10 Greatest Nottingham Forest Managers Ever
3. Harry Hallam [1897-1909]
Harry Hallam managed Nottingham Forest between 1897 and 1909. Hallam managed Nottingham Forest for 462 games which is the third-highest ever. He managed the club to their FA Cup triumph in 1898. He also had a win percentage of 40.7%, which is one of the best among all Forest managers. Harry Hallam earns his place among the greatest Nottingham Forest managers ever.
2. Billy Walker [1939–60]
Billy Walker managed the club for 650 games over 21 years. He earned a promotion to the First Division in 1956–57 and an FA Cup final triumph two years later. Walker was a motivator and father figure rather than a tactician. He valued the input and experience of senior players and frowned at the march of chalkboard strategists.
He also became the only manager to win a Silverware both before and after the Second World War, as he had won the FA Cup with Sheffield Wednesday in 1935. His win percentage of 41.8% as Forest manager is also elite.
1. Brian Clough [1975–93]
Forest were in 13th place in the old Division Two when Brian Clough took charge of the club. During his 18 years as manager, he led Forest from the bottom of Division Two to winning the First Division Championship in 1978, followed by two consecutive European Cup wins in 1979 and 1980 and four League Cup victories.
His reputation was built on taking traditionally smaller clubs to great successes. First, he did it at Forest’s rivals Derby, where in the space of a few seasons they went from perennial second-tier club to champions of England and, a year later, European Cup semifinalists. He replicated the feat at Nottingham Forest, a second-division club that within a couple of years won a domestic title and two European Cups.
This has been argued as one of the greatest managerial feats in the English Football League’s history to date. It took tremendous intelligence and charisma to pull off, and Clough had plenty of both. He was awarded Manager of the Year in 1978.