Nottingham Forest (on this day)

Wednesday 1st November 1978

Just as a year previously, when the First Division began to regards Nottingham Forest as serious contenders for the title, the rest of Europe was forced to Wake up to regard the Reds as serious candidates to win the European Cup, after they demolished AEK Athens 5-1 at the famous City Ground to progress to the quarter finals 7-2 on aggregate. Goals from David Needham, Tony Woodcock, Viv Anderson, and the improving youngster Garry Birtles (2) saw Nottingham Forest progress, with Douzo Bajevic replying.

Thursday 2nd November 1989
The hopes of the Forest support that £650.000 summer signing John Sheridan, inexplicably ignored by Brian Clough since his transfer, might finally get a chance to show he was capable of replacing Neil Webb in the heart of the Nottingham Forest midfield were finally dashed when the Irishman was sold to Sheffield Wednesday for £500,000.

Saturday 5th November 2005

another dreadful result for Forest under Gary Megson, as they were held to a 1-1 draw at the famous City Ground by Conference South side Weymouth in the first round od the FA Cup, It took the Reds almost the entire first half to make any sort of progress against the non- leaguer, and with barely five minutes until half time Gary Holt converted Nicky Southall's teasing cross, The expected avalanche wasn't forthcoming in the second half though. and ten minutes in Andy Harris equalised from Lee Elam's lofted ball, Waymouth held on to secure a replay without much difficulty....

Monday 6th November 1962

Long time Nottingham forest skipper and servant Jack Burkitt was rewarded for his years on the staff with a testimonial against the Swedish side MALMO who, with eerie prescience, would play Forest in the final of the European Cup 17 years later. the Reds eased to a 5-1 Victory in foggy conditions with a goal apiece from the entire forward line of Geoff Vowden, Colin Booth, Colin Addison, Johnny Quigley and Flip Le Flem. with conditions worsening, the game was abandoned after 79 minutes.

Saturday 6th November 1993

The Iceman cometh! Norwegian signing Lars Bohinen made his debut in a 3-0 win at St Andrew's against Birmingham YAM YAM City . an ingenious and gifted playmaker, Bohinen would be the spark that ignited Nottingham Forest's 1993/1994 promotion campaign. He would remain at the famous City Ground until an odd clause in his contract allowed him to join Blackburn Rovers in October 1995 for a pitiful £700,000........

Saturday 7th November 1970

Having won only one game out of the last ten, manager Matt Gillies resorted to desperate tactics for a trip to Goodison Park by chucking in young debutants Jimmy McIntosh, a right winger signed from Montrose, and central defender John Cottam who'd risen through the Nottingham Forest ranks. The introduction of the two 20 year olds had very little effect, and Forest went down 1-0 thanks to a Alan Whittle goal for Everton.

Tuesday 8th November 1977

There was worrying news for surprise League leaders Nottingham Forest when manager Mr Brian Clough formally declared his interest in taking over the England manager from the recently departed Don Revie. 'they want me to stay,' he said of the Faithful Nottingham public, 'but we still have a lot of season tickets still unsold.'

Wednesday 30th May 1979

Certainly the most memorable night in Nottingham Forest's long History as they achieved the previosly untinkable victory in the Eurpean Cup final. Forest's opponents were equally unfashionable Swedish team Malmo. Brian Clough caused a few raised eyebrows as regulars from the championsfip side Martin O'Neill and Archie Gemmill both recovering from knocks, were omitted from the team despite both declaring themselves both fit to play, they were replaced by Ian Bowyer and £1 million man Trevor Francis, who'd served a three month ineligibility torment following his move in February. Malmo were forced to pick an injury ravaged side (including only four of the permitted five substitutes) and lost captain Staffan Tapper (already nursing a broken toe) after 36 minutes, just before half time came the moment John Robertson received the ball wide on the left, junked onto half a yard of clear space despite the attentions of two Malmo defenders, and crossed perfectly to find Trevor Francis gambling. Francis headed the ball home perfectly to give Nottingham Forest a 1 - 0 lead. Malmo came into things in the second period but hadn't the invention or firepower to breach Peter Shilton's goal. Nottingham Forest: Shilton, Anderson, Clark, McGovern, Lloyd, Burns, Francis, Bowyer, Birtles, Woodcock and Robertson.

(The rest is our History) and we're not Finished yet!

