1/12/13 - Forest hold Premier League Man City to a 0-0 draw at the CG in this 4th Round league cup tie, a dull game ... which sets up a replay in a fortnight's time.

 

2/12/92 - The Reds beat Tottenham again in the league cup, this time a 4th Round tie at the CG, goals from Ian Woan & Roy Keane sealing a 2-0 win. Worryingly though we remain bottom of the Premier League.

 

3/12/06 - A reminder of how far we had dropped as we are held 1-1 by Conference South side Salisbury in the 2nd Round of the FA Cup to set up a CG replay, the Forest goal coming from Nathan Tyson ... attendance, a capacity 3,100.

 

4/12/82 - A capacity crowd of 23,552 pack into Meadow Lane for this top flight Nottingham 'derby' to see us lose by the odd goal in 5 at our neighbours from across the river ... the Forest goals from Wallace & Young. 

 

5/12/92 - The Reds arguably put in their best performance of the season ... a 4-1 win at league champions Leeds United ... goals from Nigel Clough, Kingsley Black & a brace from Roy Keane. Although we remained bottom of the Premier league,  a lot of Forest fans thought this would be the turning point in our season?

 

5/12/95 - The Reds hang on for a 0-0 draw in Lyon to go through 1-0 on aggregate to the Quarter-Final of the UEFA Cup, where the mighty Bayern Munich await. Forest have for some time been the only English club remaining in Europe.  

 

6/12/08 - Forest continue to improve under the leadership of Colin Calderwood & deserve the point from this 2-2 draw at Coventry, goals from Earnshaw & Garner. We remain though in 23rd place, somewhat worrying, especially after only losing 1 of the last 8 games.

 

7/12/83 - A famous victory on this day as we travel to Celtic for the 2nd leg of the UEFA Cup 3rd Round tie having been held to a 0-0 draw at the CG 2 weeks prior. Few give us a chance but a fantastic performance sees Forest win 2-1, goals from Hodge & Walsh to silence the Celtic hoardes & set up a Quarter-Final in March.

 

7/12/08 - Friday night in Brighton & a Nathan Tyson brace gives us a 2-0 win to take us back to 2nd in the League One promotion race ... a promotion race which really would go down to the wire.   

 

8/12/84 - Cracking game as we come 0-2 down at half time to beat 2nd place Man Utd 3-2 at the CG ... & that last minute Johnny Metgod free kick at the Trent End.

 

9/12/78 - Our unbeaten league run, an unbelievable 42 games, finally came to an end as we were beaten 2-0 at Anfield. The way they celebrated, you would have thought they had won the treble ... such had we rattled them and knocked them off their perch over the last 18 months.

 

9/12/06 - As good a hat trick as you could ever wish to see from Nathan Tyson in a 4-1 win at Crewe in this league one fixture to keep us top of the table ... sadly that would not last. 

 

10/12/94 - Just 2 points from the last 6 matches had seen us drop from 2nd to 5th in the Premier League but we got back to winning ways with the 4-1 hammering of Ipswich at the CG, all goals coming in the 1st half ... and back up to 4th ahead of a visit to Champions Manchester United in a weeks time. 

 

11/12/04 - Dark days & about as bad as it got as we were hammered 3-0 at Derby. Manager Joe Kinnear's pre match comments, a truly disgraceful performance & remaining in the Championship relegation zone all combined to ensure, as I predicted ... he was gone before the next game, thankfully. The biggest contributing factor was his pre match comments about it being just another game and his utter disrespect to the fans that sealed his fate. 

 

12/12/79 - The Reds continued in their efforts to win the league cup for a third successive time by beating West Ham 3-0 in this Quarter- Final replay at the CG to set up a semi-final meeting with who else ... Liverpool.

 

12/12/81 - A long journey to Swansea saw the Reds pick up all 3 points courtesy of a 2-1 win, including a last minute penalty from John Robertson ... as the big freeze set in, we would not play again in 1981. 

 

13/12/76 - To some maybe not important, but the Reds draw the 1st leg of the Anglo-Scottish Cup Final at Orient, 1-1, the Forest goal, a John Robertson penalty ... & the 2nd leg due in 2 days time. 

 

13/12/78 - The Reds continue their defence of the League Cup with this 3-1 Quarter-Final victory at home to 2nd Division Brighton, in front of 30,672.

 

13/12/87 - After 81 minutes, Forest led QPR 1-0 at the CG ... by the 85th minute, it was 4-0 courtesy of a Nigel Clough hat trick ... Although I wish Nige had never gone to Derby, he will always remain a Forest legend in my book.  

 

14/12/88 - The Reds battle through to the last 8 of the League Cup in a hard fort replay against local rivals Leicester at the CG, goals from Nigel Clough & Lee Chapman in the 2-1 win.

