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Nottingham Forest: Best Days or Worst? | First Touch Weekly · First Touch | World Soccer

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Off the bench they go, and John Robertson's
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goal has brought glory again to Brian Clough,
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to Peter Taylor, and brilliant Nottingham Forest.
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Hello everyone and welcome to First Touch Weekly,
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the American home for the global game.
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We're glad you're here.
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I'm Susannah Fuller.
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Today we are talking about the good old
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days.
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About the days when a tiny club from
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the East Midlands conquered Europe, not once, but
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twice.
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That's right, we're talking Nottingham Forest in our
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new series, Forgotten Giants.
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But first, some news.
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The Ballon d'Or was awarded earlier this
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week, as some of the game's biggest stars
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took home impressive hardware.
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Harry Kane won the men's Ballon d'Or
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while Alexia Putellas won the top prize for
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the women, and Bukayo Saka won the Socrates
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Award for his global humanitarian work off the
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pitch.
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But the ceremony itself was far from smooth
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sailing.
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The event was delayed more than 45 minutes
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after London traffic and large crowds at the
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entrance slowed things down, while hosts Kate Scott
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and Thierry Henry had to oversee a rowdy
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and boisterous audience that got restless during the
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two and a half hour ceremony.
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Throw in the fact that the official results
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had accidentally been leaked online, and you have
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to think the event's organizers are eager to
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put this one in the past.
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It's a bad time to be a club
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from Manchester.
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Manchester City's unbeaten start to the season was
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snapped by Aston Villa this weekend, as Nicolas
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Jackson's two goals gave Villa a 2-1
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win.
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It was some sweet revenge for Jackson, who
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played under City manager Enzo Maresca at Chelsea,
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who often benched the Senegalese forward in favor
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of Liam Delap.
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But hey, even if you are City, you
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just took your first loss of the season
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on the chin.
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You've got a seismic amount of financial rule
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breaches hanging over your head.
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At least you're not Manchester United.
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The Red Devils fell 3-0 to Bournemouth
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over the weekend, plunging them down to 16th
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place in the Premier League with just one
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league win so far this season.
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That loss came after an embarrassing 3-0
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loss to plucky upstart Como in the Champions
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League.
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Sir Alex Ferguson's once great empire has shrunk
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to a mere shadow of itself, with captain
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Bruno Fernandes publicly criticizing manager Michael Carrick, who
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is currently living on borrowed time.
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Carrick's days at Old Trafford are numbered.
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But a match against Chelsea, who also suffered
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an embarrassing loss to Spurs over the weekend,
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might buy him a bit more time.
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Heading into last weekend's El Clasico between Barcelona
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and Real Madrid, Barca had the opportunity to
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make some history.
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They had won their first nine La Liga
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matches, and a win on Sunday would have
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broken Real Madrid's 1968-69 record for a
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best-ever start in the Spanish top flight.
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But two goals from Kylian Mbappe ensured that
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the record would stay untouched, as Los Blancos
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pulled within three points of Barca at the
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top of the table.
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Madrid had been on a bit of an
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El Clasico skid, having lost six of their
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last competitive matches against Barcelona.
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But some bold tactical changes from Jose Mourinho,
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including a switch to a 4-3-2
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-1, seemed to do the trick.
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Mourinho was his typical self after the win,
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telling reporters, I dedicate this victory to the
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Barcelona fans who didn't let me have my
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afternoon nap at the hotel today.
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They came to the hotel and kept singing
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all day, so I couldn't take my nap.
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Well, I didn't get my nap, but I
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beat their team.
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A big hug to them.
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Alright, let's go over to our story about
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those forgotten giants.
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Nottingham Forest.
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It's May 30th, 1979.
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Margaret Thatcher was elected as United Kingdom's first
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female prime minister a few weeks earlier.
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Ridley Scott's Alien was the number one movie
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at the box office.
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And Hot Stuff by Donna Summer was at
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the top of the music charts.
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Think about how far away that moment feels.
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How far back you need to reach back
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into the past to even get into touching
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distance to that time.
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Feels pretty far, right?
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That day, May 30th, 1979, was also the
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day that Nottingham Forest reached the summit of
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the footballing world.
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But it doesn't matter anymore.
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Nottingham Forest have done it.
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They scaled the peak of the European game
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from deep in the English Football Valley in
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one of the most remarkable rises to glory
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in history.
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Then they did it again, cementing their legacy
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as one of the last great football miracles.
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Off the bench they go, and John Robertson's
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goal has brought glory again to Brian Clough,
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to Peter Taylor, and brilliant Nottingham Forest.
