50 Fun Facts About Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest were founded in 1865 at a meeting in the Clinton Arms by players of which sport?

J. S. Scrimshaw proposed switching to association football, and the club also bought twelve tasselled caps in 'Garibaldi red'.

Forest's 'Garibaldi red' colours honour Giuseppe Garibaldi, leader of which volunteer force?

Clubs then identified themselves by headgear, so a dozen red caps made Forest the first club to 'officially' wear red.

In 1886 Forest donated a full set of red kits to help establish which newly formed club?

Forest also gave shirts to Everton and helped Brighton find a ground; a 1905 tour inspired Independiente's red too.

In Forest's first league-style match in 1870, first scorer William Henry Revis also won a prize for what?

His kick measured 161 feet 8 inches; the club's first official game had been against Notts County in March 1866.

Forest's presumed name comes from Forest Racecourse, historically part of what?

In their early years Forest were a multi-sport club whose baseball team were British champions in 1899.

Rejected by the Football League in 1888, Forest joined and in 1892 won which competition before entering the League?

That season they also lost an FA Cup semi-final for the fourth time.

Forest's first FA Cup win in 1898 was 3-1 over which club, who had beaten them 5-0 five days earlier?

Arthur Capes scored twice and John McPherson added the third; the upset is the root of the East Midlands derby rivalry.

Forest's all-time record goalscorer, with 213 goals, is which early 20th-century forward?

He was the club's top scorer for five seasons in a row after Forest's first relegation in 1906.

When the First Division expanded to 22 clubs in 1919, Forest campaigned for a place but got how many votes?

Arsenal and Chelsea took the two extra places instead.

Roy Dwight, who scored and broke his leg in the 1959 FA Cup final, was the cousin of which musician?

Reg Dwight became Elton John; Forest hung on with nine fit men to win 2-1.

The manager of the 1959 Cup winners retired the following year after how many years in charge?

He had been appointed in 1939 and took the club down to the Third Division South and back up.

Johnny Carey's 1966-67 Forest side lost an FA Cup semi-final to which club?

Forest had beaten United 4-1 at the City Ground that October before injuries took their toll.

Brian Clough became Forest manager on 6 January 1975, how long after the end of his 44 days at Leeds?

Forest were 13th in the second tier and run by a committee rather than a board of directors.

What was the first trophy of the Clough and Taylor era, won over Orient in December 1976?

Clough called those who dismissed it 'absolutely crackers': it was Forest's first silverware since 1959.

Forest's 1977 promotion, in third place with just 52 points, was confirmed while the squad was where?

Wolves beat Bolton 1-0 to hand Forest promotion with the fifth-lowest points tally of any promoted team.

Peter Taylor secretly followed which player to check his reputation as a drinker and gambler before signing him in 1977, then moved him to centre-back where he became Footballer of the Year?

Taylor also put an overweight, disillusioned John Robertson on a diet that made him a European Cup winner.

Peter Shilton joined Forest in September 1977 for a record fee for a goalkeeper of how much?

'Shilton wins you matches,' Taylor reasoned; John Middleton went to Derby in part-exchange for Archie Gemmill.

Forest won the 1977-78 title, a year after promotion, finishing how many points ahead of Liverpool?

They conceded just 24 goals in 42 games; Clough became the third manager to win the title with two clubs.

Forest's 42-match unbeaten league run of 1978 broke a record held since 1920-21 by which club?

Arsenal finally passed it in August 2004, a month before Clough's death.

In February 1979 Forest made English football's first £1 million signing. Who, and from where?

He scored the winner in that May's European Cup final on his European debut.

About which Forest player did Günter Netzer say 'I have never heard of him, yet he ran the game' in 1979?

The captain had followed Clough from Derby; Bowyer's goal in Germany won the tie.

Forest's first European Cup final win, 1-0 over Malmö in 1979, was played in which stadium?

A year later they beat Hamburg 1-0 in Madrid, with Robertson scoring after 20 minutes.

Which club did Forest beat 2-1 on aggregate to win the 1979 European Super Cup?

Charlie George scored at home and Kenny Burns equalised in Spain; they lost the 1980 Super Cup to Valencia on away goals.

Which modest side knocked holders Forest out of the 1980-81 European Cup first round, winning 1-0 home and away?

McGovern later said the double defeat by such ordinary opponents damaged the team's self-confidence.

Forest's 1980 Intercontinental Cup defeat to Nacional was the first played where?

