Utrecht Away

[Wayde van Kneejerk]

Madness. The mind boggles at fans booking days of annual leave, spending hundreds on an overseas away day then trying to leave before witnessing our first winning goal away in Europe in thirty years.


What has happened to football supporters?


I know fans have always left early. There's a ton of fans who went to Forest v Luton NYD 1992 and left before Des scored. But there seems barely a ground in the PL now that doesn't shed 20-30% of it's spectators when the home side goes two down on 80 minutes.


A lot of fans seem incapable of being in a ground on the final whistle if their team is likely to lose. At Utrecht it appears just the thought of losing was too much for some. The old supporting "through thick and thin" is bygone thinking. Now if you get behind your team when they're losing you're a "happy clapper".


Not one of us will have thought when Brighton scored their second in the 88th minute at the CG last month that we'd avoid defeat. There were still another ten minutes of football played after that goal though. Unlikely barnstorming comebacks do occasionally happen, but they aren't going to when the players have seen the fans give up and run away. I'm convinced there must be fewer late comebacks in the top flight than there used to be as teams now have to make that happen with their fans already waving white flags halfway back to their cars.


That's a bit of rant, sorry. We're no better or worse than than the bulk of the PL. I do find it sad though when the players are applauding a Pontins League sized crowd after a defeat even if they've played all right and been unlucky. We lap it up when the players talk about the fans being special, but there's nothing special in those moments. Interested in people's opinions - am I really just an old stereotype thinking this used to be better, or has it become far worse?

 

[Strummer]

So that's all right then?

Of course you pays your money and takes your choice. But still. All that way and attempt to leave early.

Bristol City away 2021 - the Lyle Taylor turnaround that arguably lit the touch paper for the modern era, springs to mind.

Westley Morgan in the last minute against N. County in the cup is another one.

 

[Strummer]

Madness. The mind boggles at fans booking days of annual leave, spending hundreds on an overseas away day then trying to leave before witnessing our first winning goal away in Europe in thirty years.


What has happened to football supporters?


I know fans have always left early. There's a ton of fans who went to Forest v Luton NYD 1992 and left before Des scored. But there seems barely a ground in the PL now that doesn't shed 20-30% of it's spectators when the home side goes two down on 80 minutes.


A lot of fans seem incapable of being in a ground on the final whistle if their team is likely to lose. At Utecht it appears just the thought of losing was too much for some. The old supporting "through thick and thin" is bygone thinking. Now if you get behind your team when they're losing you're a "happy clapper".


Not one of us will have thought when Brighton scored their second in the 88th minute at the CG last month that we'd avoid defeat. There were still another ten minutes of football played after that goal though. Unlikely barnstorming comebacks do occasionally happen, but they aren't going to when the players have seen the fans give up and run away. I'm convinced there must be fewer late comebacks in the top flight than there used to be as teams now have to make that happen with their fans already waving white flags halfway back to their cars.


That's a bit of rant, sorry. We're no better or worse than than the bulk of the PL. I do find it sad though when the players are applauding a Pontins League sized crowd after a defeat even if they've played all right and been unlucky. We lap it up when the players talk about the fans being special, but there's nothing special in those moments. Interested in people's opinions - am I really just an old stereotype thinking this used to be better, or has it become far worse?

One thing I have noticed after watching a fair few games in the Bundesliga at various stadia is that this sort of behaviour is nowhere near as common in German football.

Indeed, it’s more that fans will congregate in the stadium, especially behind the goal where typically the hard-core support is, to celebrate/commiserate with the players at the final whistle.

However what I would say is that public transport options are significantly better here than you’d typically find near English stadia, so there’s no mad rush to get away, post-match.

When I go and watch my local side, I can amble out of the Neckarstadion just after full time and wander up to the tram stop and it’s never more than a few minutes wait before there is a tram there, ready to go.

 

[DB1702]

Madness. The mind boggles at fans booking days of annual leave, spending hundreds on an overseas away day then trying to leave before witnessing our first winning goal away in Europe in thirty years.


What has happened to football supporters?


I know fans have always left early. There's a ton of fans who went to Forest v Luton NYD 1992 and left before Des scored. But there seems barely a ground in the PL now that doesn't shed 20-30% of it's spectators when the home side goes two down on 80 minutes.


A lot of fans seem incapable of being in a ground on the final whistle if their team is likely to lose. At Utecht it appears just the thought of losing was too much for some. The old supporting "through thick and thin" is bygone thinking. Now if you get behind your team when they're losing you're a "happy clapper".


