In 1975, Nottingham Forest were a mid-table Second Division club. Five years later they had won the European Cup twice. No story in English football captures the power of a great manager better than the rise of Brian Clough's Forest.
Clough and Taylor
Brian Clough had already won the league title with Derby County, working alongside his assistant Peter Taylor. Clough was brilliant, outspoken and unpredictable; Taylor had a sharp eye for players. When they reunited at Forest, they formed one of the most effective partnerships in football history.
From promotion to champions
Forest won promotion to the First Division in 1977, finishing third in the Second Division. Most newly promoted teams hope simply to survive. Forest won the league title at the first attempt in 1977–78, and the League Cup as well.
Between late 1977 and late 1978, they went 42 league matches without defeat — a record that stood until Arsenal's Invincibles surpassed it in 2004.
The first million-pound player
In February 1979, Clough signed Trevor Francis from Birmingham City for around £1 million, making him Britain's first million-pound footballer. Because of competition rules, Francis was not eligible to play in the European Cup until the final itself.
It was worth the wait. In the 1979 final in Munich, against Swedish side Malmö, winger John Robertson crossed from the left and Francis threw himself forward to head the only goal. Forest were champions of Europe.
Doing it again
A year later, Forest reached the final again, this time in Madrid against Hamburg, whose team included former Liverpool star Kevin Keegan. Robertson, so often the creator, scored the only goal himself, and Forest's defence held firm to win 1–0.
The legacy
Nottingham Forest remain one of the few clubs to have won more European Cups than league titles. Clough was never appointed England manager, which many believe was one of the great missed opportunities in the national team's history. But at the City Ground, a statue of Clough and the two European trophies tell the story of a time when a provincial club conquered the continent.