Forest had declined to play the 1979 edition against Olimpia of Paraguay home and away.

What was the referee of Forest's 1984 UEFA Cup semi-final found to have received from Anderlecht's chairman?

UEFA banned Anderlecht from Europe for a year in 1997; referee Guruceta Muro had died in a car crash in 1987.

Brian Clough was fined and banned from the touchline in 1989 for doing what during a pitch invasion?

Forest had just beaten QPR 5-2 in the League Cup.

Forest's 1989 FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool was abandoned after six minutes because of what?

Liverpool won the emotional replay 3-1; Forest had already won the League Cup and Full Members' Cup that season.

In Clough's only FA Cup final, in 1991, Forest lost 2-1 to Tottenham after an own goal by which defender?

Roy Keane later admitted he had declared himself fit for the final when he was not.

Which striker scored the only goal in the first live televised Premier League game, Forest v Liverpool?

He was sold to Tottenham a week later, and Forest went down that season, ending Clough's 18-year reign.

Which member of the 1979 European Cup-winning team succeeded Brian Clough as manager in May 1993?

He took Forest straight back up and to third place in 1995, then a UEFA Cup quarter-final.

Stan Collymore left Forest in the summer of 1995 for a then national record fee of how much?

Roy Keane's £3.75 million move to Manchester United in 1993 had been the previous British record.

Which manager announced his retirement when Forest's relegation was confirmed in April 1999?

Former England captain David Platt followed and spent around £12 million, including on three Italian veterans.

Forest's 2005 relegation to League One made them the first club to do what?

Gary Megson could not save them; it was their first third-tier season for 54 years.

In 2008 Forest won promotion with a league-record number of clean sheets in 46 games. How many?

The previous year they had thrown away a 2-0 first-leg lead to lose a play-off semi-final 5-4 to Yeovil.

Which family from Kuwait bought Nottingham Forest in July 2012?

They sacked Sean O'Driscoll after a 4-2 win and Alex McLeish lasted 40 days.

Which Greek shipping magnate completed his takeover of Nottingham Forest in May 2017?

Chairman Nicholas Randall promised European football within five seasons; it took eight.

Steve Cooper's Forest won the 2022 Championship play-off final 1-0 at Wembley against which club?

Cooper had inherited a side bottom of the table in September; Forest then signed 21 players, a British record.

In March 2024 Forest were docked four points for breaching the PSR threshold by how much?

They stayed up with 32 points, the lowest total ever for a team avoiding relegation.

Which club's demotion for breaching multi-club ownership rules upgraded Forest to the 2025 Europa League?

Forest had missed the Champions League on the final day with a home defeat to Chelsea.

Ange Postecoglou's 2025 spell at Forest lasted how many games before he was sacked?

39 days made it the second-shortest permanent reign in Premier League history.

In 2025-26 Forest became the first Premier League club with how many permanent managers in one season?

Nuno Espírito Santo, Postecoglou, Sean Dyche and Vítor Pereira; Oliver Glasner arrived in July 2026.

Forest's 1974 badge was designed by David Lewis, a graphic design lecturer at what institution?

It is often wrongly credited to Brian Clough, who did not arrive until the following year.

How far apart are the City Ground and Meadow Lane, England's closest professional grounds?

They face each other across the River Trent.

Why does the City Ground, named for Nottingham's 1898 city status, lie outside the city?

A 1950s boundary change put it in West Bridgford. Expansion plans announced in 2025 targeted a 52,500 capacity by 2033.

Before Clough's era, which club were widely considered Forest's main East Midlands rivals?

That rivalry is now felt mostly along the Leicestershire-Nottinghamshire border; the Derby fixture has had the Brian Clough Trophy at stake since 2007.

Forest's rivalry with Sheffield United has roots in which event?

South Yorkshire miners struck while many Nottinghamshire miners kept working; the 2003 play-off tie deepened it.

Which Argentine club adopted red after Forest's 1905 tour, its president calling the visitors 'diablos rojos'?

'Red devils' became Independiente's own nickname.

Forest opened 1978-79 with a record Charity Shield winning margin, 5-0 over which side?

Weeks later they knocked holders Liverpool out of the European Cup 2-0 on aggregate in the first round.

Forest's record attendance of 49,946 in October 1967 came against which visitors?

A year earlier Johnny Carey's side had beaten the same opponents 4-1 at the City Ground on the way to finishing League runners-up.