I wasn’t really in the mood for this, first thing. But I persisted and gave it a spin. It’s all very familiar. The beats build up, the bass kicks in, you go apeshit crazy.
It’s not exactly a home listening album. You need to be mashed off your head and stumbling into a ditch to really appreciate. Sadly those days are long behind me.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐
“We are embracing class war, and this time we plan to win it.”
Tell It Like It Is, Zarah
A prog heavy Oddcaste from Mr Mule. Plus an opening track from Half Man, Half Biscuit - which is always welcome.
“YouGov’s figures show that 25% of all voters aged 18-49 would vote for the Green Party at the next General Election – putting them in first place for the entire cohort”
“We’re very optimistic people” - Israel floats possibility of future Tour de France Grand Départ
And so farewell Garibaldi Red podcast. Your sporadic appearances over the past season or so were welcome, even if the frequency of the pod appearances suggested a mothball.
Young Max has done a half decent job over the past couple of years. He had a mighty tough act to follow with the breakaway Forest Focus going solo with Matt Davies.
I wouldn’t go as far as calling it Podcast Wars, but as we know with Brixton Buzz, when you have a similar platform publishing independently, there is always going to be some rivalry.
The professionalism, contacts and daily dose of FF meant that Garibaldi was always going lose out in any Forest Podcast Wars.
But that’s not to downplay what Max has his team has achieved over the past couple of seasons. Max has really grown into his hosting role. It’s no great secret that he is a legacy media personality in the making.
The final sign off hinted at some political developments behind the scenes. That’s no surprise when you are dealing with a corporate beast such as Reach PLC.
The agile, one man band of FF has no such restrictions. It shows in the truly independent nature of the podcasts.
Tell It Like It Is - with no one hovering over your shoulder.
I’ll mist the odd diversion into Garibaldi Red. It has become something of a time drain though, trying to soak up as much online Forest content as possible. My new music explorations have suffered.
There was always an honest and respectful analysis of Forest coming out of Garibaldi Red. I just wish we had that same approach off the pitch right now.
Another day, another bicycle ride along the Trail en route for a swim. These blog posts write themselves - and we’re not talking AI, Comrades.
The water was still coming in - I think? It was a little lacklustre, tbh.
My only observation to note was that the quayside repairs on the Rowhedge side of the Muddy Banks look almost complete.
A team of hard-hatted, hi vis fellas were ticking off items on a clipboard. The iron structure to replace the one that fell into the estuary looks finished.
Will there be a grand reopening?
Unlikely.
This whole stretch still REEKS of shit from the nearby sewage plant.
Oh the excitement of a Trail bicycle ride.
Ah, so back to the “Forest bubble will burst” bollocks.
Cheers, Bob.
Back in the day and Bob Wilson on a now unrecognisable Football Focus claimed that the bubble would burst for BC’s Forest.
How did that one work out, Bob?
A league Championship and two European Cups later, etc.
Whaddyamean we’re dining out on past glories?
And then last season, the bubble bollocks came back to bite us on the bum. The same claims were made against Nuno’s Forest as we scored an early goal, and then shut up shop.
Repeat.
All the way through until around mid-March, and then whoops. Oh dear. We’ve failed to get over the line. We would have got BATTERED in the Champions League, anyway.
What is so disappointing about proving the mainstream pundits right this time round is that it is all self-inflicted.
Forest have done a Forest and fucked it up without too much help from the outside.
We’re not Spursy, whatever that might mean. But we are a bonkers, bonkers club where some very strange things have happened over the years.
If only Nuno had kept his mouth shut at the start of the season. Two crazy press conferences later, and we are where we are.
We had such optimism and expectation at the start of this season. The Europa Conference upgrade to the Europa League was an added bonus.
And then Forest go and balls it all up, with only the club itself to blame.
Or perhaps that should be #BlameEdu - who seems to be getting somethng of a free pass right now, with little evidence to show what he actually brings to the club.
Speaking of Bob Wilson and That Championship Feeling - I’m going off on a tangent here, but the Peter Shilton biog is proving to be a bloody good read.
Sure, skip through all the L******er nonsense, and the chapter or two on the Miracle Men manages to uncover some new stories that seem genuinely new.
Even the most obsessive of Forest fans [HELLO!] can get a little jaded when the old pro’s trot out the tired old Clough tropes on the podcast circuit.
Shitls in particular has a cracking ghost written chapter on the swift decline of the Miracle Men. I love reading these stories in general about the fall of empires, football teams, bands etc.
It’s no fun reading about their rise. The dark appeal to me is seeing how it all fell apart.
And coming full circle, Forest have managed to even outdo Forest and the 70’s Miracle Men, imploding in the space of two crazy, crazy press conferences.
Bubble well and truly burst.
I struggled to get my head around this. It’s more rock than punk, even taking a few unwelcome steps towards goth.
What a racket from a bunch of young Herberts. It’s a sludge of an album that sounds as though it’s stuck in time.
I’ve never got on with Gary Gilmore’s Eye. Sixth form humour at best.
⭐ ⭐
Another day, another crisp ride along the Trail. Once again there was a bloody high tide down by the Muddy Banks. The spillage where the estuary floods the marshland was almost impassable.
Almost.
I rode through, as though I was competing in the Slow Bike Race back at a schools Sports Day.
OCD wins the day, as ever.
Chapeau!
Everyone loves a big old red boat, right? There’s no finer sight than the Colne Light Ship on a crisp autumnal morning. Sure, the Estuary Wilds sun rays may highlight the urgent need for a paint job. But the Hythe has always been a little rough and ready.
”We go into Europe, all the money is spent and we’re back in the same situation we were when we got promoted,”
Tell It Like It Is Forest Focus.
