Manchester Utd v Nott'm Forest

Forest were playing football before Manchester United even existed; thirteen years before, to be precise.

A group of shinny players in Nottingham formed a football club that would become Nottingham Forest. They are among the oldest association football clubs in the world, predating Manchester United by 13 years. Forest played their early matches on the Forest Recreation Ground, the open parkland that gave the club its name.

From railway sidings to 74,000 seats; humbler beginnings are hard to imagine.

The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway's carriage and wagon department formed Newton Heath LYR Football Club. They played on a rough pitch near the railway depot at North Road, a far cry from the 74,000-seat theatre they would eventually call home. The club joined the Football League in 1892 and was renamed Manchester United in 1902 after being rescued from bankruptcy.

A fixture born in 1892 that would outlast empires; modest crowds for a rivalry built to endure.

Newton Heath (as United were then known) joined the Football League's First Division in 1892, the same division as Nottingham Forest. The two sides began meeting regularly in league competition. These early encounters were played in front of modest crowds, but they established a fixture that would endure for well over a century.

A ground built for ambition in 1910; Forest have been watching it grow ever since.

United opened Old Trafford on 19 February 1910, with a match against Liverpool. The ground, designed by Archibald Leitch, gave United a permanent home befitting their growing ambitions. Forest would become regular visitors to what would eventually be dubbed the Theatre of Dreams, a ground that has hosted this fixture through two world wars, multiple rebuilds, and over a century of football.

Promoted one season, champions the next; Forest made the impossible look routine.

Under Brian Clough, Nottingham Forest won the First Division title in 1977-78, just a year after promotion from the Second Division. It remains one of the most remarkable achievements in English football history. They followed it with back-to-back European Cup triumphs in 1979 and 1980, beating Malmö and Hamburg respectively. During this golden era, matches against United carried extra edge; Forest were the team everyone wanted to topple.

One header, one win at the City Ground; the rest, as they say, is history.

On 7 January 1990, Manchester United travelled to the City Ground for an FA Cup third round tie. Alex Ferguson's position was under serious pressure after a poor run of league form. Mark Robins headed the only goal to give United a 1-0 victory. That win is widely credited as the result that saved Ferguson's job. United went on to beat Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final that May, launching a dynasty that would reshape English football entirely.

Forest spent 23 years in the wilderness while United lifted three trophies in a single season.

The 1998-99 season saw the two clubs' fortunes diverge as sharply as at any point in their history. Manchester United won the Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League to complete an unprecedented Treble. Nottingham Forest, meanwhile, finished bottom of the Premier League and were relegated. It would be 23 years before Forest returned to the top flight.

Twenty-three years of waiting, ended by a single goal at Wembley.

Under Steve Cooper, Forest won promotion via the Championship play-offs in May 2022, beating Huddersfield Town 1-0 at Wembley. It ended a 23-year exile from the top division and restored this fixture to the Premier League calendar. The return to Old Trafford carried real emotion for travelling Forest supporters who had waited over two decades to see their side compete at this level again.

Two clubs with European Cups on their mantlepiece, 80 miles apart on the M1; neither short of a grievance.

Manchester United and Nottingham Forest continue to meet in the Premier League, with Old Trafford providing the backdrop for one of English football's most historically rich fixtures. Forest have established themselves back in the top flight under Evangelos Marinakis' ownership, while United navigate a period of transition. The fixture retains its edge: two clubs with European Cup pedigree, separated by 80 miles of the M1, each with a point to prove.