Not one of us will have thought when Brighton scored their second in the 88th minute at the CG last month that we'd avoid defeat. There were still another ten minutes of football played after that goal though. Unlikely barnstorming comebacks do occasionally happen, but they aren't going to when the players have seen the fans give up and run away. I'm convinced there must be fewer late comebacks in the top flight than there used to be as teams now have to make that happen with their fans already waving white flags halfway back to their cars.


That's a bit of rant, sorry. We're no better or worse than than the bulk of the PL. I do find it sad though when the players are applauding a Pontins League sized crowd after a defeat even if they've played all right and been unlucky. We lap it up when the players talk about the fans being special, but there's nothing special in those moments. Interested in people's opinions - am I really just an old stereotype thinking this used to be better, or has it become far worse?

Forest vs Leeds earlier this season we were 2-1 up about 85 minutes in and people were streaming out the City Ground - its a Sunday so traffic tends to be a little better than a Saturday game and it was a early afternoon kick off - it was a massive game for us and many then missed the 3rd goal and did not get to celebrate the win with the players.

Fully get you pay your money so leave when you want but I can never get my head around it. Just my view but you might as well stay at home - if you have a certain train fair enough but no way that applies to the amount who were leaving.

 

[redodare]

Madness. The mind boggles at fans booking days of annual leave, spending hundreds on an overseas away day then trying to leave before witnessing our first winning goal away in Europe in thirty years.


What has happened to football supporters?


I know fans have always left early. There's a ton of fans who went to Forest v Luton NYD 1992 and left before Des scored. But there seems barely a ground in the PL now that doesn't shed 20-30% of it's spectators when the home side goes two down on 80 minutes.


A lot of fans seem incapable of being in a ground on the final whistle if their team is likely to lose. At Utecht it appears just the thought of losing was too much for some. The old supporting "through thick and thin" is bygone thinking. Now if you get behind your team when they're losing you're a "happy clapper".


Not one of us will have thought when Brighton scored their second in the 88th minute at the CG last month that we'd avoid defeat. There were still another ten minutes of football played after that goal though. Unlikely barnstorming comebacks do occasionally happen, but they aren't going to when the players have seen the fans give up and run away. I'm convinced there must be fewer late comebacks in the top flight than there used to be as teams now have to make that happen with their fans already waving white flags halfway back to their cars.


That's a bit of rant, sorry. We're no better or worse than than the bulk of the PL. I do find it sad though when the players are applauding a Pontins League sized crowd after a defeat even if they've played all right and been unlucky. We lap it up when the players talk about the fans being special, but there's nothing special in those moments. Interested in people's opinions - am I really just an old stereotype thinking this used to be better, or has it become far worse?

Does seem to be more of a thing, recently.

Everton away was 75% empty at the end. At 3-0 down a bit more understandable but while we didn't deserve to win, we had decent spells and as Dyche said didn't feel like a 3-0 game and IMHO some players deserved thanks. Part of football's appeal is that you just never know.

With Utrecht fans and players treating it like their cup final - top trolling with the Sheep banners - only adds to the spice. No need to walk away.


At Utrecht, folk had gone three hours without a beer but in the midst of two day jollies , surely no big sacrifice.

 

[Cloughie1975]

Madness. The mind boggles at fans booking days of annual leave, spending hundreds on an overseas away day then trying to leave before witnessing our first winning goal away in Europe in thirty years.


What has happened to football supporters?


I know fans have always left early. There's a ton of fans who went to Forest v Luton NYD 1992 and left before Des scored. But there seems barely a ground in the PL now that doesn't shed 20-30% of it's spectators when the home side goes two down on 80 minutes.


A lot of fans seem incapable of being in a ground on the final whistle if their team is likely to lose. At Utrecht it appears just the thought of losing was too much for some. The old supporting "through thick and thin" is bygone thinking. Now if you get behind your team when they're losing you're a "happy clapper".


Not one of us will have thought when Brighton scored their second in the 88th minute at the CG last month that we'd avoid defeat. There were still another ten minutes of football played after that goal though. Unlikely barnstorming comebacks do occasionally happen, but they aren't going to when the players have seen the fans give up and run away. I'm convinced there must be fewer late comebacks in the top flight than there used to be as teams now have to make that happen with their fans already waving white flags halfway back to their cars.


That's a bit of rant, sorry. We're no better or worse than than the bulk of the PL. I do find it sad though when the players are applauding a Pontins League sized crowd after a defeat even if they've played all right and been unlucky. We lap it up when the players talk about the fans being special, but there's nothing special in those moments. Interested in people's opinions - am I really just an old stereotype thinking this used to be better, or has it become far worse?

