"We Hate Nottingham Forest ..." But How Did It Come to This?

ALL TOGETHER NOW …

OK, first thing, hate is a strong word, too strong for what is after all a sport, a game, albeit a tribal, partisan, passionate one, and used too much. Of course the reason for its use here is as an extract from a song that you all know (Forest fans know it too, they’ve heard it quite a lot. Their fans always responded with “AND NOTTINGHAM FOREST HATE YOU YOU BASTARDS!” whenever we sang it, and they still do.)

The point is, we didn't hate them when we first started singing the song (unlike the other two named in it, Everton and Man Utd). Forest were cause for indifference at best, they were just too insignificant to us to generate hatred or heat. Their name only appeared in the song because it just happened to fit. It scanned. No other reason.

Until 1977/78.

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