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Nottingham Forest F.C.

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Nottingham Forest
File:Ntmcrest.gif
Full nameNottingham Forest Football Club
Nickname(s)The Reds, Forest
Founded1865
GroundCity Ground
Nottingham
England
Capacity30,602[1]
ChairmanEngland Nigel Doughty
ManagerScotland Colin Calderwood
LeagueLeague One
2006-07League One, 4th

Nottingham Forest Football Club is an English professional football club based at The City Ground in West Bridgford a suburb of Nottingham, England. The club is currently in League One of the Coca-Cola Football League and has an illustrious history which encompasses winning two consecutive European Cups, along with the domestic title, two FA Cups and four League Cups.

Nottingham Forest takes its name 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.

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. Despite this distinction, it is the City Ground which actually lies outside the city of Nottingham.

Relegation to English football's third tier made Forest the first European Cup-winning club ever to fall into its country's third division. Many of today's footballing rules and features, including floodlighting, shinpads, and even lettering on the stands have been pioneered by Forest: see "Forest's firsts" below.

History

Main article: History of Nottingham Forest F.C.
File:Nottingham.gif
The club's crest during the 1960s

Forest were founded in 1865 by a group of shinty players[2] shortly after their famous neighbours Notts County, (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, which allowed them entry to the Football League.

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 { 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 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.

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.[3]

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.

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 brieve 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 after a terrible start to the Premiership 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 was installed as the Forest boss who is famous to Forest fans for wasting approximately £12m on players, most notably the Trio of Italians. Platt could only manage two mid-table finishes before quitting for the England U-21s leaving Forest on the brink of bankruptcy.

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 an utter disaster for Forest as they plummeted into the relegation zone with Kinnear resigning in December 2004 with The Reds in the relegation zone. Following a brief stint from Mick Harford, Gary Megson took charge of struggling 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.

With Forest fans expecting the team to walk back into the Championship, they suffered a blow as Forest stayed mid-table with the last straw for Megson being a 3-0 defeat at Oldham Athletic . Megson departed by 'mutual consent' in February 2006, 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 drastically collapsed in an humiliating 5-2 defeat.

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, The Reds had 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 after only gaining one point from two games, but moved two points clear into second place in the league, with a determined 2-1 victory against Huddersfield Town, despite going down to ten-men. Their outstanding defensive record with 14 clean sheets in 24 games has been vital to The Reds' league form.

The Reds have yet to sign anyone in the January Transfer Window thus far, but have let three youngsters go out on loan. It has been reported that Forest are set to sign two strikers, trialist Paul Taylor from Vauxhall Motors and have recently bidded £1m for Coventry City's Leon Best and are awaiting a reply.

Players

As of 07 January 2008.[4]

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK England ENG Paul Smith
2 DF England ENG Kelvin Wilson
3 DF England ENG Matthew Lockwood
4 DF England ENG Luke Chambers
5 DF England ENG Wes Morgan
6 DF England ENG Ian Breckin (captain)
7 MF England ENG James Perch
8 MF England ENG Kris Commons
9 FW England ENG Nathan Tyson
10 FW England ENG Grant Holt
11 FW Scotland SCO Scott Dobie
14 MF Wales WAL Arron Davies
15 MF England ENG Chris Cohen
No. Pos. Nation Player
16 MF Northern Ireland NIR Sammy Clingan
17 MF England ENG Lewis McGugan
18 MF Northern Ireland NIR Neil Lennon (vice-captain)
23 FW Ghana GHA Junior Agogo
24 FW England ENG Emile Sinclair
26 MF England ENG Matt Thornhill
28 DF England ENG Joe Heath
29 DF England ENG Julian Bennett
30 GK England ENG Dale Roberts

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
13 MF Germany GER Felix Bastians (on loan at Notts County)
25 MF Ireland EIR Alan Power (on loan at Grays Athletic)
27 DF Ireland EIR Brendan Moloney (on loan at Chesterfield)
39 DF Algeria ALG Hamza Bencherif (on loan at Lincoln)
No. Pos. Nation Player
— GK England ENG Paddy Gamble (on loan at Stalybridge Celtic)
— FW England ENG David Brown (on loan at Eastwood)
— DF England ENG Tom Sharpe (on loan at Halifax Town)

Youth Academy

The Nottingham Forest Youth Academy has produced many good players; most notably when former Forest manager Paul Hart was in charge of it. During his 11 year spell as Head Youth Coach, the academy produced many talents, most of which have gone on to break into the first team line-up at Forest. Many of them have gone on to Premiership clubs and are getting regular first team football there. Some of them have even been successful on the international stage.

