![\"Stephen-Parker](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nottinghamsport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Stephen-Parker.png?resize=150%2C150\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\nThere was a time (well before the advent of the internet) when newspapers traditionally published football league tables after the first three games. Not any more! Hype, micro-coverage and the speed of information gathering-and-giving have combined to make us hunger (apparently!) for measurements of success and failure even before some teams have kicked a ball. All part of the pressure of modern-day football and, by definition, modern-day living.<\/p>\n
The weekend before the Premiership started, my Sunday newspaper gave a generous number of column inches to supporter-pundits of the twenty teams that make up the league this year and it made for depressing reading. Every individual had Liverpool or Manchester City as Champions or runners-up. Clubs to be relegated? Bournemouth, Fulham and Forest were almost everyone\u2019s chosen three, with the odd appearance by Leeds or Southampton. The remaining two Champions League qualifying places – i.e. 3rd and 4th – were predicted to be contested between Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham. That\u2019s it. No dissenting voices.<\/p>\n
Has football at this level really become so predictable that twenty voices can virtually agree on each key end-of-season position even without consultation? The answer, I\u2019m afraid, is yes. The cartel is alive and well.<\/p>\n
Newcastle United, victors over the Reds on Saturday, are likely this year\u2019s \u2018pretenders\u2019. Having in their kitty a fortune and being basically bankrolled by the bottomless-pocket of Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, they might push for a top-six place but don\u2019t put money on it.<\/p>\n
The supporter-voices in the extensive Sunday article were also asked about their favourite and least-favourite ground to visit. Forest – well, the City Ground, to be precise – received the most positive votes. That won\u2019t change! Worst venue by most pundits was deemed to be West Ham\u2019s London Stadium. The message is clear: Nottingham needs to become a fortress to match its popularity, a venue feared by the great and not-so-great!<\/p>\n
I remember when such wishful-thinking was reality. In particular, the home fixture against Newcastle United in March 1978 comes to mind, mostly because I was there. One of the very few games I attended that season (living away from Nottingham at the time) there was a very pleasant sense of inevitably about the whole afternoon, from the pre-match pint with my dad and brother, to the outcome of the game.\u00a0 Forest cruised – and I mean exactly that – to a 2-0 win and it could have been many more. Newcastle went on to be relegated and the gulf in class was certainly evident that day. Forest, as if any Reds\u2019 fan needs reminding, went on to be champions.<\/p>\n
And, since we\u2019re now back in the \u201977-78 season, who would have bet that Forest would finish top of the pile a year after they\u2019d scraped promotion from Division Two? Even my cut-me-open-and-I\u2019d-blead-Forest dad didn\u2019t fancy their chances until Christmas. This year – flash-forward forty-odd seasons – and that festive time will be the end of part one of the Premiership (World Cup in-between, remember) and who knows what the league table will show? After last season\u2019s Championship adventure which saw Forest rise from the ashes like a phoenix after Steve Cooper\u2019s appointment, there will be a twinkle in the eye of City Ground fans. The circumstances are different, of course, but hope is a word that got rediscovered last year.<\/p>\n
One game gone and Forest are in the bottom three. No pressure there, then! Well, actually, no. Media sports-writers will salivate over early struggles and dreams unravelling (it\u2019s only August!) but we all know how long a season – this season – is and will consider each game and result on its merits. At least for a while.<\/p>\n
The Leicester City supporter-voice in the article provided the one critical comment to set Nottingham fuming in the \u2018best and worst grounds\u2019 section. His worst away trip? \u201cThere\u2019s only so many times I can hear the tannoy welcome me to the \u2018world-famous City Ground\u2019 without dying of laughter.\u201d (Sound like sour grapes after last year\u2019s thrashing of the Foxes in the FA Cup?) If that\u2019s not motivation enough to put fire in the bellies of Forest players, I don\u2019t know what is! The highlights and successes of all those years – decades – ago are part of a proud past now. But the current vibes from the club are good, the City Ground will soon be in full-swing and the stands will be resonating with the collective voice of hope.<\/p>\n
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