History of Nottingham Forest F.C.

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The History of Nottingham Forest Football Club covers the history of the club since its formation in 1865. For general information about the club, see Nottingham Forest F.C..

1 History
2 Notes

[edit] History

[edit] Early history

The club's crest during the 1960s

Forest were founded in 1865 by a group of shinty players^[1] shortly after their famous neighbours Notts County, (the world's oldest surviving professional football club), in 1862. They joined the Football Alliance in 1888, and won the competition in 1892, which allowed them entry to the Football League.

Forest's charitable approach to the sport helped teams like Liverpool, Arsenal F.C. and Brighton & Hove Albion to come into existence. In 1886, Forest donated a set of football kits to help Arsenal establish themselves - the North London team still wears red to this day. Forest also donated shirts to Liverpool and helped secure a site to play on for Brighton.

Forest claimed their first major honour when they won the 1898 FA Cup, beating Derby County 3-1 at Crystal Palace. However, for much of the first half of the 20th century the club spent life in the Second Division (and had to seek re-election in 1914 after finishing bottom). In 1949 the club were relegated to the Third Division, but bounced back two years later as champ the Second. A brief period of glory followed at the end of the 1950s, as they regained First Division status in 1957 and won the FA Cup for a second time in 1959, despite losing Roy Dwight { who was the uncle of pop icon Elton John- real name Reg Dwight } through a broken leg and becoming the first team to defeat the Wembley 'hoodoo'. By this time Forest had become the biggest team in Nottingham, overtaking Notts County. But after reaching the high of runners-up spot and cup semi-finalists in 1967, Forest were relegated from the First Division in 1972. Forest's biggest rivals are Derby County, there is a rather more one-sided rivalry with Leicester City, who have a hatred for Forest that isn't really reciprocated.

[edit] Brian Clough: (1975-1993)

Forest were considered a small club by English league standards until the mid 1970s, when Brian Clough and his assistant Peter Taylor took the helm at the club. Clough was the most successful manager in the history of Nottingham Forest football club. He had won the league title with Forest's deadly rivals Derby County in 1972, and came to Nottingham Forest on January 6th 1975, after a 0-2 home defeat by local rivals Notts County, on Boxing day, prompted the committee (Forest had no board of directors then) to sack the previous manager Allan Brown. They won promotion to the top division at the end of the 1976-77 season after finishing third in the Second Division, but no-one could have predicted how successful Clough's team would be over the next three seasons.

European Cup trophy

Nottingham Forest became one of the few teams (and the last team to date) to win the English First Division Championship 1977-78 season, a year after winning promotion from the English Second Division. In 1978-79, Forest went on to win the European Cup by beating Malmö FF [1-0] in Munich's Olympic Stadium and retained the trophy in 1979-80, beating Hamburger SV [1-0] in Madrid thanks to an outstanding performance by goalkeeper Peter Shilton. They also won the European Super Cup and two League Cups. Beside Shilton, key players of that era included right-back Viv Anderson (the first black player to wear the England jersey), midfielder Martin O'Neill, striker Trevor Francis and a trio of Scottish International stars: winger John Robertson, midfielder Archie Gemmill and defender Kenny Burns. The club reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup in 1983-84 but were knocked out by Anderlecht in dishonest circumstances in which a Forest goal was controversially disallowed. It later emerged that in the second leg, the Belgian club had bribed the referee.^[2]

Nottingham Forest's next significant trophy came in 1989 when they beat Luton Town in the League Cup final. For most of the season they had been hopeful of completing a unique domestic treble, but were beaten into third place in the League by champions Arsenal and runners-up Liverpool and lost to Liverpool in the replay of the FA Cup semi-final, originally held at Hillsborough, where 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death on terracing, the match was abandoned after 6 minutes. Clough's side retained the League Cup in 1990 when they beat Oldham Athletic. There was chance for more success in 1991 when Forest reached their only FA Cup final under Brian Clough and went ahead after scoring an early goal (Stuart Pearce free kick) against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley, but ended up losing 2-1 in extra time after an own goal by Des Walker.

Forest reached their third League Cup final in four seasons in 1992, but lost to Manchester United, and in this successful period also won the Full Members Cup twice (1989 and 1992).