Some of the players to come through the Forest Academy include:

  • Andy Reid was a fan favourite with Forest but moved on to Tottenham Hotspur, with team-mate Michael Dawson. He was hampered by injuries at Spurs, and was sold to Charlton Athletic for £3m in August 2006. He is a full Republic Of Ireland international.
  • David Prutton played over 150 games for Forest before transferring to Southampton, only to return to Forest on loan during the 2006-2007 season. Former England U-21 International. Now at Leeds.
  • Eugen Bopp Was widely regarded as the best German player of his age when he joined Forest's academy. Bopp was formerly a German under 21 player.
  • Felix Bastians broke into the first team and is making a big impact on Trent-side. Played for the Germany U-15, U-16, U-17, and is currently an U-21 international.
  • Julian Bennett was released by Forest when he was 15 but battled his way back and after 2 seasons with Walsall, returned to Forest in early 2006.
  • Shaun Wright-Phillips - although he never made it into the Nottingham Forest first team, he learnt his trade with Forest as a football academy student. He was released by Forest when he was 16 for being "too small". Went to Manchester City where he impressed and Chelsea paid £21m for him. He has won the Premier League title and is an England international.
  • Wes Morgan has played more than 180 games for The Reds.
  • Lewis McGugan Former captain of England U 17s and now features in the Forest first team.

Honours

Forest have picked up more than 30 major honours and many more lesser individual player and managerial honours. In chronological order:

(*) Cups won by Brian Clough

Managers

Current First Team Manager Colin Calderwood.

Notable players

Pre-European players

European players

1985 - 1990

1991 - Present

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:

  • The Main Stand, the oldest stand in the ground. Capacity: 5,708.

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 Trent End, the newest stand, built in 1994. Capacity: 7,500
  • The Bridgford End, the lower tier houses up to 5,151 away fans, while its total capacity is 7,710
  • The Brian Clough Stand, which was originally named the Executive Stand but has been renamed to honour Forest's former manager Brian Clough. It is the largest stand in the ground with a capacity of 10,000.

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 the capital one corner and the "A" block

The ground's combined capacity is 30,602.

Average attendances:

  • 2002-2003: 24,436 (Division One)
  • 2003-2004: 24,752 (Division One)
  • 2004-2005: 23,652 (Championship)
  • 2005-2006: 20,257 (League One)
  • 2006-2007: 20,617 (League One)

The largest league attendance of the 2006-2007 season was 27,875, 8000 more than any other League One club. [5]

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.[6]

The City Ground is the 6th largest football stadium outside the Premiership, behind Sheffield United, Leicester City, Leeds United, Southampton, Coventry City, and Sheffield Wednesday. Last season it was 7th largest football stadium outside the Premiership, however local rivals Derby County were promoted via the play-offs (See List of English football stadia by capacity)

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.[7]

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: 17, from 25 October 2003 to 28 February 2004

Quickest goal: 23 seconds [7], 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

Derby County

Football League games

Played: 79

Forest wins: 33

Draws: 19

Derby wins: 27

The Six win difference between Derby and Forest all came from Home games, with the away record at Derby currently even.

Derby wins: 14

Draws: 8

Forest wins: 14

Forest supporters usually see their main local rivals as being Derby County first, Leicester City second. Forest fans' hatred of Derby is reciprocated by the Derby supporters, and the East Midlands Derby is one of the biggest fixtures in the league when they are in the same division.

Unfortunately Forest's relegation to League 1 has meant that these fixtures have not been played in the past two seasons. In the last three games against Derby, Forest have done poorly - drawing one 2-2 and losing two 4-2 and 3-0.

