that good times could be just around the corner for Forest. I'd like to return one day for a competitive match.