I WAS born in 1982. My family were all Nottingham Forest fans so it was in my blood. It’s a shame I was born too late to see the glorious era when we were champions of England and Europe but I still got to see Cloughie manage Forest which a lot of younger fans really envy.

My Grandad got me interested in football but it was my uncle, Joe, who took me to my first game: 1991, against Sunderland, a 2-0 win, Steve Chettle and Nigel Clough the scorers.

I’ll never forget it, or the heady cocktail that came from being part of a football match; the smell of sausages, fags and p***. This was still in the days of standing, and we were in the Bridgford Stand, but this was something that initially frightened me.

I was only nine but Hillsborough scared me. I had family who’d been at the game and I thought all terraces would be as packed. Just a few years later I’d have a season ticket in the Trent End and being at the front of that was very scary at times. My first season ticket was with my Grandad though in the notorious A Block. My mum used to brief me before every game:

“You’re going to hear some bad language and I don’t want you to repeat it”. Good luck with that! But as a 10-year-old, what wasn’t there to like about football? England had been great at Italia 90, Nottingham Forest had reached the FA Cup final in ’91, and a few years before had lifted the Littlewoods Cup in successive seasons. Obviously, in later life I realised I’d been duped, but I was totally hooked.

We’d lost that FA Cup final to Spurs, and I remember crying my eyes out. Feeling sorry for me, my mum got me an Italia 90 Coca-Cola ball. That cheered me up for about five minutes. I was a season ticket holder up until my Saturday’s were consumed by work, so it doesn’t make sense to have one. I still get to see quite a few games, mostly when Forest are in and around London. At QPR away last season, I got singled out by some of their fans with the chant: “Your show is on Dave, your show is on Dave, your jokes are s*** and your show is on Dave”.

I love going to the football, I love being able to say I support a team – my home-town team. You feel part of something, emotionally connected to the club, to the players and all the other fans that share the same dreams – and often the same pain as you. It is a great experience and thank God people still turn up in huge numbers to watch the games live.

For me, there are too many TV or armchair fans who never get that feeling of being part of something bigger, at a match, following the fortunes of a team, knowing that your day could be made or ruined just by the result. Do you really get that from TV? That generation are cocooned. Everyone watches matches on television. But how can you just do that?

Being a supporter, you want to show your colours and that means having or buying the kit. Forest have had some great shirts down through the years and I like that they’ve gone back to one of their classic designs, the red with a white pinstripe, for this season.

Maybe I remember that one because of a certain, autographed photo I have in my possession (above right). When I started supporting Nottingham Forest, Forest was Brian Clough. What a man. An absolute legend. And he knew the value of having great Scots in his teams.

I recall a bizarre press call in the city centre when Nigel Mansell turned up with his Williams F1 car for a photo shoot. I don’t know what Mansell had expected, but I don’t think he’d encountered anything quite like it in the Formula One circus. God bless Brian.

The new football season is almost upon us – although I’m a bit busy with a new show to tour before Edinburgh. But naturally there is an excitement and an anticipation around that, and in the case of Forest because we still have a relatively new manager in Mark Warburton and some new players to watch, one of whom is also in the shape of a former Rangers man, Barrie McKay.

In some respects it is already job done for Warburton – he kept us up when we were being tipped for the drop – so well done him. I know enough people in Glasgow who were sceptical of what Warburton would be like at Nottingham Forest.

I was always quite impressed with the way he set up his Brentford team when he was there, and while he was accused of not having a “plan B” in Glasgow, I still think he’ll do well for Forest. McKay has always looked a player any time I’ve watched him and I’m quite excited we’ve got him. Will he do the business? Time will tell.

Matt Forde is the host of political comedy show Unspun with Matt Forde on Dave, and will be appearing in Matt Forde’s Political Party Podcast at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe next month.