Nottingham Forest will lead the tributes to a loving father, who had been going to matches for more than 50 years and helped paint the Brian Clough Stand which was built in 1980. Barrie Hayes, who was born and bred in The Meadows, had been going to games since he was a teenager, and the club has agreed to honour him with a picture and a message at the City Ground at half time of the match against Aston Villa on Monday, October 10.
Since 1985, Barrie, who passed away in August at the age of 80, and his youngest daughter, Natasha Toomey, had been going to games together. She has now paid a touching tribute to her father.
Natasha says that she was the only one of her four other siblings passionate about football, which gave Barrie a "great excuse" to continue going to games. The pair would go to every Nottingham Forest home game, and eventually brought Natasha's son, Blake, along to games once he developed a passion for the Reds.
