The Day Forest & Notts Both Played At Home

It seems nobody is really sure of the facts, but one thing for certain, we think, is that it has been well over 30 years since Nottingham Forest and Notts County played on the same day at home in a competitive football match. Last night, Wednesday 15^th December 2020 for the first time in my life time at least, both teams played at home, kicking off at the same time (7:45pm), in what felt like a monumental moment for two of English football’s closest geographical teams.

Separated by the River Trent and no more than a few hundred yards of earth, Meadow Lane to the north and the City Ground on the south bank with both stadiums to the west of Lady Bay and the east of Trent Bridge, the cities two biggest football teams often play their home football matches on separate days due largely to policing and the fact the two grounds are so close together it would be a nightmare to bring fans of four football clubs into the city at the same time. But last night, like much of 2020 of course, it was different, there were no fans, so there were no issues to play the two teams, at the same time, at the same place, and you’ll have to go back a long-long way to find out the last time that happened.

Sunday May 15^th 1988 was the last time ‘I remember’ Notts and Forest playing home on the same day, but back then the kick off times wouldn’t collide, Forest played Luton Town in the old Football League First Division, the top flight, the game had twice been called off, I should know, the initial encounter was supposedly the first ever football match I would go to…

The original game was scheduled for mid-November 1987 but as the mist rolled in from the Trent on a foggy Autumnal day, the match was postponed moments before kick-off, I remember the excited walk with my dad to the ground over Lady Bay, the climb up the stairs to the upper tier in the old Executive Stand, the smell of the burgers, the programme stand, then walking through the concrete stand entrance into the cold, the echo on the tannoy, fans finding their seats, nothing below, just a blanket of white smoke, cold air, a feint number two of Steve Chettle on the near touchline warming up. The game postponed by an announcement, the disappointment, my first taste of football, I suppose quite fitting the mist rolled in that day to such an effect, I couldn’t even get to watch my favourite team play.

Our tandem ticket still valid, the game was also postponed at a later date, instead Forest would play Reading in a Simod Cup match in February, so with no time else to fit the match in to the hectic 1987/88 campaign, the game was eventually put to the end of the season and a few days after Forest had played Luton at Kenilworth Road, a 12pm kick off, ironically on the same day Notts were also at home in the Third Division playoffs against Walsall.

This time we didn’t make the warm up, by the time I got to the City Ground with my dad we had already missed Luton’s goal, they were one up within minutes but I remember Neil Webb smashing one in front of the old Trent End below to level the game and end the season in the spring sun in front of 21,055 with a draw.

We walked back to the car, probably a burgundy red Ford Escort Mk2 back then? Parked of course in the Cattle Market Car Park, and as we walked back we noticed ‘others with scarfs not of Forest or Luton’ walking towards the County Ground.

Notts of course were in action later that day, even back then I was surprised to see it, as I knew aged nine and a half that Notts and Forest always alternated weekends. I remember asking my dad ‘can we go to that too’… “Next time” he said… 32 years has been a long wait…

John Barnwell’s County lost their playoff match with Walsall 1-3 in front of 11,522 and later drew their second leg to crash out, but there was another ‘more memorable’ occasion that some might have better recollection of when both sides played on the same day, back seven years previous, thanks largely to ‘luck of the draw’ in the FA Cup.

Brian Clough’s Champions of Europe would take on Bolton Wanderers in a thrilling 3-3 draw at the City Ground in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday January 3^rd 1981 as Notts, going well in the old Second Division beat Blackburn in the same competition 2-1, in a 2pm kick off (an hour before Forest’s match) designed to ease crowd congestion on the day.

But even back then, kick off times were different, which makes last nights adjacent matches ever more remarkable, and even more so, as Forest beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-0, Notts seeing off Stockport in a 1-0 win, both teams winning on the same day, one fan jokingly asking the question ‘you might need to go even further back to find the last time that happened’.

So one for the historians before I leave you… Saturday 26th November 1949, Notts County beat Tilbury 4-1 in the FA Cup First Round with Tommy Lawton, Jackie Sewell and two from Frank Broome on target for the Magpies in front of 28,584 at Meadow Lane. Same time, same city and just across the river, Forest played Bristol City in the same competition winning 1-0 in front of 15,567.

I make that 71 years the last time before last night that Forest and Notts played at the same time at home and both won… If anyone can better it with even more impressive information, please let me know!