The Forest History Thread - sponsored by I‘m Red Till Dead

[I'm Red Till Dead]

(Grantham Journal, Saturday, May 03, 1902)

Arthur Capes Transferred to Stoke

Arrangements were made on Monday for the transfer Arthur Capes from Nottingham Forest to Stoke. Capes, who has been with the Forest for several seasons, played his last game for the “reds" on Tuesday at Plymouth. The sum paid for his transfer is a handsome one, and, in view of the fact that he has served the club well, and has had no benefit, the Forest Committee have decided to make Capes a present of the cheque.

Note-
Capes was with Forest for 6 seasons. Imagine if they did that now. A player leaves for a £6m fee and you give it over to them! Obviously back then the transfer fee would have been far less life changing, but the generousity of the committee could explain why Forest often struggled financially.

 

[Strummer]

(Grantham Journal, Saturday, May 03, 1902)

Arthur Capes Transferred to Stoke

Arrangements were made on Monday for the transfer Arthur Capes from Nottingham Forest to Stoke. Capes, who has been with the Forest for several seasons, played his last game for the “reds" on Tuesday at Plymouth. The sum paid for his transfer is a handsome one, and, in view of the fact that he has served the club well, and has had no benefit, the Forest Committee have decided to make Capes a present of the cheque.

Note-
Capes was with Forest for 6 seasons. Imagine if they did that now. A player leaves for a £6m fee and you give it over to them! Obviously back then the transfer fee would have been far less life changing, but the generousity of the committee could explain why Forest often struggled financially.

The fee was probably something like Three-and-Six and a bag of Pork Scratchings.

 

[duncanmckenzie]

The fee was probably something like Three-and-Six and a bag of Pork Scratchings.

If the transfer was to Stoke it was probably a nice pretty tea cup

 

[I'm Red Till Dead]

The fee was probably something like Three-and-Six and a bag of Pork Scratchings.

James Iremongers benefit game against Sheffield Wednesday in January 1904 raised £240 so I guess it would be somewhere up to that amount.

According to the Bank of England website, £100 in 1902 is equivalent to £10,428 at the end of 2024, so three and six and a lorry load of pork scratchings.

 

[valspoodle]

I see on SSN that the England game this Summer (if it happens) will be the first England game at the CG since 1909.

 

[Historian]

I'm trying to assemble a correct (balanced) table for the Midland Senior League for 1991-92 when Forest B team took part. Could someone help with a list of the Forest results and a published table. I think this information may have appeared in the club yearbook for 1992-93.

 

[I'm Red Till Dead]

I'm trying to assemble a correct (balanced) table for the Midland Senior League for 1991-92 when Forest B team took part. Could someone help with a list of the Forest results and a published table. I think this information may have appeared in the club yearbook for 1992-93.

By Forest B are you refering to the Reserves? I know that in the distant past the club used to have the first team, the reserves and a junior A team. I haven't come across a B team though.

Back in 1992-3 I believe the reserves were in the Pontin's Central League Division 1 and had won it the season before.

With a one month access to the British Newspaper Archive (£14.99) you can search on the games in the league. A word of warning though access to the archive can be adictive! The Football Post editions for that year aren't there but the Sports Argus Editions are there and have Central League tables for the reserves games. (if you are looking for the reserve information)

If you are talking about the Central League the closest I saw to the final table is below but I don't have the time to do that for all the games.

There is a mention of Clough going to be at the game (so probably the last game he was at before he stepped down) It didn't say which of the 3 possible teams it was though and a quick check of some of the following days papers didn't carry the story.

 

[Ian Moore Gone Little]

I'm trying to assemble a correct (balanced) table for the Midland Senior League for 1991-92 when Forest B team took part. Could someone help with a list of the Forest results and a published table. I think this information may have appeared in the club yearbook for 1992-93.

I have that year’s handbook. I assume you mean the youth team in the Midland Purity League as opposed to the reserves in the Central League. I’m not sure if my tech knowledge is up to including the results and table (actually I am sure and it isn’t) and I’m popping out now, but I shall see what I can do when I get back. If there’s a particular player or opponent you’re interested in I can quote the relevant stats for you.

