ROBSFOREST

MANAGERS

Early history
Forest were founded in 1865 (by a group of bandy players) shortly after their neighbours Notts County, the oldest professional football club in the world. They joined the Football Alliance in 1888, and won the competition in 1892, which allowed them entry to the Football League.

Nottingham Forest's charitable approach to the sport helped teams like Liverpool and Brighton & Hove Albion to come into existence. In 1886, Forest donated a set of football kit to help Liverpool establish themselves - the Merseyside team still wear red to this day. Forest also helped secure a site to play on for Brighton.

Forest claimed their first major honour when they won the 1898 FA Cup (beating rivals Derby County). However, for much of the first half of the 20th century the club spent life in the Second Division (and had to seek re-election in 1914 after finishing bottom). In 1949 the club were relegated to the Third Division, but bounced back two years later as champions thanks to 35 goals from Wally Ardron - still the club's record goalscorer - and returned to the Second. A brief period of glory followed at the end of the 1950s, as they regained First Division status in 1957 and won the FA Cup for a second time in 1959, despite losing Roy Dwight through a broken leg and becoming the first team to defeat the Wembley 'hoodoo'. But after reaching the high of runners-up spot and cup semi-finalists in 1967, Forest were relegated from the First Division in 1972. Forest's biggest rivals are Derby County and Leicester City.

Brian Clough: The Glory Days (1975-1993)
Nottingham Forest were considered a small team by English league standards until the mid 1970s, when Brian Clough took the helm at the club. Clough was the most successful manager in the history of Nottingham Forest football club. He had won the league title with Forest's deadly rivals Derby County in 1972, and came to Nottingham Forest in September 1975 when they were a struggling Second Division club. They won promotion to the top division at the end of the 1976-77 season after finishing third in the Second Division, but no-one could have predicted how successful Clough's team would be over the next three seasons.

Nottingham Forest became one of the few teams (and the last team to date) to win the English First Division Championship 1977-78 season, a year after winning promotion from the English Second Division. In 1978-79, Forest went on to win the European Cup by beating F.C Malmo [1-0] in Munich's Olympic Stadium and retained the trophy in 1979-80, beating S.V Hamburg [1-0] in Madrid . They also won the European Super Cup, and three League Cups. Key players in this side included goalkeeper Peter Shilton, midfielder Martin O'Neill, winger John Robertson and striker Trevor Francis - the first £1 million footballer in English football.

Nottingham Forest's next trophy came in 1989 when they beat Luton Town in the League Cup final. For most of the season they had been hopeful of completing a unique domestic treble, but were beaten into third place by champions Arsenal and runners-up Liverpool and lost to Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough, where 96 Liverpool fans were trampled to death on terracing. Clough's side retained the League Cup in 1990 when they beat Oldham Athletic. There was chance for more success in 1991 when Forest reached their first ever FA Cup final under Brian Clough and went ahead after scoring an early goal against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley, but ending up losing 2-1. Forest reached their third League Cup final in four seasons in 1992, but lost to Manchester United.

Brian Clough's 18-year reign as manager ended in May 1993 when Forest were relegated from the Premier League after 16 illustrious years of top flight football which had seen one league title, two European Cups and four League Cups. Since Brian Clough's departure, Nottingham Forest have had eight managers and spent just four out of 12 seasons in the Premiership. Brian Clough is considered one of the greatest managers in English football history by fans of all clubs, and rightfully so.

Frank Clark (1993-1996)
Frank Clark, who had been a left-back in Nottingham Forest's 1979 European Cup winning team, returned to the club in May 1993 to succeed Brian Clough as manager. His management career had previously been uneventful, although he had won the Fourth Division promotion playoffs with Leyton Orient in 1989. Having inherited most of the players from the Clough era, Clark was able to achieve an instant return to the Premiership when the club finished Division One runners-up at the end of the 1993-94 season. Clark looked to be well on the way to re-establishing Forest as a top team.

Forest's return to the Premiership was impressive as they finished third in 1994-95 and qualified for the UEFA Cup - their first entry to European competition in the post-Heysel era. The likes of Stan Collymore, Stuart Pearce and the Dutch international Bryan Roy were among the most feared players in the Premiership. But Collymore was sold to Liverpool in June 1995 for a then English record fee of £8.4 million, and his £2 million Italian successor Andrea Silenzi was one of the most disappointing signings ever made by an English club. With Collymore gone, Forest's goals dried up in the Premiership during 1995-96 and they finished ninth - although they did reach the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup, making them the only English team to reach the last eight of any European competition that season.

