Glory days are a long time ago

Wednesday 2nd November 2005

WHILE Weymouth were celebrating the first round draw with Forest, the excitement certainly wasn't shared around the City Ground.

Gary Megson's side fear becoming victims of one of the biggest FA Cup shocks in recent years.

A poor run of Coca Cola League One form - including a 3-0 hammering at Yeovil Town - has left boss Megson under pressure.

And a defeat against the Terras would surely signal the end for the former West Brom manager.

Forest's slump down the divisions - they were relegated from the Championship last season - is a far cry from the glory days under the late Brian Clough.

Young fans today may struggle to think of Forest as one of football's true giants, but they were.

A spectacular run under Clough included double European Cup success in 1979 and 1980, a league championship and four League Cup wins. Beat that Chelsea.

The side included greats such as Martin O'Neill, Frank Clark, John Robertson and Peter Shilton.

Forest also broke transfer records, signing the first ever million pound player, Trevor Francis, from Birmingham City in 1979.

During those glory years Clough's teams seemed unstoppable and the 1980s saw Forest continue as one of the game's big clubs.

But the slide began in 1993 as Clough's era was coming to an end.

Discontent mounted during the season and the club was forced to hold its first extraordinary meeting for 23 years when a group of shareholders raised questions about the running of the club by Clough.

Clough survived but, with relegation from the top flight on the cards, announced his retirement at the end of the season.

Things haven't been the same since for Forest.

The club's board chose Frank Clark to replace Clough over Martin O'Neill, then with Wycombe.

Clark then began a clear-out including selling Roy Keane to Manchester United.

Newcomers included Stan Collymore, Colin Cooper, Des Lyttle, David Phillips, Gary Bull and Lars Bohinen.

By the end of the season, after £ 10 million of transfer dealings, the Reds were back in the Premier League at the first time of asking.

Forest ended that season, in which Collymore was sold to Liverpool for £8.5 million, by reaching the last eight of the UEFA Cup.

Off the park, things turned sour as the club slid into uncontrollable debt, the total deficit reached £ 11.3 million.

With Clark now gone, and Dave Bassett in charge, Forest were relegated with just six league wins all season.

They bounced back with promotion the following campaign, before they were relegated from the Premier League for the final time in 1999.

New boss David Platt failed to earn promotion, despite plenty of transfers, and he was replaced by youth team manager Paul Hart.

Another financial crisis at the City Ground forced Hart to offload many star players but he managed to earn a mid-table Division One finish until he departed in 2004.

Supporters reached rock-bottom last season when they slumped to new lows under manager Joe Kinnear.

Megson took over too late last season to prevent relegation from the Championship and despite a flurry of transfer activity during the summer Forest lie mid-table in League One.