 

[Ian Moore Gone Little]

I have that year’s handbook. I assume you mean the youth team in the Midland Purity League as opposed to the reserves in the Central League. I’m not sure if my tech knowledge is up to including the results and table (actually I am sure and it isn’t) and I’m popping out now, but I shall see what I can do when I get back. If there’s a particular player or opponent you’re interested in I can quote the relevant stats for you.

Let’s see if this works.

 

[Ian Moore Gone Little]

Let’s see if this works.


View attachment 46266

 

[Ian Moore Gone Little]

OK, so what it lacks in aesthetics it makes up for in willingness. Hope this gives you what you were looking for.

 

[Historian]

Appreciate the help especially from Ian Moore. I'll explain a bit further. The Midland Senior League (MSL) was an open age competition linked to the Midland Purity Youth League which was age restricted. So in addition to their Central League team Forest also entered an adult team in the MSL for a few seasons beginning in 1989-90. In 1995-96 the MSL became the third division of the Central League. The Forest team was often called Forest B, although some of the Evening Post reports refer to it as the reserves. Apart from Notts County (who also entered a third adult team known as Notts County A) all the other teams were reserved sides of lower division clubs.

I'm trying to complete an accurate (balanced) table for the Midland Division for the League and League Cup for 1991-92. For the MSL League Cup the top two played off in the final with Peterborough beating Forest 2-0.

The only table I have is one sent to me in the 1990s but, for example the total goals for and against for all teams should balance and they don't. I've hopefully attached this below (I'd have put Nottingham Forest if it was me!).

 

[Historian]

The table doesn't seem to attach but the teams taking part in 1991-92 were
Forest B, Notts County A, and the reserve teams of Birmingham City, Lincoln City, Doncaster Rovers, Shrewsbury Town, Walsall, Peterborough United, Chesterfield and Northampton Town.

 

[I'm Red Till Dead]

In the

Appreciate the help especially from Ian Moore. I'll explain a bit further. The Midland Senior League (MSL) was an open age competition linked to the Midland Purity Youth League which was age restricted. So in addition to their Central League team Forest also entered an adult team in the MSL for a few seasons beginning in 1989-90. In 1995-96 the MSL became the third division of the Central League. The Forest team was often called Forest B, although some of the Evening Post reports refer to it as the reserves. Apart from Notts County (who also entered a third adult team known as Notts County A) all the other teams were reserved sides of lower division clubs.

I'm trying to complete an accurate (balanced) table for the Midland Division for the League and League Cup for 1991-92. For the MSL League Cup the top two played off in the final with Peterborough beating Forest 2-0.

The only table I have is one sent to me in the 1990s but, for example the total goals for and against for all teams should balance and they don't. I've hopefully attached this below (I'd have put Nottingham Forest if it was me!).

That explains why I saw the Forest reserves mentioned as playing in both as if they were interchangeable and of course not at the same time.

 

[tjhooker]

The fee was probably something like Three-and-Six and a bag of Pork Scratchings.

Didn't know Marthur was that old

 

[I'm Red Till Dead]

It seems that two former Forest players of different political persuasions,fought it out in the Chilwell seat of the county council elections of 1910.

George Tutin (Lib) beat Sam Weller Widdowson (Con)

 

[I'm Red Till Dead]

I wondered how much the tickets cost for the 1898 cup final and found this.

(London Evening Standard, Wednesday, April 13, 1898)​

Advertisement

FINAL TIE for the FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION CHALLENGE CUP - CRYSTAL PALACE, SATURDAY NEXT, April 16, Notts Forest v. Derby County. Kick off at 3.30. A few additional unnumbered Ring Tickets (2s. 6d.) have been provided, and can be obtained on application to Manager, Crystal Palace, S.E. All ?????? sold. Admission to Palace and Grounds, 1s. The match can be witnessed by tens of thousands without extra payment.


