Nottingham Forest will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the club’s iconic crest and the contribution of its creator, David Lewis, at this weekend’s Premier League fixture against Manchester United.
In February 1973, the Nottingham Post launched a competition to design a new crest for the club, receiving over 800 entries from across the city and beyond, attracting entries from countries as far afield as Australia.
The eventual winner was David Lewis, a young designer from Cossall who was working at Nottingham Polytechnic, now known as Nottingham Trent University.
In April 1973, the Nottingham Post declared David’s design the winner and The Tricky Tree was born. Over the months that followed, David honed his design in collaboration with the then club secretary, Ken Smales, until he arrived at the final design of the crest that sits proudly on the Forest shirt to this day.
With the new crest adopted, Forest rose from the Second Division to achieve back-to- back European Cup victories and The Tricky Tree became one of the most identifiable and best-loved club crests in world football.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary, David was invited back to The City Ground earlier this month to help the club’s current graphic designers create a commemorative crest marking this historic milestone in Forest’s history. The design will adorn the front cover of the match day programme for Sunday’s game against Manchester United.
David will be presented with a special gift from the club on the pitch at half-time during Sunday’s game, thanking him for his incredible contribution to the history and future of Nottingham Forest.
The club’s Chairman, Nicholas Randall KC said: “We owe David great thanks and appreciation for his remarkable and enduring contribution to Nottingham Forest.
"His iconic design will be forever woven into the rich history of the club and we are delighted that David will be joining us for this Sunday’s Premier League fixture against Manchester United so that we may express our gratitude to him in person.”