For those American friends who have never heard of the football team I support, (in fact this is everyone who has asked me who I follow) here's a little lesson:
Founded in 1865 Forest have always been 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 1976-77season after finishing third in the Second Division, but no-one could h ave 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] .
Forest reached their lowest point 3 seasons ago when they were relegated to the 3rd tier of English football. However, due to Forest's strong end of season run, this season ended magnificently with an away win to ensure Forest leap-frogged 2 other teams on the last day of the season to finish 2nd in the division, and get automatic promotion to the Championship. Hallejuiah.
The logo, the City Ground at night, the legendary Brian Clough, lifting the European Cup in 1980 for the second consecutive season (the pinnacle of European football), and the young, locally-born team that earnt promotion this season.
Forest's honours: (Note the sheer sparseness of success since I started following them in 1985.)
European Cup winners 1979 *, 1980 *
European Super Cup winners, 1979 *
European Super Cup runners up, 1980 *
Intercontinental Cup runners up, 1980 *
Football League champions, 1978 *
Football League runners up, 1967, 1979 *
Football League First Division champions, 1998
Football League Second Division winners, 1907, 1922
Football League Second Division runners up, 1957
Football League One runners up, 2008 (promotion to the Championship)
Football League Third Division South champions, 1951
FA Cup winners, 1898, 1959
FA Cup runners up, 1991
Football League Cup winners, 1978 *, 1979 *, 1989 *, 1990 *
Football League Cup runners up, 1980, 1992
Football League Centenary Tournament, 1988*
FA Charity Shield winners, 1919, 1978 *
FA Charity Shield runners up, 1959
Anglo-Scottish Cup winners, 1977 *
Football Alliance champions, 1892
Nuremberg Tournament winners, 1982 *
Trofeo Colombino Cup winners 1982 *, 1983 *
Full Members Cup winners, 1989 *, 1992 *
(*) Cups won by Brian Clough
No comments:
Post a Comment