Brian Clough's 18-year reign as manager ended in May 1993 when Forest were relegated from the Premier League after 16 illustrious years of top flight football which had seen one league title, two European Cups and four League Cups. Since Brian Clough's departure, Nottingham Forest have had eight managers and spent just four further seasons in the Premier League, and none since 1999.

Clough died in 2004 after a long battle with stomach cancer.

Clough's managerial record

Played: 908,

Won: 418,

Drawn: 256,

Lost: 234

[edit] Frank Clark (1993-1996)

Frank Clark, who had been a left-back in Nottingham Forest's 1979 European Cup winning team, returned to the club in May 1993 to succeed Brian Clough as manager. His management career had previously been uneventful, although he had won the Fourth Division promotion playoffs with Leyton Orient in 1989. Having inherited most of the players from the Clough era, Clark was able to achieve an instant return to the Premiership when the club finished Division One runners-up at the end of the 1993-94 season. Clark looked to be well on the way to re-establishing Forest as a top team.

Forest's return to the Premiership was impressive as they finished third in 1994-95 and qualified for the UEFA Cup - their first entry to European competition in the post-Heysel era. The 1994-95 season was a glorious one as far as Forest were concerned as just about every team promoted into the Premier League are almost certain favourites to be relegated the following season. One of the many highlights of the 1994-95 season was a memorable victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford, with Stan Collymore and Stuart Pearce scoring the goals, a game fondly remembered by Forest fans of that era. The likes of Stan Collymore, Stuart Pearce and the Dutch international Bryan Roy were among the most feared players in the Premiership. But Collymore was sold to Liverpool in June 1995 for a then English record fee of £8.4 million, and his £2 million Italian successor Andrea Silenzi was considered to be a disappointing signing. With Collymore gone, Forest's goals dried up in the Premiership during 1995-96 and they finished ninth - although they did reach the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup, making them the only English team to reach the last eight of any European competition that season.

Clark added Welsh striker Dean Saunders and Croatian defender Nikola Jerkan to Forest's squad for the 1996-97 season, but they started badly and it became a battle to avoid relegation. With no signs of that battle being won, Clark was sacked in December and 34-year-old captain Stuart Pearce was installed as player-manager on a temporary basis.

Clark's managerial record

Played: 178,

Won: 73,

Drawn: 58,

Lost: 47

[edit] Dave Bassett: (1997-98)

Pearce inspired a brief revival in Forest's fortunes, and he was voted Premiership manager for the month for January 1997 after a turn around in form lifted the club off the bottom of the division. He was tipped to become manager on a permanent basis, but the Forest directors wanted someone more experienced so in March 1997 they turned to Crystal Palace manager Dave Bassett. Despite the addition of Celtic's Dutch striker Pierre van Hooijdonk, Forest were unable to avoid relegation and finished the season in bottom place. They won promotion back to the Premiership at the first attempt, being crowned Division One champions in 1997-98. But the prolific strike-partnership of Kevin Campbell and Pierre van Hooijdonk was soon broken up: Campbell was sold to Turkish side Trabzonspor and van Hooijdonk refused to play (he was, basically, on strike), because his strike partner was sold. Van Hooijdonk later returned to the club but it was too late to save Bassett, who was sacked in January 1999 after a terrible start to the Premiership campaign and elimination from the FA Cup at the hands of Division One side Portsmouth.

Bassett's managerial record

Played: 77,

Won: 33,

Drawn: 20,

Lost: 24

[edit] Ron Atkinson: (1999)

Ron Atkinson made his last managerial appearance in football as Nottingham Forest's interim manager, taking charge in January 1999. Brought in with the alleged promise of a million pound bonus if he kept Forest up, 'Big Ron' did little to endear himself to the Forest faithful by climbing into the wrong dugout at the start of his first game in charge - against Arsenal. It was later claimed that in true Big Ron style he was heard joking after the match that he'd thought Forest had Dennis Bergkamp on their bench. He was unable to succeed in keeping Forest clear of relegation, and for the third time in seven seasons they were relegated as the Premiership's bottom club.

Atkinson's reign was short, but not too sweet, as shown by his record in charge.