Starting in 2007, the two teams contest the Brian Clough Trophy, which raises money for The Brian Clough Statue Fund and other charities nominated by both clubs. Each meeting between the two clubs will be for the Trophy. The only meeting in the series so far saw Derby beat Forest 2-0 at Pride Park in a pre season friendly in July 2007.

Notts County

Played: 139

Forest wins: 52

Draws: 42

Notts wins: 45

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 (Division One). They did, however, play a pre-season friendly in July 2007, which was marred by crowd trouble.

Leicester City

Generally Leicester fans see the rivalry with Forest as far more significant than Forest fans. This is mainly due to the intensity of the rivalry with Derby causing both sets of fans to "forget" Leicester. [citation needed]

Media coverage

Colin Fray and former Forest captain John McGovern commentate for BBC Radio Nottingham 103.8 FM on every Nottingham Forest match. There is a football phone-in show on BBC Radio Nottingham that features Fray with Notts County commentator Colin Slater.

Forest's firsts

  • Nottingham Forest are the only team to have won the European Cup more times than their domestic title.
  • Forest captain Sam Weller Widdowson is credited for inventing shinpads, after cutting down some cricket pads and wearing them on the outside of his stockings in 1874. It was another 100 years before the FA made shinpads a compulsory piece of equipment for professional footballers.
  • Another notable feature of the modern game was introduced in a game between Forest and Sheffield Norfolk (who would later become Sheffield United). Previously the referees had used a flag system to signal, it was in this game that the whistle was first used, and Sam Widdowson's feedback helped ensure that this became the standard.
  • After solid crossbars were introduced, it was again at Forest that nets were first attached to goals to catch the ball after a goal was scored. Amazingly the referee on the day was the previously mentioned Sam Weller Widdowson, who gave his approval to the FA.
  • Sam Widdowson hadn't finished - he also pioneered early floodlighting for night games by using gas lamps. This idea was quashed due to the gas running out, and fears for crowd safety, but when electricity was more readily available in 1909 he - now retired - returned to the City Ground to attempt electric lighting.
  • Frank and Fred Forman were the first brothers to play for the same club, and indeed, became the first brothers to represent England in 1899. They also became the first brothers to both score in an International game - scoring in a game against Ireland.
  • Most modern stadiums have Forest to thank for the lettering spelling out club names in the seats - the Executive Stand (now the Brian Clough Stand) was the first stand to have this feature, when it was built in the early 1980s.
  • Nottingham Forest hold numerous English football records. These include paying the first £1 million fee for a footballer (Trevor Francis). Brian Clough, then Forest manager, notes in his autobiography that the agreed fee was actually £999,999, but taxes took it above the £1million mark.
  • Forest are also the only team to have won the European Cup and then been relegated to the third tier of domestic football.
  • One of Argentina's top teams, Independiente, sports a red jersey emulating Forest's. They adopted their current colours after a tour by Forest to Argentina in 1907.
  • Notts County's Meadow Lane and Nottingham Forest's City Ground are the two closest football grounds in England - just 245 yards (224 metres) apart.
  • Nottingham Forest were the first team to score 7 away goals in the Premiership, beating Sheffield Wednesday 7-1 at Hillsborough in 1995.

Nottingham Forest Songs

  • The 'Nottingham Forest March' ('We Got the Whole World in Our Hands') was released in 1978 on 7 inch vinyl. This was a joint collaboration between the group Paper Lace and Nottingham Forest Football Club and features the fans singing as well as the team of the time. Changes to the lyrics included "We're the best team, in the land / We're the best damn team, in the land" amongst others.
  • In the glory days under Brian Clough the team used to appear from the tunnel to the theme tune from 'The Adventures of Robin Hood'. Since the 2006/7 season the theme tune for the BBC's new Robin Hood TV series has been used.
  • More recently, Forest fans have adopted the Righteous Brothers' hit 'Lost That Loving Feeling' as their own and the Club now plays this occasionally as the players run out of the tunnel for the second half.

Notes

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ [2]
  3. ^ [3]
  4. ^ "The Squad". Nottingham Forest FC. Retrieved 2007-12-01.
  5. ^ [4] Football League records.
  6. ^ [5]
  7. ^ [6]

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