Brian RICE

Poor old Brian Rice was often the butt of terrace humour during his time with Nottingham Forest. 'Zico', as he was affectionately named by the Trent End wags, arrived at the City Ground from Hibernian for a fee in the region of £200,000 during the summer of 1985. Rice's first season at the club saw him battling it out with Forest legend John Robertson, who was in his last season with the Reds, and Colin Walsh for the number 11 shirt. Brian played nineteen league games in all, scoring three times, with his first goal coming in a 3-0 win at local rivals Leicester City in early September. The following season saw the flame-haired Scotsman manage just three League appearances but he bounced back to establish himself as a regular in Brian Clough's starting line-up during the 1987-88 campaign.

Clough had handed the number 11 shirt to youngster Lee Glover at the start of the season but Rice got his chance in a 3-0 win at Coventry City and took it with both hands. Brian was never the quickest or most hard-working of players but his cultured left foot provided a balance to the Forest left flank. During Forest's fine run in the 1988 F.A. Cup it was the Glaswegian's strike which put the Reds 2-0 up and on the way to a splendid quarter-final victory against Arsenal, in front of 50,157 at Highbury. That proved to be the height of Rice's career at Forest as the emergence of Garry Parker midway through the 1988-89 season saw him ousted from his position wide on the left. After loan spells at both West Bromwich Albion and Stoke City Brian returned to his native Scotland with a move to Falkirk in August 1991. (David Scranage)