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Tuesday 30th May 2006

Brief ex Forest defender Colin Calderwood was prised from the hot seat at Northampton Town to become the latest incumbent of the manager's chair at Nottingham Forest, succeesing caretakers Barlow and McParland........

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Wednesday 5th JUNE 1985

Portsmouth's star midfield prospect Neil Webb seemed on his way to either Aston villa or Queens Park Rangers until Brian Clough stepped in at the eleventh hour and persuaded him that the City Ground was a much more desirable destination for £250,000. a massivly talented goalscoring midfielder. Webb was a precision passer who could sense playmaking opportunities in a snap, linking up magnificently with the similar, but more attack minded Nigel Clough. for four years the pair remained the fulcrum of the Forest side until Alex Ferguson's chequebook tempted Wedd away in July 1987. just as Forest seemed on the berge of something truly successful. unfortunately for Webb he snapped his Achilles tendon whilst playing for England against Sweden and never seemed able to find his previous form after his injury recovery. He returned to Forest in November 1992 for £800.000 but a further injury curtailed any major influence he could have had and his career petered out. he retired in 1997.

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Wednesday 6th June 1979

Good news and bad news for Nottingham Forest's internationals in the Wuropean Championship qualifiers Trevor Francis and Tony Woodcock both came on as subs in Englands 3-0 win over Bulgaria in Sofia, but Martin O'Neill suffered a 4-0 defeat with Northern Ireland in Copenhagen against Denmark.

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Wednesday 7th June 1978

Kenny Burns, Archie Gemmill and John Robertson all turned out for Scotland in their World Cup Finals match against unfancied Iran at the Chateau Carreras Stadium in Cordoba, Argentina. Scotland could only draw 1 - 1, and needed a miracle in their final game against Holland to progress.....

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Duncan McKenzie was born in Grimsby. the mercurial and sometimes eccentric forward would dally about Nottingham Forest's first team for many a term before flowing in the 1973/74 season, when he scored 26 goals. the inevitable big-money move that followed was to Dirty Leeds United for a then massive £240.000 signed by Brian Clough during his oh so brief stint at Elland Road. despite success at Dirty Leeds, McKenzie had a nomadic career, with stints at Anderlecht, Everton, Chelsea, Blackburn, Tulsa Roughnecks and Chicago Sting........

PS: A good player on his day,

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Sunday 11th June 1978

Forest's diminutive midfielder schemer Archie Gemmill scored perhaps the most iconic goal in Scotland's international Football history. in the 1978 World Cup finals Gemmill and co needed to win their final group game against fancied Holland by three clear goals to stay in the competition. things were going better than expected with Scotland 2-1 up (one a Gemmill penalty). with about 20 minutes to go the ball fell to Gemmill just outside the area, and he skilfully jinked his way past dutch challenges before guiding the ball past Jan Jongbloed. A Johnny rep goal three minutes later ended Scotland's hopes, though......

I Remember it like it was yesterday.

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Tuesday 12th June 1990

Upon the recommendations of scout Noel McCabe, Brian Clough snapped up an unknown 18 year old midfielder named Roy Keane from Cobh Ramblers for an intitial £10,000 eventually rising to £47,000. despite initially suffering from homesickness, Keane performed excellently in the club's youth team's tornament in Holland that summer scoring the winning Penalty in the shoot out to decide the competition. Nottingham Forest's coaching staff immediately knew they had a special player on their hands and Brian Clough thout nothing of handing the youngster a first team league debut in the second game of the season at Anfield. although Nottingham Forest lost 2-0, Keane became an instant first chice and never ever looked back.

Thursday 13th June 1963

In one of Andy Beattie's last acts as manager he signed young Everton striker Frank Wignall for £20,000, in five years at Goodison Park Wignall had only managed just over 30 games, although he had scored 14 goals. a strong and tenacious player, Frank would cement a place at inside forward for five years at the City Ground. in 1964/65 he was selected for England against Wales in November, scoring twice, and then against Holland three weeks later, but that was the extent of his international career. he was sold to Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1968 and was picked up by Brian Clough at Derby County a year later, winning Second Division and First Division Championaship medals. Wignall would down his career with Mansfield Town before becoming player manager of Kings Lynn.

Friday 14th June 1991

Brian Clough was awarded the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours list. this confused many peaple, who thought it had been 'Brian Clough OBE' for years, the OBE of course standing for 'Old Big Ed'.

