Deep into Forest's glorious history

By Jonathan Stevenson

His great trick was making the game simple, supplying players with the confidence and self-belief of Muhammad Ali Forest legend John McGovern on Brian Clough

For the average Nottingham Forest fan, being accused of living in the past is a regular occurrence of everyday life.

Not that much of a surprise really, when you consider what the club achieved and the spectacular fall from grace that has unfolded over the past decade and more.

In Daniel Taylor's book Deep into the Forest, the glorious - and not so distant - history of the City Ground side is marvellously recounted by 14 of the finest players ever to pull on a Reds' shirt.

All bar one played under the great Brian Clough and each has their own special story to tell of the man who masterminded their fairytale.

The exception was Ian Storey-Moore, but at least Forest's 1960s icon has the consolation of being the first footballer with a double-barrelled surname to play for England.

Yet this is so much more than a glorified testimony of Clough's genius and a who's who of the players that took a small East Midlands side to the very pinnacle of club football.

Taylor speaks to every one of his subjects bar Roy Keane, the Irishman allegedly turning down two requests to participate despite claiming in his autobiography "the Forest fans will always have a special place in my heart".

But the others all open up about their time in Nottingham, talking frankly about how they became cult heroes in front of the Trent End and in the process providing a fascinating insight into how Clough moulded them as players and personalities.

FOREST'S FAMOUS 14 Stuart Pearce, Des Walker, Trevor Francis, Viv Anderson, Kenny Burns, Larry Lloyd, Nigel Clough, Neil Webb, John McGovern, Garry Birtles, Archie Gemmill, Ian Storey-Moore, Roy Keane, John Robertson

There are, of course, stories too, like the time Clough substituted Larry Lloyd before a friendly against Toronto Blizzard because the barrell-chested defender had his socks rolled down and would not "respect" the Canadian national anthem.

And when Stuart Pearce walked into Clough's office after being informed he had been selected for his country for the first time.

"I see you've been picked for England," said Clough. "Yes, boss." "Well, you aren't good enough in my opinion - now get out."

Tales of the unexpected are stock-in-trade of any book that has Clough at its heart, but these are very personal accounts that help piece together the fairytale which began when Old Big 'Ead was appointed in January 1975.

Trevor Francis, Viv Anderson, Kenny Burns, Larry Lloyd, John McGovern, Garry Birtles, Archie Gemmill and John Robertson were the fulcrum of the team that swept aside the rest of Europe in their quest for glory.

They speak almost as one about how Clough and his assistant Peter Taylor played 'good cop, bad cop', making them feel about an inch tall yet at the same time that they were the best team in the world.

McGovern, the unassuming, down-to-earth Scot who twice held aloft the European Cup, makes it clear he believes the Forest side of the late 1970s and early 1980s has never been given enough credit.

"We were presented as a ragtag and bobtail bunch, but that was nonsense. John Robertson was the best player in Europe, Peter Shilton was the best keeper in the business and Kenny Burns was English Footballer of the Year.

"We weren't a massive club - but that very fact is what made our achievements even more remarkable."

I wasn't spared rollickings... I might get it at home too. At least the other players were spared that Nigel Clough on his dad

For Forest fans of a later generation there is the second great team that Clough built, with contributions from Pearce, Nigel Clough, Des Walker and Neil Webb.

Clough junior speaks intelligently about his relationship with his father and, tellingly for one of such easy-going nature, his frustration at being prevented from playing in Europe because of the ban on English clubs.

"It was just our bad luck... that was very unfair on Forest. We would have loved the chance to take that step up to the next level," said Clough.

He also defends his dad's record in the face of criticism after relegation in Clough's last season in the Forest hotseat in 1993.

"If someone had offered Forest 18 years of almost unbridled success, but the flipside was that it would end in relegation, who would have turned it down? Absolutely no-one," he added.

It is an absorbing read and a must not only for misty-eyed Forest fans but anyone who remembers the halcyon days of pre-Premiership football.

The days when a little club could have big dreams, and a genius could make those dreams come true.

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Deep into the Forest

Daniel Taylor. The Parrs Wood Press.

ISBN: 1-903158-61-3