Nottingham Forest Tickets + Travel

Football Trips to Nottingham Forest – Visiting One of England’s Most Legendary Clubs

"The Tricky Trees" have been back in the Premier League since 2022 and are starting to recapture the glory of their golden years in the late 1970s and early 1980s. (Check out our Premier League Offside column from November 15, 2024, for more on that!)

Nottingham Forest – A club rich in history and charm

The City Ground, almost idyllically located by the River Trent, became the stage for one of the greatest underdog stories in English football starting in 1977.

Back then, the team under the legendary and often eccentric coaching genius Brian Clough († 2004) still looked more like a pub team when they were promoted to the First Division. Celebrations? Think beer, Mallorca, Fleetwood Mac, and Jethro Tull.

Rolling on the floor laughing – and then winning the league

Forest’s style of play – quick, sharp short-passing football – was ahead of its time and caught the entire league off guard. Goalkeeper Peter Shilton, signed from Stoke City and later England’s most capped player, marshalled the best defence in the league during the 1977/78 season. Forest conceded just 24 goals in 42 matches and, incredibly, won the English league title as a newly promoted side. Viv Anderson, a defensive gem with flawless positioning, became England’s first Black international player.

“It was absolutely unbelievable to win the title, especially considering where we were just a year before,” club legend Martin O’Neill said in a 2013 TV documentary.

Kings of Europe – Nottingham 1979/80

"Brian Clough,” Forest striker Tony Woodcock once told our editor Carsten Germann, “would tell dressing room stories that had us rolling on the floor laughing.”

What a team spirit they had! In 1979, Forest powered their way to the European Cup Final. A diving header by Trevor Francis († 2023) at Munich’s Olympic Stadium sealed a 1–0 win over Sweden’s Malmö FF and took Forest to the very top of European football.

A year later, they repeated the feat – beating Hamburg 1–0 in Madrid. The match-winner was Scottish winger John “Robbo” Robertson, whom Clough once called “the Picasso of our game” for his pinpoint left-footed crosses. Other legendary names from that golden era: Kenny Burns, John McGovern, Gary Birtles, and of course Tony Woodcock, who made a then-record move to 1. FC Köln in October 1979 for around €1.75 million.

But as quickly as Forest rose, the team was picked apart. They finished second in the league in 1979, but only managed fifth the following season. By 1981, Burns had left for Leeds, Francis and O’Neill had moved to Manchester City, and Shilton joined Southampton in 1982. After falling out with his longtime assistant Peter Taylor, Clough continued solo until 1993, developing future stars like Roy Keane and Teddy Sheringham along the way. But even he couldn’t stop Forest’s relegation from the newly formed Premier League.

The Long Road Back – A 23-Year Wait

Forest only returned to the Premier League once in the years that followed, during the 1998/99 season. That year, they lost 22 out of 38 games and suffered their worst-ever Premier League defeat – an 8–1 thrashing by Manchester United, who went on to win the treble.

By 2005, the once-proud “Tricky Trees” had fallen all the way to the third tier (League One), where they remained until 2008.

The turnaround began in October 2017 with the arrival of Greek shipping tycoon Evangelos Marinakis, who also owns Olympiacos. At first, he followed a strict hire-and-fire approach with managers like Aitor Karanka, Mark Warburton, club icon Martin O’Neill, and Sabri Lamouchi all coming and going in quick succession. It wasn’t until Steve Cooper took over in 2021 that things truly changed. He guided the struggling side from rock-bottom of the Championship into the Premier League playoffs. In May 2022, Forest beat Huddersfield Town 1–0 at Wembley (as reported by event-breaks.com) – sealing a long-awaited Premier League comeback after nearly 25 years.

The City Ground – A Timeless Classic

The City Ground shines once again. It’s a 20-minute walk from Nottingham station and welcomes up to 4,750 away fans. Nearby? The classic pub Larwood & Voce, located at Fox Rd, West Bridgford, Nottingham NG2 6AJ – the perfect spot for a pre-match pint. All in all, Nottingham Forest is always worth a football trip.