A Short History

I was born in Norfolk in the early stages of the WWII, my father was a professional soldier. In the latter stages of the war he was posted to Egypt, mother and I went along, too.

In late 1948 we came home and he was posted to Nottingham. We lived in Hilton Road at first and I went to Mapperley Plains infants School. I had never been to school before and was way behind. We soon moved to a new house on Melbury Road in Woodthorpe (for some odd reason, now called Wensley Road) and I moved schools to Waverley School, which I think was located on Hamilton Road, Sherwood Rise. This was a vain attempt to catch up on my education, but I think it failed. I have always been way behind others of my year, which has had the knock-on effect of several interesting jobs which I would never have had if I had settled into suburban stagnation.

Because I wasn't from Nottingham and had moved houses and schools, I had few friends, certainly none who were interested in sport. I liked cricket and football. I used to be allowed to go to Trent Bridge to watch Notts play. For us young lads there was plenty of space on the grass in front of the big scoreboard at the Radcliffe Road end. I struck up a nodding aquaintance with a few others there and learned about football clubs nearby. No floodlight pylons in those days to guide me. My first football foray was to see if I could find the Nottingham Forest ground because it was close to the cricket ground, but I finished up at Meadow Lane. Notts County had signed Tommy Lawton and were supposedly on the up and up, moving into Div 2 whilst Forest were in Div 3 (S).

I persisted and eventually found the City Ground, went to a match and was hooked.

We soon moved away from Nottingham, to Hamburg, in 1951. I kept my interest in Forest, however, through the years. Sadly I never again lived in or anywhere near Nottingham. I never even had a job which allowed me to visit the City Ground on a regular basis. However, the flame burnt brightly and I kept in touch via the BBC World Service, the telephone when short wave reception faded and the newspapers. Then came the computer age and contact was possible on a much more regular basis.

During those years I made irregular visits to Forest at home or, mostly, away. It became a dream to one day have a season ticket, even if only for one season.

It has now become possible. Sadly, my wife of 43 years died last year and I am retired. So, I have saved up a few pennies and soon I shall buy that season ticket. I am using the excuse that it is in place of a summer holiday for the next couple of years.

I shall also try to go to every away game and, in the process, visit all the other 91 league grounds. At my stage of life it is highly unlikely I shall complete the ideal of doing all 92 with Forest. Also, how can you complete a full set these days with clubs dropping in and out of the league every year? So I am going to do the 92 as at 2013/14.

This blog is my private diary of the season. If I can cope with the technology, I might even add a picture or two. Of course, being a blog, anyone can read it and comment on it, but don't expect it to be interesting or a literary masterpiece.

The wait begins for the most exciting stage of the season, the release of the fixture list on June 19th. That is when the real planning starts. I have made several false starts because I'm so keen to get going, the map is up on the cork board, coloured pins locating clubs from the four divisions (the different colours showing which division the club is in, of course) and lists of clubs pinned to a separate cork board. Bit like Winston Churchill's War Room. Cheap hotels have been checked out on Trip Adviser and route planning sorted via several route planning websites. But it all depends on June 19.