The Forest Preservation Society

#NFFC’s first competitive European fixture took place in Spain, on 13th September 1961, against Valencia. A first round Fairs Cup tie.

Sixty-four years on - via many famous and historic encounters over the decades - the Reds’ European odyssey resumes in Seville.

Vamos!

📸 NFFC

Take a look back at Forest in the 1960s and you’ll find Terry Hennessey a vital part of that era; dominating the pitch and captaining one of our greatest ever sides.

Rest easy, Terry. A true hero of the Garibaldi.

📸 Popper

Having led Forest in their championship push in 1966/67 and into the Fairs Cup afterwards, Hennessey eventually left Forest in January 1970 for £100,000.

He joined Brian Clough & Peter Taylor’s revolution at Derby County and won the league title with the Rams in 1972.

📸 Popper

The following day Hennessey made his first appearance in a 2-1 win over Blackpool at the City Ground. He missed only four games for the rest of the season, becoming a key component in the Reds’ defence.

Ahead of the 1966/67 season, Hennessey was made club captain.

📸 Mirror

Hennessey is pictured here with chairman Fred Sisson and manager Johnny Carey on 19th November 1965, having joined for £50,000 from Birmingham City.

Hennessey said: ‘I am glad to be able to play for a club like Forest. They are a fine footballing side.’

📸 Nottingham Guardian

Very sad to hear the news about our former captain Terry Hennessey who has died at the age of 82.

He made 183 appearances for #NFFC between 1965 and 1970, and was ever present in the famous 1966/67 campaign where we finished second.

He was a cousin to Wayne Hennessey.

📸 PA

Thanks - hope you enjoy it!

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Explore the Reds incredible pioneering history yourself, or maybe consider it as a gift for someone. All author proceeds to @Forza-garibaldi.bsky.social.

Thanks.

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Nigel Mansell drives his Formula One car onto the City Ground pitch ahead of the 1992/93 season as #NFFC announce a new sponsorship deal with Labatts.

There are also some nice shots of the partially built Bridgford End which was still a few months away from completion.

🎥 Mace

The crowd against Senegal will be the largest to ever watch an England game in Nottingham, while the Three Lions will be hoping to continue their 100% record in the city.

It will hopefully be a memorable occasion as England return to the City Ground once again.

<ENDS>

On Tuesday, the Three Lions finally visit the City Ground once more. For Forest fans, there is hope that an England international on our own turf can finally be marked by the appearance of a #NFFC player.

Morgan Gibbs-White might hopefully end a 128 year wait.

📸 BBC

Davies was a long time servant for the Reds, eventually becoming the club physio.

There is no apparent record of him ever playing for Wales, so Astley’s late arrival that day may have provided Davies with the honour of briefly representing his country just that once.

There was also an unexpected appearance from a Forest player in this game, although it wasn’t for England.

Owing to the late arrival of Wales’ Dai Astley, the Reds’ Welshman Bob Davies (pictured), who wasn’t even part of the squad, played until Astley arrived.

It was another convincing win on Trentside for England who recorded a 4-1 over their neighbours.

The scorer of all four England goals was Charlton’s Don Welsh which led to the headline of ‘WELSH BEAT WELSH’ in the Nottingham Journal report.

📸 Nottingham Journal

It took another 32 years for England to return to Nottingham.

In April 1941 the City Ground was chosen to host a wartime international match, with Wales the opponents once more.

📸 Nottingham Evening Post

Again, there were no Forest players representing England but future Reds goalkeeper Sam Hardy was in goal that day.

Hardy kept a clean sheet as England earned a 2-0 win in Nottingham on their way to a securing the Home Championships that year.

📸 Popperfoto / Getty

A year after the Ireland game, Forest moved to the City Ground and the Reds hosted their first England international in 1909, a Home International Championship game against Wales on 15th March.

The Evening Post noted that this was only the second England fixture in Nottingham.

It was a rampant 6-0 win for England.

There were no Forest players in the England team but two Derby players featured, including Steve Bloomer who scored two of the goals.

📸 Sheffield Independent / EnglandFootballOnline.com (inc first pic)

England hosted Ireland on 20th February, and the Sporting Life newspaper praised the choice of Trent Bridge as the venue:

‘Situated in the very heart of the football-loving district of England it is easily accessible from all parts of the country.’

15,000 were in attendance.

𝑬𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝑮𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅

On Tuesday, the England senior mens team will return to the City Ground for the first time in 84 years.

It will be the fourth time the Three Lions have appeared in Nottingham, the first way back in 1897 at Trent Bridge.

Cont…

Although our safety has been confirmed for a long time, we will also now experience an unprecedented 4th consecutive Premier League campaign, with a European adventure combined.

The last time this happened, Forest finished 9th after reaching the QF of the UEFA Cup in 1996.

A rather meaningless but nevertheless interesting stat I thought.

Other than the more recent top flight additions, placing higher than Manchester United has been a long time coming. It is the first time Forest have finished above them in the league since 1990.

This will leave FIVE clubs that Forest have never finished above when competing with them in the Premier League i.e when we were both in the top flight together since 1992.

Oldham (92/93)
Blackburn (various)
Derby (96/97)
Sunderland (96/97)
Charlton (98/99)

At the start of 2024/25 there were six of the CURRENT top flight clubs that #NFFC had never finished above when competing in the same Premier League season.

Bournemouth
Brentford
Brighton
Fulham
Man United
Wolves

We are now confirmed to place higher than all of them.

Cont…

The game ended 2-2 in front of 6,901. Tot Leverton scored a brace for the Reds.

It had been intended for there to be a return fixture at the City Ground the following day but this idea was shelved due to the ongoing war effort.

📸 Ken Smales

The front of the Nottingham Evening Post on VE Day 1945.

To commemorate the end of the war, #NFFC and Derby County agreed to meet the following day at the Baseball Ground.

20 years ago today, on a dismal day at Loftus Road, #NFFC were relegated to League One.

It was an awful period for the club but, having lived through it, it does make you grateful for our current lot.

*I’m actually in this photo 😄

Continuing a rummage through the late 1920s, I enjoyed this NEP story from Christmas Eve 1926 about Frank Goodall, a Forest fan living in Pennsylvania, USA.

Unable to attend himself, he sent the club 8 shillings to pay for another #NFFC supporter ‘down on his luck’ to attend a game at Grimsby.

I’m currently spending research time in the late 1920s for another piece that will be out soon, so expect a little bit more from this era in the days ahead.

It’s arguably, I think, the most overlooked period in the club’s history although it was fairly uneventful.

More to come.

I found this column that #NFFC captain Bob Wallace wrote for the Birmingham Mercury in 1928.

It’s got some nice bits on Forest, but I’m sharing it mainly for Wallace’s recollection of his time playing in Ireland pre-Forest, where club directors routinely fired guns during games!