Clark added Welsh striker Dean Saunders and Croatian defender Nikola Jerkan to Forest's squad for the 1996-97 season, but they started badly and what should have been a challenge for a UEFA Cup place quickly became a battle to avoid relegation. With no signs of that battle being won, Clark was sacked in December and 34-year-old captain Stuart Pearce was installed as player-manager on a temporary basis.

Dave Bassett: Fall, Rise and Fall Again (1997-98)
Pearce inspired a brief revival in Forest's fortunes, and he was voted Premiership manager for the month for January 1997 after a turn around in form lifted the club off the bottom of the division. He was tipped to become manager on a permanent basis, but the Forest directors wanted someone more experienced so in March 1997 they turned to Crystal Palace manager Dave Bassett. Despite the addition of Celtic's Dutch striker Pierre van Hooijdonk, Forest were unable to avoid relegation and finished the season in bottom place. They won promotion back to the Premiership at the first attempt, being crowned Division One champions in 1997-98. But the prolific strike-partnership of Kevin Campbell and Pierre van Hooijdonk was soon broken up: Campbell was sold to Turkish side Trabszonspor and van Hooijdonk went AWOL. Van Hooijdonk later returned to the club but it was too late to save Bassett, who was sacked in January 1999 after a terrible start to the Premiership campaign and elimination from the FA Cup at the hands of Division One side Portsmouth.

Ron Atkinson: Filling the Gap (1999)
Ron Atkinson made his last appearance in football as Nottingham Forest's interim manager, taking charge in January 1999. Bought in on the promise of an alleged million pound bonus if he kept Forest up, 'Big Ron' did little to endear himself to the Forest faithful by climbing into the wrong dugout at the start of his first game in charge - against Arsenal. In true Big Ron style he was later heard joking that he'd thought Forest had Dennis Bergkamp on their bench. But he was unable to succeed in keeping Forest clear of relegation, and for the third time in seven seasons they were relegated as the Premiership's bottom club.
David Platt: Life in the Nationwide (1999-2001)
When the board decided not to renew Atkinson's contract, several high profile names were mentioned for the vacant manager's job, including Glenn Hoddle (ex-Swindon, Chelsea and England), Roy Evans (ex-Liverpool) and Brian Little (ex-Leicester and Aston Villa). The club's eventual choice was 33-year-old former England captain David Platt, whose brief spell as head coach of Italian Serie A side Sampdoria had just ended in relegation.

Former England captain David Platt was named as Nottingham Forest's player-manager in July 1999. He made several expensive signings during his two-year reign at the helm, but these acquisitions were unproductive and Forest never really looked like gaining promotion back to the Premiership, finishing only in mid-table. Their fortunes were not helped by financial problems and a constant need to sell top players in order to pay off debts. Platt left to become England U-21 coach in July 2001 and he handed over the reins to youth team manager Paul Hart. By now, Forest's days as a top club were now very much a distant memory and no players remained from their successful days in the top flight.

Paul Hart: Making a Living on Limited Resources (2001-2004)
Paul Hart had a difficult time as manager of Nottingham Forest. The club's financial problems escalated at the end of the 2001-02 season when the ITV Digital collapse almost bankrupted them. Hart's first season at the helm had been unremarkable as a squad made up mostly of young players achieved a 16th place finish in Division One. There were fears that Nottingham Forest could go into liquidation during the summer of 2002, but with the sale of players like Jermaine Jenas the financial situation was quickly brought under control and Forest did better in 2002-03. They finished sixth in Division One and qualified for the playoffs, their best chance yet of returning to the Premiership. However, they lost to Sheffield United in the semi finals. After a 1-1 draw at the City Ground, they eventually lost out at Bramall Lane 4-3 after extra time, and 5-4 on aggregate, even though they were leading the second leg 2-0. Forest would have reached the final had the Away Goals rule not been scrapped by the Football League (the score of the second leg was 2-2 after 90 minutes).

By now, the likes of Michael Dawson and Marlon Harewood were some of the most talented young players in the English league. But Forest's failure to gain promotion led to many of their finest assets being sold, and the departures took their toll on the club's fortunes in 2003-04. Paul Hart was sacked in February as Forest hovered near the foot of Division One.

Joe Kinnear: Short and Uneventful (2004)
Joe Kinnear was the next manager to take charge of Nottingham Forest. The club's directors looked to have made a good decision when Kinnear revitalised Forest, bringing out the best in key players like Michael Dawson and Andy Reid, and they climbed to a secure 14th place in the final table. Kinnear was hoping to push for promotion from the newly-named Coca-Cola Championship in 2004-05. But the start to the season was poor. Despite a promising draw on opening day (1-1 vs Wigan Athletic) the team's form went downhill, as did the league position. With fans getting restless, and the threat of demonstrations against the team management, Kinnear walked away from the club in December, after a 3-0 defeat by arch-rivals Derby County at Pride Park, with Forest struggling at the foot of the Championship. His assistant Mick Harford had only been recruited a few weeks before, but was put in charge of first-team duties on a temporary basis, until a permanent successor could be found.

