BRIAN Clough put his faith in youth in 1986.
The championship side of the late 1970s was long gone, the only link being Garry Birtles in his post-Manchester United second stint at Forest.
The average age of the side was 24, built around the varied talents of Nigel Clough, Neil Webb, Johnny Metgod, Des Walker and their incomparable captain Stuart Pearce.
Forest got off to a flyer that year – after losing their opener at Everton a ten-match unbeaten run swept them to the top of the table.
The run included an incredible 6-2 win at Chelsea in which Birtles and Webb each scored a hat-trick. That made it eight goals in four matches for Webb, recently arrived from Portsmouth for �250,000.
It was something of a false dawn. Forest would find goals easy to come by during that season with only the top three outscoring them, but inconsistency would be the problem, losing at places like Oxford and Leicester while beating the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City.
They finished in eighth place behind Everton.
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