[Lord Snooty]

Nottingham Forest v Huddersfield Town
The Sky Bet Championship
Thursday December 30th - 19:45 ko
at the City Ground

Huddersfield Town travel to Nottingham Forest to the City Ground on Thursday evening for the big live Sky Sports match of the day. We go there on the back of two consecutive 3-2 victories, whereas the Trees got stumped at Middlesbrough, losing 0-2. Town will be without Tom Lees after he was disgracefully left for dead by the referee in the Blackpool match. Thankfully, he's alright but concussion protocol means he won't be allowed to play in this one, whether he feels alright or not. He'll probably be out for the Blackburn match on Sunday as well.

Young centre back Levi Colwill missed the match on Boxing Day, feeling unwell. Hopefully he will be back for this one, otherwise head coach Carlos Corberán may have to choose a new formation. Or stick Ollie Turton in there.

Forest chief, Steve Cooper, was very disappointed with his side's performance at Boro, where they gave away an early goal through a Steve Yates own goal, and says they will learn from their mistakes. Sounds familiar. They squandered good chances to get back in the game, notably Philip Zinckernagel firing over from seven yards and Joe Worrall heading over the crossbar. Cooper says they were technically poor, giving the ball away and final touches and passes going wrong.

Tickets: A bit pointless putting it on here as the ticket office closed for Christmas on Thursday afternoon, but for the record, the prices are as follows.

W Block:
Adults: £25
Seniors (65+): £18
Youth (18-23): £12
Juniors (12-17): £10
Children (4-11): £5

X Block:
Adults: £27
Seniors (65+): £19
Youth (18-23): £13
Juniors (12-17): £11
Children (4-11): £5

Please note: Tickets in the X Block are more central.

A brief history of Nottingham Forest: formed in 1865 when a group of shinty players decided they would rather play football instead and so formed a football club and named it Nottingham Forest. There already was a football club in the city, Notts County, and they were Forest's first opponents for a match played in 1866.

When the Football League was formed in 1888, Forest's application to join was turned down. It wasn't until 1892 that they finally got elected in, probably due to their efforts in the FA Cup, having reached the semi finals for a 4th time in that season. They did win a semi final for the first time in 1898, which gave them a crack at their local rivals Derby County, in the Final. That Final was played at Crystal Palace and Forest won it 3-1 with two goals from Arthur Capes and one from John McPherson.

They made it to two more semi finals and finished high up in the league before the slump began and they were relegated in 1905. Not for long though as the goals of Welsh international Grenville Morris had them promoted again in 1907. He would go on to be the club's leading scorer. They went back down again though in 1911 and had to apply for re-election in 1914, which they did successfully, but the club were in a bad way financially and almost went under.

They survived that though and won promotion back to Division One in 1922 as 2nd Division champions, but when they got relegated again in 1925, they would not return to the top flight until 1957. Before that, they went down to the 3rd Division in 1949 for a couple of seasons.

That promotion back to the top in 1957 came as runners up to Leicester City. They finished their first season back in 10th and followed that with a 13th place finish in 1959. That wasn't the big story for them though in '59. That was winning the FA Cup for the 2nd time, beating Luton Town 2-1 at Wembley Stadium. Forest were 2-0 up after 14 minutes with goals from Roy Dwight and Tommy Wilson, but were reduced to ten men when Dwight broke his leg. No substitutes in those days, kids, so they struggled on. They were down to nine men for the last ten minutes by which time Luton had pulled a goal back. Cling on they did though and the jubilant manager Billy Walker, ran on to the pitch in celebration, but was rugby tackled by an over officious steward who thought he was a pitch invader.

Scottish centre half Bob McKinlay played in that Final, one of 684 games he played for the Forest, a club record. After Walker left, ex Town boss Andy Beattie had a few seasons in charge, then when Johnny Carey took over the manager's job in 1963, he led them to their highest league position so far when, in 1967, they finished as runners up to Manchester Utd. They also made the FA Cup semis, losing to a Spurs team skippered by Dave Mackay, who would later manage at the City Ground. That would be in the 2nd division though, after they were relegated in 1972, alongside Huddersfield Town.

Mackay left to manage neighbours Derby after they sacked Brian Clough, but when Clough made the move in the opposite direction (via Brighton and Beeston), it was the start of the greatest era in Forest's history. He was appointed on the 6th of January 1975 and by the time he retired in 1993 they had won the League Cup four times, the League once, the European Cup (now known as Champions League, kids) twice, the European Super Cup once, the Charity Shield once, the Full Members Cup twice and the Anglo Scottish Cup once.

It didn't start out very well, finishing 16th and then 8th in the 2nd Division. But then Cloughie managed to persuade Peter Taylor to rejoin him. They had been successful together at Derby before and soon got success at the City Ground by winning the 1977 Anglo Scottish Cup, not a major trophy and one that doesn't even exist anymore, but was quite a big deal for Clough. After beating Kilmarnock and then Ayr Utd, they faced Orient in the Final and beat them 5-1 on aggregate, with a 4-0 win at the City Ground in the 2nd leg to crown the glory.

