Xmas Pre-Match – Bolton, Saturday 9th December
Come all ye Forest faithful!
The final FG meet of 2017 will be at Southbank City (Friar Lane) on 9th December before the Bolton game. This is the last home game before Christmas so we’ll try our best to make it a good one with a bit of festive cheer.
There’s a fair bit planned – we’ll be starting at 11am with a happy hour on drinks through until noon so get in early and stock up. We’ve also got a performance from Deke Hardman on guitar. After his little set at the open mic we did at the Trent Nav back in August we asked him to return. Deke will hopefully taking us through a few old Forest classics and maybe the odd new one too…
We won’t be revealing too much now but there will be lots happening between 11am and 2pm. Something we would like to draw your attention to though is that we will be hosting a live podcast with our pals at Forever Forest TV. This will take place at 10am before we kick off properly and will be live on stage. We aim to make it a bit of a free for all over a few bacon cobs, with some decent debate and a bit of fun. We realise 10am will be way too early for some of you and nor do we really want a packed house because no-one will hear a thing but any early-birds are more than welcome to come along and watch / participate. Should be good.
Above all we need people along again. The attendance at these things has been staggering this season, hundreds rammed into various venues. It’s the slightly chaotic nature we love about these gatherings – just like when that chap climbed on stage at the Bierkeller, interrupted the band and started singing ‘She wore a scarlet ribbon’. We want more of that (don’t all jump on stage) – these meet-ups are at their best when they just… happen.
Anyone, of any age is welcome to come along. As long as you are a Forest fan. And even that’s not compulsory. These gatherings continue to grow and with new faces each and every time – this isn’t some members only thing or a group of close mates, we hardly know anyone. But they capture something which we feel is a very big part of Forest; the community side. We also hope they offer a bit of something for most people – come along and watch a bit of live music, get talking to your fellow Forest fans or sing your heart out for a few hours. Ideally all three but we aren’t precious!
Finally – we are keen to start making some real strides in the ground. It’s been difficult to make the difference this season because, in truth, crowds have been flat and it’s been difficult to cajole and encourage, especially when performances have been inconsistent. We aren’t ultras – we won’t be bringing a drum in or handing out clappers and so we are restricted into how we improve the atmosphere. We will grow this naturally over time. It will 
be small steps and it needs lots of people to buy into it. Don’t sit on Twitter or in the ground complaining about the lack of noise, do something to contribute positively. We have some big things coming into 2018 but we all need to up our game immediately.
With this in mind we are going to be flying the flags in Lower Bridgford before kick-off and we are encouraging you all, wherever you sit, to bring your own banners, flags and scarves. There were some tremendous sights towards the end of last season with supporters responding to this and we’d like to create another positive atmosphere. It’s been a rollercoaster year; let’s finish it on a high in the stands. There have been times in 2017 when we have all made the difference in games, we just need to make that a more regular occurrence.
Hopefully see you there on the 9th. We would very much recommend that you get to Southbank City as soon as you can because things will be happening from an early stage. And feel free to turn up in your Xmas jumpers if you wish.
YOU REDS!