Well, it's been a while hasn't it? Unfortunately settling in to a new job has left me little recreation time, but it's not all bad, especially when I get to complete another task!
I've supported Nottingham Forest football club since I was three years old and from the ages of about 18-24 pretty much lived my life down at the City Ground, watching my team week in week out. Then I guess life took over, my friends stopped going, I went out more, discovered boys and drinking, as you do, but I still supported them from afar.
I think in all my times of going down to watch them, I must have sat in every stand at some point, but the pinnacle to me was always a seat in an Executive box. I can't explain why I wanted to watch from there, but it just seemed so luxurious compared to the rough and tumble of the stands and there was also that aspect of it being so unobtainable, after all, it cost a small fortune to hire one out.
I haven't been to a match at Nottingham Forest for well over ten years due to the fact that football doesn't feature so heavily in my life any more, plus my husband cannot stand the game, so I sort of got out of the habit of not watching it even when it was on TV. But occasionally some thing happened that meant I drove over Trent Bridge and I would look at the ground and it would just bring back a flood of memories of the times I spent there. Then I got this new job, working for a non profit organisation and I had to liaise with the football clubs in Nottingham and suddenly I was back at the ground, reliving the memories and well I may have mentioned to my contact if there was any possibility of getting a seat in an Exec box. They did one better! I got a call on Friday to say that we had a whole box to our selves to do with what we wished. So I rang around and managed to sell some tickets with all proceeds going to the charity. So on Tuesday against Burnley, which is not possibly the most glamorous match in the world, we drove to the ground and we being my husband and me - yes I got him to his first ever Forest match!
We were greeted on arrival and given tickets to the box and a free match day programme, purchased a drink and then went to our box. It was a lot smaller than what I'd anticipated - it seats 8 but I think you would be struggling to get 8 big blokes in there. Incredibly nice though to just sit and chill and watch the stadium fill up in front of you and not having to wear layer upon layer of clothing to stay warm on a cold Nottingham evening. What was even better was the fact that there was a TV in the room and once the match started it switched to the Nottingham Forest match also on the screen so you got a commentary as you watched the match. It also gave me chance to people watch big time, as you could see into each box (I would presume so you haven't got restricted view of the pitch). There is obviously still quite a lot of money around Nottingham as the woman in the box next to me had a multitude of designer accessories including a sort after Chanel hand bag!
It was a pretty dire first half I have to admit but second half saw it liven up with two goals by Forest to seal the victory. It was almost like old times seeing them win again - I half expected Psycho to come running down the left flank, but it was not to be...So my first ever Executive box match at Forest was a success. I certainly don't think it was any less of any atmosphere being in the box than sitting outside in the stands and it's certainly something that I wouldn't mind doing again. Plus all ticket monies sold went straight to the charity I work for - even better!