Forest had the polished silver smell of trophies in their nostrils now and followed that by scraping promotion by clinching 3rd place (before the Play Offs had been invented, kids) due to cock ups from Bolton, who needed a point in their game in hand, but lost to Wolves, leaving Forest promoted. That might seem odd for any youngsters reading this, but in those pre Sky Sports days, not everybody finished on the same day and the Forest players were literally on the beach in Mallorca when they found out they had been promoted.

They went from strength to strength, signing a solid defence, based on Larry Lloyd and the fearsome Kenny Burns as well as England keeper Peter Shilton and won the Football League title for the first time, becoming not the first, but the most recent team to win the league after winning promotion. That made Cloughie the first manager to win the League with two different clubs since Herbert Chapman had done the same with Huddersfield Town and Arsenal.

He now had three of his Derby League title winning side with him at Forest in Archie Gemmill, John O'Hare and club captain John McGovern and before they clinched the title, they had won the League Cup for the first time when a John Robertson penalty won it for them against Liverpool, in a replay at Old Trafford after a 0-0 draw at Wembley (no penalty shoot outs yet, kids).

They won the Charity Shield at the start of the next campaign, beating FA Cup holders Ipswich Town 5-0. They went 42 games unbeaten in the League, a record that was later topped by Huddersfield Town (let's not go there ), the record run being ended by Liverpool, who were by now big rivals. And it was the men from Anfield who took the title that year with Forest finishing as runners up. Before that though, they retained the League Cup by beating Southampton 3-2 at Wembley with two goals from Garry Birtles and one from Tony Woodcock.

Liverpool had won the European Cup for the two previous seasons and so the runners up Forest qualified as an extra competitor. Luck had it that the two were drawn together in the first round (not such a complicated draw in those days, kids) and the Forest went through, beating the holders 2-0 on aggregate after winning the first leg at the City Ground 2-0 with Birtles again on target as well as full back Colin Barrett, whose career was cut short, shortly after by a crippling knee injury.

Forest went on to win the European Cup, keeping the title in the country, by beating Malmö in the Final. A famous goal by Trevor Francis sealed it in a 1-0 win played at Munich's Olympic Stadium, a diving header at the far post where he landed on the concrete shot put circle, handily placed just behind the goal. No health and safety concerns for the over paid prima donnas back then, kids.

They won the European Super Cup against UEFA Cup winners Barcelona 2-1 on aggregate, one of the goals coming from ex Arsenal star Charlie George, who was on loan from Southampton.

The next season, they made it to Wembley again for the League Cup Final, but couldn't make it three in a row as they lost 0-1 to Wolves. They did however retain the European Cup by beating Hamburg 1-0 in the Final. John Robertson getting the goal in this one.

Things started to slowly fall apart though after that, losing in the first round of the European Cup to CSKA Sofia, losing the Super Cup to Valencia and losing the Intercontinental Cup to Nacional. Despite all the glories, the club were in debt and by 1982 the European Cup winning side had been broken up and Peter Taylor had also retired.

They were still doing alright on the pitch though, finishing 5th and then 3rd in the League as well as reaching the semi finals of the UEFA Cup, losing controversially against Anderlecht. It was proven much later that the ref had taken a bung, much too late to replay the game.

They won the League Cup again in 1989, beating Luton 3-1 at Wembley in a repeat of the 1959 FA Cup Final. Goals that day coming from Nigel Clough, the manager's son and two from Neil Webb. They also beat Everton to win the Full Members Cup in that season and were on for a domestic Cup treble when disaster struck at Hillsborough in the FA Cup semi final against Liverpool. We all know that story so no need to say a lot about it. Liverpool went on to win the re-arranged match 3-1.

Nigel Jemson scored in a 1-0 win at Wembley against Oldham Athletic as Forest retained the League Cup, but they could only finish 9th in the League. They were back at Wembley in the next season for the FA Cup Final, but the one major trophy that eluded Cloughie, remained eluded as Forest lost 2-1 to Spurs in the match best remembered for Paul Gascoigne getting injured when he should really have had two red cards, but got away with because he was the famous "Gazza". Stuart Pearce opened the scoring with a traction engine of a free kick before Mark Crossley saved a penalty from Gary Linekar to keep the Trees on top. However after Spurs had equalised and the game had gone to extra time, Des Walker put the ball into his own net and the Cup had gone again for Cloughie.

They reached the Final of the League Cup again in 1991, losing to Man Utd, but did win the Full Members Cup again, beating Southampton in the Final. They finished the season in 8th and so would start the next season as members of the new so called Premier League.

Cloughie announced his retirement in 1993 and sadly for him, his last season ended in relegation from the Prima Donna League. It was the end of an era, but his successor was a link to the past when Frank Clark of that European Cup winning side became the new boss. He got them straight back up, finishing as runners up to Crystal Palace.

