Nottingham Forest F.C.

Nottingham Forest F.C.
Full name Nottingham Forest Football Club
Nickname(s) Forest,
The Reds
Founded 1865
Ground City Ground
Nottingham
England
(Capacity: 30,602[1])
Chairman Flag of England Nigel Doughty
Manager Flag of Scotland Colin Calderwood
League The Championship
2007-08 League One, 2nd (promoted)
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Home colours
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Away colours
Soccerball current event.svg Current season

Nottingham Forest Football Club is an English professional football club based at the City Ground in West Bridgford, a suburb of Nottingham, England, currently playing in the second tier of English league football, The Championship. They have an illustrious history which encompasses winning two consecutive European Cups, along with the domestic title, two FA Cups and four League Cups.

Contrary to popular belief the name Forest does not come from Sherwood Forest, but from the Forest Recreation Ground just north of the city centre which is where the team first played and is now the site of the annual Nottingham Goose Fair. The club is often referred to simply as Forest (not to be confused with the entirely unrelated older amateur side, Forest F.C., which is better known as The Wanderers F.C.), the name the club carries on its badge.

Forest fans dislike the club being referred to as Notts Forest. This is because Notts is the correct abbreviation of Nottinghamshire (hence Notts County), but not of Nottingham itself. The appropriate abbreviation of Nottingham Forest is Nott'm Forest.

Relegation to English football's third tier in 2004-05 made Forest the first European Cup-winning club ever to fall into its country's third division; however, Forest returned to The Championship after winning promotion at the end of the 2007-08 season.

Many of today's footballing rules and features, including floodlighting, shinpads, and even lettering on the stands have been pioneered by Forest (see Nottingham Forest F.C.#Forest's firsts).

Contents

History

Main articles: History of Nottingham Forest F.C. and Nottingham Forest F.C. season 2008-09

Forest were founded in 1865 by a group of shinty players[2] shortly after their neighbours Notts County, (thought to be the world's oldest surviving professional football club), in 1862. The club's committee decided that Forest's colours should be Garibaldi Red, named after the Italian patriot who headed the redshirts party. They joined the Football Alliance in 1888, and won the competition in 1892. They were then allowed entry to the Football League. They also provided Arsenal with their first ever kit.

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 champions of 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, cousin[3] of pop icon Elton John, 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 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 neighbours Derby County in 1972, and came to Nottingham Forest on January 6 1975, after a 0-2 home defeat by Notts County, on Boxing day, prompted the committee (Forest had no board of directors then) to sack the previous manager Allan Brown. Clough's first game in charge was the third round F.A. Cup replay against Tottenham Hotspur, a 1-0 victory thanks to a goal by Scottish Centre Forward Neil Martin (at Forest Martin had already become the first player to score 100 league goals in both Scotland and England).[4]

Forest 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.

Nottingham Forest became one of the few teams (and the most recent team to date) to win the English First Division Championship a year after winning promotion from the English Second Division (1977-78 season). 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 as well as Anderlecht being awarded a penalty kick which clearly should never have been. It later emerged that in the second leg, the Belgian club had bribed the referee.[5]

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 Arsenal and 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. This game is also notable for the fact that Paul Gascoigne badly injured himself in fouling Gary Charles which is thought in some quarters to have been the start of Gascoigne's downward spiral.

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 a league title, two European Cups and four League Cups.

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. 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 1996-97 season became a relegation battle and Clark was sacked in December. 34-year-old captain Stuart Pearce was installed as player-manager on a temporary basis and he inspired a brief upturn in the club's fortunes. 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. 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.

Bassett was sacked in January 1999, with Ron Atkinson replacing him. However, he was unable to prevent them from once again slipping back into the Football League with a succession of poor results, most noticeably the 8-1 defeat by Manchester United.

David Platt spent approximately £12m on players, including the Italian veterans Moreno Mannini, Salvatore Matrecano and Gianluca Petrachi. Platt managed two mid-table finishes before quitting for the England U-21s when Forest were in financial difficulties.

Paul Hart became The Reds boss just two hours after the departure of Platt and had a difficult two and a half years as Forest manager. They finished 16th in his first season in charge with a very young team as the collapse of ITV Digital put Forest in massive debt. However, following the sales of key players, Forest did much better in the 2002-03 season finishing 6th place and in the play-offs. However, Forest's dream of returning to the Premiership was blown away by Sheffield United in the semi-finals. Forest then collapsed next season and Hart was sacked in February 2004 as The Reds hovered near the foot of Division One.

