Position: Midfield Born: Nunhead, 20 July 1978 Signed from: Queen's Park Rangers, August 1998
Debut: 8 September 1998 vs Everton Sold to: Portsmouth, August 2000.
One of the biggest disappointments of recent years. Quashie was signed by Harry Bassett for a fair amount of money (well over a million, but I don't remember exactly how much), and he came with the reputation of being one of the hottest young properties in English football. He made his name as an exciting all-acton midfield player at QPR - and the England manager of the time (Glen Hoddle) described him as "the new Paul Ince").
Well not for Forest, he wasn't - more like a 50-year-old Paul Ince. After a sound enough start playing a McGovernesque holding role in midfield, we were expecting him really to take charge of Forest's midfield in 1999-2000 - instead the more he settled in at the club the worse he got; it was left to David Prutton to do the role we were expecting of Quashie.
He undoubtedly has talent, but something is missing in his motivation. And, after a major training ground incident with the manager in Spring 1999, we very seldom saw him in a Forest shirt again. As soon as he was fit we persuaded Pompey to take him off our hands - and the Trent End cheered!
It was only several years later that we learned that Quashie had serious family problems whilst at Forest - a very sick son. If we'd known at the time, things might have turned out very differently.
Back to ... The Players : 1998 - 1999 : 1999 - 2000
Position: Forward Born: Nottingham Signed from: Apprentice, April 1984
Debut: 3 November 1984 vs Southampton Sold to: Huddersfield Town, August 1985
Young home-grown forward who made a brief appearance in the first team in 84-85. Not up to much - and by the end of the season Nigel Clough was in the side, so he packed his bags.
Back to ... The Players : 1984 - 1985
Position: Forward / Midfield Born: Dublin, 29 July 1982 Signed from: Academy, July 2000
Debut: 29 November 2000 vs Sheffield United Sold to: Tottenham Hotspur, 31 January 2005 (£8M combined deal with Michael Dawson)
Yet another from the Paul Hart Academy stable - yet another young Irishman. After impressing both in the outstanding Academy side of 1999 - 2000 and the reserves a year later, he scored on his debut, playing as a forward. Small, tricky, quick and confident, he looked to have considerable talent, but there also seems to be something of a potential attitude problem - once he'd made his first team debut, he seemed to think he'd fully arrived rather than still having lots to learn. Reidy was one of those left behind to work on his fitness when the first team squad left for a pre-season tour of Holland in July 2001, and many thought that turning up for pre-season with a weight problem didn't really show the professional hunger of a young athlete still desperate to make a mark in the game.
It was during that tour, of course, that Platt resigned and Paul Hart took over as manager. Hart knows Reid better than anyone, and it was to Reid's credit that he regained his place in the side half way through the 2001-02 season, putting in some patchy but occasionally superb performances (Pompey away was a particular highlight, when he roasted them all afternoon). He also broke into the Irish Under-21 side, scoring twice in his first two games and looking the part.
None the less, at the end of that season the same criticisims of his fitness emerged, and many of us thought that he was more likely to follow his friend Keith Foy down a road out of the game as poor application overcame clear talent.
How wrong we were! In December 2002, with Forest on a roll but Paul Hart still quietly searching to find his optimum combination in midfield, Reidy finally got what he'd always said he needed - an extended run in the first team, this time playing in a wide left role with the license to get forward and try to create. Within 2 months there were newspaper articles talking of "the new John Robertson", while the players within the club started to tease him by fererring to him as "our own Luis Figo". Obviously both of those comparisons are hyperbole - the Robbo comparison more the result of lazy "slightly rotund left-sided Forest player = John Robertson" thinking than any actual similarities in playing style.
None the less, the fact that anyone was sitting up and taking notice demonstrated how well Reid had seized his chance. In many games during the Spring of 2003, as Forest steamed towards the play-offs, Reidy was by a mile the best player on the pitch, showing terrific ability on the ball, a deft touch and excellent crossing ability as well as the technique to bury two chances that came his way with exquisite volleys, in the Cup at West Ham and in the play-off semi-final.
