Forever Forest ― The Official 150th Anniversary History of the Original Reds

Now, Then and Forever celebrates the 150th anniversary of Nottingham Forest, the second oldest professional football club in the world. It is a book about the people – officials, players and fans – who have made this world-famous football club. It is their narrative and, therefore, more than a facts and figures history: in truth, a romance.

Characters include the great Victorian innovator Sam Weller Widdowson, who invented shin pads, Corinthian Dr Tinsley Lindley, an international who played in shoes instead of boots, and Frank and Fred Forman, the first brothers from the same Football League club to play together for England. In the modern era, another England international, Billy Walker, managed the club for twenty-one years, leading Forest from the Third Division South to the First Division and a 1959 FA Cup triumph. Then came Brian Clough: eighteen years the club’s manager and twice a European Cup winner.

The club was born on The Forest, a public open space close by Nottingham’s city center and once part of the legendary Robin Hood’s Sherwood. Red has been Forest’s color since the beginning. It was chosen because the young founders were admirers of Garibaldi and his red-shirted Italian freedom fighters. Join official club historian Donald Wright as he commemorates 150 years of the Reds.

A retired newspaper editor, Don Wright became Nottingham Forest’s honorary historian in 2009. He has followed Forest’s fortunes from childhood despite being born on the wrong side of the River Erewash, at Ilkeston in Derbyshire. As a player, he found his level in the Midland Amateur Alliance. He was leader writer for The Footballer magazine and contributed ?From where I’m sitting’, a column of reflection and opinion, to the Forest programme.