Laws backs Hillsborough memorial at Forest ground

It is not too late for Nottingham Forest to install a permanent memorial to those people who died as a result of the Hillsborough disaster because the "panic and trauma" of the tragedy will never be forgotten, former defender Brian Laws has said.

Laws was playing for Forest in the FA Cup semi-final in 1989 when a crush in the Leppings Lane of Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield resulted in the deaths of 97 Liverpool supporters.

Former Forest chairman Tom Cartledge, who left the role in October, last year said the Premier League side would consider having a permanent tribute at their City Ground home.

The idea was first discussed at a fan advisory board meeting in September, with Cartledge among a number of club officials involved.

Laws has long been in favour of a memorial at the City Ground, and said it would "respect" those who died and bring some comfort to the Forest supporters who watched the worst stadium disaster in British history play out in front of them.

"Liverpool have a memorial of the day and Sheffield Wednesday have one because that was the scene, but Forest haven't really done anything. That has puzzled a lot of people," Laws told BBC Investigations, East Midlands.

"I think, in a way, you can understand it a little bit because it is not our loss to mourn. But we have got something else - a trauma, a visual trauma that is not lost. It's a memory that doesn't go away, it's clear and it is not lost in its moment. It's still very fresh.

"I'm for marking that with respect. And even though people will think 'that's 36 years ago, why are you doing that now?' Well maybe it's just a place to go to talk, to have that memory and to recognise it."

No Forest supporters died at Hillsborough, but there were 28,000 of them in the ground to witness the tragedy unfold.

In 2016, inquests concluded that the Liverpool fans who had died had been unlawfully killed.

Forest have previously paid tribute to those who lost their lives in the disaster by leaving 97 seats vacant when they hosted Liverpool in the FA Cup in 2022 - those seats were instead covered with a memorial banner.

The Nottingham branch of the Hillsborough Survivors Support Alliance (HSA) – which was founded in recent years with the support of Liverpool fans - has been the driving force behind the idea of a permanent memorial at Forest's home ground.

After largely staying silent about what they had seen on 15 April 1989, a number of Forest supporters featured in a BBC Sounds podcast - Hillsborough Unheard: Nottingham Forest Fans - and spoke about what they witnessed and how it has affected them for more than three decades.

Martin Peach was one of the fans to share his story. He had been just 12 years old when he attended the cup tie alone.

He grew up idolising Forest players and would grab every opportunity he could to get his picture taken with them. He cherishes one he got with Laws in the summer of 1988.

On Saturday - before Forest faced Liverpool's Merseyside rivals Everton in the Premier League - Peach met with the former defender.

The pair were brought together by what they experienced at Hillsborough.

"Whether we like it or not, we are always going to be part of that day and it's part of Forest's history," Peach said. "And a lot of people were affected and traumatised by what they saw."

Laws was eager to meet Peach, knowing he had been a child sitting in the stands on his own.

As a father, he also had children of his own watching the game that day.

"I know fans reflect on it and personally I do as well because not only was I playing in that game but my family was there, and that was the most frightening thing," Laws said.

"When it was unfolding we didn't know what was going on, so you can imagine we are blind to everything. We were dragged off the pitch and into the dressing room and got trickles of information.

"There was major panic in the dressing room. We had no outside connection so we were on radio silence. I just wanted to see my kids, I just wanted to see my wife to make sure they were all right and not involved.

"And that is the scar that we are all living with. And it does catch you at times because there was a moment in time when everything went quiet."