2004–05 Nottingham Forest F.C. season

Manager Joe Kinnear was hoping to push for promotion from the newly named Coca-Cola Championship in 2004–05, but the start to the season was poor. Despite a promising draw with Wigan on the first day of the season (the game which started a run of four consecutive draws), the team's form and league position went downhill. With fans becoming restless, and the threat of demonstrations against the team management, Kinnear resigned in December after a 3–0 defeat to arch-rivals Derby County at Pride Park left Forest struggling at the foot of the Championship.[1] Following Mick Harford's brief reign as caretaker, in January 2005, Gary Megson was named as Nottingham Forest's new manager. He had previously won promotion to the Premiership twice with West Bromwich Albion, having taken over at a time when they were on the verge of relegation to League One,[2] and it was hoped that he could achieve the same success with Forest. After a loss to Millwall in Megson's first match in charge, a six-game unbeaten run gave the fans hope that survival might be on the cards. However, Forest would win only one more league game all season after that, and they finished second from bottom in the Coca-Cola Championship and were relegated to League One. This made them the first former European Cup winners to suffer relegation to the third tier of their domestic league.

Nottingham Forest's score comes first[3]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  IRL Colin Doyle (on loan from Birmingham City) 2 DF  FRA Matthieu Louis-Jean 3 DF  ENG Alan Rogers 4 DF  ENG Wes Morgan 5 MF  JAM Darryl Powell[4] 6 DF  IRL John Thompson 7 MF  FRA David Friio 8 MF  WAL Paul Evans[5] 9 FW  JAM David Johnson 10 FW  WAL Gareth Taylor 11 FW  JAM Marlon King[6] 12 GK  IRL Barry Roche 14 MF  SCO Eoin Jess 15 MF  ENG Andy Impey 16 DF  SCO Chris Doig 17 MF  ENG Kris Commons 18 FW  ENG Kevin James 19 FW  ENG Jack Lester 20 FW  ENG Craig Westcarr

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 DF  ENG John Curtis 22 GK  ENG Paul Gerrard 23 MF  GER Eugen Bopp 24 DF  SCO Gregor Robertson 26 MF  ENG Ross Gardner 27 MF  ENG James Beaumont 28 DF  ENG James Perch 29 DF  NOR Jon Olav Hjelde 30 DF  ENG Des Walker 31 GK  ENG Ian Deakin 32 MF  ENG Adam Nowland 33 FW  ENG Neil Harris 34 FW  ENG Scott Dobie 35 DF  ENG Justyn Roberts 36 DF  WAL Andy Melville (on loan from West Ham United) 37 DF  FRA Vincent Fernandez 38 MF  ENG Gavin Hurren 39 FW  ENG Matthew Glass 40 GK  ENG John Lukic

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  WAL Darren Ward (to Norwich City) 5 DF  ENG Michael Dawson (to Tottenham Hotspur) 7 MF  IRL Andy Reid (to Tottenham Hotspur) 19 MF  IRL Brian Cash (to Bristol Rovers)

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 DF  AUS David Tarka (to Perth Glory FC) 34 MF  ENG Shaun Derry (on loan from Crystal Palace) 35 MF  TOG Yoann Folly (on loan from Southampton)