Amidst the news of a call-up for the upcoming Nations League matches, to the Northern Ireland squad, for Mansfield Town goalkeeper Christy Pym, we take a look at the career of a former Stag who, during the 1980s, not only appeared for them, but created a unique piece of footballing history – Belfast-born defender, John…
Nigel Clough’s Mansfield Town side are currently giving the fans something to remember, not since the mid-seventies have they done what the current side is at this level, win five-in-a-row. The last time the Stags put together that sequence, in English football’s third tier, was in the latter stages of the 1975-76 season, when closing…
Players from far and wide – from different continents, not just countries – have strutted their stuff in Garibaldi red on the City Ground’s evergreen turf, none more so than now. The current Forest squad is collected from Ireland to the Ivory Coast, Nigeria to New Zealand, from South America’s Brazil and Argentina to Senegal…
“It’s incredibly important for people to be able to find out where they’re from, it’s a bit of right,” Professor Turi King, February 2024. The search is on for Peter, the Polish gentleman who is the biological father of one of Nottingham Forest’s two-time, European Cup winners, Tony Woodcock. In the mid-1950s, Eastwood, in north-west…
A reliable batsman for England during the mid-1980s, Robert Timothy Robinson played in 425 first-class matches, notching up just over 27,500 runs at an average of 42. Born in the village of Skegby, in Sutton-in-Ashfield, on 21 November 1958, he played his entire career at Nottinghamshire CCC skippering the side from 1988 to 1995. Robinson…
As Aberdeen prepare for their trip to Glasgow Rangers in the Tuesday (6 February) Scottish Premier League clash, spare a thought or seventy-five for The Dons’ new manager, until the end of the season that is, 75-year-old Neil Warnock. That’s as much as we’re going to say on the Ibrox game, but for Warnock, the…
Famous for his three centuries in consecutive tests during the 1986/87 Ashes series in Australia, Brian Christopher Broad was a stalwart for Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club for nearly a decade. Born 29 September 1957 in the district of Knowle in Bristol, the tall left-handed opening batsman made his first-class debut for Gloucestershire in 1979. After…
With such famous professional sporting teams as Nottingham Forest Football Club, Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, and Notts County FC, there have been numerous grounds and stadiums used throughout the years by these sides, some of which are regular now and known worldwide as monuments of sporting prestige and valour. We take a look at some…
Both snooker and darts have lit up the start of the sporting year with record wins for Ronnie O’Sullivan and an emerging talent in 16-year-old Luke Littler with both superstars of their genres gripping the nation in recent finals. Both sports actually have long connection back to the city of Nottingham with the Heart of…
Historical documents record, over hundreds of years, regular invasions by armies from Scotland into England, ‘The Auld Enemy’. The 17th century was particularly busy until The Acts Of Union brought the two nations together in 1707. That didn’t stop Bonny Prince Charlie laying claim to the throne. Gathering support, as part of the Jacobite rebellion…
My brother pinged a photo my way soon after he’d watched Forest’s 2-0 win over Aston Villa last week. Post-match social-media traffic is always busy but, on the back of an inspired performance by the Reds, it was buzzing. It was an ‘old mates together’ image of two blokes sharing a word at the City…
“It brought back the memory of my goal against Coventry in the Trent End five minutes after coming on, or looking down the other end and seeing my header against Leeds where I smashed my head off the post whilst scoring. It was unbelievable.” While Jason Longdon’s footballing career never hit the stardom that many…
One a goalkeeper, the other a wing-half, both having played in the early days of association football, and both went by the surname of Toone; a father and son pairing who were born in the fair city of Nottingham, in the latter years of the 1800s. In fact, both were called George Toone, one Snr,…
Last season’s Carabao Cup defeat to Manchester united signalled the end of a thirty year wait for a semi-final in a major competition for Nottingham Forest, but there was a time when finals were a regular occurrence including a two-legged victory over Barcelona in Europe. We’re going to take you back in detail courtesy of…
Fred Mann, a defender, Ken Mann, a winger, and Peter Mann, a centre half-forward, and with club nicknames like the Redlegs and the Bombers, the Sharks and the Bulldogs, and an unlikely connection throughout the history of Australian Rules Football, with the East Midlands city of, Nottingham, England. At the start of May, 1878, a…
Written by Nigel Clark, Lawn Tennis Correspondent of the Daily Mirror in 1976. It was the day when the rain came . . . the soaking Saturday when two of the world’s great tennis stars gave the game back to the public. llie Nastase of Rumania. and Jimmy Connors of the United States, proved that…
“It’s really important to tell their stories and I’d love to hear grandad’s story, and he wants to do it,” Vicky McClure, 2023. Eighty years ago, the D-Day Landings took place on the beaches of Normandy, France, among them, a promising young footballer, Ralph McClure, of Collingham Footway, the Meadows, in Nottingham. Fast-forward eighty years,…
As the gates clunk shut at grounds around the country to signal the end of May and another football season, players will head off for well-earned rests to every popular destination you’d find in a travel agent. Aside from participation in the FA Cup and European finals, teams are now left free to lick their…
I blame Manchester United – in part, at least – for the early demise to my blossoming career as a sports journalist. It’s a tale full of intrigue, with accusations of fraud and dodgy money-making. The saga would have sat comfortably in today’s Westminster world of law-bending and money for honours culture but this was…
When Dad plants the programme on our kitchen table, he gives me a Cheshire-cat grin. ‘Here you are. Luton Town versus Nottingham Forest. FA Cup final at Wembley. May 2nd 1959.’ Over a Sunday breakfast fry-up, he picks out pages, names and photos. I can’t read (I’m five) and I don’t know what a football…
