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Nottingham Forest F.C.
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Nottingham Forest F.C. is an English professional football club based at the City Ground in West Bridgford, a suburb of Nottingham. It is currently playing in the second tier of English league football, The Championship. The club was founded in 1865 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 were founding members of the Football Alliance in 1889 and the Premier League in 1992.
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 (though the name of the Forest Recreation Ground does in turn derive from a time when that ground was part of Sherwood Forest).
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Nottingham Forest F.C. is an English professional football club based at the City Ground in West Bridgford, a suburb of Nottingham. It is currently playing in the second tier of English league football, The Championship. The club was founded in 1865 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 were founding members of the Football Alliance in 1889 and the Premier League in 1992.
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 (though the name of the Forest Recreation Ground does in turn derive from a time when that ground was part of Sherwood Forest). 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. Its other common nickname is the Reds, which derives from the colour of their strip.
Forest fans do not like 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.
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).
History
Forest were founded in 1865 by a group of shinty players 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. In 1890 Forest played in the first ever match to use goal nets
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 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. He had won the league title with Forest's neighbours Derby County in 1972, and came to Nottingham Forest on 6 January 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, 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).
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 play for the England national team), midfielder Martin O'Neill, striker Trevor Francis and a trio of Scottish internationals: 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.
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 club notably reached the quarter-finals as the longest-lasting English club in European competition that season. 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 succeeded Atkinson and spent approximately £12m on players, including the Italian veterans Moreno Mannini, Salvatore Matrecano and Gianluca Petrachi. Platt managed two mid-table finishes before departing for the England U-21s when Forest were in financial difficulties.
Paul Hart became the Reds' new boss just two hours after the departure of Platt and endured a difficult two and a half years as Forest manager. They finished 16th in his first season in charge with a very young team at the time of ITV Digital's collapse which left Forest with a substantial level of debt. However, in the 2002-03 season, Forest finished in 6th place and in the play-offs before losing to Sheffield United in the semi-finals. A poor league run the following season, following the release of key players, led to the sacking of Hart in February 2004 in order to prevent relegation.
Joe Kinnear was subsequently appointed and was able to bring out the best of his inherited side, leading the club to 14th place in the final league table. The 2004-05 season saw Forest drop into the relegation zone once more, leading to Kinnear's resignation in December 2004. Following the brief caretaker stewardship of Mick Harford, Gary Megson took charge of Forest in January 2005 but failed to stave off relegation as the club ended the season second in 23rd place, becoming the only European Cup-winners ever to fall into their domestic third division.
In Forest's first season in the English third tier in 54 years, a 3-0 defeat at Oldham Athletic in February 2006 led to the departure of Megson by "mutual consent" leaving the club only four points above the relegation zone. Frank Barlow and Ian McParland successfully took temporary charge for the remainder of the 2005-06 season, engineering a 6-match winning run and remaining unbeaten in ten games, the most notable result a 7-1 win over Swindon Town. Forest took 28 points from a possible 39 under the two, narrowly missing out on a play-off place, as they finished in 7th place.
Colin Calderwood was appointed as the twelfth manager of Forest in thirteen years in May 2006 and became the longest-serving manager since Frank Clark. The Calderwood era was ultimately one of rebuilding. In his first season he led the club to the play-offs, having squandered a 7-point lead at the top of League One which had been amassed by November 2006. Forest eventually succumbed to a 5-4 aggregate defeat in the semi-finals against Yeovil Town. Calderwood achieved automatic promotion in his second year at the club, following an impressive run which saw Forest win six out of their last seven games of the season, culminating in a dramatic final 3-2 win against Yeovil at the City Ground. The Reds kept a league record of 24 clean sheets out of 46 games, proving to be the foundation for their return the the second tier of English football. Calderwood's side struggled to adapt to life in the Championship in the 2008-09 campaign, following the signings of 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. Having been unable to steer Forest out of the relegation zone, Calderwood was sacked following a Boxing Day 4-2 defeat to the then-bottom of the table Doncaster .
