A chaotic, stressful but ultimately wonderful evening.
How fitting that on the night we finally secured a return to Wembley, the man who took us there first in 1959 and the man who took us there on our last visit in 1992 were looking down ahead of kick-off.
A thread.
Some weeks back when a play-off spot appeared in our grasp we began planning around the idea of merging the old with the new, our heritage with our future.
In simple terms, we wanted our past to inspire and not shackle us any longer.
Despite the possibility of us not making the top six or going up via a second placed finish, these displays take a huge amount of planning and design so we had to crack on.
To represent our history we would turn to 4 men who have delivered silverware across the eras.
Harry Hallam was the club secretary (a role similar to manager) who led Forest to our maiden F.A Cup in 1898. He also took his team to South America in 1905 for the groundbreaking tour.
It has been an ambition of ours to include Billy Walker in our work. A Forest icon who doesn’t receive the attention he warrants for a two decade spell at the City Ground.
His team lifted the F.A Cup in 1959, our first visit to Wembley.
The creators of a glorious and magical period clearly had to feature. Together again looking down on their old home. Hopefully they would have been proud although Clough might not have appreciated the pitch invasion.
With them was Giuseppe Garibaldi. His words ‘You have conquered, and you will conquer still’ taken from a speech to his troops were the inspiration behind the message.
The adapted speech was brilliantly read by the brilliant actor @arsherali in our teaser. Thank you Arsher.
The amazing @bausandthedeep was the man behind putting this short film together for us and thanks to @DekeHardman and @BBCRNS for their help with the comms from Colin Fray.
Not as noticeable in the display was 8 playing icons from our history. Positioned at the front of the Trent End.
Sam Widdowson
Grenville Morris
Jack Burkitt
Ian Storey-Moore
John Robertson
John McGovern
Stuart Pearce
Des Walker
We owe huge thanks to our illustrator Dan who helped us with drawings from scratch and did a remarkable job. An incredibly talented guy.
Of course, we felt it was essential the focus was on the team of today. With our iconic managers looking down and a selection of heroes looking up we wanted all eyes on the class of 2021-2022.
When we first saw this unveiled and saw Ryan Yates we knew we he cracked it.
Cooper and all of the current playing staff are featured on the banner.
We are hugely appreciative to @eco_printing to getting this turned around after a huge effort to meet the deadline. Thanks guys.
We are also grateful to a team of volunteers who gave up time across Sunday, Monday and Tuesday afternoon to prepare and get the banners in place. Some of whom got in touch to offer their help.
Thank you all. For those asking about helping in the future and we’d ask you DM us.
To the Trend End who once again so brilliantly turned our creation into something real, we are always so appreciative for your patience and your help. You were awesome.
We are glad we could have a small part in an utterly amazing night. It was special and our love and congratulations to Steve Cooper and the entire team at #NFFC.
At long last, a new generation can march on Wembley.
WE WILL CONQUER STILL!
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