Price hikes risk replacing unity with division
BE in no doubt about it, Nottingham Forest fans helped get their team over the line in the fight against relegation last season.
The City Ground was at its deafening, electric best. It was a cauldron. A fortress. And that was down in no small part to the incredible, goosebump-inducing, spinetingling atmosphere.
The club know that. It is why they have been urging the crowd to “bring the noise” as the Reds fight once again to retain their Premier League status.
Except what supporters really feel they are being asked to bring now is their hard-earned cash – and lots of it. When unity and togetherness is needed most, there is suddenly disconnect and division.
Prices for Forest season cards for 2024-25 have increased by an average of 24 per cent, despite the Reds not knowing which division they will be in next term.
Moreover, the renewal deadline falls before the final two games of the campaign – a time when the club’s survival fate may still be up in the air.
The reconfiguration of age categories also means a significant hike in cost for many. Those at either end of the age spectrum are particularly affected and that includes the next generation – the future of the club.
But it is not just the cold, hard price rises that will sting. It is the way the message has been delivered.
Loyalty, it seems, holds little currency. Many will feel it is a different currency at the heart of this announcement – the one of pound signs.
Forest say their season cards remain among “the most affordable” in the top flight, although their announcement does not address the very real threat of relegation. Chairman Tom Cartledge has talked about the need to “grow financially”.
Season card price rises in the Premier League are seemingly not uncommon for next term but that doesn’t make it right. Forest could have done something different, they could have chosen to be an outlier. Nottingham is, after all, a Rebel City.
As it is, the club are not only potentially pricing out many fans, they also seem to be pitting supporters against each other. The late-night social media posts about “record” renewal numbers and a waiting list of “11,000” were met with an angry response.
“Read the room,” read a great many of the replies. The tweets were tone-deaf. The poorly-timed announcement of safe standing plans only added to the sense of anger and frustration.
Forest get a lot right in terms of their community engagement. On this, though, they have got it spectacularly wrong.
How much sway those in the comms and social media departments – good people – had on the timing and content of those tweets is debatable.
Both the Supporters’ Trust and Forza Garibaldi have released hardhitting statements. The latter’s was particularly powerful, including the news they will cancel a planned pre-match display against Manchester City out of protest.
The clash with Pep Guardiola’s team at the City Ground last term was one of the standout moments of the season.
Remembering the noise in the final minutes still has the ability to make hairs on the back of the neck stand up.
As always, though, it is the late, great Brian Clough who can perhaps sum it up best. “Football belongs to everybody,” he once said.
Forest include that clip in their pre-match video at home games. Right now, many fans will feel the sentiment has been lost.