Suddenly his was one of the first on the team sheet, and it was only be a matter of time before he graduated from the Under-21s to the full Irish side. His biggest weakness is that the strength and ability of his left foot is matched by the weakness of the other one; he is astonishingly one-footed for a modern player, though he compensates somewhat with his ability to use the outside of his left boot as a proxy right! That aside, he is a considerable talent with clear potential to more than survive at a higher level.
The following season (2003-04) Reidy confirmed his talent, especially in the first half of the season when he was simply sensational, scoring goals from all over the park - his solo effort at Upton Park, when he ran the length of the pitch past flailing defenders before chipping the England keeper from 30 yards, ranks as one of the best solo goals I have ever seen.
Needless to say, all the adulation and the constant references in the press to "the best player outside the Premiership" didn't go un-noticed by his agent. Forest turned down £5M for him in late 2003 (when without him we might well have gone down), and when Spurs came back again in the summer - this time offering £3M - Joe Kinnear told his old club where to get off.
Reidy promptly slapped in a transfer request, but to his credit, after a brief sulk, he knuckled down and continued to do his best. By that stage his ability was - paradoxically - sometimes a hindrance; we became massively predictable as everyone simply tried to give the ball to Reidy, however, tightly marked he was.
Eventually even Spurs realised that if they wanted him they were going to have to pay - he was, after all, by now a regular for the full Irish side - and finally landed their man for £8M in a joint deal with Michael Dawson.
Back to ... The Players : 2000 - 2001 : 2001 - 2002 : 2002 - 2003 : 2003-2004 : 2004 - 2005
Position: Midfield Born: Glasgow Signed from: Hibernian, August 1985
Debut: 3 September 1985 vs Liverpool Sold to: Falkirk, August 1991
During the Sumer of 1999, a few middle-aged ex-Forest players did very nicely thank you in the Midland Masters tournament - a veterans' 6-a-side competition on Sky. During that competition, Brain Rice looked outstanding. It took a while for the penny to drop with me; Rice always had good feet, but now everyone else has come down to his pace!
Cloughie signed him because Steve Hodge had left, and to the mind of the fans he persevered with him for about 4 years longer than they would have done. Of course it wasn't Rice's fault that the Forest fans of his era had been brought up watching the genius of John Robertson, and in truth he was nothing like as inept as many fans would have you believe. But he was no mega-star either.
Ricey's finest hour was probably at Highbury in the 6th Round of the FA Cup in March 1988. Paul Wilkinson had already scored with a superb volley, but Arsenal had pulled back to 1-1 and looked like going on to win. Rice had other ideas, getting on the end of a lightning break from Crosby and Clough to bang in the winner in front of the gleeful Forest support. Even then he seemed to take an age to bring it down and score - lack of pace to the last, eh, Brian?
He was also, of course, the original target of a song now used derisively to several other players (like Neil Shipperley) - the "Number 1 is Brian Rice" song to the tune of Yellow Submarine.
Back to ... The Players : 1985 - 1986 : 1986 - 1987 : 1987 - 1988 : 1988 - 1989 : 1989 - 1990 : 1990 - 1991
Position: Midfield Born: Shirebrook Signed from: Apprentice, August 1967
Debut: 4 November 1967 vs Sunderland Sold to: Chester City, October 1976
Regarded in his youth as a very hot prospect, Richardson was an England Youth international, but he never truly fulfilled his initial promise. Perhaps his versatility was his undoing - though generally a stalwart of Forest's early 1970s midfield, he too frequently ended up shoring them up at left back or whatever, rather than cementing himself into the team where he was best.
He was a good, combative, strong running midfield player - and frankly he held the midfield together at times in the dark days of 1971-75 (if any younger readers think we are dodgy now, they should have been standing on the Trent End then!). But on Clough's arrival it rapidly became clear that Richardson was not a big part of the future in Nottingham, so he left. After a brief period at Chester he moved to Stoke, where he played a major part in taking them up to Division 1 in 1979, playing probably the best football of his career.
