[Lord Snooty]

Huddersfield Town v Nottingham Forest
The Sky Bet Championship Play Off Final
Sunday May 29th - 16:30 ko
at Wembley Stadium

Huddersfield Town travel to London to the Empire Stadium, Wembley on Sunday afternoon for the Championship Play Off Final against Nottingham Forest. They say the prize for this is the biggest prize in football, a place in the Premier League and a chance to play next season on such iconic grounds as Old Trafford, Anfield, Stamford Bridge and Turf Moor the Big Yellow Skip at Bellend Road.

Forest are the media darlings at the moment and favourites to win promotion, based purely on the fact that they have a slightly higher average attendance than us and that they won the European Cup over forty years ago. The fact that Town finished above them in the league, actually won our semi final instead of needing a penalty shoot out and Forest have a history of choking when it comes to the Play Offs, seemingly have no bearing on the outcome of this match.

Town are unbeaten now in nine matches, seven of which have been victories. We have a magnificent Play Off record, winning it four times, a record that only Blackpool can better.

Us Huddersfield fans are regular visitors to Wembley. We know what it's all about. Most of the Forest fans there on Sunday will be going there for the first time as it's thirty years since they last went there. That was the 1992 League Cup Final when they lost to Man United. It's changed a bit since then.

But sure, Forest are the favourites to win. 

Anyway, the Town players and staff have been having a jolly holiday tough training camp, out in Portugal, ahead of the big game. Here is head coach, Carlos Corberan, giving his thoughts on how it's all going........

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. They played games at the Forest Recreation Ground and so named themselves 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 1992, 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 25 wins to Forest's 20, with 17 draws.

So this will be the fourth game against Forest this season and undoubtedly, the most important one. The first one was really early in the season, played at the John Smith's with Town in the unusual feeling of being in the top 6 after a marvelous 3-0 midweek win at Blackpool.

Forest on the other hand, were in a right old state. One point from the first seven games and had just sacked manager Chris Hughton. Steven Reid had taken over as caretaker, with rumours coming out that droopy eyed, Play Off failure Steve Cooper was soon to take the job on.

It was all Town for the first twenty minutes, but then following a loose pass in an attacking position, Brennan Johnson took the ball at speed down the right wing, crossed and Lewis Grabban headed in. A classic counter attack.

Town came back strongly and Harry Toffolo had a great chance but his shot was saved by Brice Samba, back in the team after Ethan Horvath dropped a clanger in the midweek defeat at home to Boro.

So the Trees led at the break and were 2-0 up shortly after. Ryan Yates had a shot from the edge of the area. Lee Nicholls dived and saved it but with the ball still in play, ex Town star Joe Lolley shot towards goal and via a deflection off Nicholls, the ball ended up in the net.

Town's best chances came from corners, taken by Sorba Thomas. Two in particular should've found the net but Tom Lees and Ollie Turton headed wide.

The Terriers dropped down to 7th, but the Trees remained rooted to the bottom of the table. How long will it stay that way?

Town's bubble appeared to have burst when we lost again in the next game, away at Swansea. Whereas Forest drew with Millwall and then won again at Barnsley. They kept that form going and by the time we met again at the end of December, they had moved up the table and were now in the top half. Town had done much better than any of us ever expected and against all odds, we were still in 6th place.

We were by this time, four games into an unbeaten run that eventually stretched to seventeen before we lost at Millwall. We'd drawn at Barnsley, thrown away two points at home to Coventry, but then won for the first time in years at Bristol City and then had a brilliant come back victory at home to Blackpool with Sorba scoring two late goals.

We went to the City Ground and made it three wins on the trot, with ex Derby midfielder, Duane Holmes scoring in front of a load of pricks who had booed him throughout the game.

Sorba was in search of another and had a fantastic shot crashing off the bar in the first minute. Johnson then headed wide for Forest before Town took the lead on the half hour mark. A great ball from Levi Colwill to Holmes, who played a one/two with Toffolo and then shot past Samba before running towards the Forest fans with his fingers in his ears.

The Trentside tossers came back with maverick James Garner shooting wide and Philip Zinckernagel hitting the bar. Nicholls then made a brilliant save from Xande Silva as he kept edging closer to that Player of the Season award.

