The Forest

Lore & Background

The City Ground has been the beating heart of Nottingham Forest since the club's early decades, evolving from a modest field into the intimate, terraced fortress that defines the club's character. When Brian Clough and Peter Taylor arrived in 1973, they inherited a club without a league title and a ground that could hold perhaps 25,000. What they built in the dressing room and on the touchline transformed a mid-table side into continental champions, and the City Ground became the stage for two of the most improbable European Cup final victories in the competition's history—beating Marseille in 1979 and Malmö in 1980.

The ground's modest scale is a point of pride, not embarrassment. Forest fans will tell you that the closeness of the terraces to the pitch, the way the noise rolls off the concrete and into the players' ears, is part of the identity. There is no corporate anonymity here; the atmosphere is communal, almost familial. The red shirts, the simple and direct songs, the unapologetic working-class tone—these are the textures that make a matchday at the City Ground feel like a neighbourhood gathering rather than a broadcast event.

The East Midlands Derby with Derby County, played across the M1 motorway, adds a layer of tribal intensity that predates the modern professional era. On those afternoons the City Ground becomes something almost primal: a place where generations of Nottingham families have passed down their loyalty, their songs, and their grudges. The rivalry is not about trophies alone; it is about who belongs to the city, who carries the red, and who answers when the other side dares to look down the motorway and sneer.

In Their Own Story

The floodlights hum to life over the West Bridgford end as the November drizzle settles on the terraces. A man in a faded red anorak—his father's, he'll tell you later—presses his forehead against the cold concrete of the lower tier and watches the players jog out. The ball bounces a little long on the wet turf. Somewhere in the crowd, a woman starts the old call-and-response, and three thousand voices answer before she's finished the first line. The referee checks his watch. The keeper taps the ball back. And for ninety minutes the City Ground is the whole world, and the whole world is red.

Reader's Guide

Walk into the City Ground on a Saturday afternoon and the first thing you notice is the proximity. The terraces lean in over the pitch, and you can hear the studs scuffing the grass, the keeper's shouts, the thud of a thigh against the ball. There is no vast bowl of silence here; the noise is physical, a low roar that builds and releases with every phase of play.

The kit is simple and uncompromising: red shirts, white shorts, red socks. No gradients, no sponsor-driven colour shifts. A Forest fan in a red shirt on the terraces looks exactly like the player at the far end of the pitch, and that visual unity is the point. The scarf, the anorak, the flat cap in winter—these are not merchandising; they are uniform.

The songs are direct, repetitive, and sung by everyone at once. You do not need to know the words; you feel the rhythm in the chest and add your voice. On European nights the atmosphere shifts into something almost reverent, a hush that breaks into a roar when the ball finds the net.

And then there is the Derby. The M1 between the two grounds is a border. On those days the City Ground smells of wet wool and spilled ale, the air is thick with shouted names, and the simple act of a Forest player winning a header feels like a small act of territorial defence. It has been this way for a century, and the fans intend it to stay this way.

Did You Know?

• Nottingham Forest are one of only a handful of clubs in the world to have won the European Cup in consecutive seasons, achieving the feat in 1979 and 1980.
• The City Ground is one of the oldest football grounds still in use in England, with the club's history at the site stretching back to the late 19th century.
• The East Midlands Derby against Derby County is one of the oldest and most geographically compact rivalries in English football, with the two grounds separated by a single motorway.
• Brian Clough managed Nottingham Forest for a single continuous spell from 1973 to 1981, during which the club won the league title, multiple FA Cups, and two European Cups.