Nottingham Forest have begun talks about creating a memorial to the victims of the Hillsborough disaster at the City Ground.
Forest were Liverpool’s opponents in the FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough in April 1989, when a crush led to the deaths of 97 people, the worst sporting disaster ever in the UK.
Although talks are only at an early stage, one idea is to create a memorial bench outside Forest’s ground, similar to the one by Anfield, Liverpool’s stadium.
Other ideas are also under consideration, with Forest acutely aware they could have done more in the past to recognise the tragedy affected both clubs.
Club officials have spoken to Forest’s branch of the Hillsborough Survivors’ Alliance (HSA) as well as discussing the idea with their fans’ advisory board. It is also understood Forest have notified Liverpool, their opponents last weekend.
Uppermost in Forest’s minds is to approach the matter sensitively, having built relations with the HSA in recent years.
A 30ft banner condemning tragedy chanting was hung in the away end during Forest’s 1-0 win at Anfield last weekend.
More talks will be held in the coming months and it is possible the idea will be factored into the club’s planned redevelopment of the City Ground.
Forest have begun the process of trying to buy up some of the housing beside the ground to help those plans become reality. If everything goes to plan, the club believe they can increase capacity from its current limit of 30,000 to 42,000 by developing two new stands.
(Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)