Joe Kinnear, the next manager of Forest, was unable to bring out the best of his inherited side to move up to 14th place in the final league table. The next season was poor for Forest as they fell into the relegation zone with Kinnear resigning in December 2004. Following a brief stint from Mick Harford, Gary Megson took charge of Forest in January 2005 but could not prevent them finishing second-bottom of the league, and slipping down into the third tier (League One) for the first time in 54 years.

A 3-0 defeat at Oldham Athletic in February 2006 proved to be the last straw for Megson, who departed by "mutual consent" with the Reds just four points above the relegation zone. However, Frank Barlow and Ian McParland took over as joint caretaker managers and got Forest motoring with a 6 game winning run in a 10 game unbeaten run, the most notable result a 7-1 win over Swindon Town. Forest took 28 points from a possible 39 under the two, but it was too late for them as they finished in 7th place.

Colin Calderwood became the twelfth manager in thirteen years for The Reds in May 2006. He got off to a perfect start as he led Forest to a 7 point lead at the top of League One in November 2006, with a seven game winning run helping them there. However, Forest collapsed from the top and just a month later fell out of the automatic promotion places and into the play-offs. Forest remained just outside the automatic promotion places for the majority of the second part of the season as they only lost three times in seventeen games. The Reds finished 4th and entered the play-offs where they faced Yeovil Town. After beating them 2-0 in the first-leg, Forest succumbed to a 5-2 (Agg: 5-4) extra time defeat, despite being 3-1 up on aggregate with 83 minutes gone.[6]

In the 2007-08 campaign, Forest were named title favourites for the third consecutive year. After failing to win in their first six competitive games, 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. However, 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 at Carlisle saw Forest then win six out of their last seven games of the season. Forest, who had rarely been in the automatic promotion places throughout the 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.

In the 2008-09 campaign, Forest made a handful of signings, such as Robert Earnshaw, Paul Anderson, Guy Moussi and Joe Garner to replace the likes of Grant Holt, Sammy Clingan, Junior Agogo, Matt Lockwood and Kris Commons. Forest drew 0-0 with Reading but then lost to promoted rivals Swansea City. They quickly rebounded with a 3-2 win over Watford. The Reds were knocked out of the League Cup after a late extra-time goal against Sunderland. They later went on to lose 5-1 to then-top-of-the-table Wolves. Forest failed to win in ten consecutive league games seeing them prop up the Championship table, but a 2-1 away victory at Crystal Palace moved them off the foot of the table, their first away points of the season having previously lost all six away league games. Forest then faced Derby County and drew 1-1, despite having Lewis McGugan sent off, Lee Camp making a 93rd-minute penalty save, and Derby having a goal disallowed a minute later. A further two draws were followed up by a 2-1 home loss to Norwich City with speculation rife about Colin Calderwood's position as manager of Forest, but a 1-0 home victory against Barnsley lifted the Reds off the bottom of the table.

Players

As of 24 October 2008.[7]

Current squad

No. Position Player
1 Flag of England GK Paul Smith
2 Flag of England DF Kelvin Wilson (Team Captain)
3 Flag of England DF Joel Lynch (on loan from Brighton & Hove Albion)
4 Flag of England DF Luke Chambers
5 Flag of England DF Wes Morgan
6 Flag of England DF Ian Breckin (Club Captain)
7 Flag of England MF James Perch
8 Flag of England MF Lewis McGugan
9 Flag of England FW Nathan Tyson
10 Flag of Wales FW Robert Earnshaw
11 Flag of England MF Paul Anderson (on loan from Liverpool)
12 Flag of England FW Garath McCleary
14 Flag of Wales MF Arron Davies
15 Flag of England MF Chris Cohen
16 Flag of England FW Joe Garner
17 Flag of England MF Lee Martin (on loan from Manchester United)
19 Flag of France MF Guy Moussi
No. Position Player
21 Flag of England GK Lee Camp (on loan from Queens Park Rangers)
24 Flag of Ireland MF Mark Byrne
25 Flag of England DF Richard Tait
26 Flag of England MF Matt Thornhill
27 Flag of Ireland DF Brendan Moloney
29 Flag of England DF Julian Bennett
32 Flag of Algeria DF Hamza Bencherif
33 Flag of England MF Liam Hook
34 Flag of England MF Reece Staples
35 Flag of England DF Tom Sharpe
36 Flag of England DF Joe Heath
37 Flag of England FW Adam Newbold
38 Flag of France FW Mickael Darnet
39 Flag of England GK Barry Richardson
41 Flag of England MF James Reid
42 Flag of England FW Ryan Whitehurst
45 Flag of England DF Aaron Mitchell