He couldn't quite match Clough's feat of winning the title after promotion, but came close, finishing 3rd and qualifying for the UEFA Cup. The goals of Stan Collymore had been a big factor in this success, but when he was sold to Liverpool, things started to dwindle again and when Clark got the sack, Stuart Pearce became player/manager for a while, before Dave Bassett from Crystal Palace got the job.

Bassett couldn't halt the relegation slide though, but he was kept on for the following season, in which he managed to get them straight back up again. He lasted until January, when the club, once more in a relegation battle, sacked him and replaced him with Ron Atkinson.

Ron couldn't keep them up and so left at the end of the season, being their last manager in the Premier League, in 1999. David Platt landed in the hot seat. He was still only 33 years old and so became player/manager and having spent the last few years playing in Italy, brought a load of Italians over with him. That wasn't a success and Forest's debts were mounting again and they were nowhere near a return to the PL.

Paul Hart took over and got them to the Play Offs in 2003, which they lost in the semis to Sheffield United. He was replaced by Joe Kinnear and then Gary Megson, who couldn't stop the rot and Forest went down to the 3rd division (League One, kids) for the first time since the 1950s.

They didn't get back up until 2008. Colin Calderwood was in charge then, as he had been in the previous season when they made it to the Play Offs, only to lose in the semis to Yeovil Town. They avoided the Play Offs though in the next season, by grabbing the runners up spot on the final day of the season, ironically by beating Yeovil 3-2.

After a poor start to the next season though, Calderwood got the boot and so Billy Davies became the head arborist of the Forest. He got them to the Play Offs in 2010, but they were beaten in the semis by Blackpool. They got there again in 2011 but lost to Swansea. And that's about it. They haven't made it back to the Premier League yet and since Davies left in 2011, they have had 23 managerial changes (including caretakers), with Stuart Pearce returning at one stage, as well as big names like Steve McClaren, Alex McLeish, Mark Warburton and Martin O'Neill all having a go without any success.

Head to Head



Town lead the head to head with 24 wins to Forest's 19, with 17 draws.

Forest came here in September for game number 8 of this season. They were bottom of the table with only one point to their name. We were in the top 6. They had just sacked manager Chris Hughton and Steven Reid was in as caretaker. An easy Town win then? Not a bloody chance, mate. How many times has Huddersfield Town cocked up this kind of situation? Millions. And of course we did it again, being beaten 2-0 with Lewis Grabban scoring and a Lee Nicholls own goal putting the tin hat on a piss poor performance.

Which is even more of a shame as we had done the double over them in the lockdown season when we were the struggling team. Fraizer Campbell had given us a 1-0 win at home with one of the goals of the season. Then down at the City Ground towards the end of the season, Aaron Rowe got his first Town goal and Juninho Bacuna got his last one.

Our first ever meeting with Nottingham Forest came in the 1911/12 season when they had been relegated and we were still only in our second season as a Football League club. It was also only Town's third year of existence, whereas they were almost 50 years old. And it was the old established club who came out victors on that day. The date was the 11th of November 1911, so 11/11/11 if you like. A 1-1 draw would've fitted nicely with that, but they won it 2-1 at Leeds Road with James Richardson getting the goal for the Town in front of a crowd of 6,500. Forest won the re-match 3-0.

We had four seasons together before the war started and we got our first win over them in 1913. James Macauley scored in a 1-0 win down at the City Ground. We had one more win before the war, which had already been underway for a couple of months when Forest came to Leeds Road and left with nothing as the Town beat them 4-0. Some legendary names were involved in this game. Billy Smith scored twice and would go on to be our all time record appearance holder. The other two goals came from Ernie Islip and Joe Jee. But also making his debut in that game was Ralph Shields, who our directors had just paid Newcastle £100 for. He, if you read my stuff regularly, will know that he went on to become a war hero, surviving the first conflict, only to die in a Japanese prisoner of war camp in the 2nd World War. Fred Bullock played at left back in this match and he would later fight at the Somme. He survived that, was injured though, went back, got injured again, got demobbed, became Town captain, helped the club survive from the financial crisis of 1919, retired, became landlord of the Slubbers Arms, committed suicide aged 36. And also at centre half was Fred "Tiny" Fayers, a Quaker, who spent the war years on a farm, due to him being a conscientious objector.

Anyway, enough about the war. Good old Blighty came out on top and football resumed in 1919/20 and Huddersfield Town, as just mentioned were in a bit of a pickle financially. Well by the time we got to play Nottingham Forest, with both games coming in April 1920, that had all been sorted out and the terrific Town were on a roll. We were second in the table when we went down there and won 2-1 on Saturday the 17th of April with Frank Mann and Sammy Taylor scoring. Then we played in our first ever FA Cup Final on the following Saturday, losing 0-1 to Aston Villa. Unfortunately our star winger, Billy Smith who I've mentioned already, missed the Final, suspended after punching a Forest player at the City Ground. His place in the team went to Islip and he also played when the Forest came up here and lost 2-1 again, with Jack Swann getting both goals this time. Town were already promoted by now and were on a record run of league victories. The two wins over Forest were numbers 6 and 7 in a record run of 11 consecutive league victories.

