It's amazing, and somewhat depressing, to remember that in the 1970s one's expectations of safety going to certain away games were so low that you almost resigned yourself to the possibility of getting beaten up and considered yourself fortunate if it didn't happen.
Such was my, and I suspect many Forest fans', mental state at the prospect of going down to watch Forest play away at West Ham United. We were "shitting it" to put it bluntly and, our fears turned out to be justified. More on that later.
Forest, newly top of the league, ventured down south into the capital for the second time this season and were again frustrated. At least, with Shilton installed and an established defence, we didn't concede, so Forest and their fans just felt pleased to come away from this feisty ordeal with a clean sheet on the pitch and a clean bill of health off it.
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| "We're forever blowing bubbles" - if only |
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| Cam n get yer peanats! - Cockney Clubs |
I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles
One iconic sound in British football is that of West Ham fans singing their anthem "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" which they've been doing since the late 1920s.
I'm forever blowing bubbles,
Pretty bubbles in the air,
They fly so high, nearly reach the sky,
Then like my dreams, they fade and die.
Fortune's always hiding,
I've looked everywhere,
I'm forever blowing bubbles,
Pretty bubbles in the air.
Every club has their own bastardised version of it. In the Trent End I used to sing...
We're forever blowing bubbles,
Pretty bubbles in the air,
They fly so high, they reach the sky,
Then like West Ham, they fade and die.
Arsenal's always running,
Chelsea's Shed is too,
Forest's always running,
Running after you!
West Ham's History in the League
West Ham were fairly late to join the league, in 1919 (the year "Blowing Bubbles" was first released) - that's 27 years after Forest. Once they did though, they quickly established themselves as a higher ranking club than Forest. We only finished above West Ham four seasons out of their first 27 in the league and had never had a long period of dominance over them - until the season covered by this blog. Forest were about to turn the tables on the Hammers and would finish above them 13 times out of the next 15 seasons. |
| West Ham had a better record than Forest for most of their league history |
It must be said, though, that West Ham's league dominance over Forest in the past was more to do with our failings than their greatness. Their highest position in the league, at this point, had been 6th, which they achieved three times - 1926-27, 1958-59 and 1972-73. West Ham did finish 3rd in 1985-86 and 5th in 1998-99, so it did get better for them (as it did for us, of course!).
If you had to pick a three year period to represent West Ham's "Glory Years" in terms of league position it would be the period 1997-98 to 1999-2000. By then, Forest's days of greatness were over, sadly. |
| "Nearly reach the sky..." the closest West Ham have been to being a force in the league... but for Forest "... they fade and die" |
Cup Success in Recent Years
West Ham, it seems, have always been more of Cup side. They won the FA Cup twice - in 1964 and 1975 and they'd finished runners up in the League Cup in 1966. Most impressive on West Ham's honours board is their record in Europe as a result of both times they won the FA Cup. The first time, after beating Preston North End 3-2 in the 1963-64 season, they went on to win the Cup Winners Cup, beating TSV Munich 2-0 at Wembley. As winners they got to enter it again the next season, when they reached the semi-final. If they had beaten Borussia Dortmund it would have been an all-England final against Liverpool.
When West Ham won the FA Cup in 1975, beating Fulham 2-0, they played in Europe again and went on to lose 4-2 in the Cup Winners Cup final to Anderlecht. This is the club, Forest fans will never forget, that bribed the ref to cheat us out of the UEFA Cup semi final in 1984. The match was played in the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, where Liverpool fans clashed with Juventus fans causing 39 people to be killed. As a result of the Heysel Stadium disaster, English clubs were banned from Europe until 1990.
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| West Ham - F. A. Cup Winners 1964-65 & Charity Shield Winners the next year |
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| Geoff "It is Now!" Hurst. Well, it was then |
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| Bobby Moore - A true footballing "Jesus" |
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| Cup Winners Cup Winners 1965-66 |
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| Bobby Moore lifts another big trophy at Wembley - sadly no more |
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| Almost another Cup Final next season v Liverpool in the World Cup Winning year |
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| West Ham, Wembley Winners again v Fulham in 1975 |
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| Cup Winners Cup Final v Anderlecht 1975-76 |
Trevor Brooking
The latest crop of players from the so-called "academy" (West Ham pride themselves that they are some kind of footballing gurus) included a player who missed out the first time we'd played them in the League Cup: Trevor Brooking.
