Why we loved them
The Nottingham Forest side of 1994/95 were that season’s surprise packet. Having been promoted back to the top-flight at the first time of asking, they managed to finish in third place by playing a free-flowing brand of football. With a relatively steady defence and captained by the ferocious Stuart Pearce, Forest had a solid platform that allowed other more creative players to shine.
With two classic wingers in Ian Woan and Steve Stone plus the imaginative midfield nous of Lars Bohinen, it was a side filled with consistent performers. Up front, there was the converted wide-man Bryan Roy who partnered the irresistible Stan Collymore.
Individually, Collymore and Pearce were outstanding though there was a very able support cast too. Despite Frank Clark being a limited and wildly inexperienced manager, things seemed to gel nicely for him and he was able to rely on a collection of players who all seemed to hit their stride at the same time. The season was book-ended by two impressive unbeaten spells though any faint hopes of a Premier League title were lost in a haze of consecutive mid-season defeats.
Ultimately though, a true cult team featuring some stand-out players.
The story
In May 1993, Forest were in complete transition. The legendary Brian Clough had been at the club for 18 years, won successive European Cups in 1979 and ’80 with the provincial and unfashionable side, the league championship in 1978 and four League Cups. But success dried up and back-to-back domestic Cup final defeats in 1991 and 1992 couldn’t paper over the cracks. In May 1993 and with Forest relegated from the new Premier League, Clough retired.
But Forest retained a sense of their proud past when appointing Clough’s successor. Frank Clark was the club’s left-back when they were crowned champions of Europe in 1979 and despite having little managerial experience, he oversaw the club’s immediate return to the top-flight. With Colin Cooper signed as a centre-back and striker Stan Collymore brought in from Southend, things seemed to gel nicely and the club were automatically promoted, finishing behind Crystal Palace.
In the summer of 1994, Clark loosened the purse-strings and persuaded Dutch World Cup winger Bryan Roy to sign for Forest. Though Clark wanted a wide-man to supply Collymore, Roy ended up playing through the middle and it proved a master-stroke as he scored 13 Premier League goals. With specialists Ian Woan on the left-flank, Steve Stone on the right and the under-rated Lars Bohinen in central midfield, Forest had a core group who consistently contributed. Between them, those five players scored 51 of the side’s 72 goals. Throw in Stuart Pearce’s incredible tally of eight (four of those from the penalty spot) and Clark required little from anyone else other than solid defending.
They began the season superbly — Roy scored on his debut against Ipswich while Collymore grabbed an equaliser against reigning champions Manchester United. They were unbeaten for the first 11 games of the campaign and won handsomely against Sheffield Wednesday and Tottenham with Roy proving his worth with a glut of goals.
But the fixture list proved unkind to them. Between the end of October and the start of December, they failed to win a game. They lost to Blackburn, Liverpool, Chelsea and Leeds and it proved costly to their faint hopes of possibly lifting the title. Early in the new year, they lost successive games to Blackburn and Aston Villa. However, they finished better than they started, going on a run of 13 games without defeat and scoring a hatful of goals in the process. They knocked four past Leicester, racked up successive 3-0 victories over Southampton and Leeds before thumping seven past Sheffield Wednesday.
As Blackburn and Manchester United battled it out for the top-two places, Forest still did astonishingly well to finish in third spot ahead of a quartet of well-fancied clubs — Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle and Tottenham.
Qualifying for the UEFA Cup was a terrific achievement but following such a successful top-flight season, everything went steadily downhill. Collymore, after his 22 goal haul, was inevitably sold to Liverpool for a then-British record fee. The money wasn’t re-invested and instead, Collymore’s replacement was the much-maligned Jason Lee. He didn’t do too badly, scoring eight times. But Roy could only manage the same amount and despite Woan and Stone contributing fifteen between them, Clark was left rummaging for attacking alternatives but Kevin Campbell endured a frustrating debut campaign and scored just three goals in twenty-one games. A year after finishing third in the table, Forest found themselves in mid-table obscurity.
Their UEFA Cup odyssey was more impressive and they were the only English club involved in any European competition that season to reach the last eight. A tricky first-round clash with Malmo saw them through on away goals while they just about got the better of French side Auxerre in the next stage, winning 1-0 on aggregate – Steve Stone with the crucial strike. They faced another French club, Lyon, in the third round and another slender aggregate win followed and despite holding Bayern Munich to a narrow last-eight victory in Bavaria, Jurgen Klinsmann grabbed a brace as they thumped five past Forest in the return leg at the City Ground.
In May 1997, Forest were relegated having finished bottom of the Premier League table – just like they had done four years previously, when the transition first began.
Stand-out player
I was taking on defenders from the halfway line, and I doubt many of them looked forward to facing me.”