So we left them behind in Division 2 and didn't meet up again until 1922, not that long then, but we did do the double over them as we were on our way to a 3rd place finish in 22/23. Both Smith and Islip scored again in the first game at home and then another name you may remember scored in a 1-0 win at theirs a week later. That scorer was Joe Walter. Another survivor of the Great War, serving with Gloucestershire Regiment. He had only just been signed by Herbert Chapman the Town manager and that was his first goal. Later on in life, he returned to Leeds Road as the oldest living Town player when we played the Final Whistle match against Blackpool in 1994 and he was the Guest of Honour. He was 98 years old then and sadly died aged 99 just before we went to Wembley and beat another of his old clubs Bristol Rovers, in the Play Off Final.

Forest were still in the First Division for the first two of our League Championship titles but had been relegated by the time we completed the hat trick. We won three of the four games against them in those two seasons, drawing the first 1-1 at theirs then beating them 3-0 up at ours in one of the most famous matches in our great club's glorious history. George Cook had scored in the drawn game in the previous week and he scored again at Leeds Road to give the Town a 1-0 lead at half time, in what was the final match of the season. Cardiff had snuck ahead of us in the league table and just needed to win or just better our result when they played at Birmingham on the same day. George Brown made it 2-0 in the second half and then late on in the game, Cook made it 3-0 against the hapless, sapless Trees. That third goal proved to be crucial as Cardiff cocked up at St Andrews as they could only manage a goal less draw, missing a penalty along the way. And so it was Huddersfield Town who won the first of our Football League titles on Goal Average, in the tightest ever finish to a FL season.

Our brave lads retained the title in the following season and beat Forest twice along the way. Both games were early in the season this time. We beat them 3-0 at home with Charlie Wilson getting a hat trick. It was that man Cook on target again at the City Ground as the bright blue and white ran out 1-0 winners.

Forest went down and we didn't play each other in the league again until the 1950s, but before that, we met for the one and only time in the FA Cup. That was in the 1938/39 season at the 3rd round stage. It was our first FA Cup match since losing the 1938 Final against Preston, when we met up at Leeds Road on a cold Wednesday afternoon in January. Only 5,422 people turned up for this one as the two teams played out a 0-0 draw, but there were 22,304 there at the City Ground on the following Monday for the replay. Town had beaten Portsmouth 3-0 on the Saturday and repeated that scoreline in Nottingham with goals from Billy Price and two from Jimmy Isaac. Town made it all the way to the semis that year before losing out at Highbury against Pompey.

So the next league meet up came in 1952/53 after the Town had suffered it's first ever relegation and despite the fact that we went straight back up again, Forest did the double over us, winning 2-1 at ours and 1-0 at theirs. We had three years back at the top but then met up for one more 2nd division season together in 1956/57, with a Dave Hickson goal at Leeds Road being the only goal scored in the two matches. Forest went up at the end of that season and so there was another large absence of matches between the two clubs.

So we waited 14 years and then 4 matches came along in 1970/71. We were drawn to play each other in the League Cup and Town made it seven games without a win by drawing at home 0-0. Following a defeat at Crystal Palace on the Saturday, we made it nine games without a win by losing the replay 2-0 at the City Ground on the Wednesday. We had another bore draw at Leeds Road in the league meeting, but then in March, out of the blue came a 3-1 Town win in Nottingham. On target that day were legends Frank Worthington and Jimmy Nicholson, with not so much of a legend, Brian Mahoney getting the third, his first league goal before transferring to Barnsley at the end of the season.

The next season saw away wins in both games with Frankie scoring again as well as Jimmy Lawson in a 2-1 win, but the we lost 1-0 at home as both sides finished the season getting relegated to Division Two. Both the 2nd division matches ended up as 1-1 draws and then we parted ways for another long stretch as we plumbed the depths of the Football League and Forest became Champions of Europe.

It would be 24 years before we were in the same league together, but we met up again in the League Cup in 1989/90. They were the Cup holders, managed by Brian Clough and would go on to retain the trophy, but had a rare old struggle to get past third division Town, managed by Eoin Hand. It was a 2nd round two legged match after Town had beaten Doncaster Rovers in the first round. A brilliant performance from the Terriers in the first leg saw us come away from the City Ground with a creditable 1-1 draw, with Ken O'Doherty (not the snooker player) scoring our goal. In the second leg, Forest scored first through Tommy Gaynor, but then Craig Maskell equalised just before half time. Future Town player Gary Crosby, gave Forest the lead after the break and then Nigel Clough, who had been taunted by the Town fans throughout the first half, scored an absolute screamer to shut them up and surely close the match at 4-2 on aggregate. But no! Back came Hand's heroes. First Maskell netted direct from a 20 yard free kick and then Mike Cecere unbelievably levelled it up at 3-3 slotting home in front of the Cowshed after Maskell had set him up. The game went to extra time, but we couldn't get the winner and sadly, the rules of the competition at the time had Forest going through on the away goals rule instead of the excitement of a penalty shoot out. But after years of bad times, since the Mick Buxton glory days earlier in the decade, it seemed like Town were once more on the up. I remember after the match, Denis Law raving about the superb performance of his old club on 5Live and Chris Marsden in particular. It was a false dawn though.