Brian Clough got some stick for being quite nasty about the West Ham hero but then again, Clough did once try to sign him, so he must have rated him overall.
No-one could dispute Trevor Brooking's talents as an attacking midfield player. He won 47 caps for England, scoring 5 goals. But most impressive and endearing to the fans was his dedication to his club. Brooking made 528 appearances for West Ham, his only (football league) club.
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| "Brooking floats like a butterfly... and tackles like one too" Clough. |
No-one could dispute Trevor Brooking's talents as an attacking midfield player. He won 47 caps for England, scoring 5 goals. But most impressive and endearing to the fans was his dedication to his club. Brooking made 528 appearances for West Ham, his only (football league) club.
Y' goin t' West 'Am, youth?
So, with Trevor Brooking in the team and Forest top of the league, it was a no brainer for me to go to Upton Park for the first time, despite all the rumours that it could get nasty. Upton Park was my 36th English League ground visited. I think I must have gone by Forestrail and I think I went with two friends, probably Gary Kelly was one but I can't remember, maybe we were driven by Ian White as usual.
Anyway, in the days before the internet and social media, the only thing you had to go on was gossip and rumour and the "harder" Forest fans we knew warned us that it was a bit of a scary place to visit. So, as we approached the ground we decided not to go in the South End of the ground where the away fans usually congregate, but try to sneak in with the home fans somewhere near the half way line where, the theory goes, the fans are more civil and less likely to be hooligans.
I've adopted this strategy a few times. There are three simple rules:
1) Do not wear any colours or anything that might be taken as a sign of being an away fan. Ideally, wear the home team's colours.
2) Keep absolutely quiet.
3) If you do have to speak, do so quietly, and in the best home team accent you can do.
As we passed through the turnstiles, I must have practised my own cockney impression, a rather pathetic "fanks, mate!"
At the time I had just turned 18 but, in truth, I probably looked more like a 15 year old so I suspect there weren't many self-respecting West Ham hooligans that would have lowered themselves to attack me, even if they were to suspect I was a Forest fan. I was still high on adrenaline and its fright or flight response, though.
As the crowd and the atmosphere built up as the clock ticked towards 3 pm, a group of 200 or so Forest fans behind the goal to our right started chanting "Forest!" but within seconds their vocal support was muffled by the sound of roars coming from all round the ground, it seemed. They were attacked from all sides by West Ham yobs and soon were climbing over the wall to escape next to the pitch. They had little or no police protection. With no-where to go - these were the days before fan segregation, certainly at West Ham - they were shepherded along the side of the pitch by a few policemen to go down the players tunnel, right next to us! Presumably, they were ejected from the ground.
What was that about wanting to stand next to civil supporters on the half way line? As the Forest fans approached the half way line it seemed that everyone in the crowd around us were transformed into vicious thugs determined to go down and attack them again. Civil? You're joking!
Such lovely, nice fans. What a friendly welcome, West Ham. Thanks!
I spent the whole match absolutely petrified. I was thinking that any moment one of the yobs I was squashed next to would realise I was a Forest supporter and pass the news on to the others. I don't want to imagine what would have happened then. Perhaps I am not giving some of them enough credit. Maybe the blokes nearest to me did realise but kept quiet to keep us safe. Certainly the West Ham fans I have met elsewhere have all been really lovely, so of course, I cannot tar them all with the same brush.
Since posting this blog, I read some horrific stories of experiences at the same game from other Forest fans on the Forest Supporters' Facebook page - but also the admission that Forest fans had attacked West Ham fans when they came to Nottingham earlier in the year. This doesn't excuse the West Ham fan revenge, of course, but shows, yet again, how mindless violence is. For what it's worth, I am sorry to any West Ham fan that was caused any fear or grief in Nottingham by our own set of morons.
I can't let the subject of West Ham fans pass without mentioning the most famous caricature of one, the bigoted racist, Alf Garnett.
Anyway, in the days before the internet and social media, the only thing you had to go on was gossip and rumour and the "harder" Forest fans we knew warned us that it was a bit of a scary place to visit. So, as we approached the ground we decided not to go in the South End of the ground where the away fans usually congregate, but try to sneak in with the home fans somewhere near the half way line where, the theory goes, the fans are more civil and less likely to be hooligans.
