Timeline of Events - The Doughty Years

16 May 1999: Forest relegated from the Premiership

1999-00

May 17: Nigel Doughty announces that he has acquired a 40.5% stake in Nottingham Forest Ltd (making him the largest single shareholder). His arrival follows a shake-up which saw Experian chairman Eric Barnes & Mansfield Brewery chairman Sir David White join the board

May 19: Forest dismiss speculation linking them to Martin O’Neill

June 23: Irving Scholar resigns from the board accusing other board members of a "farcical lack of professionalism''

June 25: Pierre van Hooidonk sold for 3.5 mllion

June 26: Forest players report back for pre-season training without a manager or senior coaches. Andy Johnson claims ''the new manager should have been installed two months ago - as soon as Ron Atkinson said he was going to retire. It's all up in the air at the moment. The summer has been a nightmare, to be honest - managerless with my club and I'm managerless with Wales''

June 27: Dismayed by boardroom faction-fighting and the club’s seeming inability to appoint a new manager Mark Crossley warns that Forest could ''do a Man City''

July 2: David Platt is unveiled by Nigel Doughty & Eric Barnes as the new Forest manager. Doughty adds, "I wanted someone who is first-class to manage Nottingham Forest so we can take the club forward. Getting David is a real feather in our cap"

July 10: Nigel Doughty is accused by a group of existing shareholders of making a ‘cheap and improper bid’ for the club. Legal action is threatened

July 22: David Platt makes his first signing, acquiring Riccy Scimeca for a startling 3 million

August 2-3: David Platt confirms the signing of ageing Italians Salvatore Matrecano, Moreno Mannini and Gianluca Petrachi for a total of 2.5 million

August 3: Forest announce that Phil Soar will be replaced as CEO by Mark Arthur. Arthur states that he will ''let success do the talking at Forest''

August 7: Forest lose their first game of the season 3-1 at Ipswich – press headline ‘Italian Defence Ripped to Pizzas’

October 6: Floundering in the league Forest sign Stern John for 1.5 million

October 29: Jim Brennan signed in another surprising 1.5 million deal

November 4: Stan Collymore turns down a return to Forest

November 29: Platt states that he ''can’t play and manage'' (he was certainly right about the latter)

December 11: Despite widespread calls for Platt to be sacked the board state their public support for him. Eric Barnes claims the board ''employed David as a man for the future and we stick by that"

January 28: With Forest still struggling for goals Jack Lester is signed for 300k

March 25: Forest lose again (1-0 at home to Blackburn) to slip to within just two points of the drop zone

May 7: Forest end the season with a John Terry inspired flourish to finish the campaign in 14th place

2000-01

June 6: Gary Jones is the only incoming transfer of the summer. Ian Woan, Mark Crossley and Nigel Quashie (600k) all leave the club. Platt is told there’s no more money to spend

August 22: Nigel Doughty reveals that he has provided a 6 million loan guarantee to the club

October 3: Forest publicly back David Platt who has come under a further hail of criticism by the fans. Mark Arthur states, "he is our manager and we must get behind him''

October 23: Striker Dougie Freedman sold for 600k

November 29: Forest pull out of the race to sign Robbie Blake

January 13: David Johnson completes a 3 million switch to the City Ground as the club takes out a further 5 million loan

January 16: High Court proceedings brought by Irving Scholar and Julian Markham start against Nigel Doughty

April 5: David Platt announces that he is resigned to losing the club’s better players at the end of the season, due to the club’s seriously deteriating financial position

April 6: Judge Hart finds in favour of Nigel Doughty and Nottingham Forest Football Club

May 6: Forest’s play-off hopes are extinguished as they manage to win just two of their last 10 league games of the season – finishing the campaign in 11 place. David Platt is offered a new three year contract. Eric Barnes claims ''Platt will become a great manager''

2001-02

July 13 With the Forest players in France David Platt announces his resignation in order to take up a role with the England U-21s. Paul Hart confirmed as new manager

July 31 Eric Barnes announces his intention to resign as Forest chairman

August 1 Forest put their squad up for sale after announcing that they’re losing 100k a week. Paul Hart asked to cut the wage bill one week before the start of the season

November 27 Mark Arthur reveals that club captain and club player of the year, Chris Bart-Williams, is banned from playing for Forest again following his rejection of a move to Southampton

December 9 Nigel Doughty announces a deal to cover the clubs mounting debts in return for an additional 45% stake in the club

January 19 Shareholders at a hastily arranged AGM approve Nigel Doughty’s offer

February 1 Forest accept a 5 million bid for Jermaine Jenas

February 8 Stern John sold for 150k after its revealed Forest can no longer afford to play him due to the bullet payments in his contract