We did get promoted though later in the decade and so met up again at what was by now being called Division One in 1997/98. Forest won both matches and we didn't even score. They did a bit of yo-yoing and we met again in 1999/2000. This was the great Steve Bruce half season and we did the double over them. Forest away was fifth in a great run of nine wins in ten matches. It was a 3-1 win and had us in 3rd in the table in mid November. Two goals from Clyde Wijnhard and one from Kevin Gray in that one. We were down to 6th by the time they came to the McAlpine Stadium, but we beat them again, 2-1 this time with goals from Chris Beech and Chris Holland.

We won again at theirs in the next season. Same scoreline, with Peter Ndlovu on target this time and a quick fire double from Kevin Gallen. Delroy Facey scored in a 1-1 draw at home and we ended the season getting relegated.

Forest came down a few years later and so we had three seasons together in the 3rd tier, now calling itself League One. We only won one of those six league matches, a 2-1 win in 2005 with Danny Schofield and Andy Booth on target for us.

They went back up in 2008 and we followed in 2012 and so met in the Championship. The Forest match was our first home game back at this level for the first time in eleven years and we looked like we would lose it, with Simon Cox giving the Trees the lead in the second half. All looked lost until miraculously in the 4th minute of injury time, we got a penalty. Jordan Rhodes duly dispatched it, but unfortunately dispatched himself off to Blackburn shortly after. Everything was going well in the return fixture as well after James Vaughan gave us a tenth minute lead. It didn't stay well though. We lost 6-1, with four of those six goals coming from players who would later come to us on loan. Elliott Ward got one of them. Radoslaw Majewski got three of them.

Just a couple to of recent ones to finish with. We seem to keep playing each other in Christmas week. We played them on Boxing Day 2016 at the JSS and won 2-1 with a Kasey Palmer goal and an own goal from Michael Mancienne. Obviously we missed playing them for a couple of years due to us being in the Premier League. That was the first time since 1952 that we had been in a higher league than them. When we came back to the Championship, the Trees came to us just before Christmas and we beat them 2-1 again, this time it was Christopher Schindler and Steve Mounié on target before Joe Worrall pulled one back. Wouldn't say no to a 2-1 Town win in this Twixmas match.

So what's going on down in the Enchanted Forest? Managed nowadays by Steve Drooper, a man barely awake. He was, of course, best remembered as a child star, a popular kid's entertainer. Born the son of a football referee, he shunned the family's ambitions for him to follow dad into the circus clown profession and instead left his sleepy Welsh village for the bright lights of Coney Island, where he joined the fictional rock band, The Banana Splits. Alongside bandmates Fleegle, Bingo and Snorky, Drooper became an overnight sensation and soon the band had their own TV show. Hit records followed. Who can ever forget Drooper's duet with the Dilley Sisters singing Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay? Oh yes, an all time classic. And of course, the Tra-la-la Song. Here he is playing bass on that song with the boys in the band.

Fame didn't last though and like most child stars, his career faded and he returned to these shores, though vowing not to become a clown referee like his dear old dad. It was into football he went though, obviously, that's why he's here now. In between his appearances in the States as a cartoon dog, he'd been busy earning his badges. He soon had the one for tying knots, the one for making tea for the vicar, the cycling proficiency and most importantly, a UEFA Pro Licence Badge. And so on his return to Wales, he walked straight into the vacant manager's job at Swansea City.

He signed a three year contract at the Tampons Stadium and despite looking half asleep stood standing on the touchline, he managed to rally his team to great heights. The top end of the EFL Championship, no less. Yes, he got them to the Play Offs in both of his first two seasons at the Vetch Patch and managed the side for 100 matches.

So they sacked him. Sort of, he was on gardening leave, having decided to go for his Good Gardener's Badge as well. But then, lo and behold, he got another job. That gardening badge came in very useful indeed as he landed the job of Head Arborist and he's putting down roots at Nottingham Forest and he says he's "very, very, happy!"

Steve Drooper: I'm very, very, happy!