Back to ... The Players : 1967 - 1968 : 1968 - 1969 : 1969 - 1970 : 1970 - 1971 : 1971 - 1972 : 1972 - 1973 : 1973 - 1974 : 1974 - 1975 : 1975 - 1976 : 1976 - 1977
Position: Forward Born: Northampton Signed from: Keyworth United, August 1982
Debut: 7 April 1984 vs West Bromwich Albion Sold to: Port Vale, October 1987
Yet another forward of highly dubious quality who played a handful of games between the end of Birtles and the start of NIgel Clough.
Back to ... The Players : 1983 - 1984 : 1984 - 1985 : 1986 - 1987
Position: Full Back Born: Edinburgh, 19 January 1984 Signed from: Academy, September 2003
Debut: 24 September 2003 vs Tranmere Rovers Sold to: Rotherham United, 10 June 2005 (Free Transfer)
Young left back who was thrown into the first team before he was ready (in the dark days of 2003 when Paul Hart seemed to think that signing left backs wasn't something that modern managers do), to his credit Robbo persevered and made himself into a reasonable player - he was called up by Scotland Under-21 in the summer of 2004. The arrival of Alan Rogers under Joe Kinnear allowed Gregor the time to develop that he still needed, but just as things seemed to be working well for him - Mick Harford was an admirer and there was talk of a new contract - Gary Megson arrived.
Megson was clearly not a fan (and some of Gregor's erratic performances in the dying embers of Forest's relegation season didn't exactly do much to change his mind), and he was told he could go; he promptly rejoined Mick Harford, by now at Millmoor.
Back to ... The Players : 2003 - 2004 : 2004 - 2005
Position: Midfield Born: Uddingston Signed from: Apprentice, May 1970 and then Derby County, August 1985
Debut: 10 October 1970 vs Blackpool Sold to: Derby County, June 1983 and then Corby Town, May 1986
Every era has its heroes. For those who watched Forest in the late 1960s, it was Ian Storey-Moore or Joe Baker. In the early 1970s probably Duncan McKenzie. For the late 1980s and most of the 1990s, definitely Stuart Pearce.
But for anyone who saw Forest during the greatest period of their history, it was Robbo. He was, without question, the best player I have ever seen play for Forest - without him quite a lot of our biggest achievements might never have happened. When we reached the Centenary of the City Ground in 1998, the club held a vote for the fans' greatest-ever Forest XI. In the thousands of replies, only 3 people did NOT nominate Robertson! Even Brian Clough, not a man given to public praise of his players, has been heard to describe Robbo as "a genius".
But to look at him even at his height you would never have picked him as a supreme champion athlete at the very peak of his profession. He was, to be blunt, a tad on the fat side (one of his many nicknames was "Twinkletum"). He smoked - even the odd crafty fag at half time. He wasn't particularly quick, and he appeared to be pretty much one footed (though that was deceptive - he was a stupendous crosser of the ball with either foot).
So what was it with him? How come he was the spring that made Forest tick throughout their Championship and European Cup years? How come this little fat man laid the winning goal of the European Cup final on a plate for a colleague one year, and then went one better 12 months later by scoring the only goal himself?
The answer, according to Robertson himself, is Brian Clough. Robbo had been at Forest for over 5 years before Clough arrived, but though clearly a decent footballer, he was in severe danger of pissing it against a wall. He was playing in the centre of midfield, where he looked skilful but slow, a good passer but not a hard worker - in short a good footballer but much the same as hundreds of other pros. When Clough arrived, he was on the transfer list and his career was apparently going nowhere.
