Reds and Rams: A Story of the East Midlands Derby is the tale of one of
the most fiercely fought football rivalries in the world. Hewed from the
Victorian industrial revolution, Nottingham Forest and Derby County have
contested league games for 130 years. Ever since the 1898 FA Cup Final,
the rivalry has ebbed and flowed, with each club enjoying both periods
of sustained success and existential threat. The reasons for this
deep-rooted antipathy are numerous, yet ultimately it boils down to two
football clubs similar in stature, size, history and geography existing
cheek by jowl. In essence, they are like two teenage siblings bickering
about anything and everything. Throughout, they have traded managers and
players, producing deep and lasting enmity. Derby is renowned for its
railways, Nottingham for Robin Hood. Each city has its own proud
identity and history. The only thing they have ever agreed on is the
genius of Brian Clough.