23- Dumped in the Forest!

March 25, 2021

Dimples, my newish girlfriend was acting a bit odd. The Leeds Teddy bear I got her before the QPR defeat barely registered a murmur of gratitude. She cancelled our planned rendezvous on the Wednesday night and on the Thursday night, I picked her off and whizzed her into Nottingham, ironically our next home league opponents were Forest. At the time I drove a 1980 Mark One Ford Fiesta, white with blue go-faster stripes down the side, my Dad had helped me install a tape-deck in it and I thought Batley lad Robert Palmer' s Greatest Hits might get her in the mood, nope. He was back in the charts too with UB40 doing a cover of Bob Dylan's "I'll be your baby tonight". It was late night shopping in Nottingham that night and having pulled into the car park she said she didn't want to get out but go home instead because she'd got a headache.

No surprise she dumped me the next day! She said the usual "it's not you but me" and "I hope we can still be friends" etc.

What a pisser! Particularly as I'd not bothered to get tickets for Villa away (0-0) and Oldham in the League Cup (2-0).

I was still licking my wounds when we played Forest at home on November 3rd. The Brian Clough factor always added some spice to the occasion, Clough the avowed enemy of Revie's Leeds succeeding him in 1974, pissing everyone off, departing after 44-days then turning Forest into double League and European Champions. They were very much a there or thereabouts side. There was also the Miners Strike still fresh in the memory of many a Yorkshireman from 1984/85 when the Nottinghamshire miners, many of whom chose to defy NUM leader Arthur Scargills call to down-tools and set up their own union the UDM. I don't think I've ever attended a Leeds v Forest game where the cry of "scabs!" has not been aired in a Yorkshire accent.

I took my mind off Dimples for a moment or two by flicking through the programme, Howard Wilkinson claimed "prejudice was shifting" against Leeds fans after receiving glowing praise from numerous police forces in recent weeks. Journeyman Chris Kamara finally was able to celebrate his first full Division One outing 17 years after beginning his career. This had come at Villa the previous Saturday and Kammy had earned the plaudits for keeping live-wire Villa winger Tony Daley quiet.

Mel Sterland was looking forward to his testimonial on Monday week, his old side Sheffield Wednesday taking on a Leeds side that promised appearances from Billy Bremner, Johnny Giles, Trevor Cherry and Peter Lorimer and Frank Worthington who both sadly passed during the week I was writing this. Typically Mel was in an ebullient mood promising a "good game" and remembering testimonials he'd played in the past involving the two Sheffield clubs declaring "there's no such thing as a friendly!"

Unfortunately a brilliant first half performance from Leeds did little to lift my personal gloom. Lee Chapman, now on a rich vein of form tapped home the opener against one of his former clubs. I remember at the time, a Forest fanzine had re-christened Chapman as "Mr Clumsy" and urged their fans to send in newspaper clippings of Chapman missing chances for us. I doubt this appeared on his radar but he made no mistake on this occasion. Strachan grabbed the second from the penalty spot then after half-time, Gary McAllister made it 3-0. McAllister may well have been wearing the "Garibaldi" of Forest that day had it not been for the lateness and abruptness of "Cloughie". Leicester, having turned down Leeds offer of £850k for their starlet, agreed a fee with Forest and Macca made the short trip up the M1 to speak with Clough. Clough apparently turned up late and was less than complimentary about McAllister's cowboy boots, they were the fashion at the time, he also asked some cutting questions about McAllister's private life. Speaking to Four Four Two in 2016, McAllister recalled:

"“It was bad timing. Looking back, I’d have loved to play under Clough in his pomp, but I had options and just felt Leeds were a better fit. Brian wasn’t impressed when I said I was going to Leeds,”

We ran out 3-1 winners, but I still could not get my lost love out of my head. It was as if she was Lee Chapman, nice hair, teeth, confident, bang on form whereas I was struggling to be worthy of partnering her upfront and even further down the pecking order than Shutt, Varadi, Davison and yes even John "bloody" Pearson!