Though Forest played their first recorded match in 1865 - a 0-0 home draw against Notts County - for their first 24 seasons they generally played friendlies; by the late 1870s there were plenty of decent quality opponents in South Yorkshire (Sheffield in particular) and the Midlands.

The exception to this was, of course, the FA Cup; they first entered in 1878 - 1879 and reached the Semi-Finals at the first attempt, again the following year, and for a third time in 1884 - 1885, all before they were playing regular League football, and of course they won the Cup in 1897 - 1898 (which was to remain their only major trophy for over 60 years). For the full story of Forest in domestic Cup competitions, see All-Time Cup Records

In 1889 Forest joined the Football Alliance, which was a Second Division of the Football League in all but name. They were joined there by some clubs that survive to this day (Everton, Grimsby Town, Crewe Alexandra, Preston North End, Sheffield United & Sheffield Wednesday) as well as by some that have either fallen by the wayside, like Darwen and Long Eaton Rangers, or changed their names to emerge as something more recognisable to the modern fan, like Small Heath - now Birmingham City - and Newton Heath - now Manchester United.

It's fair to say that Forest struggled somewhat in their first Alliance season; it included some spectacular defeats (0-7 to Everton, 0-9 to Darwen and 0-12 to Small Heath) and they finished 11th of 11, but two years later they won the Alliance and were duly elected to Division 1; they have not left the Football League since.

For the full story of the three Alliance seasons, see Forest in the Alliance (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

For the War Leagues of 1915 - 1919 and 1939 - 1946, see Forest in the World Wars (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

The records that follow are, therefore, for the Football League only (including the various attempts at re-branding in the 1990s and onwards ("The Premier League", "The Premiership", "The Championship" and so on).