Atkinson's managerial record

Played: 16,

Won: 4,

Drawn: 2,

Lost: 10

[edit] David Platt: (1999-2001)

When the board decided not to renew Atkinson's contract, several high profile names were mentioned for the vacant manager's job, including Glenn Hoddle (ex-Swindon, Chelsea and England), Roy Evans (ex-Liverpool) and Brian Little (ex-Leicester and Aston Villa).^{[citation needed]} The club's eventual choice was 33-year-old former England captain David Platt, whose brief spell as head coach of Italian Serie A side Sampdoria had just ended in relegation.

Former England captain Platt was named as Nottingham Forest's player-manager in July 1999. He made several expensive signings during his two-year reign at the helm, but these acquisitions were unproductive^{[citation needed]} and Forest never really looked like gaining promotion back to the Premiership, finishing only in mid-table. Their fortunes were not helped by financial problems and a constant need to sell top players in order to pay off the debts that were caused by certain signings that Platt made,^{[citation needed]} including the Trio Of Italians who only made a handful of appearances between them but cost over £5 million (Gianluca 'Bepe' Petrachi and Salvatore Matrecano from Perugia plus free transfer Moreno Mannini from Sampdoria). Platt left to become England U-21 coach in July 2001 and he handed over the reins to youth team manager Paul Hart. By now, Forest's days as a top club were now very much a distant memory and no players remained from their successful days in the top flight.

David Platt is one of the most disliked figures in Nottingham Forest's history.^{[citation needed]} He was responsible for making some poor signings that cost millions of pounds. This plunged the club further into debt. Under his guidance the team generally underperformed and the quality of the football was often poor.^{[citation needed]} Platt's reign was nothing short of disastrous and arguably Forest still haven't recovered from the damage he did.

Platt's managerial record

Played: 103,

Won: 34,

Drawn: 25,

Lost: 44

[edit] Paul Hart: (2001-2004)

Paul Hart had a difficult time as manager of Nottingham Forest; his appointment was initially met with some surprise (he was best known for his involvement with the successful academy at Leeds and as academy director at Forest before his internal appointment). The club's financial problems escalated at the end of the 2001-02 season when the ITV Digital collapse almost bankrupted them.^{[citation needed]} Hart's first season at the helm had been unremarkable as a squad made up mostly of young players achieved a 16th place finish in Division One. There were fears that Nottingham Forest could go into liquidation during the summer of 2002,^{[citation needed]} but with the sale of players like Jermaine Jenas the financial situation was brought under control and Forest did better in 2002-03. They finished sixth in Division One and qualified for the playoffs, their best chance yet of returning to the Premiership. However, they lost to Sheffield United in the semi finals. After a 1-1 draw at the City Ground, they eventually lost out at Bramall Lane 4-3 after extra time, and 5-4 on aggregate, even though they were leading the second leg 2-0.

By now, the likes of Michael Dawson and Marlon Harewood were some of the most talented young players in the English league and players from the club's invested-in youth academy were starting to filter through to the first team but forced departures took their toll on the club's fortunes in 2003-04. Hart was sacked in February as Forest hovered near the foot of Division One.

Hart's managerial record

Played: 134,

Won: 45,

Draw: 44,

Lost: 45

[edit] Joe Kinnear (2004)

Joe Kinnear was the next manager to take charge of Nottingham Forest. The club's directors looked to have made a good decision when Kinnear revitalised Forest, bringing out the best in key players like Michael Dawson and Andy Reid, and they climbed to a secure 14th place in the final table. Kinnear was hoping to push for promotion from the newly-named Coca-Cola Championship in 2004-05, but the start to the season was poor. Despite a promising draw on opening day (1-1 vs Wigan Athletic) the team's form went downhill, as did the league position. With fans getting restless, and the threat of demonstrations against the team management, Kinnear walked away from the club in December after a 3-0 defeat by arch-rivals Derby County at Pride Park, with Forest struggling at the foot of the Championship.

