No disrespect to the likes of Leicester & Notts County but THIS is THE EAST MIDLANDS 'derby' & a local 'derby' to rival any in Britain. Ask 100% of Forest fans who they most want to beat & who they 'hate' the most and 100% will say Derby ... Ask 100% of Derby fans who they most want to beat & who they 'hate' the most and 100% will say Forest.

​

I am not sure that that will necessarily be the case in every other local 'derby'. For example, ask the Man Utd fans who they 'hate' the most & most (not all) would probably say Liverpool but some Man City or even Leeds. Ask Liverpool fans & most but not all would say Man Utd, some would say Everton & so on.

​

Both clubs have a rich history & in all honesty all factors considered, I believe both belong in the top flight. Both achieved remarkable things under Brian Clough, especially Forest & both won pretty much 'bugger all' without him in the rest of our histories.  Both have been up & down across 3 tiers of English football in the 45 years or so I've been going & both have good loyal home fan bases. Forest's away support is exceptional & few would argue with that & when you consider we have been out of the top flight for 14 consecutive seasons now, I think the home support is also pretty exceptional.   

​

Plenty of players have represented both clubs but few 'risk' a direct move from one club to the other & in all honesty, to a degree, both clubs need each other. I know many Derby fans, all of whom you can have a rational discussion with... except within an hour or so of the game ending!

​

Most games usually end in some form of controversy. Usually there are: sendings off; brawls and carnage, and chaos everywhere off & on the pitch.  Never do games kick off at 3pm: the local constabularies won't allow that & in short, as it used to say at the start of 'Stingray' (for those who can rememeber it), ... 'anything can happen in the next 1/2 hour ' or in this case, in the next 1 1/2 hours - such is the Forest - Derby rivalry.

​

You could in fact write a book just about these encounters but what I am going to do is list all the results since I have been going & then probably look at some of them in a bit more detail with a few clips thrown in. I have been to every single City ground clash & most of the games at Derby, so here we go then:  

​

69/70 - Derby 0-2 Forest  38,225   Derby newly promoted to Division 1

           - Forest 1-3 Derby  42,074

​

70/71 - Forest 2-4 Derby  30,539

           - Derby 1-2 Forest  34,857

​

71/72 - Forest 0-2 Derby  37,170

           - Derby 4-0 Forest  31,801  Derby Champions of England & Forest relegated

​

77/78 - Forest 3-0 Derby  28,807  Forest newly promoted to Division 1

           - Derby 0-0 Forest  33,384  Forest Champions of England

​

78/79 - Forest 1-1 Derby  34,256

           - Derby 1-2 Forest  30,256

​

79/80 - Derby 4-1 Forest  27,729

           - Forest 1-0 Derby  32,266  Derby relegated

​

87/88 - Derby 0-1 Forest  22,394  Derby newly promoted to Division 1

           - Forest 2-1 Derby  25,017

​

88/89 - Forest 1-1 Derby  24,818

           - Derby 0-2 Forest  25,174

​

89/90 - Forest 2-1 Derby  24,060

           - Derby 0-2 Forest  24,176

​

90/91 - Derby 2-1 Forest  21,729

           - Forest 1-0 Derby  25,109  Derby relegated

​

93/94 - Forest 1-1 Derby  26,684  Forest relegated the previous season 92/93 from the 1st Premier League

           - Derby 0-2 Forest  19,300  Forest promoted back to the Premier League

​

96/97 - Forest 1-1 Derby  27,771  Derby newly promoted to Premier League 

           - Derby 0-0 Forest  18,087  Forest relegated

​

98/99 - Forest 2-2 Derby  24,014

           - Derby 1-0 Forest  32,217  Forest relegated

​

02/03 - Derby 0-0 Forest  30,547  Derby relegated the previous season 01/02

           - Forest 3-0 Derby  29,725

​

03/04 - Forest 1-1 Derby  29,059

           - Derby 4-2 Forest  32,390

​

04/05 - Derby 3-0 Forest  30,793

           - Forest 2-2 Derby  26,160  Forest relegated to League One (3rd tier of English football)

​

08/09 - Derby 1-1 Forest 33,010  Derby relegated from Premier League the previous season with 11 points

           - Forest 1-3 Derby 29,140  Forest promoted from League 1, the previous season. Derby's 1st win in league at CG since 1971.