It’s definitely getting worse-people were leaving the Upper BC even before Brighton scored their second goal and I was one of the few who stayed to applaud the players at Everton last week although I thought we were relatively
poor on the day.

It happened in the past but not as much.I’ve mentioned before on here about a mundane 2nd Division game in
1972 against Swndon (the first game after Matt Gillies left)-we were 0-2 down with a few minutes left and the paltry crowd of 8,000 had diminished to around half of that when goals in the final 2 minutes from John Robertson and Martin O’Neill gave us an unlikely 2-2 draw.

I personally never leave before the end and I’m pleased I saw the Des Walker and Wes Morgan goals as mentioned above.

 

[valspoodle]

Utrecht fans were very scathing of the Lyon fans when they visited.
Just unfortunate that we caught the backend of that.
They would welcome us back in a heartbeat.

I loved the place (the country) when I could visit it almost whenever I wished (we much preferred it to Germany where we lived) and when we had the bookshop on the coast in Suffolk, we used to get regular visits from sailors from the Netherlands (find it difficult saying that as when I grew up it was just 'Holland') and they always had excellent English and were unfailingly polite and friendly.

 

[football post]

I appear to be overdrawn.

 

[Magill]

Special shout out to the swathes of Reds supporters who left at 80-85 minutes

This area packed before our winner. Mad thing. most will have sat on coaches awaiting the final whistle.

Good picture of my son there. He said he ended up at least two rows down when Jesus scored!

 

[Wes' Organ]

I appear to be overdrawn.

Knocking shops?

 

[Eddie Yates]

Knocking shops?

Don't judge everyone by your own low standards Wezza

 

[Apollo11]

Knocking shops?

Not just any knocking shop.

 

[Wes' Organ]

Don't judge everyone by your own low standards Wezza

Moral guidance from Eddie, I've hit rock bottom.

 

[JohhnyM]

Madness. The mind boggles at fans booking days of annual leave, spending hundreds on an overseas away day then trying to leave before witnessing our first winning goal away in Europe in thirty years.


What has happened to football supporters?


I know fans have always left early. There's a ton of fans who went to Forest v Luton NYD 1992 and left before Des scored. But there seems barely a ground in the PL now that doesn't shed 20-30% of it's spectators when the home side goes two down on 80 minutes.


A lot of fans seem incapable of being in a ground on the final whistle if their team is likely to lose. At Utrecht it appears just the thought of losing was too much for some. The old supporting "through thick and thin" is bygone thinking. Now if you get behind your team when they're losing you're a "happy clapper".


Not one of us will have thought when Brighton scored their second in the 88th minute at the CG last month that we'd avoid defeat. There were still another ten minutes of football played after that goal though. Unlikely barnstorming comebacks do occasionally happen, but they aren't going to when the players have seen the fans give up and run away. I'm convinced there must be fewer late comebacks in the top flight than there used to be as teams now have to make that happen with their fans already waving white flags halfway back to their cars.


That's a bit of rant, sorry. We're no better or worse than than the bulk of the PL. I do find it sad though when the players are applauding a Pontins League sized crowd after a defeat even if they've played all right and been unlucky. We lap it up when the players talk about the fans being special, but there's nothing special in those moments. Interested in people's opinions - am I really just an old stereotype thinking this used to be better, or has it become far worse?

If you’d had to queue for the bus to get there (what a shitshow that was), then the thought of queuing for the one back would’ve given pause for thought.

In any case moving closer to the exit isn’t quite the same as leaving.

 

[JohhnyM]

I appear to be overdrawn.

How many?

 

[Notcher]

Utrecht fans were very scathing of the Lyon fans when they visited.
Just unfortunate that we caught the backend of that.
They would welcome us back in a heartbeat.

What's the general thoughts from Utrecht fans on the Forest supporters?

 

[JohhnyM]

What's the general thoughts from Utrecht fans on the Forest supporters?

The ones we spoke to were impressed with the turnout, the behaviour and the banter. They couldn’t believe that we’d been led to believe Utrecht was no-go, and that we all spent our money in Amsterdam instead.

Turned out Utrecht was fine anyway and all the bars we went in before the game were full of Forest.

Best trip of the three so far for me.

 

[NFFC_Josh]

07:23 - Jesus goal followed by "f*** you Forest, f*** you Forest"

We were also singing the same back to them in the away end, which riled them up to our left

 

[YellowBelly Red]

The ones we spoke to were impressed with the turnout, the behaviour and the banter. They couldn’t believe that we’d been led to believe Utrecht was no-go, and that we all spent our money in Amsterdam instead.

