Found That Lovin’ Feeling? Why Are Forest Fans the Most Optimistic in the Premier League?

Back in August, The Athletic published their annual Premier League hope-o-meter. Forest found themselves at the top of a table for the first time since the late nineties. 95% of Forest fans declared their optimism, beating Arsenal into a (now familiar) second place.

A few weeks ago, the editor of NottsRocks, knowing I’m a lifelong Reds fan, asked me to write a piece on why Forest fans were so optimistic about this season. In a characteristically laissez-faire mindset, I imagined the piece, was proud of my ideas, and then proceeded not to write the thing. Then, on Saturday, 14th September, Callum Hudson Odoi reminded me of the lapsed deadline by cutting inside and slotting in a goal that will be remembered on Trentside for decades.

After the historic win at Anfield, it feels silly to hop on here and tell the world why Forest fans are optimistic, but the truth is the relationship with optimism amongst Forest fans is a long and deeply personal one. I need not mention the successes of the 1970s to anyone in Nottingham, but the days of the Miracle Men (which happened before I even existed) still inform how fans see the club despite the decades of disappointment since.

In 1995, I was in my teens, and my grandad, a former coach driver who moved fans from game to game, handed me a suitcase full to bursting with Forest programmes from 1974-1982. I read every single one in bed late at night during the school holidays. They smelled like the time they were published – old paper, cigarettes and furniture polish. Up to that point, I had been disinterested in football, but that summer, I found myself living through Cloughie’s arrival, the promotion season, winning the league and the two European cups. It felt like time travel. When I returned to school in the autumn, I wrote a history paper on John Robertson, and in April the following year, I went to the City Ground for the first time (a 2-1 win against Tottenham).

By May 2007, I’d had a season ticket for the best part of ten years – in Block R in the newly named Brian Clough stand. All season the hope amongst fans had been that Forest would clamber out of League One at the second time of asking. The Reds had beaten Yeovil at Huish Park in the first leg of the playoff semi-finals, 2-0, no less. Surely, getting to the final was a formality – then, and this still stings a little to think about, Forest somehow lost the home tie 5-2. It was the first time I cried at a football match – the deflation after so much hope felt like grief.

Few fans of other Premier League clubs can sympathise with the kinds of extremes Forest fans have been subjected to. To us, Forest spent the wilderness years unjustly separated from the English footballing elite. Forest fans used to consider Liverpool and Manchester United their equals (even if this was never reciprocated), but within living memory, we’ve watched as the team struggled in the Johnstone Paints Trophy and despaired as they finished the pandemic season doing the one (extremely unlikely) thing they had to do to miss out the Championship playoffs.

With a team like Forest, with all this history, the fans never really stop hoping—because the highs have felt so high, and the lows have hurt so much. Every season starts with optimism—the story we tell ourselves is never realistic. This is why we fans claim injustice when things turn out badly, why we become so attached to charismatic players and managers, and why we are proudly noisy on match days.

My relationship with the club is as personal as my relationship with my grandad – and the feelings of hope and grief inspired by Forest speak to the same feelings of hope and grief I felt around his passing more than twenty years ago, only a couple of years after handing over that suitcase. Those few years had been powerful; amidst that loss, I had started a relationship with Forest that would last for my lifetime.

In truth, there are many reasons why Forest fans are more optimistic this season than last (impressively selected signings, issues being resolved around the City Ground, genuinely enjoyable social media content, fast-flowing attacking football, etc.), but for me, the optimism never fades—because it lives with me on my childhood bed, smelling of old paper, cigarettes, and furniture polish.

Written by Andy Batson.

Image: The Athletic Hope-O-Meter