April 16 Forest shares permanently suspended from AIM following the clubs inability/unwillingness to publish outstanding accounts

April 21 Forest finish the season in 16 place – their lowest position since 1949

2002-03

October 22: Forest ask the City Council to hand over the free-hold to the City Ground

January 15: Forest announce that Capital One will succeed Pinnacle Insurance as the club’s main in a record 5-6 million deal

February 1: With Forest 4th in the table David Prutton completes a 2.5 million switch to Southampton on transfer deadline day

February 4: Darren Huckerby loan deal confirmed

February 22: Stoke are beaten 6-0 as Paul Hart and his youngsters (all of whom were at Forest before Nigel Doughty arrived) attract increasing national praise and attention

March 19: Derby are well and truly beaten 3-0 at the City Ground as Forest consolidate themselves in the play-off places and the Rams head towards a relegation scrap

May 15: Forest let slip a 2-0 lead at Brammal Lane to lose in the Play-off Semi-Finals

2003-04

June 4: Forest announce a 10% across-the-board increase in season-ticket prices

July 1: Brennan, Scimeca, Lester, Hjelde all leave on free transfers

August 8: Forest announce that season-tickets are up to their highest levels since1994

August 18: David Johnson hits out at Doughty’s running of the club claiming it’s ludicrous for him to expect the side to go into the new season with only three strikers, particularly when one of those is only 16.

August 23: Forest announce they have scrapped long-standing plans to build a new main stand and the money instead will be invested in a promotion push

August 27: Paul Hart who hasn't been able to spend a penny on players since being appointed Forest manager more than two years previously, finally spends 500k to sign Gareth Taylor

September 23: Doughty’s audacity reaches new heights as he asks the City Council to cover Forest’s debts with a 20 million bond, politely termed a bridging-loan

November 21: Paul Hart hits out at the board after they refuse him the funds to sign Stephen McPhail

November 25: Marlon Harewood sold to West Ham for 500k

November 27: Marlon King signed for 950k as a quid pro quo

January 19: Paul Hart receives a vote of confidence and the approval to make loan signings

February 7: Paul Hart sacked after a 1-0 home defeat to Coventry

February 10: Nigel Doughty announces the appointment of Joe Kinnear, ignoring the fans choice Stuart Pearce

February 13: Nottingham City Council announce that Forest have club have reneged on a £200,000 Trent End Bond loan interest payment

May 9: Forest enjoy a mini-revival under Joe Kinnear to pull away from the relegation zone. Kinnear talks of making ''sexy signings''

2004-05

May 26: Forest announce a 15% across-the-board rise in season-ticket prices. Mark Arthur states, "The money raised will go to help Joe Kinnear build up the squad. That is most definitely the case … We're serious about mounting a promotion bid and any extra revenue raised will go towards helping Joe achieve his ambition of bringing Premiership football back to the City Ground.''

June 15: Gareth Williams announces that he’s to join Leicester City (a tribunal sets the fee at 500k)

29 June: Forest announce that they can’t and won’t pay the £4,516,584 sum owed to the City Council on the Trent End Bond

August 4: Andy Reid hits out at Doughty over the lack of signings and expresses relegation fears, claiming that ''playing for Forest is like playing for a club in administration''

August 6: Darren Ward sold to Norwich City for 300k. Forest offer an equivalent amount to Everton for Leon Osman which is immediately rejected as ‘derisory’

September 11: Nigel Doughty dismisses the fans frustrations over the teams poor start to the season (Forest went nine games without a win from the campaigns’ start) and lack of signings by claiming you can ''only judge Nottingham Forest's progress after 13 or 14 matches''

September 22: The tragic loss of Brian Clough is announced

October 2: Nigel Doughty publicly states that he’d rather give his money to charity than overpaid footballers and won’t be bankrolling the club any more

November 3: Vocal Forest fans turn their anger on Nigel Doughy during a league fixture with Rotherham. Doughty’s immediate response is to sanction the signing of Adam Nowland for 250k in a blatant attempt to buy off the discontent

November 4: Joe Kinnear handed a vote of confidence and approval to make Mick Harford his assistant, despite the fans calls for his head

November 14: Joe Kinnear states that he needs cash to strengthen the squad and ''stop the rot.'' A bid for Steve Howard is rejected by Luton as ‘derisory.’ Jack Lester is signed for 50k

December 11: Kinnear quits following Forest’s 3-0 defeat to Derby. Mick Harford confirmed as caretaker manager. Despite serious relegation fears Forest fans are told not to expect any permanent managerial decision to be made until Doughty returns to the UK in the new year

