Two decades have come and gone since Nottingham Forest last graced the Premier League with their presence.
Their goalkeeper in those top-flight days was the rather remarkable figure of Dave Beasant – and 20 years on from their last appearance at the top table of English football, the ex-Forest, England and Wimbledon goalkeeper will run the rule over the Reds of 2019 - and Reading - on Saturday.
Beasant - who was a first-team coach at the Madejski Stadium until last season when Paul Clement was removed and replaced by Jose Gomes - is the club’s special guest for the Championship clash in which Sabri Lamouchi and his men will be hoping to end a run of two straight defeats, having previously gone 10 games unbeaten.
Gomes has since departed Reading, with sporting director Mark Bowen taking over in charge - and he has masterminded a mini-revival in the last two games, beating Preston and drawing with QPR, a change which Beasant believes will pose problems to a club still held in high regard by the 60-year-old.
“I’ve always looked at Forest of late and thought that they’re a progressive club and they seem to be doing well,” he told Nottinghamshire Live.
“Unfortunately, when they get to within a chance of being first or second, they slip up and they’ve slipped up of late.
“It could be a bad time for Forest to be playing Reading because of the change of manager and knowing the inside of the club, it didn’t look like the players were playing for the last manager.
“There’s obviously been an uplift in the last couple of games (against Preston and QPR) and they've scored goals. Before, they weren’t scoring goals, so it will be a tough game for Forest.”
Beasant was a title winner at Forest under Dave Bassett, winning what was then Division One and promotion to the top flight, before suffering relegation the following season in the last year of the 1990s.
In his four years on Trentside, Beasant says the club left an indelible mark on him, and he’s always relished coming back to the City Ground, even finding himself singing along to the club’s famous anthem - as he sits forward in his chair, explaining with a little extra verve and a greater smile on his face.
“It’s unbelievable,” he said of the Reds’ support.
“Every time I’ve been back to Nottingham with an opposing team, and I’ll tell you, I sit in the away team’s dugout and hear the anthem, Mull of Kintyre, before the game and the hairs on the back of my neck go up when they start singing it, I start singing along with it – I mean, I’m in the opposition dugout!
“The fans have really followed and supported their team. The club deserves to be higher and obviously they’ve got to be performing to get there, but they’re a fantastic club, Forest.
And as for Forest and Reading on Saturday?
“I think it’ll be a 1-1 draw,” he says, “sitting right on the fence.”
Dave Beasant was talking to Nottinghamshire Live at a lunch organised by Bloomin Dementia at the Cross Keys in Nottingham
