Forest Profile

Forest’s history makes almost no sense on paper. Brian Clough took over a Second Division club in January 1975; three years later they were champions of England, and within another two they had won the European Cup twice.

The years since have been far less straightforward. Forest have won Europe’s biggest trophy more often than the English league, spent three seasons in the third tier and endured 23 years outside the Premier League before finally returning in 2022.

There are bigger and more consistently successful clubs. Very few have a story quite this improbable.

Forest’s famous tree-and-river badge came from a Nottingham Post competition in 1973. The winning design, created by David Lewis, represented the Forest above the River Trent and gave the club one of the most distinctive crests in English football.

Its timing could hardly have been better. Within a few years the badge was being worn by the champions of England and then twice by the champions of Europe.

The Garibaldi red is just as important to the identity. Add the two European stars above the tree and very little explanation is needed: the shirt tells you exactly which club it belongs to.

Forest’s two stars are not decorative. They represent back-to-back European Cup victories, achieved during one of the most extraordinary rises English football has ever seen.

Trevor Francis scored the winner against Malmö in Munich in 1979, only months after becoming Britain’s first £1 million footballer. Forest then retained the trophy in Madrid a year later, beating Hamburg 1–0.

That leaves one of football’s great statistical oddities: Forest have been champions of Europe twice, but champions of England only once.

Brian Clough arrived in January 1975 and remained Forest manager until 1993. During those 18 years he took the club from the Second Division to the league title, two European Cups, four League Cups and the European Super Cup.

The trophies explain only part of his importance. Clough’s personality, man-management and endless supply of stories became inseparable from Forest itself, while his partnership with Peter Taylor produced one of football’s great transformations.

The largest stand at the City Ground bears his name, but the real legacy is everywhere. Decades later, Forest history is still divided naturally into what happened before Clough, during Clough and after him.

Forest have played at the City Ground since 1898, and its setting beside the River Trent makes it instantly recognisable. Trent Bridge cricket ground sits nearby, while crossing the river and seeing the stadium ahead has become part of matchday for generations of supporters.

Inside, the Trent End, Brian Clough Stand and Peter Taylor Stand connect the ground directly to the club’s history. The stadium has witnessed European nights, promotions, relegations, Premier League survival battles and almost everything in between.

It has been rebuilt and altered many times, but the location is what gives the City Ground its character. Forest anywhere else would simply not feel quite the same.

Derby County remain the fixture Forest supporters look for first. Geography created the rivalry, but Brian Clough and Peter Taylor gave it an extra layer that few derbies can match.

Clough won Derby their first league championship before later creating Forest’s greatest side, while Taylor was instrumental in the success of both clubs. Since 2007, meetings between Forest and Derby have also been played for the Brian Clough Trophy.

League positions and divisions change, but the basic rule does not: beating Derby always matters.

Forest supporters have lived through very different versions of the club. Older generations remember Robertson, McGovern, Shilton and Anderson lifting the biggest trophies in Europe; others grew up with Pearce, Nigel Clough, Steve Stone and Collymore.

For a younger generation, the defining memories were less glamorous: years in the Championship, three seasons in League One and repeated promotion disappointments. By the time Forest finally returned to the Premier League in 2022, the wait had lasted 23 years.

That is why Wembley meant so much. It was not just promotion — it was the end of an era supporters had been desperate to leave behind.

Forest have always produced strange combinations. They have two European Cups but only one English league title, have gone from Europe’s elite to the third tier and back again, and spent more than two decades outside the Premier League despite carrying those two stars above the badge.

The club’s influence also stretches into unexpected places. Forest’s Garibaldi red has historical links with Independiente in Argentina, while academy product Viv Anderson became the first Black player to represent England at senior level.

Those contrasts are part of what makes Forest interesting. The club’s history has never followed a sensible straight line — and it is much better for it.