We all play ‘What if …?’ once in a while, some people more than others. Sometimes with mates in the pub, sometimes with our family, sometimes it’s like a game in our own head. ‘What would have happened if we hadn’t moved to this or that town?’ ‘What if I’d taken the job I turned down?’ Robert Frost’s memorable poem called ‘The Road Not Taken’ captures the spirit of choices, decisions – and consequences – we make through our lives.

‘Two roads diverged in a yellow wood / And sorry I could not travel both …,’ he writes and goes on to explore how the chosen route will soon lead to other decisions. There will be no turning back but it doesn’t stop us wondering how a different path might have shaped life in other ways. We can’t – to use that old and familiar phrase – ‘turn the clock back’ but we can reflect, remember and review.

A related bit of thinking we humans – and particularly football fans! – get up to is pondering the ‘If only …,’ scenario. If ‘What if …?’ is concerned with options and a sense of control, ‘If only …’ is freighted with chance as much as regret, a feeling the fates are at work, a kind of lament. It’s speculation of a different order where it’s more likely that things just happened to turn out this or that way. Still, the past can inform the future and, where sport is concerned – as in life – that can be a crucial element in improving performance. It’s all to do with addressing ‘fine margins’ in striving for success.

In athletics, sprinters break records by slivers of stop-clock time. They’re fine margins. In cycling’s Tour de France, Britain’s Team Sky rode to success on the mantra of fine margins. Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome (four times) and Geraint Thomas won the Yellow Jersey in a golden period between 2012-2018. In football, fine margins come thick and fast. Whatever team we support, the memory-bank is full of ‘If only …’
moments.

Which brings me to Forest. Even for the Reds, it’s been a tumultuous past week. As one team and then another (Wolves, Bournemouth and Crystal Palace), seem to have secured enough points to stave off relegation, the rest are left like rats in a bag to fight for survival. Never mind Manchester City strutting their way to yet another league championship (and the rest) victory. The real Premiership pressure is at the bottom!

So many things in our culture come in threes. Three wishes, three wise men, three prophecies given to Shakespeare’s Macbeth by the witches. Three games for Forest – but not three defeats! In midweek, Brighton (riding a wave of wins this season) left their bright white ‘Amex’ (American Express) stadium sat in the picturesque South Downs and made for the City Ground. These days, the Reds’ home is justifiably earning a reputation as a ‘fortress’, not so much for victories as for atmosphere. The Seagulls snatched a first-half lead but, to judge from the intensity of encouragement and support from the stands, you’d never know. And that sustained sense of optimism turned to jubilation as Forest ran out 3-1 winners come the final whistle. As punters in the press would report, ‘that’s three massive points for relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest’.

That victory was sandwiched, as if we need reminding, between two Saturday defeats but it’s the manner of the defeats that’s worth recalling. First, it needs to be said that Forest fans took their magnificent support with them to Liverpool, matched by the spirit of a gesture that spoke volumes in its few words. When they unfurled a banner at 3.06pm reading: ‘Respect the 97. Solidarity with survivors. No to Tragedy Chanting’, Anfield responded with warm applause. Both sets of supporters are bound by the Hillsborough tragedy and this was a reminder of what it means to share a passion for football. It was also a time – be it a solemn one – to acknowledge that loss of life in an FA Cup semi-final in 1989 as both an ultimate ‘What if …?’ and ‘If only …’ moment.

Back on the pitch, Forest twice fought back from a goal down. Even after Salah gave Liverpool a 3-2 lead, Johnson must have reflected on just how thick a crossbar is after his delightful lob bounced away from goal. Plenty of fight in Forest, then, but some serious homework to be done on defending set-pieces.

A week later and Forest head south to Brentford who, since their promotion, have worked wonders to establish themselves in the Premiership. A tough fixture for Forest and yet – despite their dismal away record – they defended a 1-0 lead until a late brace by the home side, including an agonising VAR wait over their last goal. That left the Reds pointless on their travels again. ‘It’s a tough one to take,’ said Forest manager Steve Cooper. ‘I felt the game would be decided on small margins and decision-making.’ He would have been forgiven if he’d added an ‘If only …’ comment.

*Article provided by Stephen Parker (Nottingham Forest Correspondent).

*Main image @NFFC Danilo celebrates his goal at the weekend which in the end, led to nothing.