Yahoo News Nottingham Forest fans make feelings clear at Man City match
Nottingham Forest’s crunch clash with Manchester City saw supporters’ group Forza Garibaldi take a stand against season card prices for the 2024/25 campaign, while the Premier League anthem was booed.
When the club announced season card renewal costs earlier this month, Forza said they would cancel plans for a pre-match “flags/banners/displays” against the reigning champions. And with no movement from Forest on revising the prices since then, there was no display ahead of today’s game - although they do not carry out pre-match displays at every home game.
Reds fans also made their feelings clear by booing the Premier League anthem before kick-off. A sign was held up reading: "Premier League for the few not the many." It was a clear show of frustration on the back of the club’s VAR and PSR (Profitability and Sustainability Rules) woes.
Forza had said in a statement when the season card details were released: “To our fellow fans, we are aware that statements and social media disaffection may not be enough to make our frustration clear to the club. The intention here is not just to complain but also take action if necessary.
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“As a starting point we are withdrawing plans for flags/banners/displays for the Manchester City game. While this is far from ideal timing, we feel we have no choice but to take a stand.
“We understand that this may disappoint some of you and also the team who need our support, but it is important to us as a group that we are not allowing this decision by the club to go without action. While we realise such a step may ultimately be futile, we feel it is appropriate to demonstrate our frustration at this time and will highlight how vital supporters are to the club. We remain eager to maintain these visual displays but only at a point when the club are willing to listen and acknowledge these real concerns from supporters.”
There has been a fierce backlash to the Reds’ decision to increase the cost of season cards by an average of 24 percent. The messaging from the club around the announcement and the decision to adjust the age bands also angered fans.
Earlier this week, Forza shared a review of season card prices across the Premier League on social media. They wrote on X: “Forest refer to their season card pricing as ‘one of the most affordable’ in the Premier League. We invite the club to demonstrate this because, while this could be true for certain categories, it does not appear to be on the whole.
“A more detailed version of the data shared here was forwarded to the club on Tuesday and we await a formal response. At the time of submitting, we reiterated a number of points that are documented within the analysis and in line with concerns raised by the FAB.”
They added: “In summary we feel some key points are: Pricing does not reflect where we are in the table or the jeopardy of relegation; our closest rivals generally offer better pricing; the 18-20 age group are being treated very harshly; age banding across all bands is often unfair.
“In comms to the club that accompanied this comparison and complimented similar points raised by the FAB we have proposed the following: An overall review of season card pricing; a reinstatement of the Young Adult band; a review of age bands inc Seniors reverting to 65 years; an extension of the renewal deadline; better value being added to the prices such as cup competitions, club shop discount etc; consideration of home membership and matchday ticket prices for 2024-25 to keep them affordable.
“We have also proposed an emergency meeting of the Fan Advisory Board to be called to allow these thoughts to be openly and constructively discussed with the club, considering that initial consultation around season card pricing fell short of what was expected.”