Boxing Day's line up away at Middlesbrough:

30 Brice Samba - Congolese goalkeeper, in his 3rd season at Forest.
4 Joe Worrall - Centre back, scored against us in 2019.
3 Tobias Figueiredo - Portuguese centre back, signed from Sporting CP in 2018.
26 Scott McKenna - Defender from Aberdeen.
44 Fin Back - 19 year old full back, son of ex England Rugby international, Neil Back.
22 Ryan Yates - Midfielder, been there since 8 years old, is now 24.
37 James Garner - Starred in The Great Escape and The Rockford Files.
8 Jack Colback - Played in the PL with both Sunderland and Newcastle.
11 Philip Zinckernagel - Danish winger on loan from Watford.
20 Brennan Johnson - Nottingham born Welsh international.
7 Lewis Grabban - Club captain with a history of scoring goals against us.

Subs:
1 Ethan Horvath - USA international keeper, but 2nd choice at Forest.
10 João Carvalho - 24 year old Portuguese midfielder.
13 Gaëtan Bong - has a brother called Big Ben Bong.
18 Carlos Miguel Ribeiro Dias - Known as Cafú, another Potuguese lad.
19 Xande Silva - Bloody hell, another one, who's chief scout there? José Mourinho?
21 Braian Ojeda - 21 year old Paraguayan midfielder.
33 Lyle Taylor - He came from Charlton Athletic.


Club connections:

Johnny Quigley won the FA Cup with Forest in 1959. He scored 51 goals in 231 games for them, then joined Town in 1965 and scored just the 4 goals for us in 67 games before leaving for Bristol City in exchange for Brian Clark.

Radosław Majewski is now back in his native Poland playing for Wieczysta Kraków. He scored 16 goals in his time at Forest and three of them were in one match against Huddersfield Town. Later, he came on loan to us from Forest, played 9 times but his debut was at home against Bournemouth on the opening day of the 2014/15 season. He was somewhat baffled to be booed by the Town crowd when getting subbed, but he was mistaken as we were all booing Mark Robins for bringing him off when he was the best player on the pitch in a Town shirt that day.

Joel Lynch, a scorer of spectacular goals for Town, is now playing for Crawley Town. He scored 9 in total for us and won one cap for Wales. Before that, he had three seasons at Forest, having signed from Brighton.

Andy Beattie played against Town for Preston in the 1938 FA Cup Final. Later, he became Town manager, joining the club in 1952 from Stockport. He arrived too late to stop us getting relegated, but he did get us back up at the first attempt. He then got us a 3rd placed finish in 53/54, as well as at the same time becoming the Scotland national team's first ever manager, taking them to the 1954 World Cup. Later on, he managed Nottingham Forest for three years in the 2nd division in the 60s.

Tom Johnston had three spells as Town manager. Four seasons in the 60s, doing the prep work for Ian Greaves to take us up at the end of that decade. When he came back in the 70s, we were on a right downer and he got moved "upstairs" in 77, only to be brought back downstairs again a few months later when John Haselden was relieved of the job after one win in his 18 games in charge. The club was in a bit of a shambolic state and Tom brought in Mick Buxton as a coach and Mick took over from Tom when he left for the last time and the club started it's long road back to respectability. Before all this though, he had played for Nottingham Forest between 1944 and 1948 as a left winger.

Gary Crosby is nowadays the assistant manager to his former Forest team mate Nigel Clough at Mansfield Town. He had 7 years as a player at Forest, scoring 12 goals for them. The most famous of those was against Man City and their dozy ex Town keeper Andy Dibble. Wonder what VAR would make of this goal? After them, he came to us and played for us at Wembley against Bristol Rovers in the Play Off Final.

Brian Laws played 56 times for us after Mick Buxton signed him from Burnley. He left us for Middlesbrough, then had six successful seasons at the City Ground.

Joe Lolley is still a Nottingham Forest player, though he hasn't been in the team lately. He's 29 years old now, but doesn't seem to have been around long enough to be that old. That's because he was a late starter, not signing for us until he was 22 and then having to wait ages before our management would class him as "Championship ready". When he did get in the side, he was a revelation, having an absolute blinder in the 4-1 win at Watford in the last game of the 13/14 season. He played for us in the Premier League, scoring a beauty against West Ham. Then, some clart 'eead at the club decided he should leave and so he was sold to Nottingham Forest. 

And then there's Micheal Hefele. We sent them a hero. A legend. And they broke him.  He just doesn't look right in this shirt, does he?

Nottingham in popular culture: Well first of all, let's put this Robin Hood nonsense to bed. He was not from Nottingham and here's the proof from that most reliable of sources, the Daily Express in 2014.

Robin Hood did not live in Sherwood Forest and was a Yorkshireman, historians have claimed. Experts say the famous outlaw who stole from the rich to give to the poor was not from Nottinghamshire but Doncaster or Pontefract. Officials in Doncaster say the public has been "hoodwinked" about Robin Hood and have launched a crusade to declare him as the son of the town.

Legend has always stated the leader of the Merry Men originated from Sherwood Forest - the stomping ground of his arch-enemy the Sheriff of Nottingham. But Yorkshire historians say the earliest stories put his origins firmly in Barnsdale - on the border between South and West Yorkshire near Doncaster.