Kinnear's managerial record

Played: 44,

Won: 15,

Drawn: 15,

Lost: 14

[edit] Gary Megson: (2004-2005)

Following a brief caretaker reign of Mick Harford, in January 2005, Gary Megson was named as Nottingham Forest's new manager. He had previously won promotion to the Premiership twice with West Bromwich Albion, having taken over at a time when they were on the verge of relegation to League One. It was hoped that he could achieve the same success with Forest. But that target was made all the more difficult to achieve at the end of 2003-04, when Forest finished second from bottom in the Coca-Cola Championship and were relegated to League One. This made them the first former winners of the European Cup to suffer relegation to the third tier of their domestic league.

Initially in League under Gary Megson, progress had been steady but many Forest fans^[who?] might have hoped for a better run of form. At The City Ground at the start of 2006, home form was the best in the League, however away performances saw them struggling to get a win. The quality of the football on display was generally regarded (by Forest fans and experts alike)^{[citation needed]} as the worst from Forest in living memory and the abject performances and results away from home started to appear at the City Ground, for example a 2-0 loss to Barnsley, a 2-1 defeat to Swansea City and a 1-0 loss against Scunthorpe.

Megson departed 'by mutual consent' on 16 February 2006 with Forest in 13th place, just four points above the relegation zone, having won just once in the last ten games.

Megson's managerial record

Played: 59,

Won: 17,

Drawn: 18,

Lost: 24

[edit] Barlow and McParland: (Feb 2006-May 2006)

Frank Barlow (Assistant Manager) and Ian McParland (Forest's Reserve team coach) took over on a caretaker basis after Gary Megson's resignation. Barlow and McParland won their first game in charge with a 2-0 away victory at Port Vale. It was Forest's first away win since August 27, 2005 (which was 3-1 at Gillingham), their first double over another team in the season, and their first away clean sheet. Their second game ended with an outstanding 7-1 home win against Swindon Town, the first time Forest scored 7 goals in a League game for over a decade.

The unbeaten run under Frank Barlow and Ian McParland extended to 10, with 6 straight wins, a feat that was last achieved in the '60s and something that even Brian Clough could not achieve,^{[citation needed]} when Forest beat relegation battling Yeovil Town 2-1 in front of a near sell-out crowd at the City Ground.^{[citation needed]} It was the first time Forest have won more than two games in a row since 2004, when Joe Kinnear was in charge and the first time they have won more than 4 in a row for 11 years. The winning run eventually ended in a thrilling 3-2 defeat at the hands of struggling Hartlepool United.

Barlow and McParland were named joint Managers Of The Month for March 2006 as they were the only team in the football league to go unbeaten in that month.

Forest took 28 points out of a possible 39 under Barlow and McParland in the final 13 games of the season and just missed out on the play-offs when they could only draw at Bradford City on the final day of the season.

Ian McParland/Frank Barlow's record

Played: 13

Won: 8

Drawn: 4

Lost: 1

[edit] Calderwood's Forest: (May 2006-present)

In May 2006, Colin Calderwood became the twelfth manager of Nottingham Forest in thirteen years. The former Scotland international had previously been on Forest's books as a player in 2000, having only recently taken the step into management with Northampton Town, Calderwood's first game in charge was a 5-0 friendly win at local side Ilkeston Town.

Calderwood's first season in League One as Forest manager started with two new signings in the shapes of goalkeeper Paul Smith and Ghanaian International striker Junior Agogo. Forest won their first four matches of the season, including their opening match against Bradford City. Forest's first defeat of the campaign came in the Carling Cup first round with defeat at Football League newcomers Accrington Stanley. Calderwood was named League One's Manager Of The Month for August after 7 matches unbeaten, including a 4-0 home win against Chesterfield. The Reds then went four games without a win, with a home defeat to Oldham and were then thrashed 4-0 against Scunthorpe United, yet again at home.

However, Forest returned to good form as they went nine games unbeaten, including a seven match winning run, before losing to Bournemouth. This led to the collapse of their seven point league lead as they just won one in five with a 1-1 draw against Tranmere Rovers knocking them off the top of League One in late December 2006 for the first time since August 2006. A further 5-0 defeat away at Oldham saw Forest fall out off the automatic promotion places.

But, fortunes again picked up as Forest produced a shock 2-0 win at home to Premiership side Charlton Athletic in the FA Cup third round. However, disappointment was to follow as Forest were comfortably beaten 3-0 by then holding league champions Chelsea in the following round.