Under the temporary stewardship of John Pemberton, Forest finally climbed out of the relegation zone, having beaten Norwich City 3-2.. Billy Davies was confirmed as the new manager on 1 January 2009 and watched Pemberton's side beat Manchester City 3-0 away in the FA Cup, prior to taking official charge. Under Davies, Forest stetched their unbeaten record in all competitions following Calderwood's sacking to six matches, including five wins.
Players
- As of 5 March 2009.
Current squad
Out on loan
Club officials
Board of Directors
| Name | Role |
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| Nigel Doughty | Chairman | | Mark Arthur | Chief Executive | | John Pelling | Finance Director | | Eric Barnes | Associate Director | | Graham Cartledge | Associate Director | | Tim Farr | Associate Director | | Sir David White | Associate Director |
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Technical Staff
| Name | Role |
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| Billy Davies | Manager | | David Kelly | Assistant Manager | | John Pemberton | Reserve team coach | | Peter Williams | Goalkeeping coach | | Julian Darby | First Team Coach | | Andrew Balderston | Head Physiotherapist | | Steve Devine | Physiotherapist | | Andy Hunt | Physiotherapist | | Ryland Morgans | Fitness coach |
| | Name | Role |
|---|
| Nick Marshall | Youth Academy Director | | Chris Fairclough | Youth Academy Coach | | Russell Lovett | Youth Academy Coach | | Tony Cook | Youth Academy Coach | | Dr Frank Coffey | Medical Consultant | | Terry Farndale | Kit manager | | Keith Burt | Chief scout | | David Pleat | Consultant to the Club |
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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
- European Cup
- Intercontinental Cup
- European Super Cup
- Football League
- Champions 1978
- Runners up 1967, 1979
- Football League Second Division/Football League First Division
- Champions 1907, 1922, 1998
- Runners up 1957, 1994
- Football League Third Division/Football League One
- Champions 1951
- Runners up, 2008
- FA Cup
- Winners 1898, 1959
- Runners up 1991
- Semi-finalists 1879, 1880, 1885, 1892, 1900, 1902, 1967, 1988, 1989
- Football League Cup
- FA Charity Shield
- Winners 1978
- Runners up 1959
- Full Members Cup
Minor Honours
Managers
The 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 four stands are:
- The Main Stand, the oldest stand in the ground. Capacity: 13,000.
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: 9,000
- The Bridgford End, the lower tier houses up to 5,151 away fans, while its total capacity is 8,000
- 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 Capital One Corner and the Main Stand's "A" block
The ground's capacity is 40,000.
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.
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.
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 7 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 20 June 2007, Forest announced plans to relocate to a new stadium in either the Clifton area of the city or a site near to the current City Ground in Holme Pierrepont.
Records
Most appearances for the club (in all competitions):
- R. McKinlay: 692
- I. Bowyer: 564
- S. Chettle: 526
- S. Pearce: 522
Most goals for the club (in all competitions):
- A. G. Morris: 217
- N. Clough: 131
- W. Ardron: 124
- 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 in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, 31 October 2006
Record receipts:
£499,099 Vs. FC 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:
15 seconds , Paul Smith Vs Leicester City, 18 September 2007 in the Carling Cup.¹
First Football League game:
3 September 1892 Vs. Everton (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 two local derbies, with Derby County and Leicester City. Forest supporters usually see their main local rivals as being Derby first , 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 on 21st 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 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 . 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.
- 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 club has two anthems. The first of these is 'City Ground', which is sung to the tune of Mull of Kintyre by Paul McCartney and Wings. This is played just before the beginning of the first and second halves at the City Ground. Forest fans have adapted the lyrics to: "Oh mist rolling in from the Trent". The second anthem is The Righteous Brothers' hit You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' which Forest fans take pride in singing when they have scored to taunt the away fans. The song is occasionally played over the PA system just before the second half begins.
- '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.
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