Risen: Freed From Desire 2: Forest vs the drop

Words and Images: Our Glorious Banners/ Simon Bristow.

23 years. That’s how long we’d waited.

23 long and painful years, that were filled with far more frequent lows than highs.

Without wanting to sound like that Forest fan that bangs on about the past, our return to the Premier League was long overdue.

Our promotion season had been a whirlwind, some even described it as a second miracle on the banks of the Trent (the first being the magic created by Brian Clough, of course).

Steve Cooper arrived midway through the September of that season and took us from rock bottom of the league to a magical day at Wembley.

It was sensational.

Our rise coincided with me deciding it would be fun to take a camera along to games to capture the experiences of the fans. I love being stood on the terraces with a collection of great friends and complete strangers, all of us united by a shared passion for our team.

I don’t think there is anything that compares to the emotions we experience, and the idea of trying to capture that in photos really appealed to me.

I’d never planned on this little passion project turning into books but someone had suggested it after the promotion season and people had very kindly gone crazy for the idea.

I swore I’d never do another one but as the story of our return to the Premier League took several twists and turns - and ultimately ended in a glorious climax - it felt like it was another epic season that needed to be documented.

Risen: Freed From Desire 2 is a photographic account from the stands that covers the rollercoaster story of our Premier League survival. It’s a story of many highs and lows but, I hope, it also captures the story of the positivity that emanated from us Forest fans over the course of the season.

The photos are often blurry, often painful, but they also capture the euphoric highs we experienced, especially the home win vs. Arsenal that kept us up and a truly incredible day out at Crystal Palace on the final day of the season, when all that pressure and fear of relegation had ended.

“Thirty signings”, as those on the terraces sang that day, “who gives a fuck, the Reds are staying up”.

On both occasions, all proceeds from the sales of the book have gone to good causes, so I’m immensely grateful to everyone who buys a copy as their kindness and generosity is helping to support some very worthwhile organisations.

Up the Reds.