Ground Name: City Ground
Capacity: 30,602 (all seated)
Address: City Ground, Nottingham.
Ticket Office: 0115-982-4445
Team Nickname: The Reds
Pitch Size: 115 x 78 yards
Shirt Sponsors: Capital One
Home Kit Colours: Red & White
Away Kit Colours: All White
3rd Kit Colours: Dark Blue & Black Stripes
Kit Manufacturers: Umbro

The once small club Nottingham Forest has a permanent place in football folklore thanks to their back-to-back European Cup successes that to this day have only been matched by one of the country's biggest clubs, Liverpool.

The Reds started of as a Shinney (a form hockey) club but were recommended by Mr. J.S Scrimshaw, one day in the Clifton Arms, to turn their attention to playing the beautiful game. There was overwhelming support for this suggestion, and it was certainly a good one. That night in 1865 Nottingham Forest Football club was born. They were to play in Garibaldi Red and soon after and 12 red, tasseled caps were purchased for the team.

The club would participate in their first match on March 22nd against Notts County, who were formed 3 years before, at the Forest Racecourse Ground. This was not a competitive game, though, and Forest were only allowed entry into the Football league in 1888.

After being granted entry into the League the Reds continued to do well. They beat various small clubs on their way and in 1898 won the FA Cup. After this, though, the club went downhill and suffered a series of relegations.

They then stayed out of the limelight for some time and had a long stint playing in the lower Leagues. Despite this lack of success, though, the club still managed to draw in gates higher than the ones they get today. Over 30,000 people would regularly come to watch the Tricky Trees.

The Reds finally made it out of the Old Third Division in 1952 and they have never returned to this day. The club still managed to bring in high attendances proving it wasn't just the novelty of the team being newly formed that made people come to watch them.

After getting out of this league they continued to be promoted and once again found themselves achieving such feats as the FA Cup. The 1966-1967 season saw Forest bring in the highest gates in their history. It was now nearly 100 years after that famous meeting which saw the club created and the club was becoming a huge success. The Reds managed to finish runners-up in the Old First Division. They had legends on the field such as Ian Storey-Moore who bagged 21 goals that season. After a few seasons here, though Forest went back down to the second and stayed here for a little while.

This was when Brian Clough came in and the glory days were here! Under the terrific management of Cloughie and Taylor Forest managed to grab the European Cup twice in succession as well as the European Super Cup and the First Division. Forest carried on as some of the Football Leagues best teams for a long time and can even boast making the first million pound signing in Trevor Francis. The season Cloughie left, though (1993) Forest were relegated and it signaled the end of an era.

After Clough it's very much been modern day Forest. It's been disappointing at times but we will still continue to follow the Garibaldi Reds through thick and thin and it's obvious by what we have just gone through that Forest are surely the world's greatest team.

©ForestFC.co.uk, 2004 - Source: BBC.