Why Do They Want Us To Hate Them?

Nottingham Forest take on Leicester City in the 2nd round of the Carling Cup on Tuesday and it would appear that City fans are mad for it. So much so that there has been such a scramble for tickets, that NFFC have today issued them with another 900.

The total allocation for Leicester will be around 5,300, which is excellent really for the early stages of a competition that is in all honesty a poor relation to the more illustrious FA Cup.

The interest in this fixture on Trentside is a little cooler. Not so much a scramble for tickets, more a gentle saunter down to the ground when we have the time and if we can be bothered. After all it’s only Leicester City, which isn’t exactly a local Derby except for the fact that both sides are in the East Midlands.

Everyone in Nottingham knows there is only one true rival for any Forest fan and that is with our old foes from down the A52 at Prideless Park in Sheepshire. The poor Foxes come a very distant second in terms of rivalry and hardly registers on the scale with most fans, but in Leicester it seems that they really want us to hate them and are in dire need of a rival to call their own. Surely the Sky Blue of Coventry would be better suited for them? Apparently not, they are almost insistent that it’s us, but as hard as I try I can’t do that. At worst I dislike them, but only because of Gary Lineker and his comments about Forest before the Chelsea game last year and also because he’s a poor substitute for Des Lynam on MOTD. I suppose if I was pushed I could throw their former player Robbie the Savage into the mix, but even then it ‘s hardly reason to hate them.

You see, you can’t make or invent a rivalry, it has to be earned and Leicester have along way to go before they can be considered as our local rivals. 5,300 of them will tell us different on Tuesday and a healthy home crowd will do their best to reciprocate, but don’t hold your breath.