Nottingham Forest, 20 years of frustration 諾定咸森林，20年的挫折

Two of my group mates @perlia and @jacklcp have written about their admiration for Arsenal and Liverpool football clubs. Having read their posts, my fingers are getting itchy about doing a football post.

我的兩個網友@perlia和@jacklcp寫下了對阿仙奴和利物浦足球俱樂部的讚賞。讀完他們的帖子後，我的手指感到很癢。

I had been in England for almost 13 years before and had a rather long spell in Nottinghamshire. I developed my ties with Nottingham Forest, a mid-sized football club in the East Midlands, since then.

我在英格蘭過了近13年，在諾定咸郡有相當長的一段時間。此後，我開始與東米德蘭地區的中型足球隊森林建立聯繫。

My Forest jersey, at least 20 years old

Nottingham is best known for Robin Hood and the river Trent; indeed, Nottingham has more than these. If you ask anyone in England about what they think about Nottingham, the mid-sized city probably as a whole has always been associated with four positive things or figures, Nottingham Forest, the late Brian Clough, the late Peter Taylor and Stuart Pearce.

諾定咸以羅賓漢和特倫特河而聞名，事實上，諾定咸不僅僅是這些。如果你向英格蘭的任何人詢問他們對諾定咸的看法，那麼這座中等規模的城市可能作為一個整體一直與四個積極的東西或人物有關，諾定咸森林，已故的布賴恩克拉夫，已故的彼得泰勒和斯圖爾特皮爾斯。

Brian Clough and Peter Taylor had a flair for overhauling small clubs. The duo turned Forest around and took the club to the worldwide arena with two back-to-back UEFA European Champions League wins in 1979 and 1980 Source1.

布萊恩·克拉夫（Brian Clough）和彼得·泰勒（Peter Taylor）將 森林徹底改造，並在1979年和1980年拿了2屆歐聯冠軍將森林帶向世界舞台。

The duo have been greatly respected over UK and Europe, Jose Mourinho and Roy Keane have expressed their admiration and respect towards Brian Clough.

兩人都在英倫及歐洲倍受尊敬，穆里尼奧和羅伊基恩對布里安德克拉夫表示欽佩和敬意。

Source2. Source3.

‘Clough better than Ferguson – Keane’ Source3.
‘Maybe because Brian Clough was such a huge personality, with so much charisma, everyone remembers his quotes and the stories and a few people forget his talents. – Mourinho’ Source2.

Despite the great past, Forest relegated to the second-tier league in 1999 and has been playing second-tier football since then. In the 2004-5 season, Forest sank further down to League 1 but bounced back to the second-tier in the 2008-9 season. Source4 Source5

儘管曾經有過偉大的歷史，但是森林隊在1999年淪為二線聯盟，從那以後一直在踢二線足球。在2004-5賽季，森林進一步下降到了3線聯賽1，但在2008-9賽季升回二線。

Forest Fans like me have gone through discontent, rage and frustration because the club had fallen into hand of some owners without ambition and a long-term vision. Poor management appointments, restless sacking of managers, inconsistency performances on the pitch, buying players with poor form, playing lads in wrong positions in the first team, selling young players for fast money (Oliver Burke, once dubbed the Scottish Gareth Bale, was sold to a German club for a mere 13 million pounds that stirred anger and caught fans off-guard Source6 Source7

像我這樣的森林迷們經歷了不滿，憤怒和沮喪，因為球會管理層沒有雄心壯志和長遠的眼光，落入了一些班主手中。任命管理不善，密的解僱，不一致的表現，購買不合適的球員，放不合適的球員到一隊，賣年輕球員（Oliver Burke，曾經被稱為蘇格蘭Gareth Bale）被賣給了德國俱樂部一千三百萬英鎊引起了憤怒。

Now, Forest are standing at 16th in the second-tier English Champions, just 7 points above the relegation zone. Source8

現在，森林在二線英格蘭冠軍賽中排在第16位，僅比降級區高出7分。

That said, the club have produced or played an army of good players and these come to my mind when I am writing this post.

雖然差勁，森林曾經有一支優秀的球員隊伍，當我寫這篇文章的時候，這些都出現在我腦海裡。
The 79-80 team

• Peter Shilton, in the team of 1979 and 1980
• Martin O’Neill, in the team of 1979 and 1980
• Trevor Francis, in the team of 1979 and 1980, the first 1-million pounds transfer in the English football history
• Viv Anderson, in the team of 1979 and 1980
• John McGovern, in the team of 1979 and 1980
• Archie Gemmill, in the team of 1979 and 1980
• Frank Clark, in the team of 1979 and 1980
  Source9

The 80 and 90s

• Stuart Pearce a.k.a. Psycho, arguably the best left back in the England squad ever, my all-time hero
• Des Walker, my all-time hero
• Stan Collymore, the first 8-million pounds transfer in the premier league, a fast frontman, my all-time hero
• Steve Stone, an industrious right midfield but lacked speed and sprint, my all-time hero though
• Mark Crossley, the only stopper blocked Matthew Le Tissier’s penalty, my all-time hero
• Lars Bohinen, an extremely talented playmaker
• Nigel Clough, son of Brian Clough, another legend at City Ground
• Chris Bart-Williams, an industrious central midfield
• Ian Woan, a talented left midfield but lacked stamina
• Kevin Campbell
• Teddy Sheringham
• Brian Roy
• Roy Keane
  Source9

Without Brian Clough and Peter Taylor, the miracle at Forest would not have happened! What a shame my old photos I had taken are all in my parents’ home, what I have now at my home is this Forest Jersey, the 1995-96 or 1996-97 season (I cannot exactly recall), two seasons before the relegation to the second-tier.

如果沒有Brian Clough和Peter Taylor，森林的奇蹟就不會發生！我拍的老照片全是在我父母的家裡，我現在在我自己家所擁有的是1995-96或1996-97賽季（我不能完全記得），保級之前的兩個賽季-tier。

My Forest jersey, at least 20 years old

My Forest jersey, at least 20 years old

Forest fans, let’s sing our heart out! 森林球迷，讓我們唱出我們的心聲！

City Ground,
Oh mist rolling in from the Trent, My desire, Is always to be here,
Oh City Ground
Come on, YOU REDS!
Source10

It is the Forest edition of Mull of Kintrye by McCartney

Watching these clips brings back good old memories at City Ground

Source11

Source12

#nottinghamforest
#nffc
#comeonyoureds
#stuartpearce
#deswalker
#stancollymore
#brianclough
#petertaylor