In Spring 1999 Radio 5 did a series on the great players, and in the programme on Robertson the man himself had this to say; "Before Brian Clough arrived, all the managers I'd worked with used to concentrate on the things I couldn't do. Cloughie just told me to forget about all that, to treat the ball as my friend and to go out and make things happen". Certainly as soon as Clough arrived the new manager realised that Robertson had something; after playing only a couple of games early on in that 1974-75 season, from the moment Clough took over Robbo played every game. (Indeed, between December 1976 and December 1980 he played 243 consecutive games for Forest.) The final piece of the jigsaw fell into place during the close season - Forest were on a tour of Ireland and Clough and Taylor decided to experiment by playing Robbo wide on the left (despite the fact that he was right footed). Apparently he was immediately a revelation - and he never played anywhere else for the rest of his career.
"A slow winger - hmm, that sounds good", I hear you say. The point about Robbo, though, was that he was only slow (-ish - it's all relative!) over 25 yards. Over 5 yards there was no-one to touch him. The Forest method was simple. The defence or McGovern would win the ball and give it to Robertson. He would hug the touchline and shuffle up the left, often leading with his left foot and dragging the ball behind him with his right. At some stage (and the full back would never quite know when it was going to be) - as Larry Lloyd memorably puts it - "Robbo would shuffle that fat arse of his, the full back and 30,000 spectators would go one way, and Robbo would accelerate the other way. Then he'd cross and Forest would score - simple as that!" And he did it time after time after time. For those who have access to the "Glory Years" video / DVD, there is some classic Robbo in a match vs Spurs, when the full back clearly has absolutely no idea where he's gone even as Robbo is scoring the goal; bemused defenders like this poor bloke were not an uncommon sight.
Gradually other teams began to realise this, so they'd put two men on him - "stop Robertson and you stop Forest" was the call. It didn't make a blind bit of difference; Robbo would simply beat both of them - and of course two men on Robertson meant that someone like Gemmill or O'Neill would be unmarked, which was not the greatest of ideas.
Apart from his outstanding contribution from open play, Robbo's other great attribute was his penalty-taking. He was completely deadly from the spot - apparently nerveless. I am told that he did miss at least one during his time with Forest, but if you had to pick someone to take a penalty that really mattered, Twinkletum would be your man. I certainly never saw him miss one. In the Championship season, for instance, Robbo scored 18 league and cup goals, of which 9 were penalties (including the winner in the League Cup final). In 1980 he scored 19 in all competitions, including the winner in the European Cup final; an amazing 14 of those were penalties!
Apart from the winner in the Bernabeu, however, his most memorable goal was in the 1978-79 European Cup semis against Cologne - a wonderful diving header to put us 3-2 up after being 2-0 down.
The only bad thing about Robbo was the end - he was poached from under Clough's nose by Peter Taylor, who had moved on to Derby. Clough never spoke to Taylor again, which in view of everything which they had achieved together was a tragedy. Ironically, Robertson was injured soon after he arrived at Derby and never really reproduced his Forest form. 2 years later Clough brought him back, but the old magic had gone and his playing career finally petered out. For the past few years, of course, he has been Martin O'Neill's assistant, first at Leicester and now at Celtic.
A legend.
Back to ... The Players : 1970 - 1971 : 1971 - 1972 : 1972 - 1973 : 1973 - 1974 : 1974 - 1975 : 1975 - 1976 : 1976 - 1977 : 1977 - 1978 : 1978 -1979 : 1979 - 1980 : 1980 - 1981 : 1981 - 1982 : 1982 - 1983 : 1985 - 1986
Position: Goalkeeper Born: Dublin, 6 April 1982 Signed from: Academy, July 1999
Debut: 28 August 2000 vs Crystal Palace Sold to: Released, 9 May 2005
Irish Under-21 International goalkeeper who was outstanding in the excellent Academy team of 1999-2000. Seen as good enough even at such a young age, Roche was established as Forest's number 2 keeper with the summer 2000 departure of Mark Crossley.
Even he cannot have expected such a dramatic arrival on the big stage, however. With 2 minutes to go in a match against Palace at Selhurst Park on August Bank Holiday 2000, and with Forest leading 3-2, Dave Beasant was sent off after conceding a highly dubious and hotly contested penalty. Roche came on to make his debut and narrowly failed to save the penalty... only to see the ref order it to be taken again because of encroaching players. Bazza promptly saved it and earned himself the fastest possible track to hero status.
