1/9/79 - The Reds excellent start to the season continued with the 4th straight win, a 5-1 hammering of West Brom at the Hawthorns, including a 1st hat trick for Garry Birtles, the other goals coming from Larry Lloyd & Frank Gray.

 

2/9/06 - The Reds continued their 'excellent' start to the season, in league one with a 4-0 hammering of Chesterfield at the CG in front of 19,480, goals from Lester, Harris, Grant Holt & Southall. Top of the league ... but it wouldn't last.

 

3/9/83 - We battled well at Anfield only to end up losing 1-0 due to a late Ian Rush goal. Interestingly this meant that after 3 games we had lost 2 of them, both 1-0 and to Southampton & Liverpool respectively. A glance at the final league table for 83/84 shows just how close we came to winning the title for the 2nd time ... 1st) Liverpool 80pts, 2nd) Southampton 77pts, 3rd Forest 74pts, especially when you consider we also lost 1-0 at home to Liverpool on New Years Eve. Had we beaten them 1-0 on just one of the games, all 3 teams would have finished on 77pts ... as I said ... we came very close.

 

4/9/96 - The Reds let a 2 goal lead slip, thanks to an 89th minute goal from Southampton's Matt Le Tissier in a 2-2 draw. That said 4 games in & 5pts seems to represent a decent start ... it will very soon get worse ... much much worse.

 

5/9/84 - After opening day defeat at Hillsborough, the Reds picked up their 3rd staright win with an emphatic 5-0 win at Aston Villa, only 17,730 present to see it as crowds continued to tumble across the country. It left us though top of the league, at least for a little while.

 

6/9/86 - The Reds made in two succesive away wins in the space of a few days with a 3-1 win at Southampton, to lift us to 3rd in the table, two goals from Neil Webb, the other from Garry Birtles.

 

7/9/74 - We travelled to Old Trafford for this Division Two game (yes, Man Utd had been relegated the previous season, almost unthinkable these days) and picked up a point in a 2-2 draw, easily our best performance of the season to date ... having only previously won 1, drew 1, & lost 3 of our 1st 5 games, the Forest goals coming from Neil Martin & John Cottam in front of 40,671.

 

7/9/82 - A fine performance at Anfield saw us come away, unluckily with nothing after a 4-3 defeat ... trailing 2-1 at one point, we led 3-2 at half time, only for Ian Rush to grab the winner deep into stoppage time ... the Forest goals coming from Peter Davenport & a brace from Steve Hodge. The crowd at Anfield that night, just 27,145 - a sign of the times & as we moved into the mid 80's crowds would continue to drop ... everywhere.

 

8/9/90 - Roy Keane makes his CG debut helping the Reds to a 1st win of the season, with a comfortable 3-1 win against Southampton after trailing 0-1. He is substituted to a standing ovation.

 

9/9/78 - The Reds picked up their 1st league win of the season after drawing the 1st 4 games, courtesy of a 2-1 win at home to Arsenal in front of 28,124. Next up ... the small matter of European Champions Liverpool in the 1st Reound of the European Cup, just 4 days away.

 

10/9/77 - After a hiccup at Arsenal, the Reds got back to winning ways with a 3-2 win at Wolverhampton to lift us to 3rd in the table, goals from Withe, Bowyer & Woodcock ... but the 'bubble would burst' soon ... apparently ... according to Bob Wilson.

 

10/9/94 - The Reds end the day 2nd in the Premier League after hammering Sheff Weds 4-1 at the CG in front of 22,022, essentially capacity as a new Trent End was in the early days of reconstruction.

 

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11/9/82 - Forest concede 4 goals for the 2nd time in 4 days, this time going down 4-1 at Aston Villa, leaving us 15th in the league. After a comparatively 'poor' season in 1981/82 which also saw the 'retirement' of Peter Taylor, some pundits out there are already questioning could Cloughie do it without Peter Taylor ... He would of course, as usual soon shut them up.

 

12/9/95 - Memories of bygone days as we take on Malmo in the 1st Round 1st leg of the EUFA Cup. The scoreline Isn't a repeat of the 1979 European Cup Final, but the Reds are satisfied with the 2-1 defeat, confident that we can turn that result around at the CG in a fortnight's time.