 

15/12/76 - The Reds taste success and win a trophy ... with a 4-0 win against Orient at the CG (5-1 on aggregate). It may only have been the Anglo Scottish Cup but Cloughie certainly did not underplay it's significance. He said, it gave players, who had previously won nothing the taste of what success felt like ... and more importantly the hunger for more.

 

15/12/93 - The Reds come from behind to beat Premier League Man City 2-1 at Maine Road in this League Cup 4th Round replay, courtesy of goals from Neil Webb & Colin Cooper ... & a place in the Quarter-Finals. 

 

16/12/06 - Football never ceases to surprise as top of the league Forest are beaten at home 3-1 by 22nd place Leyton Orient in front of 23,109 in this Division One clash. More wobbles follow in what ultimately would be a failed promotion campaign. 

 

17/12/77 - Arguably one of the Reds finest & most significant performances of all time as we completely blow away Man Utd at Old Trafford 4-0 & those present will know United could not have complained if it had been 10-0, such was the difference in quality. Everyone is now realising the Forest 'bubble' is not going to burst any time soon.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAIs0yFvHFk - Man Utd 0-4 Forest - 17/12/77

 

17/12/94 - 17 years later & we were at it again ... Goals from Stan Collymore & Stuart Pearce are enough to give us an excellent 2-1 win at Old Trafford ... a result which leaves United 2nd & Forest 4th.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffz3BW51iok - Man Utd 1-2 Forest - 17/12/94

 

17/12/96 - Not so good as we are beaten 4-2 at Anfield, with Stan Collymore scoring a brace ... but for Liverpool. The result left us bottom of the Premier League & Frank Clark resigned as Forest Manager. 

 

18/12/10 - The Reds comfortably beat Crystal Palace 3-0 on a freezing cold afternoon at the CG, a result that leaves us 8th in the Championship.

 

19/12/93 - The Reds make it 4 straight wins with this 2-0 victory against Southend at the CG in front of 21,641 & although we are still only in 10th place, dreams of promotion are becoming more of a reality.

 

19/12/98 - Bottom of the table Forest squander a 2-0 half time lead against fellow relegation contenders Blackburn at the CG to share the points in a 2-2 draw, Blackburn equalising in injury time.

 

19/12/09 - The unbeaten run is extended to 14 games with this 3-0 drubbing of Preston at the CG & we sit 3rd going into the Christmas period, something few expected after the previous seasons succesful relegation battle. 

 

20/12/69 - A very early memory for me as we beat Wolves 4-2 in the 'game before Christmas', even more traditionally than today, renound for low attendances ... just 15,821 present. A few days later on Boxing Day, 38,915 present for the visit of Arsenal. The win against Wolves represented our 4th consecutive win, something we did not do very often in those days.

 

21/12/96 - Without a league win since the opening game of the season ... a run of 16 matches, & with Stuart Pearce in temporary charge, as well as playing ... the Reds come from behind to beat Arsenal 2-1 at the CG. We remain bottom of the Premier League, again, but at least for now there is hope. 

 

22/12/90 - We travelled to bottom of the league Sheff United, confident of 3 points ... given they had played 16, won 0 drawn 4 & lost 12. It was not to be as we managed to blow a 2-1 lead to lose 3-2 as 5 goals were scored in 19 second half minutes.

 

23/12/00 - After briefly flirting with the play offs, we are hammered 3-0 at West Brom, a 3rd consecutive defeat ... and we drop to 7th in the table. The play offs will remain a possibility for a while yet but will fall away badly in the end. The only good news is that manager David Platt will leave at the end of the season ... Our gain is England U21's loss!  

 

24/12/60 - Forest play a Christmas Eve fixture for the last time, just over 1 month before I arrive on the planet (25/1/61) ...for the record we beat Preston 2-0 at the CG in a Division 1 fixture.

 

25/12/57 - Forest play their last ever Christmas Day fixture ... a 4-1 win at Newcastle ... just to highlight how things have changed we play them again at home the next day ... this time losing 2-3. Another fixture follows on the 28th & we had also played on the 21st ... I would suggest with a much smaller squad than the modern day.   

 

26/12/69 - Boxing Day, always a special day in the football calendar - an early memory for me here as 38,915 pack in to the CG to witness a 1-1 draw with Arsenal, Ronnie Rees with the Forest goal.

 

26/12/73 - The 'Nottingham' derby takes place for the 1st time since the 1956/7 season ... a promotion clash, with the Reds running out 1-0 winners at Meadow Lane, courtesy of a George Lyall penalty in front of 30,036. 

