Sports journalist Daniel Taylor has put pen to paper to publish what’s being hailed as one of the most colourful books on Nottingham Forest FC.

Now at The Guardian, Daniel Taylor began his career at the Newark and South Notts Advertiser before working freelance for several titles, and – in his own words – is both blessed and cursed to be a Forest fan.

He has used his journalistic know-how to track down a series of legendary figures from the club whose tall tales and memories are compiled in Deep into the Forest.

Most Forest fans get accused of living in the past every other day.

In Daniel's new book they can wallow in it – from the days when players were proud to be in the starting XI - and not just in it for the vast amounts of cash on offer.

Deep into the Forest offers much more than following the ups and downs from the terraces. Exhilarating highs, excruciating lows, cup shocks, controversies and two European Cup wins in consecutive years under the manager who called himself Old Big ‘Ead feature in its pages.

Inevitably, the great man himself stars in every chapter and indeed, Daniel dedicated the book in Brian Clough’s honour.

The author says is it down to Clough that Forest supporters can hold their heads high when declaring where their affinity lies – a thought truer now than when the foreword was written in January this year.

He was warned "never meet your heroes", but turns those meetings into a flowing narrative that gave him more respect for those players – and keeps the readers hooked until the end.

All but one of the 14 players interviewed for Deep into the Forest has first-hand experience of working with the man feted as a genius, and all 14 are Forest "greats", for the most part with medals to prove it.

Stuart Pearce, Des Walker, Trevor Francis, Garry Birtles, John McGovern, Viv Anderson, Kenny Burns, Larry Lloyd, Nigel Cough, Neil Webb, Ian Storey-Moore, Archie Gemmill, Roy Keane and John Robertson are the 14 whose careers are traced and who contribute to the inside stories related in the pages.

The players don’t just stick to talking about their old boss though.

Pearce explains why part of him will always hate Liverpool, a normally-secretive Walker spills the beans, we learn about how Clough once punched Pearce in the dressing room, and of the long-running feud between two of the above-mentioned players.

The club is currently attempting a rebirth under manager Gary Megson, and, as the author admits: "The legends… are the same guys who give us hope for the future."

Deep into the Forest is published in paperback by The Parrs Wood Press at £9.95.
ISBN 1-903158-61-3