Nottingham Forest is preparing for a 14-game “mini season” in an attempt to escape the relegation zone of the Premier League.
After 24 games, the Reds are presently two points clear of the relegation zone. Nuno Espirito Santo’s team also has to widen the gap between them and the bottom three since they face the possibility of losing points due to their alleged financial rule violations.
There will undoubtedly be many ups and downs during the next few months. Fans of Forest have always felt this way. They are frequently put through a lot, and each campaign is an emotional rollercoaster.
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As well as seeing plenty of memorable triumphs, brilliant players and one of the greatest ever managers, the Reds have also had some pretty bizarre moments through the years, too. We’ve taken a look back through the archives and picked out five.
The Fawaz era
Pretty much everything about Fawaz Al Hasawi’s ownership spell falls into this category. The Kuwaiti arrived with good intentions, but his time at the club descended into chaos and ended with supporters resorting to protests.
From THAT Brian Clough painting, to his ill-advised tweets (‘ok spiderman’), to a lengthy list of bad decisions, poor signings and negative headlines, his five years at the helm were some of the strangest, to say the least. Much has changed, on and off the pitch, since he sold the club to Evangelos Marinakis in 2017 – for the better.
Jason Cummings’ TV
The Scottish striker, who signed from Hibernian in the summer of 2017, is certainly a character. In his time with the Reds, though, he was in the spotlight more often for his off-field antics than anything he managed on the pitch.
In 2018, when he was on loan at Peterborough United, footage emerged of him trashing his own flat, with Cummings throwing around furniture, including a television and a chair. He was said to be “full of remorse” afterwards.
Coffee cup calamity
Few matches have seen an incident quite like this one. It was a local derby to forget for Forest – and not just because of the final scoreline.
Beaten 4-2 by arch-rivals Derby County at Pride Park in March 2004, the game is perhaps best remembered for the incident which led to Paul Peschisolido making it 2-0. Goalkeeper Barry Roche went to clear a back-pass from Wes Morgan, but the ball bobbled up off a stray coffee cup which had blown on the pitch. It meant Roche skewed his clearance and the ball fell perfectly for Peschisolido to provide the finish.
Big-name signing
It seemed a slightly odd transfer from the outset. Nicklas Bendtner arrived with great fanfare – and a cavalcade of Danish media in his wake, all keen to follow the next step in his career.
Brought in by Philippe Montanier in a bid to boost his attacking options, it didn’t really work out that way. The former Arsenal man scored twice in 17 appearances and was soon on his way, leaving after just six months.
Clough hits out
Most people wouldn’t dare take on Roy Keane. But then Brian Clough wasn’t like most people. The former midfielder wrote in his autobiography how Clough, who brought him to Forest from Irish side Cobh Ramblers in 1990, punched him after he under-hit a back-pass during an FA Cup defeat.
“When I walked into the dressing room after the game, Clough punched me straight in the face,” he recalled. “‘Don’t pass the ball back to the goalkeeper’ he screamed as I lay on the floor, him standing over me.” Just one of many Cloughie stories which have gone down in legend.
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