Gary Megson: Down to League One (2005-2006)
In January 2005, Gary Megson was named as Nottingham Forest's new manager. He had previously won promotion to the Premiership twice with West Bromwich Albion, having taken over at a time when they were on the verge of relegation to Division Two. It was hoped that he could achieve the same success with Forest. But that target was made all the more difficult to achieve at the end of 2004-05, when Forest finished second from bottom in the Coca-Cola Championship and were relegated to League One. This humiliation made them the first former winners of the European Cup to suffer relegation to the third tier of their domestic league.

After relegation, Megson took action against the players at the club who he felt were not performing to the standards he demanded, both on and off the pitch. David Johnson, Marlon King, Kevin James, Alan Rogers and Adam Nowland were all transfer listed. King joined Watford FC on a long term loan deal, before moving permanently. Nowland went on a free transfer to Preston North End F.C.. James was loaned to Walsall F.C.. However, Johnson managed a return to the first team. Many players at the club were also made surplus to requirements and released.

In the summer of 2005, Gary Megson became one of the most active managers in the transfer market. Mattieu Louis-Jean signed for Norwich, whilst Eoin Jess and Chris Doig both joined Northampton Town on free transfers. The new recruits included Gary Holt from Norwich (in exchange for Louis-Jean), Nicky Eaden and Ian Breckin from Wigan and Gino Padula from Queens Park Rangers. John Curtis was signed on a free transfer, whilst Danny Cullip became Gary Megson's eighth summer signing, arriving from Sheffield United for an undisclosed fee. Megson's transfer market activity continued with the arrival of Nathan Tyson, a prolific striker in League Two with Wycombe Wanderers, on loan until January 2006. The signing later became permanent.

Initially in League 1 under Gary Megson, progress had been steady but many Forest fans might have hoped for a better run of form. At The City Ground at the start of 2006, home form was the best in the League, however away performances seemed to put Forest into a completely different league, struggling to get a win. Of course this placed pressure on Megson, although despite several calls for him to go, and even offers of resignation by the manager, he continued to battle to achieve at least a play off place.

Megson resigned 'by mutual consent' on the 16th February 2006 with Forest in 13th place, just four points above the relegation zone, having won just once in the last ten games. His successor has an unlikely, but very real fight to stop the team being relegated for a second successive season.

The Future =
Frank Barlow and Ian McParland took over on a caretaker basis after Gary Megson's resignation. The club has not yet revealed if anyone has applied for the manager's job. Whoever takes over will be expected to get Forest out of League One, although it will have to wait until next season unless Forest's form improves substantially during the remainder of this season. The club's long-term target will be to reach the Premiership. Barlow and McParland won their first game in charge with a 2-0 away victory. It was their Forest's first away win since August 27th, their first double over another team of the season, and their first away clean sheet.

Colin Calderwood (born 20 January 1965, in Stranraer, Scotland) is a former football player and currently manager of Nottingham Forest, having been appointed in May 2006.

Calderwood started his career in the lower reaches of the English Divisions. He played for Mansfield Town and Swindon Town helping Swindon to a 4-3 playoff win over Leicester in 1993 which saw them promoted to the Premiership.

He moved on to Tottenham Hotspur during the summer of 1993 where he had five successful years and played with a succession of defenders including Gary Mabbutt and Ramon Vega. At Tottenham he gained most of his Scotland caps. He played for his country at Euro 96 and World Cup 1998. He seemed to be one of manager Craig Brown's favourite players but was often made the scapegoat for poor results by Scotland fans.

He moved on briefly to Aston Villa and then had further brief spells with Nottingham Forest and Notts County on his way to coaching. He became reserve-manager at Tottenham before becoming manager of Northampton Town. Calderwood took Northampton to promotion in 2006 finishing second in League Two and was at the helm when they set a new club record for the number of clean sheets held by the club (25). He has been regarded as a successful up-and-coming manager and was appointed by Nottingham Forest as the replacement for Gary Megson in May 2006. He had an unbeaten league start to his Forest campaign and won the Manager Of The Month award for August 2006. His first defeat came in his eight game in charge. He will now take the League One leaders to Tranmere, who are currently second in League One, and will hopefully lead Forest to a 4 point margin at the top of League One.

Piczo