This doesn't cover all the tickets, but it looks like 1s. (5d) for entry to the park and people could see the game from some areas of the park without further payment.
On offer at this late date were unnumbered ring tickets at 2s. 6d. (12 1/2p) which I assume would get a person into the area around the pitch (the ring) but behind those with numbered tickets who would be towards the front.

I can't work out what the following says -

 

[Steve B]

Was probably the seats in the grandstand - ‘bench seats’?
I think the free charge outer area and inner ring area can be seen here - funny old layout the ground had.

 

[I'm Red Till Dead]

Yes there is a picture from 1905 here (Not the cup final though looking at the weather)

 

[Steve B]

The story I like from the 1898 cup final is some Forest fans in the crowd were waving shinny sticks about. You can see one here in this photo just after Forest scored.

 

[I'm Red Till Dead]

The following appears to be the first advert for a Forest Season ticket. Note that it includes a membershop fee too

I ran it through the Bank of England's inflation calculator and that's equivalent to £231.32 as at January 2025

 

[I'm Red Till Dead]

A heads up for those of you who have access to my scrapbooks.

I'm hoping to get nev versions of the volumes uploaded by the weekend, I'm just checking the index at the oment to check for any issues, but it takes a while to go through the 152 pages that it is now.

The Forest Museum now have access and the hope is that they will get some extra space when the stadium is upgraded and there will be a room for research access and the scrapbooks will be part of the offer to the researchers who use it.

With this release there will be

Almost 4,500 pages plus the 152 page index
Just over 4,500 transcribed articles and extracts, plus a number of appendicies
Just over 1,200 of the articles are match reports from across the clubs life time.
There are reports on over 50% of the annual meetings across the clubs history
There are also player movements, into and out of the club and before and after.
And there are reports on deaths and other life events of the players, club committee men, vps, etc

The combined word count for the 4 volumes is now just over 1,850,000, which is over twice that of the King James version of the bible!

I'll let you know when it's uploaded to Dropbox.

 

[Ian Moore Gone Little]

A heads up for those of you who have access to my scrapbooks.

I'm hoping to get nev versions of the volumes uploaded by the weekend, I'm just checking the index at the oment to check for any issues, but it takes a while to go through the 152 pages that it is now.

The Forest Museum now have access and the hope is that they will get some extra space when the stadium is upgraded and there will be a room for research access and the scrapbooks will be part of the offer to the researchers who use it.

With this release there will be

Almost 4,500 pages plus the 152 page index
Just over 4,500 transcribed articles and extracts, plus a number of appendicies
Just over 1,200 of the articles are match reports from across the clubs life time.
There are reports on over 50% of the annual meetings across the clubs history
There are also player movements, into and out of the club and before and after.
And there are reports on deaths and other life events of the players, club committee men, vps, etc

The combined word count for the 4 volumes is now just over 1,850,000, which is over twice that of the King James version of the bible!

I'll let you know when it's uploaded to Dropbox.

Thanks for the update.

That’s brilliant news that the club intend there to be public access to this and other archive material. That would’ve been a godsend to me when I was researching the 1966/67 season for the intended book that instead became a season of programme articles. I look forward to its becoming a reality and hope it will get a lot of use.

 

[I'm Red Till Dead]

Thanks for the update.

That’s brilliant news that the club intend there to be public access to this and other archive material. That would’ve been a godsend to me when I was researching the 1966/67 season for the intended book that instead became a season of programme articles. I look forward to its becoming a reality and hope it will get a lot of use.

Yes, hopefully they will get to it.

There is a long way to go and I'm pretty sure thet I will never finish the project myself. To catch up and get everything in there I estimate at the current rate will take me 80 years, but I will keep chipping away between trying to get other things done in life and hope that maybe one day someone else will be crazy enough to pick it up and run with it to get it finished.

 

[Loughborough_red]

The story I like from the 1898 cup final is some Forest fans in the crowd were waving shinny sticks about. You can see one here in this photo just after Forest scored.

View attachment 46774

Surely the earliest image of us actually playing?

I love that you can (just) make out the Victorian pitch markings, before the advent of the penalty area.