It is genuinely futile to try and argue whether one historic side would beat another. The rules, trends and even fitness techniques have all changed far too much. But one thing never changes: how fully a team dominated their own era. Since any individual side can only ever be the best in their own time, it is actually possible to compare and contrast how completely they dominated it.28. Nottingham Forest 1977-80
Points: 965
In separate interviews around Forest’s two victorious European Cup finals, Brian Clough called winning scorers Trevor Francis and John Robertson a “cunt” and a “little fat lad” respectively. It was that very unique management that brought the very unique achievement of taking a provincial club from the second division to the top of the first and successive European Cups in four years.
But the scale of Clough’s achievement shouldn’t be confused with Forest’s exact quality though. Clough created a winning team but not a wondrous one. Like many of the great teams who had come from relatively moderate clubs, they were necessarily disciplined and driven to the Nth degree. Their defence, underpinned by Peter Shilton, was statistically the fourth best in English history and one of the meanest in Europe. That did result in some resounding performances – most of all the 2-0 win over defending champions Liverpool in the 1978-79 opening round and the 3-1 victory away to Dynamo Berlin.
But the success did take its toll on the team. In 1980, they finished as low as fifth in the English league. And, within months, that unique style of Clough’s had seen him fall out with co-manager Peter Taylor to call time on a pragmatic but prized team.
Trophies won: European Cup 1979, 1980; English league 1978; English league cup 1978, 1979
Managers: Brian Clough
Best XI: Shilton, Anderson, Clark, Lloyd, Burns; McGovern, Francis, Gemmill, Robertson, Woodcock, Birtles
The Rest
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