Left Brian: September 2025: Did I miss much?

And so it came to pass that we were on the p*ss with Nuno no more. Whether he truly, with cold-blooded calculation, engineered his sacking or whether that’s just the spin the club would have us believe, it’s sad it had to end this way. He seems a little too canny not to realise that Mr Marinakis always wins. And if Nuno v Edu was a clash of the Superegos, then what would Cloughy v EM have been? I suspect that 44-day record at Leeds would have been under serious threat.

There is talk of Nuno taking over at West Ham, which would be like bumping into your ex wrapped around someone else the day after they’ve dumped you. Couldn’t he go somewhere a little further away? Leverkusen, perhaps, or Marseille? How about FC København, where he could compare notes with Steve Cooper, now at Brondby? Perhaps get the handpans out to accompany Coops on guitar for a mournful version of “Mull of Kintyre” as the mist rolls in from the canals of Nyhavn? Thanks for everything, Nuno. The Madri will feel a little flat without you in Seville.

With truly indecent haste, we welcome Ange Postecoglu. A passionate man who speaks his mind and wins things - we’ve got previous with someone like that (and I don’t mean Billy Davies). Time will tell whether the Forest version of Angeball is a rigid system that shreds nerves and destroys defenders or something that sends us wild with joy. Or possibly a bit of both. Perhaps it depends on whether Ange makes it to that crucial second season. With the more highly-strung elements of the fan base in meltdown already it won’t be easy.

Back in the day, there was a chap called S Peel of Gedling, who used to write repeatedly to the Eepo moaning about how crap Mr Clough and his sides were (some suspect he was actually an unscrupulous Notts fan, but that’s by the by). These days it feels like half our fan base are S Peel of Gedling. Has it really been that bad? We were well-beaten at Arsenal, but then again, we usually are (our 5 visits to the Emirates have seen an aggregate score of 18-1). Defeat to Swansea was torturous but hardly unprecedented, and Burnley could’ve been very different without Dubravka’s heroics in goal, or if it had just rained a little less. We’ve seen some great stuff from Jesus and Douglas Luiz, promising cameos from Bakwa, Kalimuendo and Cunha, and we have no problem creating chances. Does anyone really want to go back to the days of 18% possession? 

Before the league resumes, there’s the small matter of our first European game since March 1996, when we were mullered 5-1 at home by Bayern München, Jurgen Klinsmann, Jean-Pierre Papin et al. The mundial has changed a little since then.

This is our first foray into the world of Ryanair flights that double in price every minute, meaning the Skyscanner-savvy will be descending via every corner of Europe. We’ll be entering the glamorous world of 9pm kick-offs, beer-free grounds, herding and kettling, digital tickets for grounds where battery packs are banned, hour-long holdbacks (if we’re lucky, they may let us use the toilets – which will probably be squatters) and longer walks back to city centres as all public transport has now ceased and there’s not an Uber to be seen. I hope we can avoid the tear gas and the baton charges, but the Spanish police can be a little lairy. If you thought the Premier League was bad with its complete disregard for travelling fans, you’ll love UEFA!

With tickets going down to members (albeit briefly), hopefully there won’t be too many ticketless Reds. We’re all Euro virgins (albeit some of us are born again), but it is a little naive to expect host cities to put on World Cup/Euros-style Fan Zones. Those are years in the planning and have funding coming in from all angles because the party lasts for 3 or 4 weeks and involves thousands, each spending hundreds. Most of us will be in Seville less than 48hrs. It’s a big and touristy enough city to take any extra crowds, but anyone thinking of going to Utrecht ‘for the party’ probably won’t get out of the station. For those that run the host cities we are at best an inconvenience. Perhaps Amsterdam will lay on some water cannons to entertain us, like they did when we played Ajax in 1980?

We have got lucky, however, in that first up is Seville, one of the Europe’s finest eating and drinking cities and very much a late-night one. There’s a tapas bar on every corner, some truly magnificent art and architecture, and the chance to catch some late-September sunshine. There’s even a statue of Murillo, where Betis fans gather to throw oranges at his hamstrings. See you there, with a pringá and a glass of manzanilla, U-Glorious-European-Reds. 

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