On Friday night at the City Ground, fans rallied together to precisely place a series of huge flags and banners in the Trent End stand ready for the following days hotly contested ‘derby game’ with the auld enemy from west A52.

Forza Garibaldi are the genius behind the work of also previous unbelievable graphics that have been displayed wonderfully at the City Ground NG2, notably on Armistice Day in 2019 ahead of the same match, Nottingham Forest verses Derby County, when the club remembered those that sacrificed their lives in combat with a colourful display, in the green, gold & claret of the Sherwood Foresters that fittingly represent both counties of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

That same season against Leeds United the club unveiled a huge ‘This is Nottingham’ banner prior to a famous 2-0 win, against Derby, in previous seasons, the Reds have displayed colourful and sometimes political creations that have left imposing visionary on their opponents and fans, but this one, Saturday 22^nd January 2022, was the best of the bunch, yet.

On creating the design ahead of Saturday’s encounter which ended in memorable victory for the Reds, Forza Garibaldi explained “It’s been a long road since the last tifo we unveiled. Planning for this one began properly in December and took many hours to visualise and design”.

“Special mention to Matt Jones and Paul Caygill for overseeing the artwork and transforming the idea into something amazing”.

“We also owe considerable thanks to Dan who illustrated a magnificent looking Robin Hood which eventually came to life on a 26x22m banner in the Upper Trent End.”

Below that stunning dark mysterious and fearsome looking outlaw graphic draped across the middle section of the stand was a banner that stretched the width of the pitch which said ‘Welcome To Our Forest Kingdom’ and included from left to right, famous iconic city locations such as Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem, Wollaton Hall, Nottingham Castle, the Theatre Royal, Council House, Lions and Old Market Square, the Brian Clough Statue, a Gentleman No Swearing Sign, St Mary’s Church and Greens Windmill in Sneinton.

Below that, in the Trent End Lower Tier was a series of 33 separate tree banners that stated a hidden message ‘Nottingham Forest Are Magic Are Magic’ with each including the squad number, country flag and player name of each and every player at the club, as well as those in the Management too, with flowers at the foot of the tree located to the individuals birthplace.

Forza Garibaldi stating “local players banners contained the Nottingham catchfly flower such as the one for Joe Worrall” whilst that of Head Coach Steve Cooper included the famous Welsh daffodils.

On the tremendous efforts of putting together the flags and banners ahead of the game, Forza Garibaldi said “As always we relied on the commitment and generosity of peoples time to set up ready for matchday. It was a long night on Friday, especially having to knock off while the BBC filmed in the City Ground so we didn’t give the game away. We are really grateful for the help”.

“Of course we are also appreciative of the co-operation from Nottingham Forest Football Club, special, special thanks also to the Manager Steve Cooper who waited for us at the City Ground on Friday afternoon to thank us for our efforts”.

“Our final thanks go to the Trent End and everyone else who participated with scarves across the ground. It looked very special with everyone joining in.”

“The understanding and goodwill of our fellow fans doesn’t half help. People jumping out their seats to lend a hand is amazing.”

From minute one of waking up on the brightest of January Saturday mornings with the buzz of derby air to hitting the sack late at night and spending Sunday most probably nursing a hangover of booze filled emotion that stank of pride and reflection on a great day previous.

Everything about Saturday was a great advertisement, for Nottingham Forest Football Club at it’s very best, the fans, the wonderful fans holding red & white scarves blasting out Mull of Kintyre to it’s loudest ever rendition, with people living as far as two miles away saying they could even hear the cheers from Brennan Johnson’s goal, Forest players going about their business as they seem to ‘always’ do under Steve Cooper’s stewardship, doing the good (thanks largely to the delightfully talented Brennan Johnson), the bad (with a little derby naughtiness from Lewis Grabban), and the ugly (in Brice Samba taking a big bump to his head for the cause), in order to win on the day no matter what it takes, the whole club deserves a mention from top to bottom, a side bustling with pride from within, it’s been a long time certainly to have our name in lights, but people (since Arsenal) are starting to notice, and remember, that Nottingham Forest Football Club is more than just a name with a few great memories.

For what is becoming ‘now’ under Steve Cooper, for what it has become with thanks to those partisan fans, the best supporters in the world who follow through thick and thin, home and away, with those including followers in Brazil, South America, Canada and the US, the club is rapidly becoming the trendiest cult in English football and is now more than ever reaching far and wide to even the most famous with the likes of Liam Gallagher spending time to watch and tweet and acknowledge, for also Idris Elba to witness his own boys taking a beating, and that global star acknowledgment included, largely down to playing the right way, in the right manner, with guts, fight, a bit of sh*t housery and some quality on the pitch too, and doing the right things, not just on but off the pitch, from everybody involved at the club from fans to owners, from flag bearers to tifo creators, everybody right now is singing from the same Nottingham Forest football hymn sheet, which goes a little bit like an ABBA hit.

Three fists in the air for Super Cooper, and one very big one to Forza Garibaldi and to the City Ground faithful, that went the extra mile to help their team pull off yet another Derby win by producing an imposing and intimidating atmosphere which only a ‘cult football club’ can do… 1,604 days and counting… The Brian Clough Trophy is still OURS….

Next up promotion targets, and a long last gaping void of 23 years absence from the Premier League, where near ‘everyone’ bar Rams fans seems to want us to be? It would certainly be a better league with a club like Forest and it’s fantastic supporters in it. And on that front, I for one wouldn’t put it past this marvelous team to give us something more to celebrate this season.

*Article provided by Daniel Peacock (Editor).

*Main image @Forza_Garibaldi the stunning and imposing Trent End ahead of the Derby clash.