One Day in ‘79 was the strap line Forest used for the marketing push ahead of Malmo at home in the Europa League.
One Evening in ‘25 turned out to be half decent as well.
Forest do these grand occasions VERY well. As soon as the draw was made in August pairing us up with Malmo once again, I just knew that the Big Fat Greek would embrace it.
It was a magnificent gesture to invite - and pay for - both teams from One Day in ‘79 to be guest of honours at the World Famous City Ground.
Not everyone could sadly make it. Up until very recently I thought that the Miracle Men were just that. As players from other great clubs passed on, somehow the Forest team were all still amongst us.
Tricky Trev’s departure hurt hard. He was the £1M Man. He wouldn’t be the first to go.
I watched the Forest YT stream from the red carpet from 5pm. David Prutton did a decent job of door stepping old men - who probably wanted to tuck in to the freebie food and booze.
There were some lovely moments though. Colin Barrett and Bomber Bowyer both brought the humour. I confess to a Pavlovian shout of “TINA! TINA! TINA!” when Shilts appeared on screen.
He bloody loves it.
The stream finished an hour later. The final word went to Brian. The final word should always go to Brian.
What a club. What a legacy.
Now then. Down to business and One Night in ‘25.
The team news shortly dropped. SEVEN team changes. Blimey.
I wasn’t sure about John in goal. It was great to see Zak starting. I was looking forward to seeing what McAtee can do. Ditto Kalimuendo.
The old fellas from One Day in ‘79 came out to meet the crowd shortly ahead of KO. Some muppets in the Malmo end got a little over enthusiastic.
I hope we bloody stuff you now.
The sight of Ryan Yates leading out Forest at the World Famous in a European fixture was something to savour. The Skipper rose to the occasion with one of his best games in the Garibaldi.
And it wasn’t just the tops, either. I bloody love it when we wear red shorts. I think it’s an emotional attachment going all the way back to Munich ‘79.
The teams lined up, the game kicked off.
Hang on. Murillo is playing at left back? Blimey.
Yates and Abbot both linked up well. It was genuinely lovely seeing the two Forest Academy boys playing together on the European stage.
A Captain’s goal soon followed.
GEDDIN the Trent, etc.
This was an incredibly one sided contest. Malmo looked like a team that had come to enjoy the occasion, rather than win the game. They were the most passive team we have seen on Trentside in years.
What was the point in travelling all the way over from Sweden, and then not being arsed to even leave the halfway line?
Forest sensed this and tried to kill the game off within the first thirty minutes. I lost count of the number of chances we had.
A goal from Kalimuendo followed. That will do wonders for his confidence.
The third goal after the break from the Serbinator sealed the game. I bloody love VAR, me.
Time to get Murillo and CHO off. Feet up lads, ahead of the Premier League.
But wait! What’s this?
ATTACK! ATTACK!
ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK!
Attacking subs were brought on. Whatever happened to Dyche the dinosaur with his defensive style of play?
The game then had the feel of an international friendly. Substitutions broke up the pace of the game.
Yates was brilliant from start to finish. Write him off at your peril.
And so One Day in ‘79 became One Night in ‘25. The 3-0 win won’t be as significant as the magic of Munich, but it will do wonders for our Europa League standing.
Another great European night on Trentside.
This is a very classy - albeit slightly bonkers - club.