GroundDesigns

Aston Villa away - Europa League semi-final second leg.

Battered on the night, but what an adventure it's been.

From Seville to Birmingham...via Faro, Vienna, Graz, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Toulouse, Porto, Braga, Madrid, Istanbul, Alicante, Porto (again), Lisbon and Aston...on trains, planes and automobiles, ferries and FlixBuses.

Big shout out to everyone we've travelled with and bumped into along the way (some sadly no longer with us), and HUGE thanks to the patience and understanding of my long suffering wife ❤️

Good luck to Villa in the final - possibly the loudest home crowd I've heard in 40 years of going to football, and everyone we spoke to at both legs was sound (apart from the two kn*bheads who tried to kick off with my lad after the match on Thursday.)

Time to congratulate all the teams who have had a successful season, starting with the first team to be promoted in the EFL this year - Lincoln City 👏🏼👏🏼

To celebrate we're offering 20% off all Sincil Bank merch on our website until the end of the season with the code IMPS20.

Please tag in any Lincoln fans you may know 🙏🏼

Cheers, Martin

Congratulations to Coventry City - back in the big time for the first time in 25 years, and a Premier League debut for the CBS Arena 🙌🏼

Really happy for the fans, who've been through the mill over the years (particularly with regards to the stadium). Good luck next season Sky Blues.

Always remembered ❤️

97 never forgotten.

Unity is strength.

Porto away 😍⚽🍻🇵🇹☀️

My mate Gary (and GroundDesigns top model!) is currently working his way up the Portuguese coast from Faro to Porto for Forest's Europa League quarter final on Thursday night. I'll be flying in on the day via Alicante.

What's the most obscure/unorthodox route you've taken to watch your team play? Either at home or abroad.

5 March 1996 - Olympiastadion München - FC Bayern 2 Nottingham Forest

30 years ago I was in Munich for a UEFA Cup quarter final at the iconic Olympiastadion. Another epic 20+ hour coach trip each way, less eventful than the trip to Lyon on the Newark bus in the previous round (see earlier post), but still involving another brush with the law in a French service station en route (minor drug bust on this occasion 😅).

Anyway, we actually got to spend some time in our host city this time (fantastic place), and, for the one and only time on this UEFA Cup run, I took a disposable camera with me, so have these photos saved for posterity. Some top 90's Casuals garb on display!

Forest, backed by 7-8000 fans, lost 2-1 on the night to set up a juicy second leg at the City Ground. Unfortunately, a Jürgen Klinsmann-inspired Bayern ran riot in the second leg, winning 5-1 and ending Forest's European dream for another (30) year(s).

These European trips were a massive eye-opener for the 18 year old me, giving me thirst for football-related travel (well, travel in general really), that is still burning today. I'm so glad we've had the opportunity to do it again with Forest this season.

An unexpectedly enjoyable night, and first ever point for Forest, at the Etihad last night.

Joy Division vibes on the first photo - I'm sure long-time City supporting photographer Kevin Cummings, who shot that iconic picture of the band on a Hulme footbridge back in the day, would approve.

Fenerbahçe/Istanbul away.

Quite the experience!

Abysmal performance from Forest last night but, as a football fan, how can you not love a filthy night under the lights at Elland Road?

I've been coming here as an away fan for 35+ years. It's not changed a great deal in that time - it's scruffy, the stands are mismatched - but show me a better atmosphere in English football. To paraphrase Steve Cooper, it just "oozes football soul".

Great touch bringing back the old diamond shaped floodlights too. Takes me right back to Happy Mondays '91 - "Respect to the brave raver!"