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When Brian Clough took over Nottingham Forest in 1975, he arrived at an unfashionable, unremarkable mid-table team in the second flight of English football, as he looked to rebuild his reputation after a well-documented 44-day stint at Leeds United.

Within four years Forest were champions of Europe, and Old Big 'Ead had completed one of the most remarkable managerial achievements in football history.

This incredible feat has now found its way to the big screen , with a new documentary "I Believe in Miracles" telling the story of Forests' rise under Clough and his assistant Peter Taylor.

And that got us thinking. How would Clough's vintage 1979 Forest team fare in the Premier League and Champions League today? And could a team go from being a middle-of-the-pack Championship side to back-to-back European champions in four years in this day and age?

Luckily, our pals at Football Manager were on hand to answer these questions for us.

We asked them to parachute Cloughie's 1979 team into this season's Premier League and Champions League and then run a simulation to see just how they got on.

Finally, we put the same Forest side into this season's Championship and gave them four years to see if they could conquer Europe.

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Forest ’79 in the 2015-16 Premier League

Brian Clough guides Forest to a seventh place finish in the Premier League, finishing on sixty points.

Clough’s Forest can’t break the dominance of the top six in English football but his team finish seven points clear of eighth placed Everton.

Tony Woodcock and Gary Birtles form a potent strike partnership, scoring a combined thirty-one goals between them – Woodcock nets eighteen times, Birtles thirteen times.

(Image: John Sumpter)

John Robertson finishes the season as Forest’s best player with a 7.75 average rating, eleven assists and ten goals. He also narrowly misses out on the Footballer of the Year award to City’s Sergio Aguero.

Other notable players in Forest’s season include Peter Shilton, who keeps ten clean sheets and Forest’s defensive pairing of Larry Lloyd and Kenny Burns who play a large part in ensuring that Forest end the season with the fourth best defensive record in the league.

In the cups, Forest reach the semi-finals of the League Cup but come up against an Arsenal side that are too good for them over the course of two legs. In the FA Cup, Forest reach the quarter-finals and force a replay against Tottenham but a late Harry Kane goal knocks Clough’s side out.

Notable results over the course of Forest’s season include: a double over local rivals Leicester including a 5-2 win at the City Ground, a 4-2 win at Anfield and a 4-0 win over West Brom.

Forest ’79 in the 2015-16 Champions League

(Image: Getty)

Forest are placed in a tough group along with Juventus, Atletico Madrid and BATE Borisov.

Going into the final group game, Forest sit in third place on seven points needing to beat Juventus to go through after a draw against Atletico at home and two wins over BATE.

Clough’s men escape from the group in second place after a remarkable 3-2 win at the City Ground against the Italian champions – a result that sends last season’s finalists out.

In the last 16, Forest are paired against oil-rich PSG. The French outfit’s expensively acquired squad comes out on top 4-2 on aggregate against Clough’s more reasonably priced team; although Forest battle to a 1-1 draw at the City Ground.

(Image: popperfoto.com)

Forest’s top scorer in the competition is Trevor Francis with four while Tony Woodcock scores three.

John Robertson is Forest’s most effective player with three assists, two goals and an average rating of 7.65

Forest ’79 replacing the current Forest side

Note: This simulation was run over the course of four seasons to replicate the time it took Clough to take Forest from the Second Division to European Champions

Forest win the Championship in Clough’s first season, finishing on ninety-five points.

In their first season in the Premier League, Forest finish in twelfth position on forty-nine points.

Forest move up the table by the end of the third season as they break into the top half, finishing in ninth place on fifty-three points.

(Image: Getty)

At the end of the final season of the simulation, Forest are in eighth place in the league on fifty-five points proving that Clough’s achievement was a footballing miracle that couldn’t be replicated in the modern world of agents, prima donna footballers and the multi-billion pound Premier League.

Forest’s best chance of silverware comes in the League Cup as Clough reaches the final at Wembley in the 2017-18 season only to be denied glory by Mourinho’s Chelsea and a Gary Cahill header.

Over the course of the four seasons, Gary Birtles, Tony Woodcock and Trevor Francis score the bulk of Forest’s goals with Birtles netting twenty-three times in the 2018-19 season.

John Robertson is Forest’s stand out individual as he averages a rating of 7.47 across the four campaigns – comparable with Aguero, Sanchez and Hazard’s ratings over the same period.

Clough turns down bids from United, City and Arsenal for Robertson while Peter Shilton rejects the chance to join Chelsea and provide competition for Thibault Courtois.

Clough finishes in third place for the Manager of the Year award in 2016-17 and is seen as a potential England manager by the footballing press by the end of the simulation. His name is also linked to the Manchester United and Arsenal jobs.

I Believe in Miracles is in cinemas nationwide now