East Midlands Derby - History

History

The rivalry between the two clubs was not, initially, a great one. In the 1880s the town of Derby had three clubs, Derby County, Derby Junction and Derby Midland, whilst the city of Nottingham had Forest and Notts County as local rivals. Even when Derby Junction folded and became part of Derby County animosity between the two clubs went no further than friendly banter.

The two clubs first met in 1892 following Forest's election to the Football League that same year when it was expanded to two divisions in size after four years as a one tier setup. Forest has formed in 1865, 19 years before Derby, but had elected to join the Football League's rival, the Football Alliance, instead in 1889–90. Their winning of the Alliance title in the 1891–92 season ensured they were voted into the First Division when the two leagues were merged in 1892. The fixture was held at least twice a season from 1892 until 1906, when Forest were relegated. Due to the two world wars, and the fact both clubs had a habit of enjoying success at different times, they jointly contested in only six league seasons (or 12 matches) for the next 64 years, all of which came in Division Two, with an additional four meetings coming in the FA Cup.

In the past 39 seasons, since the fixture returned onto the First Division fixture list in the 1969/70 season, meetings have been slightly more common, though not as common as the Merseyside, or Manchester derbies. Both clubs have jointly contested 17 league seasons, 12 in the Top Flight and a further five in the second tier. This return coincided with the rivalry developing into what it is known as today, largely due to when former Derby manager Brian Clough took over at Forest, much to the anger of the Derby fans – in fact some commentators have described the rivalry to be as much about which club owns Clough's heart as much as the proximity of the clubs geographically. This, alongside the fact that Derby is a one-club city and Forest fans do not see Notts County as a genuine threat as they have traditionally occupied the bottom two tiers of English football whilst Forest the upper two, lit the torch between the two sets of supporters and there has been a bitter rivalry ever since. The two sets of supporters did, however, put their differences aside to commemorate their former manager Brian Clough in a special memorial service at Derby's Pride Park Stadium following his death on 20 September 2004. The two met in the Championship just six weeks later in an emotional match which saw Derby win 3–0, their biggest win over Forest in 25 years.

Recent meetings have been amongst the most controversial in the fixture's history. On 2 November 2008, refree Stuart Attwell became the centre of attention when he disallowed two Derby goals in the final few minutes and booked eight players and issued a straight red card to Forest midfielder Lewis McGugan. Derby boss Paul Jewell was especially vocal in his dismay at Attwell's performance, accusing the 25-year-old official of 'losing control' of the game and 'robbing' the Rams of a victory. The press furore around his display saw Attwell called in for a meeting with Referee's Chief Keith Hackett and was consequently axed from the following week's fixture list. Days after the game Jewell said that a member of the Football Association had contacted him and told him that the second goal should have stood.

Animosity between the clubs grew even further with the appointment of former Derby manager Billy Davies at Forest in December 2009, along with the signing of several former Derby players in Lee Camp, Robert Earnshaw and Dexter Blackstock, and the appointment of Nigel Clough as Derby manager, along with the signing of former-Forest favourite Kris Commons at Pride Park. Two fractious FA Cup ties, including one in which Derby came from 2–0 down to win 3–2 and win at the City Ground for the first time since 1971, did not help matters and Robbie Savage's post-match scarf waving did not endear him to the Forest support. Following a match on 29 August 2009, in which Forest won 3–2 to secure their first victory over Derby in 6½ years, a post-match scuffle broke out between the Derby and Forest players after Nathan Tyson, in reaction to Savage's scarf waving the previous season, celebrated in front of the Derby County fans with a corner flag that had the Nottingham Forest logo on it, an incident the FA said it would investigate with some 'urgency' the end result of which saw both club's fined for failing to control their players and Tyson charged with improper conduct. Derby was fined £20,000, of which £10,000 was suspended, and ordered to pay £400 costs; Nottingham Forest was fined £25,000, of which £10,000 was suspended, and ordered to pay £1,200 costs; and Tyson was fined £5,000. A second brawl broke out during the return fixture in January 2010 after Chris Gunter pushed Jay McEveley whilst the latter was taking a throw-in. The FA announced it would investigate the brawl whilst former Derby manager Billy Davies claimed that Nigel Clough had "attacked" him during the melee and made a formal complaint to the League Managers' Association. The fixture also saw sendings off in four consecutive fixtures from January 2011; two for Derby (Dean Moxey and Frank Fielding) and two for Forest (Marcus Tudgay and Dexter Blackstock, both former Derby players).