Football Ground Guide: Fan's Ground Reviews, City Ground, Nottingham

City Ground - Nottingham Forest
Saturday 19th March 2003
Vs Derby County, Division One, 7.45pm
By Adam New

1. Why you were looking forward to going to the ground (or not as the case may be)

As A Derby County fan, I had been to my first big East Midlands derby earlier in the season, a 0-0 draw at Pride Park which left me eagerly awaiting the return match at the City Ground, but 4 hours before kick off I had no ticket and they were sold out, I had resigned myself to the fact I wouldn't be going when the phone rang and one of my mates had got a spare ticket, and hour and a few beers later we were heading towards the train station already in fine voice.

2. How easy was your journey/finding the ground/car parking

We arrived at Nottingham Station to be greeted by a police escort which was no real surprise, however as this was a night game and a local derby, it made you extra nervous, well it did me anyway, as very early on in the night I could tell this would be a lot more eventful than my trip to Leicester earlier in the season. So we set off through the streets still singing away, having a small skirmish when we met some Forest fans on the way but nothing serious, and then for some bizarre reason the police took us right past the ground down the road to a pub. Yes a pub which the police had filled with Derby fans, after a quick pitstop to use the toilets, the group of ten of us decided against staying in a pub which was over flowing out of all doors full of extremely rowdy Derby fans, We walked alone as a group to the ground with no trouble at all, we even asked directions to the Derby end from Forest fans, to which we received a polite, round that corner mate, which was a nice surprise.

3. What you did before the game pub/chippy.... home fans friendly?

Once we got into the ground that was when things started to do go a bit downhill. First it was to the toilets where the first thing I saw was a teenager of around 15/16 being held up by I think by his father with some blood coming out of his nose, apparently there had been some trouble outside the ticket office and this lad had got a knock. Next I went to get a burger which was tasty and enjoyed that in a quite spacious concourse, which I was quite surprised about, I don't know where all the Derby fans were, but it was a different story when I went down at half time.

4. What you thought on seeing the ground, first impressions of away end then other sides of the ground

Into the stands we went and I saw it was one of these away fans in the lower tier, home fans in the upper tier places, something I don't personally like, though it's not as bad as Wolves if your in the side stand. Overall the ground looked quite good from the inside. On the walk there we saw the Trent End backing onto the Trent, in the darkness, just dimly lit by the surrounding lights it looked really nice. Though I think I was the only one appreciating it though!

5. Comment on the game itself, atmosphere, stewards, pies, toilets etc..

The game from the view of a Derby County fan was a terrible one, a 3-0 defeat to the local rivals was not a pleasant thing to watch. The atmosphere was electric as you would expect, and I must give major credit too the Forest fans, the noise was coming from all areas of the ground, unlike Derby where it just comes from one stand mostly, the Derby fans started in fine voice, tailed away for a bit but were back by the end, after all we had been getting used to losing. The stewards generally went unnoticed to me, which to me is a very good thing, the only time I saw them is when about 10 piled out of the back of the Forest end and into the Derby end during half time, not sure what happened but it soon died down. Overall the stewards at Forest were much better than I see at Pride Park week in week out, but most are.

6. Comment on getting away from the ground

Now this is where the real nightmare begins, after the game we get told we're being kept behind, it seems the Nottingham police had the same genius idea as the Derbyshire police earlier in the season. Anyway we made our way outside the ground to see a brick wall one side and a wall of police vans on the other side with a tiny gap in which they were letting people out of 2 by 2. 30 minutes later and we were still trying to get out, as you would expect the Derby fans were getting pretty impatient and then I heard someone shout CHARGE! and the crowd pushed forward, which was most worrying. Thankfully for me, I wasn't that far away from the gap and I got pushed right through it, but people behind were looking very worried. The Police though were quick to react and they moved their vans to let people through. I just hope they don't do that sort of thing anymore, of letting the fans out slowly, because it is not a clever idea, especially at 10:30 pm. That was not the end of the fun as it then took us a further 20-30 minutes to get back to the train station, it probably seemed worse than it was because we didn't know where we was going. And then to cap it all when we got back to Derby it took us 45 minutes to get a taxi.

7. Summary of overall thoughts of the day out.

All though it was far from being a perfect night out, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, there is nothing that compares with a local derby, there was a few hairy moments around the ground, which come with a local match, but overall it wasn't too bad. I never went last year, but fully intend on going this year, and hopefully seeing a better result which will lead too a much more enjoyable day. And I'm sure when it's not a derby day the approach to the ground would be a lot different and more friendly.

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