Carolyn Dalton, from Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery, said: "It's more than likely that Robin Hood was a Yorkshireman.

"Robin's links to Yorkshire are far stronger historically, the oldest and most detailed stories give details of the north Doncaster and Pontefract area. I think over the years Yorkshire hasn't made much of the connection. In terms of where Robin and his men lived, history points to Barnsdale near Doncaster."

But it's not the first time a custody battle between Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire has been fought. In 2004, Doncaster was accused of "jumping on the bandwagon" when it named its airport after the hero who robbed from the rich to feed the poor.

Experts argue Yorkshire boasts more points of historical reference than any other county, including the site where his remains are believed to be buried at Kirklees Priory, near Brighouse, West Yorks.

One of the earliest stories of the 'good outlaw', The Gest of Robin Hood, is set in Barnsdale Forest, just north of Doncaster, near Pontefract, West Yorks.

First written down in the 15th Century, the Gest also mentions a church where Robin later marries Maid Marian, which is thought to be St Mary Magdalene, Campsall, in Doncaster, South Yorks.

And another legend, the outlaw ties the Bishop of Hereford to a tree in Barnsdale and robs him. This was said to have taken place in Skelbrooke Park in Doncaster, South Yorks., where a 'Bishop's tree' still stands. The forest is also home to Robin Hood's Well.

But the only early ballad to mention Nottingham is Robin Hood and the Monk and few mention the notorious Sheriff.

YORKSHIRE! YORKSHIRE!

So we're having Robin and his Merry Men. You can keep Jake Bugg and the Sleaford Mods though.......

As for celebrity Forest fans, I've managed to track down three from various sources on the internet. The most famous one is cricketer Stuart Broad. I knew that already, following him on Twitter he's always banging on about them, probably more than he does about cricket.

Another one, who I don't follow, is boxer Carl Froch. His ambition, according to Wikipedia, was to play for Forest, before he took up boxing and has said that he would love to fight at the City Ground. Just you behave, young man, or the ghost of Brian Clough will cuff you round the lug 'ole!

Another one I know nowt abart is actor Joe Dempsie. Apparently he was in a programme called Game of Thrones, playing somebody called Gendry Baratheon. I've never watched this. Anybody on here a fan of this show?


'ow to get theere an' wheere to sup: The post code for sat nav is NG2 5JF. There are some chances for street parking around the area, mainly down by the Notts County ground. Last time we went there, we parked in some old market place, which was stewarded and about a ten minute walk to the City Ground.

As for pubs, just around the corner from the Notts County ground is a nice little unassuming hostelry, known as Hooters, on London Road. I think the theme of the place is something to do with owls, hence the play on the word "hooters". You can get a meal here as well as some fresh baps. Have a look at the menu. https://www.hootersnottingham.co.uk/menu There's also some car parking available in this area. Sorry I couldn't think of more hooters puns. You'll have to make up some of your own. I really need to get watching some more Carry On films.

If you're a cricket fan, there's the Larwood and Voce, up near the Trent Bridge stadium, which is welcoming to away fans. The pub is named after two Nottinghamshire players, Harold Larwood and Bill Voce, who's "bodyline" fast bowling, upset the Aussies in the 1932/33 Ashes series down under.

Nottingham Railway Station is about a mile away from the City Ground. Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem is a recommended pub to visit, it's an historic one, dating back to the 12th century. Located in the city centre, it's in the opposite direction to the football ground from the station.

Recent form - last 6 matches:

Town 3-2 Blackpool
Bristol C 2-3 Town
Town 1-1 Coventry
Barnsley 1-1 Town
Town 1-2 Boro
QPR 1-0 Town

Boro 2-0 Forest
Forest 2-1 Hull
Swansea 1-4 Forest
Forest 2-0 Peterborough
WBA 0-0 Forest
Forest 0-0 Luton

Town are 6th in the Championship table with 36 points. Forest are 9th with 34, after Monday's games.

Leading scorers:

Terriers:
Danny Ward (7)
Danel Sinani (3)
Matty Pearson (3)
Sorba Thomas (3)

Trees:
Lewis Grabban (10)
Brennan Johnson (5)
Philip Zinckernagel (4)


December the 30th down the ages: How did we get on in previous matches played on this date?

1916: Barnsley (a) Wartime League, drew 1-1 (Moore)
1922: Everton (a) Div 1, WON 3-0 (Frank Mann 2, Jack Byers)
1933: Sunderland (a) Div 1, drew 1-1 (Jack Smith)
1944: Halifax Town (a) Wartime League, lost 2-4 (Arnold Rodgers 2)
1967: Hull City (a) Div 2, drew 1-1 (Jimmy Nicholson)
1972: Aston Villa (h) Div 2, drew 1-1 (Alan Gowling)
1989: Bristol City (h) Div 3, WON 2-1 (Mark Smith, Craig Maskell)
1995: Stoke City (h) Division One (2nd tier), drew 1-1 (Mark Prudhoe og)
2000: Sheffield Wednesday (h) Division One (2nd tier), drew 0-0
2006: Swansea City (h) League One (3rd tier), WON 3-2 (Jon Worthington, Pawel Abbott 2, 1 pen)
2011: Carlisle United (h) League One (3rd tier), drew 1-1 (Jordan Rhodes)
2017: Burnley (h) Premier League, drew 0-0

Played 12, WON 3, drew 8, lost 1. Unbeaten on this day since 1944 and we've never lost a league game.