Stan Collymore spent two seasons at Forest, scoring 41 times in 64 league games. In his first campaign, he steered the side to automatic promotion to the top-flight while his 1994/95 goal tally pushed them to European qualification and a top-three Premier League finish.
As he showed during his spell at Liverpool, he had great awareness and was equally adept at creating chances for others as he was at scoring. He had a terrific first-touch and his trademark was spinning around defenders and using his speed to sprint away or his vision to find a team-mate. Alternatively, he also had the ability to turn sharply and just thump a shot straight to the top corner.
Stand-out moment
It said much that when the 1995 Premier League champions wanted to invest in more quality, they signed Forest’s Norwegian midfielder Lars Bohinen. He spent just two seasons in Nottingham but, like Collymore, his effect was huge. A silky ball-player, he scored six times in the 94/95 campaign and his best goal came during Forest’s best performance.
Heading to Hillsborough on April Fool’s Day, Forest were on a six-game unbeaten run and had racked up ten goals in their previous three games. Against Sheffield Wednesday, they were in the mood right from the off and it was a display full of pace, power, relentless movement and slick passing. To cap it all off, Bohinen scored the seventh with the most delightful of chips – outside of the right boot, bending incredibly to the far corner. A thing of beauty.
There’s something about looking back at the older premier leagues that makes it seem much better than it is now. More British/Irish names, less influence of foreign investors, more meaningful competitions (i.e. the UEFA cup meant something). Shame really.
anybody in the premier league now with an English name is almost guaranteed to have an international cap. There’s simply not much for England to choose from
Rooney is an Irish name …l.o.l. !
Jason “pineapple head ” lee
great article!!! more cult teams please!
Jayzus Collymore was a beast of a fella his first season with the Pool he looked like he was on the verge of greatness to many off field distractions
Collymore was class, used pretend to be him when i was small .. Remy reminds me of him a bit, tis a pity coz i was looking forward to seeing him play for us..
Collymore was unstoppable for us that season. Though treated as a god by the fans, he was not at all popular in the dressing room. As the season wore on, only two players, Woan & captain Pearce, would go to congratulate him after scoring. By seasons end only Pearce would go to him. This was all eerily repeated 3 years later Pierre Van Hooijdonk came back from his self imposed 4 month strike in late 1998 – nobody would celebrate with him when he scored either!
Psycho has recruited a fine bunch of signings for the season ahead. Let’s hit the road running against Blackpool tomorrow, and see if he can return us to the promised land.
Forest the best footballing team not to resort to the high ball of their generation – then again Brain Clough knew how football should be played ..
Great idea for a story but Colin Cooper was a one trick pony… (c) The Sunday Game.
Deffo a great forest side finishing third ahead of liverpool won me a few bets .. Bohinen stone woan Roy and collymore was an unreal front 5 !!! Oh how I wish we were back in the prem !!!
Just 7 at the time but I can remember most of that season. Was at Hillsborough when we hammered Wednesday then went to Ewood park to see Blackburn do the same to us. Remember Steve stone lobbing Ian Walker at white hart lane. Completely by accident, was certainly a cross. I think it was the same season that we knocked spurs out of the cup. A penalty shoot out in about 7 inches of snow. And a overweight mark crossley sprinting a victory lap around the city ground after saving teddy sherringham’s penalty. Genuinely believing we’d be able to get past bayern Munich in the ueafa cup after a good 2-1 loss at the olympic stadium. Great memories. Can’t see it happening again for us. Losing lars bohinen to Blackburn was what shot it. We replaced him with Chris Bart-
Williams…
The season we beat Spurs in the Cup after the first game was abandoned in a blizzard was the following 95-96. We finished 9th in the league, was top 4 until just before Christmas.
I might add that the penalty shootout victory over Spurs was in the rescheduled Cup game, not the snowed in one. It was genius from Gerry Francis that night, sending out his team in an all white strip, in a blizzard.
I’ve been a Forest supporter a long time now. Post Clough era has been a bit hit and miss but the team mention in the article were very good.
great article! more cult teams please!!!
Do any of you lads know if we tried to bring Nigel Clough back when Stan moved to Liverpool? Back then politics, transfer negotiations and such wasn’t something I was particularly interested in. I was happy so long as Psycho was taking lads out and burying 35 yard frees. Surely we did? Lad was sat on the bench at Anfield most of the time. Mind you, we was just after sacking his old man so he’d probably have told us to piss off.
I don’t know if we tried to bring Clough back during his spell at Anfield. I know he came back on loan to us for a few months while he was at Man City during latter part of 96-97 season. I don’t think he ever forgave us for the way his father’s retirement was handled in 1993.