The Reds then invested in three players, former player David Prutton and Alan Wright joining on a season-long loans with defender Luke Chambers signing for an undisclosed fee. Those three additions helped Forest back into good form by only losing three times in their next 17 League One games. This put Forest only one point behind second-placed Bristol City with one game remaining, but a 0-0 draw at home to Crewe and victory for City meant that Forest finished the 2006-07 season in 4th place, and in the play-offs.

Forest faced Yeovil Town in the play-off semi-finals and won the first-leg encounter at Huish Park 2-0 with penalties from Kris Commons and James Perch. Forest were left odds-on to progress to Wembley, only to lose 5-2 after extra-time at home in the second leg to condemn The Reds to a third season in League One. Top scorer Grant Holt (18 goals in all competitions) was the runaway winner of the fans' player of the season.

On June 20, 2007, Forest announced ambitious plans to relocate to a new stadium in the Clifton area of the city. ^[3]

Calderwood signed five players in summer 2007, most notably former Celtic captain Neil Lennon on a free transfer. Also captured were left-back Matt Lockwood from Leyton Orient, Preston North End defender Kelvin Wilson and Yeovil Town duo midfielder Chris Cohen and attacking winger Arron Davies all signing for undisclosed fees.

In the Carling Cup, after beating Chester City 4-2 on penalties, the second round tie against Leicester City was abandoned at half-time due to the collapse of Clive Clarke. In the replay, as The Reds were leading 1-0 when the referee called the game off, Leicester sportingly allowed Forest to take the 1-0 lead after 23 [1] seconds through goalkeeper Paul Smith setting many football records. Despite this, Forest lost the game 3-2 after being ahead with three minutes to go.

However, The Reds' league fortunes improved with an eight-game league unbeaten run. After drawing 2-2 at Bristol Rovers, Forest then hit five wins in six games which included two hat-tricks, helping The Reds score 15 in the process. The unbeaten run continued with a 0-0 draw at home to Doncaster Rovers but then collapsed as Forest only claimed one point in their next two games. However, they have recovered with three vital wins over promotional rivals to move up to second in the League One table. The Reds also set the Football League record for the most league clean sheets this season, 10 clean sheets in 16 league games.

In the 2007-08 campaign, Forest were named title favourites for the third consecutive year. Calderwood signed five players in summer 2007, most notably former Celtic captain Neil Lennon on a free transfer. Also captured were left-back Matt Lockwood from Leyton Orient, Preston North End defender Kelvin Wilson and Yeovil Town duo midfielder Chris Cohen and attacking winger Arron Davies all signing for undisclosed fees.

Forest started poorly to the 2007-08 campaign as they failed to win in their first six competitive games. The Reds drew three times and lost 2-1 at home to rivals Leeds United, as well as losing 3-2 to Peterborough United in the Football League Trophy. However, Forest then hit an eight-game unbeaten run in the league (including five wins), scoring seventeen goals in the process. After losing to Luton, Forest went on another unbeaten run, this time of six games in all competitions. This briefly took Forest to the top of the league table over Christmas, the first time they had been top all season.

But they lost top spot with some poor results, as they failed to win away from home, in a run lasting seven games. After moving back into second place, Forest's away form once again was found lacking which allowed Carlisle and Doncaster to overtake them into second and third place respectively. Forest hit a poor spell of results, seeing them collect just one win in seven games.

However, they turned their form around, and after being 11 points behind second-place at one point, Forest amazingly turned it around. A win Carlisle saw Forest then win six out of their last seven games of the season. Forest, who had only been in the automatic promotion places once all season got promoted to the Championship on a dramatic last day of the season, by beating Yeovil 3-2 at the City Ground to secure second place. The Reds kept a league record of 24 clean sheets out of 46 games, which helped them end their three-year spell in the league's third tier and gain their first promotion in ten years.

Forest have begun preparing for the 2008-09 season, with the release of three players, including Kris Commons, and offering six players new contracts, including Sammy Clingan and Nathan Tyson. ^[4] Forest have also agreed a £2.5m fee for Derby striker Robert Earnshaw, who is set to begin talks with The Reds in the near future. ^[5]

Colin Calderwood's Football League record

Played: 109

Won: 52

Drawn: 33

Lost: 24