After that the consistency and ability of Darren Ward imited Roche to bench-warming for almost 2 years, though he continued to look a fine prospect in the Reserves and to progress with the Irish Under-21s.
When his chance finally arrived, however, Rochey looked an utter bag of nerves - excellent saves would be interspersed with schoolboy howlers to set everyone on edge ahead of him. This culminated, of all places, at Pride Park on 20 March 2004, when a routine backpass hit a plastic coffee cup on the pitch as Baz went to kick it under no pressure; the kick screwed directly into the path of Paul Pescisolido in front of an open goal, and Forest were tonked 4-2. Gloom, the prompt signing of Paul Gerrard on loan, and the nick-name of The Kenco Kid.
The club had enough belief in him to offer a new contract in the summer of 2004, and to have no qualms about allowing Darren Ward to leave shortly afterwards. But equally, they signed Colin Doyle on loan as cover, and it was Doyle who stepped on the rare occasions when Gezza was unavailable.
He was duly released in May 2005 - in many ways a pity, because he has undoubted talent, but he'll have to conquer his nerves if he's to make it anywhere else.
Back to ... The Players : 2000 - 2001 : 2002 - 2003 : 2003 - 2004 : 2004 - 2005
Position: Midfield Born: Gernrode, Germany Signed from: Chicago Sting, December 1981
Debut: 2 December 1981 vs Tranmere Rovers Sold to: Bayer Leverkusen, June 1982
Once billed as "the new Franz Beckenbauer" - yes, really! Not even fit to clean Der Kaiser's boots. If you have been reading these through in order, you will know what this guy was.... yes, you've guessed it, yet another midfield player designed to fill the void after Archie Gemmill.
And yet another one who wasn't good enough.
Back to ... The Players : 1981 - 1982
Position: Left Back / Midfield Born: Liverpool, 3 January 1977 Signed from: Tranmere Rovers, June 1997 & again from Leicester City (Loan: February; Permanent: May 2004)
Debut: 9 August 1997 vs Port Vale Sold to: Leicester City, October 2001, and
Signed as an England Under-21 left back from Tranmere, "Tank" (or more exactly "Tank Mark 2" since Peter Hindley had already appropriated the nickname) played much of his best Forest stuff in midfield. Indeed, moving Rogers forward was one of the better things that Ron Atkinson did.
Not that he was a rubbish left back. In those days he was extremely quick, tackled well and was very committed (occasionally too committed, if truth be told - he certainly had a temper on him!), and he impressed in his early years at the club. His problem as a defender, however, was his tendency to end up on his arse - which was fine if he won the ball but gave him no second chance if the attacker got past him.
On the left wing, however, he appeared to develop well. He had no tricks at all, but his pace frightened the hell out of most right backs and his shooting was fearsome (he was joint top scorer in 1999-00). Unfortunately, he also started to believe his own publicity, thinking that he was a top player and not being shy to let others know about it - it was noticable that Jim Brennan in particular wilted under the glare of his "helpful advice".
Which is not meant to sound unduly critical - for a period Forest were a FAR better side with Tank in than not, even learning the full nuances of an unfamiliar role. But equally, he never really fulfilled the promise of his first couple of seasons, when there was talk of him one day playing for England. Gradually more sober views prevailed; he's a decent Division 1 player, but like many Under-21 stars of the past and the future, no more than that. By the time of Paul Hart's youth-centric revolution, Tank wasn't deemed a good enough defender to be left back, and he couldn't pass well enough to play in a Hart midfield. Needless to say he didn't like to hear that, so he was on his way to Leicester shortly afterwards.
A couple of years later and things were very different indeed - Forest, not to put too fine a point on it, were in deep trouble at the foot of Division 1 - their lowest position in 50 years (though they were soon to get even lower...) - and Joe Kinnear was summoned to replace Hart. On his very first day in Nottingham he spotted something that the fans had been screaming for months, namely that we were woefully short of a left back. 24 hours later Tank was back, initially on loan and then, having impressed during Joe's excellent start, permanently.