January 10: Former Forest reject Gary Megson appointed manager, despite the fans calls for Stuart Pearce. Doughty states, ''candidates of the quality and track record of Gary Megson only become available very infrequently and we felt this was too good an opportunity for Nottingham Forest to miss.'' Des Walker and Mick Harford are immediately dismissed

February 1: With Forest in the bottom two Andy Reid and Michael Dawson are sold on Premiership transfer deadline day, for a deal which could potentially total 8 million. David Friio and Scott Dobie and signed in return, for 100k and 550k respectively, before the Football League deadline closes

March 12: Forest lose 6-0 to Ipswich - the Championship’s biggest win of the season. Forest win just 1 of their remaining 11 league games

April 22: Forest announce that an internal investigation will be launched into claims that a group of players engaged in a glass-smashing pub crawl days before the club’s most important game in years

April 30: Nigel Doughty becomes the first Forest chairman since the 1940s to take the club down to the 3rd tier of English football and the only chairman to ever to relegate former European Champions to the 3rd tier of domestic football, following Forest’s 2-1 defeat at Loftus Road

May 3: Forest tell Gary Megson that his job is safe with Mark Arthur claiming ''Gary Megson is the right man to lead them back into the Championship''

May 9: Nigel Doughty announces he will clear the club’s ‘short-term debt’ in exchange for acquiring the remaining 15% of club shares outside of his control

2005-06

July 5: Forest confirm the signing of Ian Breckin for 350k and Marlon King’s exit to Watford for a potential 500k fee in the only significant cash deals of the summer. A number of ageing has-beens and miss-fits are acquired to replace a dozen released players.

August 16: Forest’s bid for Walsall striker Matty Fryatt dismissed by Walsall as ‘derisory’

August 23: Forest are beaten 3-2 at home in the 1st Round of League Cup by second from bottom League Two side Macclesfield Town

August 25: Forest sign Tranmere Rovers 32-year-old 5th choice striker Eugene Dadi on a free

September 12: Gary Megson announces he will consider his position and discuss his future with Doughty following Forest’s sixth defeat in seven matches

October 6: Forest slap a laughable 5 million price tag on Kris Commons

October 18: Forest lose their first competitive fixture to non-league opposition in modern times - beaten in the Football League Trophy 3-2 by Woking

November 5: Forest are held to 1-1 draw at the City Ground in the 2nd Round of the FA Cup by Conference South side Weymouth

January 3-12: Following growing fan anger, mainly directed at Gary Megson, Forest belatedly dip into the transfer market to sign strikers Grant Holt and Nathan Tyson for just under 1 million

February 13: Nigel Doughty gives his backing to Gary Megson following another home defeat and chants from the Forest fans of 'Megson for Derby'

February 15: Gary Megson quits following a 3-0 defeat to Oldham – Forest’s 4th successive defeat in 5 games. Forest just 4 points away from the drop zone

February 18: Former European Cup Winner Larry Lloyd hits out at Doughty in the national press calling him ''a joke'' who is ''running the risk of damaging the club beyond repair''

May 6: Forest enjoy an impressive turnaround under caretaker managers Charlie McParland and Frank Barlow but still finish the season in 7 place – their lowest league finish EVER

2006-07

May 30: Colin Calderwood announced as the new Forest manager, despite the fans calls for Roy Keane, Brian Laws, Nigel Clough

June 5: Forest announce another hike in season-ticket prices, making them the highest in League One, in order to ''fund a promotion campaign''

June 27: Calderwood tells the Forest fans not to expect any significant transfer activity

August 30: Forest complete the signing of Junior Agogo for 125k following a long-term injury to Nathan Tyson

August 21: Forest exit the League Cup at the first hurdle following a humiliating 1-0 defeat to Accrington Stanley

October 7: In front of the Sky cameras Forest are beaten 4-0 at home by Brian Laws Scunthorpe United

October 17: The City Ground records it’s lowest ever gate for a competitive Forest game as 2,031 turn up for the Johnstone's Paint Trophy game against Brentford.

October 24: Financial Results for the season 2005-06 show Forest to be carrying debts in excess 30 million

December 3: Forest escape with a 1-1 draw in the FA Cup at Conference South side Salisbury

January 4: Police launch probe into Forest players ‘night-on-the-town’

January 11: Doughty claims the club refuses to be ''held to ransom over potential signings''

January 28: Forest beaten 3-0 by a mix of Chelsea reservists and youngsters in one of the most one-sided mismatches ever witnessed at Stamford Bridge, live in front of the BBC cameras

May 18: Forest beaten 5-2 at the City Ground by Yeovil and condemned to spend an unprecedented 3rd successive season in the 3rd tier of English football

May 21: Doughty announces that Colin Calderwood has his full support