Turned out Utrecht was fine anyway and all the bars we went in before the game were full of Forest.

Best trip of the three so far for me.

Yes, can echo that. Did see a few of their ultras hanging about in the city centre after the match, but they kept themselves to themselves. Maybe the police presence but probably because they were vastly outnumbered by our fans.

Spoke to bar-owners during the day. None had been told not to serve us post-match. One had been advised to use plastic glasses if serving English fans, but he ignored that.

Utrecht fans were happy to approach us and chat. They told us of the problems with Lyon and Porto, and were pleasantly surprised by our more carefree attitude. We left as friends.

The most expensive trip of the 3 so far!

 

[NFFC_Josh]

To add also, no issue with Utrecht or their fans. Everyone we met were welcoming, hospitable and knew their football history. Had a fantastic time in both Amsterdam and Utrecht and it just edged my away day in Seville for the top spot so far. Apart from the prices in the bars/pubs it was a brilliant and memorable experience.

 

[redodare]

The ones we spoke to were impressed with the turnout, the behaviour and the banter. They couldn’t believe that we’d been led to believe Utrecht was no-go, and that we all spent our money in Amsterdam instead.

Turned out Utrecht was fine anyway and all the bars we went in before the game were full of Forest.

Best trip of the three so far for me.

The Utrecht local economy missed out , for sure.

Some in our group cancelled Utrecht hotels . Instead, we centred the trip in the Dam because of their comms. Quick frequent trains between the two cities meant we had a perfectly decent time

That said , Utrecht clearly used to dealing with - or at least anticipating unruly fans. The lengths they make to separate the two sets of fans - different approach routes for the buses, big dedicated car park. covered tunnels into the ground , made a trip to Millwall seem like a trip to Fulham.

Heard that there was a minor fracas in a Utrecht bar the night before caused between Reds and a random Scouser . Police intervened and took the Scouser away. May have been bollox?

The fan zone was well organised - the folk doing the catering looked like they usually ran festivals - and drinks were priced competitively for the country , so we diligently filled our boots. DJ mixed his usual schlager pop hits with some Forest classics.

We should have kept the start time for the coaches at 4pm and let people know that everyone would get on a coach and get to the ground ontime

. A couple of people I know found the lengthy queuing and delays challenging medically - not everyone wants to be in the bar until the latest possible time. The buses to the ground the only major gripe. Buses back worked well for those going back to Amsterdam .

There seemed to be plenty of coaches just getting them next to the fan zone seemed to be the issue. But you can't knock free travel in and out of the ground and welcoming snacks.

 

[ronjansdans]

What's the general thoughts from Utrecht fans on the Forest supporters?

Utrecht fan here. I can give you my experience and that of supporters I spoke to. It was the home game I was looking forward to the most. Playing against a Premier League team at the Galgenwaard is great, but the fact that it was against a club for which playing in Europe is also special made it even better.

The numbers Forest brought to Utrecht were impressive . I can’t imagine travelling to another country with zero chance of getting to the match. I think most of us expected no trouble, apart from the mayor. She is a terrible. Instead of capitalising on this opportunity to provide an amazing experience for thousands of away fans and do some city marketing, she decided it was better to raise concerns about riots in the media. So much opportunity to provide a better experience; a better spot in the city should have been arranged. Nonetheless, the general feeling in the city now is that Forest fans have been great. Seems like you’re a friendly bunch of people.

I heard some comments here and there about people expecting Forest fans to be louder. I was seated next to the away end, and I could tell it can get loud when it gets going. I was quite disappointed after the game, as it’s now game over for us in the tournament. To wrap it up, I think it was an exciting match, at least for us. Hope it has been a good experience for the Forest fans.

 

[ronjansdans]

07:23 - Jesus goal followed by "f*** you Forest, f*** you Forest"

We were also singing the same back to them in the away end, which riled them up to our left

Might have been me. Enjoy the holidays!

 

[NFFC_Josh]

Might have been me. Enjoy the holidays!

As long as you weren't the guy trying to lob flags into our end through the netting!

All's fair in love and war! Enjoyed the banter between our fans and apart from the Derby fan on the opposite side. I wish you the best for the season

 

[ronjansdans]

As long as you weren't the guy trying to lob flags into our end through the netting!

All's fair in love and war! Enjoyed the banter between our fans and apart from the Derby fan on the opposite side. I wish you the best for the season

Saw that happening right in front of me, and your guess is as good as mine as to what he was trying to achieve there Hope you didn’t get traumatised.