Nottingham Forest host their first Premier League match for the first time in 23 years this afternoon as they welcome West Ham United to the City Ground. The first connection between the two clubs that you can think of is Michail Antonio, having played for both clubs. Next would be Stuart Pearce who also represented both during his playing career as well as being involved in each club’s coaching staff, most recently as a first-team coach at the London Stadium.
Now what if you found out that these two teams have a new-found rivalry. Your first thought is how? Geographically speaking this makes no sense (apologies to Crystal Palace and Brighton & Hove Albion fans). But in the modern era of football, with social media right at the very heart of it, rivalries are formed over almost anything these days and this latest instalment surrounds a specific footballer, Jesse Lingard.
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By now we all know that Lingard was one of the 13 players to join the newly-promoted Forest this summer following his departure from Manchester United. West Ham also tried to snap up the free agent after he enjoyed a successful loan spell in east London in 2020-21 but it was Forest who won the race.
Then out of nowhere, you had two fan bases going at one another with West Ham fans labelling Forest as the ‘new Fulham’ for the quantity of summer signings and the amount of money they threw at Lingard to get him to sign, while Forest supporters are goading West Ham fans for beating them to the signing.
Handbags is the first thing that comes to mind regarding this social media feud and both are trying to accuse the other of ‘forcing a rivalry that isn’t there.’ Sky Sports haven’t exactly helped with matters by broadcasting this particular match but just because it has been put on television in the wake of the summer drama does not mean this came has any other significance apart from how it affects the table when the full time whistle blows.
People will tag this match as the Jesse Lingard derby, or El Jesseco as has been seen on social media, but it does not suddenly wish a social media feud into existence to form a real or recognised rivalry.
By no means is this the first time two fan bases have strangely collided regarding something that has nothing to do with what makes a traditional rivalry, there have been quite a few. There was Sheffield United and West Ham following the controversial Carlos Tevez saga as his goal against Manchester United kept the Hammers in the Premier League while relegating the Yorkshire side. The signing of Tevez was later deemed illegal and the fans have never forgotten. While they were right to feel aggrieved, no one recognises their matches as a derby.
Then there is Gillingham and Swindon. Despite 120 miles separating the two teams there is pure hatred between the two fan bases that stems from some bad-tempered games in 1979 and the rivalry has stuck ever since. You can throw Bolton Wanderers and Tranmere Rovers into the mix, too. Bolton fans didn’t like the way Tranmere over-celebrated their victory in the Division Three play-off final in 1991 and that started a feud that has recurred ever since. And while these offer more substance for a feud than Forest and West Ham’s, they are not taken seriously because in essence every team in the world can hold a grudge against anyone they have ever lost against.
Another example of a silly feud came in 2017 when Harry Redknapp was in charge of Birmingham. He signed three Brentford players in one transfer window to which some Bees fans were quite salty about. They developed a strong dislike towards the Midlands club. Given where Brentford are now, you’d like to think they are no longer bothered about something that happened five years ago.
What ever happened to the classic rivalries between clubs from a certain city, region or those that have historical relevance (Liverpool vs Manchester United)? You know, the ones that actually make sense and help make football the wonderful sport it is. In games like the Manchester derby, Second City derby, Newcastle vs Sunderland, the rivalry filters from the stands all the way down onto the pitch. That is not what will happen this weekend at the City Ground. For starters, the West Ham players will be pleased to see their former teammate Lingard and the feeling is likely to be mutual. Just because he opted to join another club will not suddenly turn this fixture into a grudge match, whatever some keyboard warriors on the internet have to say about it.
*18+ | BeGambleAware | Odds Subject To Change
