Description: The early history of Forest is predictably sketchy as they date back to the 1860's. The generally accepted version is that they were formed in 1865 from a Shinny team who wanted to take up the new game of football.(Shinny was an early form of hockey). They named themselves Forest after the Forest Recreation Ground which was the field they first played on. Their first recorded match was against local rivals Notts County in March 1866 which is reported as a 0-0 draw or a 1-0 win to Forest depending on your source. Forest first entered the FA Cup in 1879 and hold the distinction of being the only club to have played FA Cup ties in the four home countries (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) The Football League was formed in 1888 but Forest weren't in the original membership, so Forest joined the Combination League which soon folded and later the Football Alliance which they won in 1891/92. The following season the Alliance was incorporated into the Football League as a Second Division, but Forest were accepted into the First as Alliance Champions. Since then Forest have spent all their time in either the First or Second divisions, apart from 2 seasons in Division Three (south) in 1949/50 and 50/51 finishing 4th and 1st respectively. The FA Cup was won in 1898 and again in 1959, but it wasn't until the late 1970's that trophies became plentiful. This was due in no small way to the remarkable management skills of Brian Clough & Peter Taylor. Clough was only Forests 8th manager since the post was created in 1936. Under Clough & Taylor, Forest won the First Division Championship in 1978 and the Football League Cup in 1978 & 1979, plus the European Champions Cup in 1979 & 1980. Taylor retired in 1982, but Clough went to win more trophies in the late 80's most notably the Football League Cup again in successive years in 1989 and 1990. The club has had numerous venues in the Nottingham area as its home. The first 14 years were spent at the Forest Recreation Ground, after that a further 5 venues were used until in 1898 they moved to their present site, the City Ground, situated just outside the city boundary by the river Trent. It appears that very little was done to the City Ground from then until 1958 when the East stand was erected (where the Executive stand now stands). The main stand was rebuilt in 1962 and again in 1968 after it was destroyed by fire (along with many of the clubs records). In 1980 the massive Executive stand was erected, and 12 years later the un-roofed Bridgford End terrace was replaced by a double decker all-seater stand. In 1994 the final terrace area of the ground, the Trent End is being replaced by another massive double decker all-seater stand to give the ground a capacity of around 30,000 all seated and mostly under cover. The club badge has a history all of its own. There is no record of an official badge or crest being in existence before the second world war, but shortly after that the club adopted and then adapted the City of Nottingham coat of Arms. The only difference being the letters N.F.F.C replacing the castle on the original design. The badge first appeared on the club shirts in 1957. By the early 70's the commercial aspects of the game were beginning to surface, and the need for a new badge became apparent. This is because the club couldn't obtain a copyright for an existing coat of arms, so Forest decided to change the badge to enable them to copyright it. A competition was organised by the local paper, the Nottingham Evening Post, in the summer of 1973. The winning entry was chosen from over 800 entries was submitted by Mr David Lewis who was a designer and lecturer in graphic art at the Trent Polytechnic (now known as Nottingham Trent University) Many records and 'firsts' are attributed to Forest, such as: A referees whistle was first used in a Forest game for signalling a stoppage, replacing the previous method of waving a white flag! Shin pads were first worn by Forest player Sam Widdowson in 1874 on the outside of his socks. He was initially mocked but soon copied by many players. Goal nets and a crossbar were first used officially at the Forest ground in a representative match between North v South in 1891. Later in 1921 oval section goalposts were used first at the City Ground. Later in time, Forest were involved in the first live television broadcast of league game a 1-2 defeat against Spurs at White Hart Lane in 1983. The first one million pound transfer involving English clubs brought Trevor Francis from Birmingham City to Forest. Forest were the last Football League club to become a limited company, having until 1st June 1982 been run as a members club. There is now still only 209 one pound shareholders. Nottingham is the smallest city, population wise to have won Europe's premier club competition, the European Cup. Finally Forest hold the English record for the longest unbeaten league run in division one - 42 games between 17th November 1978 and 9th December 1979. (information from www.nottingham.ac.uk)