Before Brian Clough arrived in 1975, Forest were an unremarkable club with a few brief
highs in the previous 110 years of their history.
Two FA Cups, one second-place finish, the odd notable player, but not much else to show
for their existence.
In the lower reaches of the Second Division, even Clough said they
were a team on its last legs.
But five years later, they had lifted the European Cup twice, after remarkably winning
the English title in their first season after
promotion.
Both successes were even more remarkable given that they had to get past
Liverpool, the dominant force in domestic and
continental competition in those years.
For a spell, Clough's men were referred to as “that
team” at Anfield.
They beat Liverpool in their first European Cup tie, a heroic performance by Peter Shilton
in the second leg setting them on their way.
Britain's first £1million player, Trevor Francis,
scored the goal that would beat Malmo in the 1979 final.
Then, almost casually, they did it again, this time getting past Kevin Keegan's
Hamburg, winger John Robertson – perhaps the
greatest player in the club's history, dubbed 'that little fat guy' by Clough – scoring
the winner.
In the following years, Clough broke the team up too quickly, with Francis, Robertson, Shilton
sold, and most importantly his footballing other half, Peter Taylor, left too.
More trophies came at the end of the 1980s, as Clough built
his second great team with son Nigel, Des Walker and Stuart Pearce.
But by 1992 it was clear that Clough's powers had waned, time
and alcoholism taking the edge off a once-great manager, and they were relegated.
There was a revival under European Cup-winner Frank Clark, who built an exciting team
around Pearce, Steve Stone and Stan Collymore.
Forest won promotion at the first time of asking, then finished third in the Premier
League and went into Europe, only defeated in the
UEFA Cup by Bayern Munich.
Alas, that team didn't last either.
Another relegation followed in 1997, and despite another
immediate promotion, key players were sold, Pierre van Hooijdonk went on strike in protest
at promises he said had been broken, and a third relegation in six years followed.
Forest have not been back to the top flight since.
Then came wilderness years, and a chance was missed in 2003, when a talented team
featuring Michael Dawson and Andy Reid reached the playoffs but was not built upon.
In 2005, they became the first team who'd won
the European Cup to drop into the third tier of
their domestic league.
There they stayed for three years, as Gary Megson alienated players and fans and was
eventually dismissed, before Colin Calderwood brought them back into the Championship in
2008.
Billy Davies took Forest to two playoff semi-finals, but lost both and was replaced by
Steve McClaren , an experiment that lasted only a few months.
In these years, the club was owned by Nigel Doughty , a fan who conveniently also happened
to be a millionaire venture capitalist, but after some ill-advised decisions caused friction
with fans and staff, he put the club up for sale
in 2012.
Before the sale could go through, Doughty died suddenly, and the sale was put in the
hands of investment bankers, who chose the Al-
Hasawi family, led by Fawaz Al-Hasawi, as the new owners.​
Despite initial promising noises from the Al-Hasawis, Forest have finished in a lower
league position in each of the four full seasons
they have been in charge.
Those four seasons have seen seven permanent managers – Steve Cotterill,
Sean O'Driscoll, Alex McLeish, Billy Davies (again), Stuart Pearce, Dougie Freedman and
Philippe Montanier.
The sale of young players, coupled with a lack of any real structure,
has meant the club has proved toxic, to the point
that Nigel Clough recently turned down the manager's job.
Now, after a proposed takeover by an American group collapsed, Forest have an uncertain
future.
Everyone knows they will never again reach the true glories of the past, but all the
fans ask for is a club they can be proud of again.
Who knows when, or if, that will happen.