In the second half, Lewis O'Brien went on one of his mazy runs, cutting through the Forest defence like a chainsaw before unleashing a terrific shot that Samba brilliantly tipped over. It was looking more and more like a Terriers win, even more so when Johnson missed a sitter late on, following up from another great save by Nicholls.

That was Forest's first back to back defeats under Cooper and in the New Year, we both started our Cup runs which would end up with us meeting for the third time this season in the 5th round on a Monday night in March. Town beat Premier League giants Burnley away and our close neighbours Barnsley at home, whilst Forest had home wins against the reserve teams of Arsenal and Leicester City.

With the cup tie being chosen for coverage on ITV4, both teams played on Friday night. Forest got a draw at Bramall Lane, which had moved them up to 8th in the league, with Ryan Yates getting the equaliser deep into injury time. Town had gone second, yes second, ahead of Bournemouth, in what was becoming a very surreal season. We beat Peterborough 3-0 with ridiculous ease.

Tom Lees scored twice in that match, wearing a protective headband after receiving a bad gash against Cardiff a fortnight earlier and he made it three goals in two in the 13th minute against Forest, heading in from a Danel Sinani corner.

We were looking good to make it to the quarter finals for the first time in 50 years, but then Sam Surridge leveled up in the 29th minute following up after Naby Sarr had made a great tackle only for the ball to run into his path and he shot past Jamal Blackman. The arsehole then went and did the sushy finger thing in front of the Town supporters. Wanker!

They were 2-1 up before the interval when Yates scored with a header from a free kick, but the second half was all about Town looking for an equaliser with Danny Ward coming close twice. But the Stumps missed the two best chances of the second half as their crowd started singing songs about playing Liverpool in the next round, as if Liverpool were their rivals, when actually, the two hadn't met for over twenty years. Embarrassing!

Even more embarrassing was the firework display at full time. Tinpot! 

So, it's two wins for them and one for us. The one that really matters though, is on Sunday at Wembley.

Previous Play Offs:

The play-offs were first introduced to the English Football League in 1987 and have been staged at the conclusion of every season since. The first three play-off seasons saw the finals also being conducted over two legs, on a home-and-away basis. Since 1990 the winners of each division's play-off competition have been determined in a one-off final.

Nottingham Forest: have entered the Play Offs four times previously and never won promotion. This is the first time they have made it to a final.

2002/03: 2nd tier; semi final, lost to Sheffield United 4-5 on aggregate (home 1-1, away 3-4).

2006/07: 3rd tier; semi final, lost to Yeovil Town 4-5 on aggregate (away 2-0, home 2-5).

2009/10: 2nd tier; semi final, lost to Blackpool 4-6 on aggregate (away 1-2, home 3-4)

2010/11: 2nd tier, semi final, lost to Swansea City 1-3 on aggregate (home 0-0, away 1-3).

2021/22: 2nd tier; semi final, beat Sheffield United 3-2 on penalties after 3-3 on aggregate (away 2-1, home 1-2)


Huddersfield Town: have entered the Play Offs nine times, winning promotion four times. Only Blackpool with 6 promotions have a better record.

1991/92: 3rd tier; semi final, lost to Peterborough United 3-4 on aggregate (away 2-2, home 1-2).

1994-95: 3rd tier; semi final, beat Brentford 4-3 on penalties after 2-2 on aggregate (home 1-1, away 1-1).
Final at Wembley, beat Bristol Rovers 2-1.

2001/02: 3rd tier; semi final, lost to Brentford 1-2 on aggregate (home 0-0, away 1-2)

2003/04: 4th tier; semi final, beat Lincoln City 4-3 on aggregate (away 2-1, home 2-2).
Final at Millennium Stadium, beat Mansfield Town 4-1 on penalties after 0-0.

2005/06: 3rd tier; semi final, lost to Barnsley 2-3 on aggregate (away 1-0, home 1-3).

2009/10: 3rd tier; semi final, lost to Millwall 0-2 on aggregate (home 0-0, away 0-2).

2010/11: 3rd tier; semi final, beat AFC Bournemouth 4-2 on penalties after 4-4 on aggregate (away 1-1, home 3-3).
Final at Old Trafford, lost to Peterborough United 0-3.

