Nottingham Forest legend John Robertson officially opened the revamped gym at Queen’s Medical Centre.
John, widely regarded as one of the greatest players in Forest’s history, had a knee replacement at City Hospital in June 2021, and had follow-up physiotherapy at QMC for six months.
“I was in very good hands,” said John, as he cut a ceremonial ribbon at the gym – which has had £14,000 of new equipment; the gym at City Hospital also received £4,000.
Born in Glasgow, John moved to Forest in 1970. But it was the arrival of Brian Clough that really saw his career take off. Cloughie once said: “Give him a ball and a yard of grass, and he was an artist: the Picasso of our game.”
John appeared in 243 consecutive games for Forest between 1976 and 1980, and scored the winning goal in the League Cup Final replay against Liverpool in 1978. He supplied the cross for Trevor Francis’s winner in the European Cup Final against Malmo, and scored the goal which retained the European Cup against Hamburg in 1980.
John made almost 400 appearances for Forest in total, spent two years at rivals Derby County, and made 28 international appearances for Scotland.
“Cloughie worked miracles at Nottingham Forest,” said John., who still goes to watch Forest occasionally. “I was lucky – I’ve played with some special people.”
The gym is a vital cog in a patient’s journey back to health – and hopefully a return to normal life.
“The QMC is home to the Major Trauma Centre, and we support many patients recovering from complex, life-changing injuries, so having the right equipment is vital – not to give patients back just an existence, but to try to give them back their lives,” said Team Leader Jane Hardwicke.
Adam Littler, Divisional General Manager for Clinical Support, said: “I’ve had first-hand negative experience – not at NUH – and it was through lack of kit. It shows how important it is to have the right kit.
“A family member of mine needed physio but was not able to get the best rehab they could. The staff were brilliant and trying their best – but the kit wasn’t enabling them to get where they needed to be.”
The gym is used from 8am-4pm by patients, and is available to staff 4pm-7pm each day.
