Oktoberfest Pre-Match – Bierkeller, Saturday 21st October

11am – 2pm (Pre-Burton)

These pre-match meet ups we’ve been pulling together have rapidly become a big part of our repertoire and, much to our bewilderment and delight, they have continued to get bigger and better. If we’re being honest we have never quite found a way to define them. That’s probably a good thing. We’ve always tried to steer clear of something too cliché; instead just trying to inject a bit of fire into the build up to kick-off.

What we quite like is that these mass gatherings are gathering a bit of a reputation; word has spread a little bit both amongst the entire Forest fanbase and also outside of Nottingham. We can hardly claim to have invented the football fan in pub combination but we think we at Forest are taking that further. These big social occasions, we hope, are a starting point for Forest fans to start doing what we always used to do – lead the way.

What they are is big, beautiful coming togethers of the best fans in the country. Loud and lively; full of heart and soul. If you haven’t been along to one yet then we really think you should.

*****

Considering that the staple requirement of these gatherings is drinking and a fair bit of music we looked at the fixtures and were struck with this idea: An Oktoberfest pre-match.

It would be easy enough to rock up, drink half a dozen of those massive beers and toddle off to the City Ground but we fancied something just a bit grander than that…

It will be held at the Bierkeller on Friar Lane in the city centre (formerly Walkabout). It will be decked out with the traditional Oktoberfest colours but we’ll be adding plenty of red & white into the mix too. We’ve also arranged for a proper traditional Oompah band to play – perhaps a few Forest tunes thrown in too.

The guys at Bierkeller have also agreed to include a deal on a Stein (two pint jug) and Bratwurst for £10.

With Oktoberfest being a Munich based festival we’d also like to add a bit of 1979 twist. We are after old photos, flags, scarves etc we can display. We don’t want original photographs, ideally scanned copies that can be sent to us at ForzaGaribaldi@hotmail.com or via direct message on Twitter or Facebook in advance of the day. Thanks.

We’ll finish up around 2pm and make our way to the ground, arriving well in advance of kick-off.

As we talked about above we want this to be another big meet, a proper knees-up. We say this every time we know but this one should be pretty special. It’s also rather different to anything we’ve done before. As ever entry is free of charge and all Forest fans are welcome including kids. We want to see you there.

You Reds