How will Nottingham Forest look to turn a toxic City Ground around and get the supporters back in full swing following the departure of Chris Hughton this week? Our very own Matthew Benton-Smith takes a look.

Nottingham Forest will certainly look to put this dismal start to the season behind them as they move on with their next chapter… chapter 28 in 17 years!

Sitting at the bottom of the Championship after seven league games… there is no wonder Nottingham Forest fans are fed up with the decline they are witnessing. After what looked to be a fresh and exciting start this season with new Chief Executive Officer, Dane Murphy joining the club and immediately starting to implement his new ideology at the City Ground… trim the wage bill and get rid of the ageing squad members. But so far, on the pitch, fans have been left angered and disappointed

Of late, the City Ground has been a toxic environment “You’re getting sacked in the morning” “We’re f***ing s**t” and “How s**t must you be it’s only one/two nil” all bellow around the City Ground as fans start to leave stadium early as, in all too familiar circumstances, the Reds lose on home turf for the fourth time this campaign. It was Neil Warnock’s Middlesbrough who this time took all three points.

Speaking to the press about the supporters following the Middlesbrough defeat Chris Hughton said “They were terrific, they got behind the team and they pushed and they reacted to things that the opposition supporters said.

“I understand it’s not comfortable, and it’s not comfortable for me … I have to take whatever criticism comes my way and it’s normal, I don’t expect anything different when we are a team that haven’t won a game this season.”

Since the return to stadiums, Reds’ fans have not had much to celebrate and have not yet seen the team win a competitive game. After over a year out of stadiums, fans would have hoped to return to what they have missed, a packed City Ground supporting a winning team. After all, the last time supporters attended before the pandemic, the team were hunting for promotion and “Sabri Lamouchi, J’adore” and “We are going up” rang around the terraces; a different atmosphere on Trentside altogether.

In fact, the last time Reds’ fans celebrated a win in the stadium, was back in February 2020. An emphatic 2-0 win over Leeds with Ameobi and Tyler Walker netting. With only 5 of the starting 11, and only eight of the eighteen-man squad still on the books at Forest and a change of management, surely there is a reason fans have come back feeling so disconnected from the club? But the question is what will it take to uplift the fans moods?

Whilst there is not much to be jolly about on Trentside at the minute, calls for Hughton’s head started soon after the return of fans, with the now infamous “Sacked in the morning” chant starting only three games into the season. Fans started to show their lack of backing for the manager, who had, let’s just say not the best start with the Reds’ faithful in the stadium. This leaves the question… where did Hughton lose the fans?

Shortly after the sacking of Sabri Lamouchi, who narrowly missed out on the play-offs when the Reds’ fans started banding names around of who they would like to see, albeit through a screen safe of covid spread, as the fresh face of the City Ground, Hughton was definitely one of those many fans wanted to succeed the Frenchman. So where did he lose the fans trust? He came in and steadied the ship and eventually achieved his target last season of keeping the side from taking the plunge to League One, rather convincingly in the end. But not all fans were happy, many branded his style of football “negative” and “backwards” and towards the end of the season, results were not looking satisfying for Reds’ fans; the slow and unattractive football just rubbing salt into the wounds.

As the Reds know to well, their 22-year exile from the Premier League has been far too long for many fans and for younger fans, all they have to cling on to is the memories their older friends and relatives talk them through, or they see on a computer screen through grainy old clips. Fans want the glory days back. It’s as simple as that! And for a club with such an esteemed history and strong following, maybe the fans are right to demand that. But what will it take to get the fans backing again? What will it take to get that loving feeling back at the world-famous City Ground?

Realistically, who knows? But Forest fans are no different to others, in the way that they want to see the passion that they show reciprocated by the players, staff and board and they want to see results. With Steve Cooper amongst Chris Wilder and John Terry named as potential replacements, fans will want to see something different and will want to see the fresh young squad that Dane Murphy is trying to produce put to use straight away. The fans want to be excited; they want to be thrilled.

In the end, and unfortunately for Hughton after fans had turned on the manager during an abysmal run of form seeing their worst start for 108 years, Hughton would have found it very difficult to get Reds’ fans backing him again. Many feel that the problems are not all to do with Hughton and that they stem higher up in the club. With questionable tactics, substitutions and a style of play that clearly didn’t best suit the squad, the board found themselves left with little option but to relieve the Irish manager of his duties.

Fans will hope, however, that the future brings them something more exciting and something they can get behind. The wish lists of managers, rumours and betting odds have started and fans will certainly hope that they get what they deserve and have been waiting over 20 years for, something to bring them back together and get the City Ground rocking once again.

*Article provided by Matthew Benton-Smith (Sports Correspondent).

*Main image @NFFC Forest fans celebrate Lewis Grabban’s goal against Cardiff.