Out on loan

No. Position Player
28 Flag of England FW Emile Sinclair (at Mansfield Town)
30 Flag of England GK Dale Roberts (at Rushden and Diamonds)
31 Flag of England GK Paddy Gamble (at Mansfield Town)
40 Flag of Ireland GK Shane Redmond (at Eastwood Town)

Club officials

Board of Directors

Associate Directors

Football Staff

Youth academy

The Nottingham Forest Youth Academy has produced many players; most notably when former Forest manager Paul Hart was in charge of it. Some of the players to come through the Forest Academy in recent years include Marlon Harewood, Jermaine Jenas, Andy Reid, Michael Dawson, David Prutton and Shaun Wright-Phillips,

Honours

Main English and European Honours

Minor Honours

Managers

Current First Team Manager Colin Calderwood.

The City Ground

Main article: City Ground

Nottingham Forest play their home games at The City Ground, which has been their home, directly across the Trent from city rivals, Notts County, since 1898. Before they settled at The City Ground, which is located on the south bank of the Trent, they played at the Forest Recreation Ground, from which the team takes its name.

The City Ground, Home of Nottingham Forest

The four stands are:

There were plans to rebuild this stand with a much larger capacity in order to raise the City Ground's capacity to 40,000 if the club regains a Premier League place. This was scrapped when the club planned to build a new stadium (see below)

The Capital One Corner, located in one corner of the ground between the Brian Clough and Bridgford stands. Before it was named Pinnacle Place, after the club's previous sponsors. The main noise comes from Capital One Corner and the Main Stand's "A" block

The ground's combined capacity is 30,602.

Average attendances:

The largest league attendance of the 2006-2007 season was 27,875, 8000 more than any other League One club. [8]

The largest league attendance of the 2007-2008 season was 28,520 on the last day of the season which saw them get promoted to the championship.

When Forest faced Yeovil Town on 17 April 2006, only 3 teams in England had a higher attendance than Forest (28,197). They were Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, and Sunderland.[9]

The City Ground is the eighth largest football stadium outside the Premiership, behind Sheffield United, Leicester City, Leeds United, Southampton, Coventry City, Derby County and Sheffield Wednesday.

The City Ground has hosted the Women's F.A. Cup Final between Arsenal LFC and Charlton LFC on Monday 7th May. The final score was Arsenal LFC 4-1 Charlton LFC, along with a record-breaking crowd for the women's FA Cup Final of approximately 24,000 (the previous was around 13,000). This was the first time an F.A. Women's Cup final was played outside London. Forest's affiliated women's team, Nottingham Forest L.F.C., were knocked out of the competition by Charlton Athletic LFC in the fifth round. The women's team play in a smaller ground at the Forest Academy and are in the second tier of English women's football (the Northern Championship), but they share sponsorship with the men.

On June 20, 2007, Forest announced plans to relocate to a new stadium in the Clifton area of the city.[10]

Records

Most appearances for the club (in all competitions):

  1. R. McKinlay: 692
  2. I. Bowyer: 564
  3. S. Chettle: 526
  4. S. Pearce: 522

Most goals for the club (in all competitions):

  1. A. G. Morris: 217
  2. N. Clough: 131
  3. W. Ardron: 124
  4. J. G. Dent: 122

Current longest-serving player: Wes Morgan Debut 12 August 2003

Highest attendance: 49,946 Vs. Manchester United in Division 1, 28 October 1967

Lowest attendance: 2,013 Vs. Brentford FC in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, 31 October 2006

Record receipts: £499,099 Vs. Bayern Munich in UEFA Cup quarter final 2nd leg, 19 March 1996

Longest sequence of league wins: 7, wins from 9 May 1922 to 1 September 1922

Longest sequence of league defeats: 14, losses from 21 March 1913 to 27 September 1913

Longest sequence of unbeaten league matches: 42, from 26 November 1977 to 25 November 1978