I've adopted this strategy a few times. There are three simple rules:
1) Do not wear any colours or anything that might be taken as a sign of being an away fan. Ideally, wear the home team's colours.
2) Keep absolutely quiet.
3) If you do have to speak, do so quietly, and in the best home team accent you can do.
As we passed through the turnstiles, I must have practised my own cockney impression, a rather pathetic "fanks, mate!"
At the time I had just turned 18 but, in truth, I probably looked more like a 15 year old so I suspect there weren't many self-respecting West Ham hooligans that would have lowered themselves to attack me, even if they were to suspect I was a Forest fan. I was still high on adrenaline and its fright or flight response, though.
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| The end the Forest fans were in - all too briefly before being attacked |
What was that about wanting to stand next to civil supporters on the half way line? As the Forest fans approached the half way line it seemed that everyone in the crowd around us were transformed into vicious thugs determined to go down and attack them again. Civil? You're joking!
Such lovely, nice fans. What a friendly welcome, West Ham. Thanks!
I spent the whole match absolutely petrified. I was thinking that any moment one of the yobs I was squashed next to would realise I was a Forest supporter and pass the news on to the others. I don't want to imagine what would have happened then. Perhaps I am not giving some of them enough credit. Maybe the blokes nearest to me did realise but kept quiet to keep us safe. Certainly the West Ham fans I have met elsewhere have all been really lovely, so of course, I cannot tar them all with the same brush.
Since posting this blog, I read some horrific stories of experiences at the same game from other Forest fans on the Forest Supporters' Facebook page - but also the admission that Forest fans had attacked West Ham fans when they came to Nottingham earlier in the year. This doesn't excuse the West Ham fan revenge, of course, but shows, yet again, how mindless violence is. For what it's worth, I am sorry to any West Ham fan that was caused any fear or grief in Nottingham by our own set of morons.
I can't let the subject of West Ham fans pass without mentioning the most famous caricature of one, the bigoted racist, Alf Garnett.
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| Look... |
The Game
With all the fear of the crowd situation I couldn't really concentrate on the game but it was a lively encounter with plenty goal mouth action. Forest never came to "park the bus" like Jose Mourinho would these days. Somehow, to our relief, it ended in stalemate. I still dread to think what would have happened if Forest had scored. I am pretty sure I could have kept my passion within and maybe even feigned a cockney curse, but all it would have taken was for some angry lout to have decided to provoke one of us and it could have all turned very nasty.
So Forest escaped with a point and we got home safe and sound.
The Teams
West Ham United1 Mervyn Day, 2 Frank Lampard, 3 Paul Brush, 4 Alan Curbishley, 5 Tommy Taylor, 6 Mike McGiven, 7 Alan Devonshire, 8 Bryan "Pop" Robson, 9 John Radford, 10 Trevor Brooking, 11 Geoff Pike.
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Colin Barrett, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 Martin O'Neill, 8 Ian Bowyer, 9 Peter Withe, 10 Tony Woodcock, 11 John Robertson.
Substitutions: Archie Gemill (12) came on for Ian Bowyer (8).
Attendance: 26,128.
Other Matches that Day
Things didn't go well for Forest elsewhere that day with three of the other teams in the top four all winning.
Also, as Forest didn't score, it gave the other top strikers in the league the chance to catch up with Forest's leading scorer, Peter Withe.
So, with a point at West Ham, next up was the top-of-the-table clash with Manchester City.
Despite this, Forest stayed top of the league (spoiler: this doesn't change from now on), but their lead was cut to 2 points. I'll introduce current form tables soon, as this will get a bit boring otherwise.
Also, as Forest didn't score, it gave the other top strikers in the league the chance to catch up with Forest's leading scorer, Peter Withe.
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| First Division Top Scorers on 9th October 1977 |
Match Day Programme
West Ham's programme, at the time, was a diminutive little thing but, handily pocket sized, so was popular with most fans I knew.It's ironic that the editorial was all about the scourge of hooliganism and that they made such an effort, in text at least, to offer Forest their hospitality. It's a shame the majority of their fans didn't feel the same way. The sight of Forest's away fans being attacked and having to escape down the tunnel before the game even began - was not a "good image", Mr Pratt.
Post No 14
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