PLAYERS LEAGUE POSITIONS AT THE START END OF THEIR STAY

This is a quirky stat, but I wanted to see which players made the biggest contributions to our league standings over their Forest careers!

I found all the players who made at least 10 appearances in league games for us (so that counts out all the players prior to 1892) and then looked up our league position on their debut and the league position when they left (or at least on their last league game).

Biggest moves UP the league
It's a close competition here, but Peter Higham made his league debut when we were 19th in Division Two and when he left (62 games and 3 season later) we were in 7th place in the top flight so that's a jump of 34 league places. Right behind him is Matt Thornhill while several players from the League title winning period of the late 70's make appearances.

Here are the top 10 players who moved up the most league positions.
Player Name Game Count First Game Tier Pos Last Game Tier Pos League Places
Peter Higham62 Aug 20, 1955219 Mar 08, 19581734
Lyle Taylor75 Sep 12, 2020223 Aug 14, 202211033
Matt Thornhill71 Aug 18, 2007315 Nov 20, 20102633
Terry Curran52 Aug 30, 1975212 Aug 27, 19771133
Loïc Mbe Soh50 Sep 25, 2020222 Aug 14, 202211032
Cafú72 Oct 31, 2020221 Aug 14, 202211031
Ethan Horvath50 Aug 08, 2021220 Sep 02, 20231931
Jack Burkitt464 Oct 30, 1948219 Oct 21, 196111031
John O'Hare122 Feb 28, 1975214 May 12, 19801531
Gary Bull22 Nov 21, 1993213 Jan 25, 19951530


Biggest moves DOWN the league
Another close finish here, but Joe Ford made the first of his 104 league appearances at the start of the 1910-11 season when we were flying high and second in the first division. At the end of that season we were relegated and when Joe left as the First World War was starting) we were in 20th place in the second tier so he unfortunately moved us down 38 league places. Right behind him is Nigel Quashie who went from being in 2nd place in the top flight to 19th place in the second tier in just 48 games.

Here are the top 10 players who moved down the most league positions.
Player Name Game Count First Game Tier Pos Last Game Tier Pos League Places
Joe Ford104 Sep 01, 191012 Apr 25, 1914220-38
Nigel Quashie48 Aug 29, 199812 Mar 21, 2000219-37
Arthur Dexter258 Sep 01, 1923110 Mar 27, 1937221-33
Andy Gray87 Sep 08, 199814 Apr 21, 2002216-32
Matthieu Louis-Jean213 Sep 19, 1998111 May 08, 2005223-32
Alfred Fisher98 Dec 03, 191017 Apr 24, 1915218-31
Steve Chettle443 Feb 28, 198717 Nov 14, 1999217-30
Brian Laws152 Nov 06, 198819 Oct 30, 1993216-29
Joe Mercer150 Dec 24, 191019 Apr 24, 1915218-29
Walter Dudley278 Dec 27, 1902111 Nov 29, 1913220-29