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Revision as of 08:17, 16 June 2008

This article is about the English football club. For the neighbourhood in Houston, Texas, see Nottingham Forest VIII.
Nottingham Forest
File:Ntmcrest.gif
Full nameNottingham Forest Football Club
Nickname(s)Forest,
The Reds
Founded1865
GroundCity Ground
Nottingham
England
Capacity30,602[1]
ChairmanEngland Nigel Doughty
ManagerScotland Colin Calderwood
LeagueChampionship
2007-08League One, 2nd (promoted)

Nottingham Forest Football Club are an English professional football club based at the City Ground in West Bridgford, a suburb of Nottingham, England. The club will be in the Football League Championship following promotion from League 1 May 3, 2008. It 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 take their 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.

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 below.

History

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

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 6th 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. 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 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. It later emerged that in the second leg, the Belgian club had bribed the referee.[4]

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.

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.[citation needed]

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.[5]

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.

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. [6] The Reds have signed one player so far this summer, with the capture of striker Robert Earnshaw from Derby in a £2.65million deal. [7]

Players

As of June 3 2008.

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
- FW Ghana GHA Junior Agogo
- DF England ENG Julian Bennett
- DF Algeria ALG Hamza Bencherif
- DF England ENG Ian Breckin
- MF Ireland EIR Mark Byrne
- DF England ENG Luke Chambers
- MF Northern Ireland NIR Sammy Clingan
- MF England ENG Chris Cohen
- MF Wales WAL Arron Davies
- FW Wales WAL Robert Earnshaw
- GK England ENG Paddy Gamble
- DF England ENG Joe Heath
- FW England ENG Grant Holt
- FW England ENG Garath McCleary
No. Pos. Nation Player
- MF England ENG Lewis McGugan
- DF Ireland EIR Brendan Moloney
- DF England ENG Wes Morgan
- MF England ENG James Perch
- GK Ireland EIR Shane Redmond
- DF England ENG James Reid
- GK England ENG Barry Richardson
- GK England ENG Dale Roberts
- DF England ENG Tom Sharpe
- FW England ENG Emile Sinclair
- GK England ENG Paul Smith
- MF England ENG Matt Thornhill
- FW England ENG Nathan Tyson
- DF England ENG Kelvin Wilson


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 Premier League 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:

  • 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 United.
  • Eugen Bopp Bopp was a German under 21 player, now at Crewe following an unsuccessful spell at Rotherham.
  • Felix Bastians broke into the first team but was then loaned out to other clubs. 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 two seasons with Walsall, returned to Forest in early 2006, and went on to become the club's player of the year for the promotion season 2007/2008.
  • 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 before Chelsea paid £21m for him. He has won the Premier League title and is an England international.
  • Wes Morgan has played more than 200 games for The Reds,and has become a favourite of the fans at the City Ground.
  • Lewis McGugan Former captain of England U-17s and now features in the Forest first team.
  • Matt Thornhill A young midfielder who has represented England at Youth level. Currently on the fringe of the first team squad and has appeared as a substitute in several games this season.

Honours

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

(*) Cups won by Brian Clough

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:

  • 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 upper tier of the Trent End 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)
  • 2007-2008: 19,956 (League One)

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 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.[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 [3], 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. [citation needed] 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, and the rivalry is less intense.[citation needed] Games with Notts County are known as the Nottingham derby, and those with Derby as the East Midlands derby. Since 2007, the East Midlands derby has taken on extra significance as the two clubs contest the Brian Clough Trophy, which raises money for The Brian Clough Statue Fund and other charities nominated by both clubs.

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.[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.[12] 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.[12]
  • 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.
  • 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 league football grounds in England - just 245 yards (224 m) apart.
  • Nottingham Forest were the first team to score seven goals in an away game in the Premiership, beating Sheffield Wednesday 7-1 at Hillsborough in 1995.

Nottingham Forest Songs

  • 'The Forest March' ('We've Got the Whole World in Our Hands', Warner K17110) was released in February 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.
  • 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.

Notes

  1. ^ The City Ground | Nottingham Forest | Club | The City Ground
  2. ^ The Daily Record - Latest Scottish news & sport, Celtic FC, Rangers
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ BBC News | Football | Forest sues Anderlecht over '84 bribery scandal
  5. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/6649773.stm
  6. ^ http://www.nottinghamforest.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10308~1316820,00.html
  7. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/nottm_forest/7427107.stm
  8. ^ [2] Football League records.
  9. ^ Latest Report | Nottingham Forest | Match
  10. ^ BBC NEWS | England | Nottinghamshire | Forest consider City Ground exit
  11. ^ http://www.footballpools.com/football-fever/rivalries-11to15.html
  12. ^ a b "Hucknall Cricketers". Ashfield District Council. Retrieved 2008-01-18.

External links

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