Forest were thought as a small team by English league standards until the mid 1970s, when Brian Clough and his assistant Peter Taylor took the reign at the club. Clough was the most successful manager in the history of Nottingham Forest football club. He had won the league championship with Forest's deadly rivals Derby County in 1972, and came to Nottingham Forest on January 6th 1975, after a 0-2 home defeat by nearby rivals Notts County, on Boxing day, prompted the committee (Forest had no board of directors then) to let go of the previous manager Allan Brown.