 

26/12/77 - A massive 47,218 cram into the CG for the visit of Liverpool ... with the terraces packed fans are allowed to sit in front of the perimeter walls. Rumour has it that after all the gates were closed with a capacity crowd inside, many fans managed to break through a gate to gain free entry & as such over 50,000 were present ... many fans were locked out. The game ends 1-1 which keeps Forest top & Liverpool are down in 4th, the Forest goal coming from Archie Gemmill.

 

26/12/78 - A year later & fierce rivals Derby are in town, the game ending 1-1 which included a rare penalty miss from John Robertson.

 

26/12/91 - A Boxing Day visit to White Hart Lane proves an eventful one ... Nigel Clough puts Forest ahead on 11 minues, proceeded to be kicked black & blue throughout the game ... Tottenham then equalise after 59 minutes & then Nigel is sent off 7 minutes from time for taking out retribution on Paul Stewart for what he had done to and got away with on Roy Keane. We have the last laugh as Stuart Pearce scores the winner, a trademark free kick deep into stoppage time.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoSuxGsoM7Q - A trademark free kick from Psycho deep into stoppage time.

 

26/12/08 - It's the end of the road for Colin Calderwood as we are well beaten at home 4-2 by fellow strugglers Doncaster at the CG ... it could have been worse as after 65 minutes we were 4-0 down. The result left Forest 22nd & Doncaster 23rd. Personally, I liked Colin ... I thought overall he did a decent job & make no mistake we have had a lot worse manager's.   

 

27/12/71 - We may have been 1 from bottom in the Division 1 table but 42,750 are present at the CG to witness a game against champions Arsenal. We battle hard to earn a 1-1 draw but everyone present witnesses one of the all time great goals ... Ian Storey-Moore runs half the length of the pitch to smash the ball into the back of the net.

 

27/12/76 - I doubt anyone realised at the time just quite how significant this hard earned 1-1 draw at Bolton was ... We would pip Bolton to promotion at the end of the season by 1 point ... had we lost, it may have been a very diffrent story.

 

27/12/80 - 33,900 pack into the CG and witness an excellent 2-2 draw with champions elect Aston Villa ... Forest come from behind twice, goals from Trevor Francis & Martin O'Neill.

 

28/12/74 - One of the most significant results in the entire history of Nottingham Forest as we are beaten 2-0 at home by Notts County. Manager Allan Brown is sacked with Forest 13th in the table & going nowhere. A few days later Brian Clough would be appointed Manager and life beside the Trent would never be the same again ... with unimginable achievements beyond anyone's wildest dreams.

 

28/12/86 - A rare home game miss for me given the impending arrival of my 1st child, already 6 days late! ... It was a 2-2 draw with Luton ... and baby did not arrive until the following afternoon ... a daughter, Sarah ... Much as I love Forest & following them certain places at certain times has got me into a bit of bother, these type of occasions the Reds would have to come second. I would also give up my Season Ticket for the New Years Day game against Liverpool, 3 days later, wanting to be the protective dad in the maternity wing ... Spookily a couple of years later (26/10/88), daughter number 2 Natalie arrived & again we were playing Liverpool ... and again I spent most of the day at Nottingham's QMC ... missing the game! (Natalie still comes with us home and away to this day & is a season ticket holder & away member) ... By the arrival of daughter number 3, I had it worked out ... Bethany was born in July.

 

28/12/99 - The Reds play their last game of the 20th Century, a 1-0 win at the CG v Birmingham, the goal from Marlon Harewood.   

 

29/12/84 - The Reds come from 2-1 down to beat Aston Villa 3-2 at the CG, 2 goals from Peter Davenport & another blistering Johnny Metgod free kick. 

 

29/12/10 - An unforgetable night at the CG as Derby are thrashed 5-2 in front of a capacity crowd ... to send them packing back across the A 5-2!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD9i8Y79gqQ - Forest 5-2 Derby 

 

30/12/89 - Another win at White Hart Lane as the Reds put in an excellenr performance in a 3-2 win, goals from Clough, Crosby & Parker. For the record it is also Brian Clough's 1,000th game as a League Manager.

 

31/12/77 - The Reds end the calendar year top of the table & with another comfortable away win, this time 3-1 at Bristol City. We would of course go an and be crowned Champions of England.

 

31/12/88 - After just 1 win in 8 league games the Reds had dropped to 12th. We end the year in style with a 3-0 win at Sheff Weds, the start of another incredible run which sees 10 straight wins across all competitions ... 5 League, 1 League Cup, 2 FA Cup & 2 Simod Cup.

In pure footballing terms, 1989 would prove an excellent end to the season with 2 trophies (League Cup & Simod Cup), a 3rd place finish in the league & an FA Cup Semi-Final ... one for obvious reasons that we could not win ... & it didn't matter that we couldn't following the horror of Hillsborough, a game, a day, I will never forget.

 

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