 

13/9/78 - One of the greatest ever City Ground nights as Liverpool came to town for the European Cup 1st Round 1st leg. Few outside of Nottinghamshire gave Forest any chance at all of progressing past the then European Champions. In fact the other 20 First Division Managers were asked who they thought would get through to the 2nd Round and scored it 18-2 in Liverpool's favour. On the night, In front of a packed C.G of 38,318, Forest took the lead mid way through the 1st half with a Garry Birtles goal ... he had only just come into the side 4 days earlier for his 1st start of the season & Indeed if memory serves me correct, only his 2nd start ever, the other being against Hull City in the 1976/77 season. Another Clough masterstroke for sure.

 

As the game was drawing to It's close, Phil Thompson snarled at Garry Birtles, "one won't be enough when we get you back to Anfield" ... a few minutes later, Colin Barrett smashed home the 2nd for a resounding 2-0 win. Birtles trotting back to the half way line after the goal to Thompson "will 2 be enough" ... pure quality. We would have to wait 2 weeks of course for the return leg at Anfield, a night to remember, or not forget, in more ways than one! The media still largely held the view that Liverpool would & for the good of 'England's' chances of retaining the trophy should go through. We would soon see.

 

13/9/86 - The Reds unexpected excellent start to the season continued with a 6-0 hammering of Aston Villa at the CG, a result which took us to the top of the table, goals from Carr, Birtles (2), Clough & Webb (2). The flowing football was extremely pleasing on the eye.

 

14/9/96 - After this 4-1 drubbing at Old Trafford, I think we all knew we were in for a very long hard season & the opening day win at Coventry already seemed a long and distant memory. We did not win again in fact until 21st December.

 

15/9/07 - The Reds picked up their 1st win of the season in league one at the 5th attempt, with a 2-0 win at Port Vale to 'lift' us to 14th place. A long, hard & at times very trying season would eventually end in 'our day in the sun' ... and much relief. 

 

16/9/03 - Our good start continued with a 3-0 win at Burnley, not a ground where we generally do very well to lift us to 3rd in the table. The season though would soon very much take a turn for the worse.

 

17/9/95 - The Reds continue their decent start to the season with a 2nd win of the season, 3-2 at home to Everton to climb to 6th in the Premier league. It also extended their unbeaten run to 19, the last defeat being away at Arsenal on 21st February. 

 

18/9/07 - Goalkeeper Paul Smith was allowed a stroll down the pitch to give Forest a 1-0 lead in the 1st minute of the 2nd Round League Cup tie at home to Leicester, a sporting gesture by them following what had occured in the previous encounter, which had been abandoned at half-time with the Reds leading 1-0, with Leicester player Clive Clarke having collapsed in the dressing room at half time. Fortunately he recovered but the Reds lost the tie 2-3.   

 

19/9/79 - The Reds began their defence of the European Cup with a comfortable 2-0 win against Swedish champions Osters Vaxjo in front of just 21,974 at the CG.

 

19/9/99 - There wasn't much to smile about in the Platt era but at least on this day there were a couple of things ... although not really  the 1-1 draw against Wolves. Firstly, Brian Clough was the guest as the previously named executive stand was renamed in his honour & secondly Ian Wright received a standing ovation when he was sent off (2 yellow cards) following an altercation with the dreadful Kevin Muscat. What a breath of fresh air it was to have Wrighty in the side for 10 matches during his loan period ... where he scored 5 goals.

 

20/9/04 - The day we lost our legend of legends, the greatest football Manager of all time for me, Brian Clough passed away - RIP Brian & I hope you are O.K.

 

20/9/80 - The Reds climbed to 2nd place with a 5-0 demolition of Leicester City at the CG in front of 27,145.

 

20/9/86 - For the 2nd successive week, the Reds hit 6, this time in an incredible 6-2 win at Chelsea as we remained top of the table, with hat tricks from Neil Webb & Garry Birtles. Sadly, our early season form would soon fall away.

