{"id":539994,"date":"2026-04-19T21:16:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T21:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/539994\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T21:16:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T21:16:12","slug":"elliot-anderson-in-tears-as-club-pays-moving-tribute-to-players-late-mum-ahead-of-key-fixture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/539994\/","title":{"rendered":"Elliot Anderson in tears as club pays moving tribute to player’s late mum ahead of key fixture"},"content":{"rendered":"

England international Elliot Anderson has been left in tears before Nottingham Forest kicked off against Burnley, as the club paid a moving tribute to his late mum.<\/p>\n

Before the match, Anderson carried a bouquet of flowers while walking alongside teammate Neco Williams.<\/p>\n

The midfielder laid the flowers down on the centre circle as Williams put down a shirt with Anderson’s number and “Mum” above.<\/p>\n

As the players gathered around, a minute’s applause unfolded for the footballer’s mother, Helen Louise Anderson, who passed away on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\"ElliotAnderson was in tears before kick-off | GETTY<\/p>\n

As the applause unfolded, the Forest midfielder could not hold back his tears in the moving tribute recognised by both sets of supporters and players.<\/p>\n

Anderson wiped away his tears before getting into the huddle ahead kick-off for a huge fixture in the home side’s bid to avoid relegation.<\/p>\n

Victory today will take Forest six points clear of the relegation zone with just five games to go.<\/p>\n

Burnley stand in their way, who have had a campaign to forget as their relegation back to the Championship is all but confirmed.<\/p>\n

\"Elliot<\/p>\n

A minute’s applause was held before kick-off<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

Anderson was not available for Forest’s mid-week clash in the Europa League against FC Porto, where Morgan Gibbs-White found the net and paid a moving tribute to the midfielder’s mother.<\/p>\n

Gibbs-White held up a shirt bearing Anderson’s name and number eight, complete with a heartfelt message for their absent teammate.<\/p>\n

The England international was withdrawn from the matchday squad just before kick-off following his mother’s death.<\/p>\n

It was a beautiful reminder that some things really do matter more than football, with Forest’s players rallying around their grieving teammate in the most poignant way possible.<\/p>\n

\"Elliot<\/p>\n

The flowers were laid before Forest’s clash against Burnley<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

The message on the shirt read: “Family first, we are all with you” – a simple but powerful show of solidarity from the squad.<\/p>\n

Forest supporters also played their part in backing the 23-year-old midfielder, with chants of “Geordie Maradona” ringing around the City Ground in the opening minutes of the match.<\/p>\n

It was a lovely nod to Anderson’s Newcastle roots and his silky skills on the ball.<\/p>\n

Head coach Vitor Pereira had been uncertain whether Anderson would be available after the midfielder missed training on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\"Morgan<\/p>\n

Morgan Gibbs-White held aloft a shirt paying tribute to Anderson mid-week<\/p>\n

| GETTY<\/p>\n

The support for the midfielder extended well beyond the City Ground this evening.<\/p>\n

Newcastle United, where Anderson came through the academy before joining Forest nearly two years ago, posted a touching response on social media.<\/p>\n

“We’re so sorry to hear this incredibly sad news. Sending all of our love and support to Elliot and his family at such a difficult time,” the Magpies wrote.<\/p>\n

The England national team also reached out, saying: “Sending love and support to Elliot and his family during this incredibly difficult time.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England international Elliot Anderson has been left in tears before Nottingham Forest kicked off against Burnley, as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539995,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[218,5904,221,217,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-539994","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-golf","10":"tag-premier-league","11":"tag-sport","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539994\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}