Jack Byers, who scored against Everton in 1922, left for Blackburn Rovers shortly after. He later played for West Brom and Torquay. He died soon after retiring, aged just 33, but I can't find any details of his untimely death.

Batley born Jack Smith, who scored against Sunderland in 1933, scored 15 goals in 24 games as Town finished runners up in that season. He then went on to be a prolific goalscorer for Newcastle and Manchester United. Officially he only scored 15 times for Man U, but that doesn't include the 150 he scored for them during the war.

Jimmy Nicholson, who scored in 1967 against Hull, was the club captain and led the team to the 2nd division title in 1970. He is the player with the most international caps gained as a Huddersfield Town player, winning 31 of them for Northern Ireland.

Mark Prudhoe played for 17 different Football League clubs, but will always be remembered by Town fans for the own goal he scored when he was goalkeeper for Stoke City on this day in 1995. It was from a back pass, which he totally made a mess of and ended up slicing it into the back of his own net. 

Nottingham Anagrams: Some football related, some not.

1. Bastard Tour 
   
2. Abba Newsgirl 
   
3. Shelton Tripe 
   
4. Denver Ties 
   
5. Rent Bridget 
   
6. Count Snotty 
   
7. April Henpecking Liz 
   
8. Smelly Cartoon 
   
9. Induct Orgy 
   
10. Capt Treasure 
    

[ritchiebaby]

3 is Peter Shilton and 5 is Trent Bridge.

I've been in Hooters in Amsterdam and when you've tried the best, don't bother trying the rest. I've also been in the Geldeston Locks Inn near Beccles about 50 years ago when us lads played Mutiny On The Bounty on the Norfolk Broads. It claimed to be the oldest inn in England at the time and judging by the beer and the bogs, it hadn't changed a bit in the past 800+ years.

[Amelia Chaffinch]

Just been watching this this morning. Worth watching for criticising Villa Park alone!

[jjamez]

When it first came out I avoided game of thrones, it didn't appeal to me, but during the first lockdown we got the first 6 seasons dirt cheap and then watched the rest of the seasons on sky. Well worth watching, we ended up watching a couple of episodes a night.

As for forest, it's my dad's team, he used to play with Viv Anderson when they were growing up in Clifton. My uncle made it pro elsewhere but became friends with John Robbo, Larry Lloyd and Martin O'Neil through those two.

Worth noting that Jordan Rhodes has scored 7 goals in 17 games against Nottingham forest, most recently last season where he bagged a hattrick, so could be well worth sticking him up top with ward from the off.

10 is Stuart Pearce?

[theo_luddite]

When Snoots starts a thread with "the Trees got stumped" you have to wonder where he's going to branch off to next.

However, as always it's easy to twig that no leaves will be turned unstoned in one of his match threads.

I'm going to get a beer out of the fridge now to help read the rest of it. The 2nd hand smoke I've been inhaling at my bro's over Christmas is in danger of fogging my brains. now back in the clean fresh air of The Black Country - oh, hang on a minute.

[Lord Snooty]

[theo_luddite]

Bought a sweatshirt from the Buffalo Hooters after an evening of Buffalo Wings and pitchers of beer before we took some upstate Noo Yark customers to a boxing match where a game of (ice) hockey broke out, many years ago.

Long time ago but the wings were as hot as the restaurant staff and the buns were nice and tight with a firm texture. As a rule you should only orange to go there for a short time, you don't want to get busted for drink driving after all.

Pick as many buns, er puns out of that as you like.

It was a failing little restaurant chain until some fool did either a newspaper or TV piece about them, basically doing for them what the News of the Screws did for Club 18-30 - tried to ridicule and shut them down and gave them more publicity than they could have ever paid for. Buffalo Wings and a beer or three suddenly couldn't be popular enough, amongst a mainly, but not only male customer base.

What do you mean you've never seen a Buffalo fly? https://originalhooters.com/saga

---

There is another anagram for 6 but it might encourage t'Owels fans a bit too much so I'll go for Notts County.

[Lord Snooty]

Hoots mon. I've never seen a buffalo fly.

I've seen a needle wink it's eye
But I ain't seen a buffalo fly.

[theo_luddite]

They are bit like horse flies when you get up close Snoots, similar bite too - just rip lumps of skin off you and leave a stream of blood running down your arm.

[Lord Snooty]

---

Cowill back. Turton starts.

Tom Lees (concussion) & Naby Sarr (back) miss out.

Pipa on the bench.