 

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21/9/92 - After 6 straight defeats, Forest finally managed to pick up a point in a 1-1 draw against Coventry at the CG, courtesy of a NIgel Clough goal. It left us 8 games into the 1st Premier league season bottom of the table, on just 4 points. It was going to be a very tough season, few of whom would have imagined that after our opening day victory against Liverpool.

 

21/9/93 - A year on Stan, 'the man' Collymore gave us an idea of what we had to look forward to with a hat trick at Wrexham in a 3-3 draw in the 2nd Round 1st leg of the League Cup. For me Stan was one of the best players ever to wear the shirt, In his 2 seasons at the CG, I think he was the best striker in England.

 

22/9/04 - In our first game since the sad passing of Brian Clough 2 days prior, the Reds come from behind to beat Rotherham 2-1 in the League Cup 2nd Round tie admist emotional scenes at the CG. The official tributes will though be at the game coming up at the weekend against West Ham at the CG, another day I will never forget.

 

23/9/80 - We may have been playing the then bottom side in the entire Fooball League, but none the less the 7-0 win at Bury in this 3rd Round League Cup tie was an impressive one. The crowd of 8,828 was however well short of the 21,268 who had watched the League Cup Quarter-Final at the same venue less than 3 years earlier. 

 

24/9/77 - Around 8,000 Forest fans make the short trip to Leicester and see a very comfortable 3-0 win in front of 21,447 ... The Reds move up to 2nd place in Division One.

 

24/9/94 - Back in the Premier league after a 1 year absence, Forest tear Tottenham apart at White Hart Lane with an excellent 4-1 win, goals from Stone, Bohinen & 2 from Bryan Roy.

 

25/9/76 - The Reds promotion push started gathering momentum with the 5-1 thrashing of Carlisle at the CG in front of 12,479, a win which lifted us into 7th place.

 

26/9/93 - Our stuttering start continued as we inexpilcably lost 4-3 away at Bolton having led 3-1 with little more than 10 minutes to go, a result that lft us in 19th place & an immediate return to the Premier league not looking likely.

 

26/9/95 - A stunning strike by Bryan Roy on 69 minutes was sufficient to dispose of Malmo (on the away goal rule ... 2-2 on aggregate) and see us through safely to the EUFA Cup 2nd Round, where we would meet French side Auxerre.

 

26/9/04 - An unforgettable  & highly emotional day as Forest fans, players past & present pay tribute to the one and only Brian Clough who had passed away on 20th September. We had gone into the game on no league wins from 9 games and were in the relegation zone. Marlon Harewood gave West Ham the lead on 58 minutes, a goal he did not celebrate and things were not looking good. 6 minutes from time Paul Evans levelled before Marlon King netted the winner with a stunning strike in injury time, a goal good enough to win any game and a fitting tribute for Cloughie.

 

27/9/78 - One of the best results in our entire history as we drew 0-0 at Anfield against Liverpool in the European Cup 1st Round 2nd leg to progress to the 2nd Round, winning 2-0 on aggregate. Not a night for the faint hearted ... in more ways than one!

 

27/9/11 - Another shocking performance under Steve Mclaren as we were humiliated 5-1 at Burnley. He would not be at the Club much longer.

 

28/9/88 - The Reds began their league cup campaign with a home game against Chester and ran out 6-0 winners, a couple of weeks later we played the 2nd leg and won 4-0 to make an aggregate score of 10-0 ... and of course we went on to win the trophy!

 

29/9/79 - After 2 seasons of getting the better of Liverpool, we were at it again beating them 1-0 at the CG, courtesy of a Garry Birtles goal, a win that lifted us to 3rd in the table.

 

29/9/90 - We travelled to Old Trafford and recorded only our 2nd league win of the season (7 games in) thanks to a stunning free kick from Stuart Pearce, silencing the Stretford End, who had been bating him for his World Cup Semi-Final miss against West Germany that summer (Italia 90). I think it's what you call the perfect retort and doing your talking on the pitch. 

 

30/9/78 - The Reds picked up only their 2nd league win of the season in their 8th game with a 2-1 win at Aston Villa, goals from Woodcock & Robertson. The win lifted us to 6th and we remained unbeaten ... for quite some time yet.

 

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