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It might seem far away.
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As far away as those disco balls and
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bad dance moves.
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But for Nottingham Forest supporters, those days feel
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like yesterday.
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Not just those dreamy European nights, but that
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whole glorious chapter still looms large in their
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memory.
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To a neutral fan, or a person younger
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than, say, 50, Nottingham Forest have always had
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a mythic quality, a nostalgic sheen of past
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grandeur.
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Unlike a more consistently successful titan like Liverpool
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or Real Madrid, their success has felt secret,
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elusive, lost to time.
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It's Nottingham Forest, it's Nottingham Forest, let's sing!
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This is Forgotten Giants, Nottingham Forest.
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It's okay if you haven't given much thought
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to Nottingham Forest, the club.
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It's even more okay if you haven't given
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much thought to Nottingham at all, an East
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Midland city known for culture, history, and sport,
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two top-class football grounds, and the Trent
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Bridge Cricket Ground are all located within one
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square mile.
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Nottingham is probably most closely associated with a
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myth about a larger-than-life man known
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the world over whose accomplishments and antics have
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become legend.
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No, not Robin Hood, although he is a
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close second.
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I'm talking about Brian Clough, and our story
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of Nottingham's rise starts with Clough's arrival on
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a cold day in January of 1975.
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Please forgive me, this is not anybody imitating
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me.
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I have got a bit of a cold,
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and I do bloody talk like this all
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the time.
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That's Brian Clough, a manager who won with
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wit, charm, and bravado.
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He knew football was a form of entertainment,
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and he was all too willing to oblige.
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He was Mourinho before Mourinho.
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In fact, he even had a better nickname
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than the special one, Old Big Head.
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Clough joined Forest in January of 1975, when
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the club was languishing in 13th place in
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the second division.
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Up to this point, Forest had been a
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largely unheralded provincial club with deep historical roots,
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enjoying moderate success bouncing between the first and
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second divisions.
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It wasn't as if they had big ambitions,
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either.
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One of their own committee members had described
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them as the least progressive club in the
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country, and one of the club's previous managers,
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Dave Mackay, had warned Clough, you'll never achieve
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anything there.
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One newspaper described Clough's team as a mix
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of fresh and well-worn faces who ought
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to be slogging it out at the bottom
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of the table.
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But then Clough began to work his magic.
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He took a group of players, a mix
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of those who had been there from the
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start, like Ian Bowyer, Martin O'Neill, and
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John Robertson, along with some smart business like
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Kenny Burns and John McGovern, along with a
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few stars like Peter Shilton and Trevor Francis,
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and he made them a tremendous team.
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Clough took Kenny Burns, once thought to be
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a volatile hit-or-miss striker, and made
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him into one of the most feared defenders
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in Europe.
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He looked at John Robertson, and instead of
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seeing a pudgy average player, saw a lethal
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winger with immense natural talent.
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Clough managed to see the superpower inside each
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one of his players and brought it out,
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molding them into a powerful collective armed with
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confidence, certainty, and calmness.
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In 1977, Forest earned promotion back up to
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the First Division, and in their first season
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back up, won the whole thing.
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Best team in the land made virtually certain
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of a League Cup and Championship double when
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they played Queen's Park Rangers on Tuesday.
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Forest have never won the league before, and
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their decision this week to grant Brian Clough
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and his assistant Peter Taylor a testimonial match
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is a fitting tribute to a managerial partnership
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which has surely proved itself the best in
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the land.
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And they didn't just win the league.
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They did it in dominant fashion, stringing together
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a 42-match win streak that extended into
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the next season.
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Forest took over the top spot on October
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4th of 1977, and kept it all the
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way until May.
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Not bad for a club that had been
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taking on Second Division basement dwellers just a
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few seasons before.
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This rise alone is enough to close the
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book and call it a fairy tale, but
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there was even more glory ahead.
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The next season?
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Although Forest finished second in the league, they
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made it all the way to the European
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Cup final, disposing of opponents like Liverpool and
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Köln along the way before knocking off Swedish
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club Malmö 1-0 to win the trophy.
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Robertson, the first time we've seen them attack
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them, and there's Francis!
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Well, that's what I've wanted to see Robertson
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do!
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The European Cup has come to Nottingham Forest.
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When Brian Clough joined Forest in January 1975,
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when they were 13th in the Second Division,
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he said it would take six years to
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produce a championship team.
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In fact, it's taken four years and five
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months for them to win the European Cup.
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Surely, surely that's enough.
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The fairy tale is complete, but no.
