+ The Clough Era +
Nottingham Forest were considered a “small” club in England till Brian Clough took over as manager with Peter Taylor by his side. Clough came to Forest after winning the Premiership title in 1972. In 1975, with no board of directors at the club, Clough forced the “committee” to sack the previous manager, Allan Brown. The new manager made a good first impression by beating Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 in a FA Cup replay.
Forest once again won promotion to the Premiership in the 1976-77 season. No one would have expected what was to happen next. Being only one of few teams to do so, they won the Premiership the season after being promoted to the top league. No one could believe their achievement but the season after, Clough and co. amazed the public once more when his team won the European Cup (now Champions League) by beating Malmo FF 1-0 in Munich. As they won the trophy in the 1978-79 season, they qualified for the European Cup the following year. And guess what…they lifted the trophy again after beating Hamburger SV 1-0 in Madrid. In the “Clough era” Nottingham Forest also won the European Super Cup and many League Cups. One of the most talked about FA Cup games was the Hillsborough disaster, where 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death on the Hillsborough terracing in a FA Cup Semi-Final replay between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool. Forest ended up losing that cup-tie.
In May 1993, Brian Clough’s 18-year reign at the club ended when Forest were remarkably relegated from the Premiership.
In Clough’s 18 years at the club, he formed an amazing team including the likes of Peter Shilton, Viv Anderson, Martin O’Neill, Trevor Francis, John Robertson, Archie Gemmill and Stuart Pearce.
+ Post-Clough +
Frank Clark, who played in the European Cup winning team, returned to the club to succeed Clough as manager. With the players the great Brian Clough had signed, still at the club, the return to the Premiership was imminent as Forest won promotion in season 1993-94, finishing second. The season after promotion, Forest finished third and won entry to the UEFA Cup, getting as far as the quarterfinals. The following season wasn’t as successful. The club was involved in a relegation battle and Clark was subsequently sacked.
34-year-old defender Stuart Pearce was appointed as player-manager on a temporary basis. His spell as manager was a good one and he was tipped to become the permanent manager but the board opted for experience and appointed Dave Bassett from Crystal Palace. Bassett’s season ended in a low with relegation but Forest once again returned to the Premiership at the first attempt in 1998.
This wasn’t good enough for the Nottingham Forest board of directors and Bassett was sacked and was succeeded by Ron Atkinson. Under Atkinson, Forest slipped down to the Championship once again.
Ron’s stay at Forest was a short one and David Platt replaced him. Platt brought in some old Italians and managed two mid-table finishes before leaving for the England U-21’s when Nottingham Forest entered financial difficulties.
+ Recent Times – 21st Century +
Former Forest youth team manager, Paul Hart succeeded Platt and lead his young team to a 16th place finish. In his time with the youth team, Hart nurtured many talents including Jermaine Jenas, Michael Dawson, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Andy Reid. Meanwhile, the senior team lost in the 2002-03 Championship play-off final to Sheffield United. After selling key players and a disappointing run of results, Hart was sacked to prevent another relegation.
Joe Kinnear was brought in and lead the club out of the relegation zone and helped them to a 14th place finish. In season 04-05, Forest dropped back into the drop zone and guess what? Kinnear resigned.
Gary Megson took over in place of caretaker manager Mick Harford in January 2005. They failed to stay up, finishing in 23rd place. This made them the only team to win the European Cup and end up playing in their domestic 3rd division. A number of defeats left Forest four points above the drop zone. As relegation to League 2 loomed over the club, Megson left by mutual consent.
Frank Barlow and Ian McParland took temporary charge of Forest and they nearly helped the club to a play-off place.
Since Brian Clough’s 18-year reign, Colin Calderwood was appointed the 12th Forest manager in 13 years. Calderwood and co. reached the play-offs in season 2006-07. They lost 5-4 to Yeovil Town in a remarkable second leg of the semi-finals. However, in season 07-08, Forest got their revenge on Yeovil, beating them 3-2 on the final day of the season to secure promotion, finishing in 2nd place.
+ The “Return to the Past” Era +
(Fictional)
At the start of the new Championship campaign, the Nottingham Forest board of directors thought that out of contract, Billy Davies would be the best person to take Forest to the Premiership, therefore sacking Colin Calderwood to his disgust. For the new season, Davies brought in the likes of Robert Earnshaw, Chris Gunter, Isaiah Osbourne, Guy Moussi, Gary McSheffrey, Paul Anderson and Iain Turner but having to sell Grant Holt, Sammy Clingan, Junior Agogo, Matt Lockwood and Kris Commons. Later he signed Sacha Kljestan and Matthew Spiranovic and with these additions, they had a fantastic start to the season.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
+ CLUB RECORDS +
Most Apperances – R. McKinlay (692 apps)
Most Goals – A.G. Morris (217 goals)
Current Longest Serving Player – Wes Morgan (2003-Present)
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Highest Attendance – 49,946 v Manchester United (28/10/1967)
Lowest Attendance – 2,013 v Brentford (31/10/2006)
Highest Record Receipets - £499,099 v Bayern Munich (19/03/1996)
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Longest Winning Run – 7 (09/05/1922 – 01/09/1922)
Longest Unbeaten Run – 42 (26/11/1977 – 25/11/1978.)
Longest Losing Run – 14 (21/03/1913 – 27/09/1913)
Record Win – 14-0 v Clapton (17/01/1891)
Record Defeat – 1-9 v Blackburn Rovers (10/04/1937)
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Most League Points in a Season – 94 (1977-78.)
Most League Goals in a Season – 101 (1950-51)
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Highest Scorer in a Season – Wally Ardron - 36 (1950-51)
Quickest Goal – 15 seconds – Paul Smith v Leicester City (18/09/2007)
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Most Capped Player – Peter Shilton (125 apps for England)
Most Capped Outfield Player – Stuart Pearce (78 apps for England)
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Record Transfer Fee Paid - £3,500,000 for Pierre van Hooijdonk from Celtic (March 1997)
Record Transfer Fee Received - £8,500,000 for Stan Collymore to Liverpool (June 1995)
+ HONOURS +
European Cup – Winners 1979, 1980
Intercontinental Cup – Runners-up 1980
European Super Cup – Winners 1979 / Runners-up 1980
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Premiership – Champions 1978 / Runners-up 1967, 1979
Coca-Cola Championship – Champions 1907, 1922, 1998 / Runners-up 1957, 1994
Coca-Cola League 1 – Champions 1951 / Runners-up 2008
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FA Cup – Winners 1898, 1959 / Runners-up 1991
Carling Cup – Winners 1978, 1979, 1989, 1990 / Runners-up 1980, 1992
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FA Community Shield – Winners 1978 / Runners-up 1959