Saturday 17th June 1995

Liverpool FC won the battle to sign Nottingham Forest's lethal striker Stan Collymore although they had to set a new British Record transfer of £8.5 million to get their man. despite maintaining a ratio of a goal every 2.5 games at anfield, Stan later admitted he never really felt at ease with the culture at the club, and joined Aston Villa for £7 million in 1997. from that point on his well-publicised personal demans began to haunt him and his footballing career began to diminish, with brief spells over the next four years at Fulham, Leicester City, Bradford City and the Spanish side Real Oviedo, with whom he managed three goalless games before announcing his ridiculously premature retirement at the age of 30.......


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Friday 18th June 1993

Frank Clark stumped up the £1.7 million that Brian Clough was too reluctant to on Millwall's defender Colin Cooper. a terrific defender in every sence of the word, Cooper would endear himself to the Forest faithful with his no nonsense approach and thrilling runs from the back. Cooper won two England caps while at the club, and his sale back to hometown club Middlesbrough just as the 1998/99 season began, thanks to Dave Bassett snd a gentlemens afreement, came as both a shock and a massive kick in the teeth...........

can we have another Colin Cooper now.... Please.


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Saturday 19th June 1987

Defender Courtney Huw 'Chris' Fairclough joined Tottenham Hotspur the day before fora fee later set by a tribunal at £387,000 after his contract at Nottingham Forest expired. a very classy defender, the loss would have been a high blow had it not been eased by the emergence around the same time of Des Walker. Fairclough went on to Dirty Leeds Utd where his defensive partnership with Chris Whyte helped the Peacocks the the 1991/92 League title, then played for Bolton Wanderers and Notts County before joining Forest's coaching staff in 2004. Chris'son, Jordan, was an apprentice at the club before his release in 2010...........


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Sunday 20th June 2007

Nottingham Forest announced plans for a 40,000 capacity (rising to 50,000 should the club manage to return to top flight) stadium to be built in the southern outskirts of Nottingham. plans were put on hold, however, in December 2010 upon England's failing to be awarded the hosting of the 2018 World Cup.


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Monday 21st June 1964

Dean Saunders was born in Swansea. the free scoring striker ended up netting more than 200 career goals with 13 clubs including Liverpool and Aston Villa, as well as the Welsh National team. he almost Joined Nottingham Forest in September 1992 as the replacement for Teddy Sheringham, but Brian Clough refused to meet Sander's wage demands. Sanders did eventually join Forest in 1996 for £1.5 million, but found his first team chances limited by the success of Pierre van Hooijdonk and Kevin Campbell as a front pairing. he left for Sheffield United on a free transfer in December 1997, and became the Manager of Wrexham in october 2008, and later was the guy who, took Wolverhampton the Dingles Wanderers down to the third Division Ha Ha


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Tuesday 24th June 2008

Striker Grant Holt was sold to Shrewsbury Town for a rather meagre £170,000, completing a remarkable turnaround for the player who was voted Nottingham Forest player of the season in 2006/07. Holt ended up scoring 20 goals in 43 games for the Shrews in 2007/08, earning himself a trip back up the league ladder to Norwich City for around £400,000 at the end of that season.......


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Sunday 25th June 1905

Touring Nottingham Forest completed a 6-1 victory over Argentinian side Alumni, following up the previous day's 6-0 win over Rosario.


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Monday 26th June 1989

Young Irish midfielder John Sheridan was signed from Dirty Leeds Utd as a natural replacement for Neil Webb, now at Old Trafford, what should have been a case of a round peg fitting into a round hole turned out to be anything but, as Brian Clough would refuse to select Sheridan. He was on his way to Sheffield Wednesday by November ?.

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Monday 27th June 1966

Tommy Cavanagh was appointed as Nottingham Forest's first team coach. the Liverpudlian came to the club shortly after a brief spell as manager of Brentford following a mundane playing career with, among others, Huddersfield Town and Doncaster Rovers.A popular figure, Tommy would remain coach throughout Forest's best pre Clough years, until his departure in 1972 to join Tommy Docherty's ultimately successful campaign to partly return Manchester United to past glories. he left United in 1981, working at the FA School of Excellence at Lilleshall Sports Centre at Telford Shropshire until he retired. Tommy passed away in March 2007.