On Thursday July 12 2001, after the sudden departure of David Platt to the England U21 job, Paul Hart took over the manager's job at Forest.

The appointment was extremely swift, coming only an hour after the announcement that Platt was leaving - the appointment has already proved very popular with Forest fans everywhere.

At the time of his appointment Paul was the director of Forest's highly successful Youth academy, a position he had held for the previous four years.

The products of Paul's work at the acadamy have been filtering through to the first team for the past couple of years. Players such as David Prutton, Chris Doig, Jermain Jenas, Gareth Edds, Andy Reid, Keith Foy, David Freeman, Kevin Dawson, Gareth Williams, Barry Roche, and Richard Cooper have all made the transition from the academy to the first team squad. And the really good news is that there are more to come.

Paul's appointment as manager will not affect the academy structure at all and it is understood that he will have a big say in the appointment of his successor.

Paul will officially take control of the club next Tuesday (July 17 2001) when he returns to the club after a family holiday.

Before taking charge at the Forest academy Paul was in charge of the youth system at Leeds United. Again, he had a very successful career there and the products of his youth system are currently providing the Leeds fans with a lot of joy.

Paul was a Forest player from 1983-84, when as a defender he made a total of 87 appearances and scored 3 goals.

Paul's goal tally should actually read 4, but he had the misfortune to score in the most controversial match that Forest have ever played in and the referee disallowed the goal.

The game concerned was the 1984 UEFA Cup semi-final away leg against Anderlecht. Forest had already won the home leg at The City Ground 2-0, Steve Hodge scoring both goals. Forest were firm favourites to win the tie and go on to the final.

What happened next though is football history, but in short the Spanish referee, Guruceto Muro, had been bribed by Andelecht. Anderlecht won the game 3-0 on the night, but to get there the referee had to give possibly the most ludicrous penalty decision ever seen, when he awarded a penalty against Kenny Swain. Swain was in fact nowhere near the diving Belgian attacker (watch the video - you could drive two buses, side by side, through the gap between them). But that didn't stop him awarding the penalty.

The final nail in the coffin for Forest though, came in the dying seconds of the game when Paul Hart headed home the goal that would have seen Forest going through to the final on the away goals rule. The referee immediately disallowed the goal, much to everyone's surprise - including the Andelecht players. Nobody has ever been able to work out what was wrong with the goal despite it being dissected countless times on the TV.

The bribery was suspected by Clough at the time. However, it only came to light after the death of the referee, who was killed in a car accident. For over ten years after the event Anderlecht had paid out hundreds of thousands of pounds to a blackmailer who had threatened to tell all to the press. But when a change at the top in Anderlecht took place in 1997 the police were called in and the blackmailer was arrested.

Anderlecht claimed the £18,000 was a "loan" which had never been repaid and the details had never been recorded in writing. They could not give a satisfactory explanation to UEFA as to why they paid the blackmailers. UEFA were not fooled by Anderlecht's vague explanations over the bribery and corruption and so they came down with all their might on the club, banning them from European competitions for a whole year - and people say the death penalty is harsh, you'd better not mess with UEFA.

Both Forest and the players from that night are pursuing a claim for compensation against Anderlecht through the Belgian courts. At the time of writing this the case is still on-going.

Ian Bowyer, speaking years after the event, said: "The ref wouldn't even shake our hands. Cloughie came in and effectively told us that the referee was bent and we should just get out of there. It was the only time I ever knew Brian to believe that an official had been fixed."

Paul Hart summed up his feelings over the claims for compensation, saying: "How can you put a price on a European medal? I never won a medal, ever. This was my opportunity. What's the point in bothering if clubs can pay referees and get away with it? We deserve justice, not for ourselves, but for the game. What Anderlecht allegedly did undermines the whole moral and competitive basis of football. It's that serious."

Well Paul, you may never have won a medal during your playing days, but everyone here at u-reds.com wishes you all the best and a cupboard full of trophies during your career as the manager of Nottingham Forest.

Update - 7 February 2004

Just over an hour after the 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Coventry City Paul Hart was sacked by Nottingham Forest.