2011/12: 3rd tier; semi final, beat Milton Keynes Dons 3-2 on aggregate (away 2-0, home 1-2).
Final at Wembley, beat Sheffield United 8-7 on penalties after 0-0.

2016/17: 2nd tier; beat Sheffield Wednesday 4-3 on penalties after 1-1 on aggregate (home 0-0, away 1-1).
Final at Wembley, beat Reading 4-3 on penalties after 0-0.

2021/22: 2nd tier; semi final, beat Luton Town 2-1 on aggregate (away 1-1, home 1-0)

Forest's line up at home to Sheff Utd in the semis:

30 Brice Samba - Congolese keeper, saved 3 pens v Sheff Utd.
4 Joe Worrall - Local born centre back.
27 Steve Cook - Centre back, played in PL with Bournemouth.
26 Scott McKenna - Scottish international defender.
2 Djed Spence - 21 year old right back on loan from Boro.
22 Ryan Yates - 24 year old midfielder.
37 James Garner - 21 year old midfielder on loan from Man Utd.
8 Jack Colback - Played in the PL for both Sunderland and Newcastle.
11 Philip Zinckernagel - Danish winger on loan from Watford.
20 Brennan Johnson - 20 year old Nottingham born Welsh winger.
16 Sam Surridge - 23 year old striker, signed from Stoke in January.

Subs:
1 Ethan Horvath- USA international keeper.
3 Tobias Figueiredo - Portuguese centre back.
9 Keinan Davis - Striker on loan from Villa.
14 Richie Laryea - Canadian midfielder signed in January.
17 Alex Mighten - 20 year old winger, godson of Forest legend Des Walker.
18 Cafú - 51 year old right back, won World Cup twice with Brazil.
23 Joe Lolley - Depending what kit Forest wear, red Lolley, yellow Lolley?

Recent form - last 6 matches:

Town finished 3rd in the Championship table with 82 points. Forest finished 4th with 80.

Town 1-0 Luton
Luton 1-1 Town
Town 2-0 Bristol City
Coventry 1-2 Town
Town 2-1 Barnsley
Boro 0-2 Town

Forest 1-2 Sheff Utd
Sheff Utd 1-2 Forest
Hull 1-1 Forest
Bournemouth 1-0 Forest
Forest 5-1 Swansea
Fulham 0-1 Forest

Leading scorers:

Terriers:
Danny Ward (14)
Danel Sinani (7)
Duane Holmes (6)
Harry Toffolo (6)

Treestumps:
Brennan Johnson (19)
Lewis Grabban (13)
Ryan Yates (9)
Sam Surridge (8)




Some more Play Offs Anagrams: These are all something to do with Huddersfield Town's many, many Play Off campaigns.

1. Chilly Ribs
   
2. Alain Dennis
   
3. Missy Rangoon
   
4. Snake Project
   
5. Claim Renewal
   
6. Children Cherish Sport
   
7. Enviable Kink
   
8. Workhand Toiler
   
9. Undefiled Fetish
   
10. Bread Sword
    

[ritchiebaby]

Perfect timing yet again, Snooty. Peter Jackson is No4.

[talkSAFT]

Great stuff, Snoots. Rooting for you on Sunday along with most of the country.

[SHEP_HTAFC]

Excellent thread m'Lud
1. Chris Billy
7. Kevin Kilbane

[WakeyTerrier]

Roll Call, who's sat where?

[Lord Snooty]

I think we're just about around the same area as we sit for home games at the JSS. In the 98 quid seats.

[WakeyTerrier]

8 of us spread all over Block 216

[SHEP_HTAFC]

I'm not going again for a few reasons.
Main one being that last time I watched us get to the Prem, I was sat in a pub in Glasgow watching it with my best mate....who tragically died a couple of years ago.
Seems fitting to do same again in same pub with a few mates. Raise a glass to the old bugger, no matter the result.

[WakeyTerrier]

Nothing wrong with that Shep.

I see the Tricky Trees have sold out and now the massive support are crying about not getting any extra seats

[Amelia Chaffinch]

Block 121.