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Clough and his boys did it again the
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next season, when they faced Kevin Keegan's Hamburg
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in the 1980 European final.
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At the time, Keegan was the picture of
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a modern footballer.
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Perm, Ballon d'Ors, and all.
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And Hamburg was the image of tactical sophistication,
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ruthless conditioning, and cerebral preparation that was not
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found in the English game.
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It was Hamburg's engineering versus Clough's chemistry.
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Add in the fact that last year's European
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Cup hero, Trevor Francis, was injured, star goalkeeper
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Peter Shilton had a bum shoulder, and Forest's
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traveling squad only amounted to 15 players.
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And on paper, this should have been a
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straightforward, methodical dismantling by Hamburg.
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And it was for a while.
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For the opening stages, Hamburg dominated.
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Forest barely made it out of their own
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half.
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But then, during a lull, as play slowed
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down, John Robertson struck a low, skidding shot
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towards the far corner.
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A quiet, innocuous strike that changed everything.
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Hamburg's machine melted down as Clough's boys stayed
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steady and grinded out the 1-0 win.
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I've done it again against Hamburg when we
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weren't favorites, when all the odds were stacked
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against us.
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I've never been so involved in a match
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for a long time.
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From the second division to twice celebrating into
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the European night in just five years.
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Open top double-decker bus parades had become
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a yearly occurrence, not through the streets of
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Paris or London or Madrid, through Nottingham.
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The club, the city, and Clough had it
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all.
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But Forest would never reach such heights again.
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In the subsequent few seasons, they broke up
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the band, selling off key players from those
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league and European cup-winning squads to capitalize
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on player sale value, something Clough later admitted
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was a mistake.
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Forest's rise in the late 70s and early
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80s was a miracle.
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The opposite of a miracle is a disaster,
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and that's what followed for the next three
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decades.
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First as a slow motion slide, then a
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precipitous drop.
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Clough remained at the helm for another 12
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years after that second European cup, earning a
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handful of trophies during that time, but never
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reaching those same heights as those mercurial first
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few seasons.
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By 1993, Forest's form had slipped and Clough
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left the club just as they were relegated
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at the end of the inaugural Premier League
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season.
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They yo-yoed back and forth between the
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Premier League and the second division for much
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of the rest of the 90s, but in
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1999, they slipped out of the Premier League
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again.
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Then the years started rolling.
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And rolling.
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And rolling.
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Instead of climbing back up towards the Premier
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League, Forest slipped further down in the wrong
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direction.
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They dipped down into League One, the third
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division, for three seasons.
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Dangerous territory for the once-proud club.
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For 23 years, Forest struggled in England's lower
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divisions.
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Failed.
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Forgotten.
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But as is the story of every once
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-great, now-struggling club, there comes a turning
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point.
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For Forest, that moment was in May of
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2017, when Greek businessman Evangelos Marinakis took over
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the club.
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Marinakis also owned Olympiacos and brought ownership experience
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and ambitions for a second-great Nottingham Forest
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rise.
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Nottingham Forest is a special club with all
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this tradition and all these achievements.
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And of course, the potential that this club
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has to grow and achieve again victories that
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the whole region deserves.
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His investment paid off when Forest qualified for
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the promotion playoffs at the end of the
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2021-22 season.
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It was a result that would have made
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Clough proud.
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There have been some bad days since.
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Almost as a karmic payment for having one
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of the world's best ever managers at the
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helm, Forest has been known for its managerial
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carousel and burned through several managers in their
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time back in the top flight.
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While each Premier League season has been a
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struggle, save for two years ago when they
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finished seventh, there's just something right about Forest
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remaining in the top flight.
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It feels like home.
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How do you define a legacy?
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Is it your best days or your worst?
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On its worst days, Nottingham Forest were a
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relic of a past era, floundering in the
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lower leagues, forgotten.
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But on its best days, Nottingham Forest represented
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something bigger than just their trophies and titles.
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They represented a time when something amazing could
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happen.
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When an unassuming club from the East Midlands
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could conquer Europe.
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When belief, charm, and instincts were enough to
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get you to the top before the gates
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of modern football slammed shut.
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The more football evolves into an elite, data
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-driven, and money-hungry machine, the further away
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those moments feel.
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But those days are still there, with that
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nostalgic, romantic glimmer on them, hazy in our
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memory, just out of reach.
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That's going to do it for this week.
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Thank you so much for listening.
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Make sure to subscribe to First Touch Weekly
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wherever you get your podcasts.
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And of course, tell your soccer-loving friends.
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We'll see you next time.