Like Andy Impey, almost as soon as the contract was secured his performance levels dropped alarmingly (though to be fair he was bothing like as lethargic as the woeful Impey), and by the end of the 2004-5 season he was very firmly out of favour and on the transfer list; his stock had fallen so fast that no Forest fan cared very much, despite the fact that STILL, after a mere 5 or so years of waiting, we lack a decent left back.
Back to ... The Players : 1997 - 1998 : 1998 - 1999 : 1999 - 2000 : 2000 - 2001 : 2001 - 2002 : 2003 - 2004 : 2004 - 2005
Position: Forward Born: Hammersmith Signed from: Coventry City, March 1993
Debut: 3 March 1993 vs Crystal Palace Sold to: Released, May 1986
Almost single-handed, Bob Rosario was living proof that Brian Clough was in sad decline in his final year in charge at Forest. All season we had been sinking fast towards inevitable relegation - all season it had been pretty clear that we desperately needed a goal-scorer. And finally, just after Christmas, we started to hear from Cloughie that we were about to sign the sort of striker who could yet dig us out of the hole.
Instead we got Big Bad Bonkin' Bob - an honest journeyman pro who had never exactly been a prolific scorer even at his height (and he was well past his height by this stage). To be fair to Clough, it later transpired that he had been talking about Stan Collymore, but typically he had baulked at what he saw as an over-inflated price.
Rosario, meanwhile, was living up (or down, depending on your point of view) to his previous reputation. Reasonable touch, good passer - but couldn't (in Harry Bassett's memorable phrase) hit a cow's arse with a banjo. Not only that, but he was injury-prone.
Top signing, Cloughie!
Back to ... The Players : 1993 - 1994 : 1994 - 1995
Position: Forward Born: Amsterdam Signed from: Foggia, July 1994
Debut: 20 August 1994 vs Ipswich Town Sold to: Hertha Berlin, June 1997
When Frank Clark's first season had resulted in immediate promotion back to the Premier League, he knew that the addition of a swift left-sided forward could possibly transform an already good team into an excellent one. He was talking idly to an agent about this very problem, and the agent said "What, you mean someone like Brian Roy?". "Well, yes", said Clark - "but let's be realistic; he can't be available!"
Roy was a Dutch international with a reputation for wonderful talent but a tendency to drift in and out of games. None the less, Clark spent pretty much all of the limited amount of cash he had at the time on Roy, and was rewarded for his gamble. Roy, in that first season in conjunction with Stan Collymore and Lars Bohinen, was sensational - quick, direct, immensely skillful, scored goals... what more do you want? We had arguably our best team in over a decade, deservedly finished third and looked set to go on to some good times again.
But then it all went pear-shaped. Slowly at first - Stan and Bohinen had been sold, true, but even without them Roy helped us in 1995-96 to get further in Europe than any other British team, and we finished a respectable 9th. The seeds of disaster, however, were already well sown. For a start Roy was carrying an injury and (it must be said) losing interest. David Phillips had started down the far side of the hill, Kevin Campbell had (at that stage) proved a great disappointment (also because of injury), and Bohinen had not adequately been replaced.
The next season was hideous - and Roy was no better than the rest of the team, despite being more talented than half of the rest of them put together. He couldn't wait to leave (shortly after he arrived in Nottingham he had told the press about how nice it was to live in "a civilised English city where I have room to be myself" - but by the time he left he was saying "Nottingham has nothing to recommend it except Robin Hood, and he's dead").
So he left for Hertha Berlin ("a city with nothing to recommend it except a wall, and that's been knocked down", as the Nottingham Evening Post pointed out!). There he did his usual thing - superb for a season, OK for the next, diffidently awful thereafter.
A great waste of talent - when he was good he was brilliant, but for the second half of his Forest career he just frittered it all away.
Now part of the youth coaching set-up at Ajax.
Back to ... The Players : 1994 - 1995 : 1995 - 1996 : 1996 - 1997