Our monthly footy columns are back and we are completely delighted to unveil Julie Pritchard, the creator of the classic nineties 'Brian' fanzine, as our new Nottingham Forest FC columnist...

Forest shirt: Illustration by Natalie Owen
Why did you become a Forest supporter?
I was captured by aliens as an infant and left behind a milk crate in the Trent End. The pilot’s name was Clough, and I believe there was a labrador involved, but it was a long time ago. I enjoyed many years of watching the beautiful game as it should be played: with joy and skill and free expression. And then many more years of incompetent and/or phoned-in stuff that could only be watched if very drunk.
Describe your matchday experience…
Bus. Pub. Random football waffle. Walk. Stairs. Last pint. More waffle. Kick-off. Unexpected joy/encroaching numbing disappointment. Stairs. Walk. Pub. Slightly slurred waffle. Bus. Curry. Pass out on the sofa five minutes into MOTD. Repeat for away days, just with an earlier start, a discussion about Samsunspor or CFR Cluj with the Uber driver, an extra pub or two, and either some delayed trains with inaccessible toilets or a four-hour coach (de)tour of Cambridgeshire. This season this will all mostly be happening on Sundays.
How did you feel you did last season?
Is it possible to underachieve and overachieve at the same time? We overachieved until Christmas, but unfortunately the season doesn’t start til Christmas, as a very wise man once said. We failed to add to our squad in January and our battle-fatigued boys crawled over the finish line as exhausted as our coach-travelling fans were after Exeter and Brighton away. It is incredibly frustrating - not least because it’s cost us Elanga and gazillions of lovely UEFA Euros - but we mustn’t forget that we would have crawled over broken glass for a place in the Conference League (let alone the Europa) at the start of the season.
Tell us about the gaffer…
After God (Brian Clough, for anyone born yesterday), we have the Holy Spirit. Like a fine wine, Nuno Espírito Santo gets classier, wiser and more nuanced with age. We hope to be enjoying some exotic foreign libations with him for years to come (Super Bock or Sagres, Tyskie or Ursu, Efes or Alfa… you get the picture). As for his team, Mats Selz and our defence are as solid as it gets; the Geordie Maradona (Elliott Anderson) had a superb U21s Euros, but even now it looks like Gibbs-White is staying, we’re currently looking light on creative players.
What’s happening off the field?
The expansion of the City Ground has finally been given the nod. Apparently some Bread and Larders are moaning about it already, but then we’ve only been there since 1898. What else? There’s been a bit of a spat with Crystal Palace, who are blaming us for their demotion to the Conference League, house prices, ULEZ and the price of sourdough at Balham Farmers Market. I have some sympathy for Palace - the smaller the club, the less the UEFA MCO rules are fit for purpose - but don’t blame us for Steve Parish not reading his emails.
Any new signings you are excited about?
So far we have striker Igor Jesus, the patron saint of sub-editors, and Jair Cunha, a two-footed colossus of a centre half. Both came from Botafogo and looked lively in the Club World Cup. Jesus should allow Chris Wood some much needed support/respite, while Jair’s signing could mean Nuno’s recent dabbling with a back five becomes the norm. Swiss international Dan Ndoye has also joined us to replace Elanga. There will probably be more to come in and no doubt we’ll be keeping Fabrizio Romano busy until September.
Any key departures? What big boots are there to fill?
It’s a massive wrench to see Anthony Elanga depart for Newcastle as he will no doubt get even better, but players only love you until they’re offered twice the salary and you need to sell someone to ward off PSR problems. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s truly going on through the cognitive dissonance of those desperate to appear ‘In the Know’. It was so much easier when you just had to look out for Ron Fenton handing over brown envelopes in Wilford Lane Harvester.
What’s the mood of the fans coming into the new season?
The keyboard warriors are mardily predicting relegation - but then again they did last season. If we don’t win the first six games, those that read the runes will blame our shirts for being too much like those of the relegation season of 1992/93. The hard nuts are looking forward to a right royal knees-up with Palace. The rest of us are stockpiling Ryanair vouchers, while being cautiously optimistic that Nuno will work it all out.
Tell us about your captain…
The magnificent Mr Ryan Yates - every time anyone’s stupid enough to write him off, he steps up a gear. He is a master of the darker arts - I don't think we’ve had someone who knows exactly where the line is, and where it becomes uncrossable, since Psycho. Some have, sacreligiously, compared him to Robbie Savage, but whereas Savage probably really does drink battery acid and torture rabbits for fun. If Ryan Yates wasn’t a footballer, he’d probably be running a sanctuary for street dogs in Thailand.
Where do you think you’ll finish come May 2026?
We’ll finish at the World Famous City Ground, where we’ll be home to Bournemouth on 24 May. Or possibly in the Conference League final in Leipzig on the 27 May (I’m not cancelling my hotel room just yet). It’s impossible to predict, as this is Forest so anything could happen.
What does being a football fan mean to you?
Going home and away is just what we do. We live and breathe NFFC. It’s the fulcrum of our identity - ahead of gender, nationality, and all other labels and boxes that society puts us in. It’s what others remember us by. It’s probably 90% of my personality. Actually it’s what I have in the absence of a personality.
If your current team was a song what would it be and why?
A mix up of The Prodigy’s Firestarter, with The Pogues’ Fiesta, a cameo from the Big Man singing Nessum Dorma and Tomorrow Keeps Shining by Chris Bartley. Unless you’re a Palace fan, in which case it’s Sh*thouse by Big Special.
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