​

09/10 - Forest 3-2 Derby  28,143

           - Derby 1-0 Forest  32,674

​

10/11 - Forest 5-2 Derby  29,490

           - Derby 0-1 Forest  33,010  Forest's 1st and so far only win at Pride Park

​

11/12 - Forest 1-2 Derby  27,356

           - Derby 1-0 Forest  33,010

​

12/13 - Forest 0-1 Derby 28,707

           - Derby 1-1 Forest 33,010

​

---------------------------------------------------

FA Cup

​

​82/83 - Derby 2-0 Forest  28,494 (Round 3)

​

08/09 - Derby 1-1 Forest  32,035 (Round 4)

           - Forest 2-3 Derby  29,001 (Replay)

​

​

League Cup

​

​85/86 - Derby 1-2 Forest  22,226

​

------------------------------------------------------

​

In 2007 the Brian Clough Trophy was introduced. In the 1st meeting a 'friendly' took place at Pride Park and Premier League Derby beat League 1 Forest 2-0 in front of 25,159. Subsequently, whenever the sides meet, the Clough trophy is now always contested. Since it's inception, Derby have had the better of things but it is a bit like 'The Ashes' in that you have to win it back, so at the moment Derby will retain it until Forest beat them again.

​

You have to bear a few things in mind when looking at the attendances: Capacities have changed, Derby moved from the Baseball Ground to Pride Park, terraces were converted to seats at different times etc etc. On the field, of all time, (major competitions only, so not that 1st Clough Trophy game) the clubs have met 91 times ... 82 in the league, 8 in the FACup & 1 in the league cup.

​

In the league, Derby have 29 wins, Forest 33 & 20 draws

In the FACup, Derby have 4 wins to Forest's 2 with 2 draws & Forest won the only league cup tie.

​

Today the 'Brian Clough Way' links the 2 Cities, otherwise known as the A 5-2 (couldn't resist that one!) & statues in memory of the great man can be seen in Nottingham's Old market Square & at Pride Park. At the City Ground, there is the stand named after him which of course - he built!

​

Both sets of fans sight reasons as to which club the great man favoured the most. He had too much respect for the fans to ever say categorically but I would say this ... he was at Derby from 1967 to 1973, he was at Forest from 1975 to 1993 when he retired. On a couple of occasions, they tried to poach him back from us ... on one of those he drove to Derby to tell them he would not be going back face to face.

​

Son Nigel, then made his debut for Forest on Boxing Day 1984 (ironically it was  Boxing Day 1962 when BC suffered what effectively was a career ending injury as a player) & gave us 9 excellent years. He was Forest through and through. Personally I wish he had never gone to Derby but he did. I don't mean that with any disrespect to Derby but that's just my view.  Make no mistake though, Nigel was awesome for Forest and I will never forget that.

​

Stuart Pearce said of Nigel, "I can't believe it took so long for someone (other than Burton) to snap Nigel up, and I wish him all the best, albeit Derby!" (wry smile). He also said, after all HIS years playing for Forest, and the regard in which he was held by the Forest fans, he could not work for Derby.  

​

In some ways I'm pleased that neither Psycho nor Nigel managed Forest (if you discount Pearce's caretaker role) because if things had gone wrong, I would have hated to see any fans turn on them. I'll contradict myself now though because ever since Billy Davies got sacked, the 2 Manager's I wanted were Roy Keane or Billy back. All 4 of them are now Forest legends but none quite as big as the one and only Brian Clough.

​

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

​

So, let's have a more detailed look now at some of these 'derbies':

​

​

​

​

​

​

     

​

​

​

 

​

  

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

   

​

   

​

​

​

​

​

   

In no particular order I will start with one of my favourites, - our one and only win (to date) at Pride Park. Just over 3 weeks after hammering them 5-2 at the City Ground, we were off to P.P again, a few I'm sure thinking the hoodoo might continue. Not this time, enjoy the clip again as Robbie Earnshaw smashes home the winner, and we do the double over them for the 1st time since 1990.

​

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvHQqXXtq5s Derby 0-1 Forest - 22/1/11

​

And so to that game on the 29th December 2010 (my eldest daughter Sarah's birthday) ... as Derby are sent packing back up the A 5 - 2!

​

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VevXaTgY5dA Forest 5-2 Derby - 29/12/10

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

​

On the other side of the coin we have had some nightmares against them, but the worst of the worst for me is that FACup game back in 1983, billed Clough v Taylor. 8,000 Forest fans in the sell out crowd of 28,494 at the BBG had to endure an awful afternoon as struggling 2nd Division Derby beat 1st Division Forest 2-0.

​

I cannot remember a game where I saw so much trouble and violence off the pitch. At the end of the game Derby fans swarmed onto their mud heap to celebrate the win ... bottles, coins and goodness knows what else flew on and off the pitch as the Police had to ensure they kept the penned in Forest fans off the pitch. On the way back to the train station, all you could hear was the sound of shattering glass; police and ambulance sirens everywhere, with sporadic fighting breaking out. The train I was on was no longer a train by the time it pulled back into Nottingham station. Disgraceful behaviour really but that is how it was in those days.

​

If you can bear it, I have attached a clip of the game below:

​

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyh2PS9Ca0E Derby 2-0 Forest - FACup 3rd Round 1983 - one of my worst Forest games ever!  

​

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------