Longest sequence of league games without a win: 19, from 8 September 1998 to 16 January 1999

Quickest goal: 23 seconds [2], Paul Smith Vs Leicester City, 18 September, 2007 in the Carling Cup.¹

First Football League game: 3 September 1892 Vs. Everton FC (away), 2-2

Record win (in all competitions): 14-0, Vs. Clapton (away), 1st round FA Cup, 17 January 1891

Record defeat (in all competitions): 1-9, Vs. Blackburn Rovers, Division 2, 10 April 1937

Most league points in one season: 94, Division 1, 1977-1978

Most league goals in one season: 101, Division 3, 1950-1951

Highest league scorer in one season: Wally Ardron, 36, Division 3, 1950-1951

Most internationally-capped player: Peter Shilton, 125 for England

Most internationally-capped outfield player: Stuart Pearce, 78 for England

Youngest league player: Craig Westcarr, 16 years , Vs. Burnley 13 October 2001

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

¹ Courtesy of sportsmanship from Leicester City as the game was a replay as three weeks previously, the game was abandoned at half-time with Forest leading 1-0 due to the collapse of Leicester player Clive Clarke.

Shirt sponsors

Before 1988 Forest didn't have a consistent sponsor, it was changed every year or less. Some of the sponsors before Shipstones included: Skol, Home Ales, Wrangler and Panasonic.

1988-91: Shipstones

1992-1998: Labatt

1998-2003: Pinnacle

2004-Present: Capital One

Rivals and local derbies

Nottingham Forest contest three local derbies, with Notts County, Derby County and Leicester City. Forest supporters usually see their main local rivals as being Derby first [11] , Leicester City second.

Despite being the closest League clubs geographically, Forest and Notts County have rarely played in the same division in recent times, their last League meeting was in 1994. Games with Notts County are known as the Nottingham derby.

Forest and Derby contest the East Midlands derby. Since 2007, the East Midlands derby has taken on extra significance as the two clubs now play for the Brian Clough Trophy, which raises money for The Brian Clough Statue Fund and other charities nominated by both clubs. The first match for the trophy was won by Derby in a friendly in July 2007. The next match for the trophy was the Coca-Cola Championship meeting in November 2008 at Pride Park which ended in 1-1 draw. The next meeting will be in February 2009 at the City Ground.

In September 2007 a Football League Cup tie between Forest and Leicester City was replayed after defender Clive Clarke had collapsed due to heart failure in the original tie. Leicester showed great sportsmanship, allowing Forest keeper Paul Smith to dribble the ball upfield and put it into the open goal at the beginning of the game, in acknowledgement that Forest were leading 1–0 when the original tie was abandoned. The act was met with applause from both sets of fans, as well as the worldwide press, and is believed to have diluted the rivalry between the two clubs.

The club's fans also consider Sheffield United as another of their stronger rivalries.

Forest's firsts

Nottingham Forest Songs

Notes

  1. ↑ The City Ground | Nottingham Forest | Club | The City Ground
  2. ↑ The Daily Record - Latest Scottish news & sport, Celtic FC, Rangers
  3. ↑ 1959 Football Association Cup Final
  4. ↑ Neil Martin Football England
  5. ↑ BBC News | Football | Forest sues Anderlecht over '84 bribery scandal
  6. ↑ BBC SPORT | Football | League One | Nottm Forest 2-5 Yeovil
  7. ↑ "Player Profiles". Nottingham Forest FC. Retrieved on 2008-08-13.
  8. ↑ [1] Football League records.
  9. ↑ Latest Report | Nottingham Forest | Match
  10. ↑ BBC NEWS | England | Nottinghamshire | Forest consider City Ground exit
  11. ↑ Positions 11 - 15 | Football Rivalries Report 2008 | The New Football Pools - Home of the original and best £2.5 Million Football Pools, Lotteries and Instant Win Games
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Hucknall Cricketers". Ashfield District Council. Retrieved on 2008-01-18.
  13. ↑ Collett, Mike (2003). The Complete Record of The FA Cup. pp. pp. 807. ISBN 1899807-19-5. 

External links

Nottingham Forest Football Club
The Club | History | Statistics | Women's team
Seasons: 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09
Stadia: Forest Recreation Ground | City Ground | New Stadium
Rivalries: Nottingham derby | East Midlands derby (Brian Clough Trophy)

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