The city of Nottingham is perhaps best known in Thailand for the legendary tale of Robin Hood and his exploits in and around Sherwood Forest. But the city is also home to two football clubs with proud histories, although they are currently not experiencing the best of times.
The struggles of Nottingham Forest and Notts County came to a head last week when both underachieving clubs sacked their respective managers within the space of a few days.
Forest, twice European champions and also English title winners, but now a Championship side, dispensed with the services of Dougie Freedman after 13 months with the club.
County, whose main claim to fame is being the oldest team in the world, having been founded in 1862, are currently wallowing in League Two and sacked Jamie Fullarton after just 69 days in the job.
County have slumped to 19th in League Two and although a healthy 13 points above the relegation zone, the club are not taking any chances.
Forest are by far the most successful of the two clubs, but have not been in the Premier League now for 17 long seasons, having been relegated in 1999 and the fans are getting restless. The nadir came in 2005 when they were relegated to League One, the first European Cup winners to fall into the third tier of their domestic league.
After winning promotion back into the Championship the following season, Forest looked to be on the way up and reached the play-offs four times in eight seasons, but never made the final step back into the top flight.
Since 2012, Forest have been owned by the Al-Hasawi family from Kuwait. Each season they begin as one of the favourites for promotion, but always seem to fade. This season has been the same old story and they are currently lying in a lowly 15th place, unacceptable for a club with Premier League ambitions.
Apart from winning two FA Cups in 1898 and 1959, Forest had not really hit the limelight until the great Brian Clough took over for a hugely successful 18-year reign, from 1975-93.
It was extraordinary what Clough achieved with this small, unfashionable club that was 15th in the old Division Two when he took over. His first success was the League title in 1978, followed by two amazing consecutive European Cup trophies in 1979 and 80. Later came two League Cup triumphs. What’s more, they played attractive football.
The only major trophy that eluded Clough was the FA Cup, Forest being beaten 2-1 by Tottenham Hotspur in the 1991 Cup Final.
Modesty was never Clough’s strongest point and in his autobiography he wrote: “Nottingham Forest will never know how lucky they were, that day they asked me to get on with the job of rebuilding their run-down club. They didn’t just need a new manager — the bloody place was so dead it needed a kiss of life.”
But without the players he would never have achieved such success. Among the outstanding Forest footballers during the European success were John Robertson, Peter Shilton, Viv Anderson and Tony Woodcock. A little later came Stuart Pierce and Nigel Clough, the manager’s son.
Martin O’Neil also played during Clough’s regime. He once commented: “We won two European Cups yet we never practiced a free-kick. ‘Just give it to Robbo’ [John Robertson] was the cry.”
A documentary-style film on Clough’s years at Forest, I Believe in Miracles, was released in Britain last year. This is not to be confused with The Damned United, which covered Clough’s earlier years at Derby and Leeds.
County fans could only look on in envy at the exploits of their rivals from just across the River Trent. In 1926 they were relegated from the old Division One and did not return until 1981. They have the unwanted record of suffering the most relegations, 16, of any club in the Football League.
Their stay in the top flight lasted three seasons with Scottish manager, Jimmy Sirrel. He was quite a character and the book When Saturday Comes describes him as having “a gnarled look of a music hall comedian”. He also had a philosophy that was hard to argue with: “If ye dinnae score, ye dinnae win.”
The last time County were in the top flight was in 1991-92 when they were relegated, the season before the Premier League began.
Since then it has been a life in the lower divisions, amidst extreme financial difficulties, including a record 534 days in administration. One supporters’ song proved rather apt: “I had a wheelbarrow, the wheel fell off.”
A lasting legacy of the club is that they are responsible for the present colours of Juventus. Back in 1903 the Italian side were unhappy with their pink shirts and sent an English player home to find a replacement. He went to Nottingham and returned with County’s colours and the Italians loved them.
County also recall proudly the post-war years from 1947-51 when Tommy Lawton, one of England’s greatest centre-forwards, scored 103 goals in his five seasons with them.
Back in 1980, chairman Jack Dunnet summed up the club’s plight best when he commented: “Most of the people who can remember when we were a great club are dead.”
Both Forest and County have appointed interim managers for the remainder of the season. While Forest will never repeat the glory days of Clough, it is surely a matter of time before they get back into the top flight. County’s aims will be simply to survive. It looks like it’s back to believing in miracles again.