Forest 40 years ago

With the apparent frustrations and/or wobbles in the league going on, it was nice for the Reds to escape from the pressure of being league leaders for a while and turn their attention to a cup competition. So, on the Tuesday following the West Brom game , Forest lined up at home to Aston Villa for the second time this season, in the League Cup 4th Round. We'd met earlier in September, notable for the debut of Peter Shilton . Forest had won that match 2-0 so there were reasons for optimism that Forest could break new territory tonight and reach the 5th Round of the League Cup for the first time. More on the match later, but first, I want to pay more attention to Aston Villa's impressive cup record here as I focused on Peter Shilton last time. Villa's F. A. Cup Cup Record It might sound remarkable from today's perspective but when this match was played, Aston Villa undoubtedly had the best domestic cup record in England. They lead the winners tables for ...

After losing at Leeds, Forest were hoping to get back to winning ways in their match at home to West Bromwich Albion the Saturday after. I was one of 31,908 (2nd highest attendance of the season so far) at the City Ground that day to watch Albion deny us the two points we craved. Forest remained top despite this wobble of dropping 5 points now, in 5 games. More on that later, but first I must pay tribute to the history of West Bromwich Albion one of the original 12 members of the football league. Historical Albion  West Bromwich Albion were one of the 12 original members of the league. They finished in the top half and this middle-of-the-road start pretty much typifies their history. Forest joined the league four years later, even though our club was formed 23 years before it started. West Brom were formed in 1878 as "West Bromwich Strollers". They had became "Albion", a district of West Bromwich, after a couple of years. Earliest...