Derby County v Nottingham Forest: Who are the bigger club? AI decides | OneFootball

Derby County and Nottingham Forest have been East Midlands rivals for decades, but who are the biggest? We asked AI to make a definitive decision.

There are just 15 miles separating the cities of Derby and Nottingham, so naturally County and Forest are the keenest of rivals. Today, FLW has asked AI to judge which is the bigger of these two clubs.

Both Derby County and Nottingham Forest have had their ups and downs over the years. Forest are currently in the ascendency, with Premier League football having returned to The City Ground and European football coming this season.

But Derby are showing signs of reviving themselves after several years in the doldrums. Last season saw them narrowly avoid relegation from the Championship, but new manager John Eustace has overseen a summer of change at Pride Park, and while their league season started with a disappointing 3-1 loss at Stoke, they knocked West Bromwich Albion out of the EFL Cup on penalty kicks and there remains optimism that they can improve on last season's 20th-placed finish.

ChatGPT concludes that Nottingham Forest are bigger than Derby County

The very first thing to say about asking ChatGPT this question is that it took a long time for it to arrive at a conclusion. It spent a full five minutes gathering and analysing data before concluding that Nottingham Forest are the bigger of these two clubs.

This will, of course, incense Derby fans, so let's dig into how it reached its conclusion. The answer to this thorny question is essentially trophy count, which it has clearly weighted as being very important indeed. Forest can boast one League championship, two FA Cups, four League Cups and two European Cups, while Derby can boast two League championships and one FA Cup.

ChatGPT also flagged up other areas in which Forest are in the ascendency. They have a slight advantage in the head-to-head meetings between the two clubs, with 43 wins to Derby's 38, a slightly bigger average attendance (29,386 vs Derby's 27,278), and also points out that Forest are a Premier League club while Derby are in the Championship.

Derby County are just one excellent season away from reaching parity with Forest in 2026

It's not all bad news for Derby fans, because ChatGPT did identify some ways in which they are the bigger club. They have the bigger ground, with Pride Park holding 33,597 while the City Ground holds 30,148. And Derby have the edge over Forest when it comes to the number of top-flight seasons they've played, with 65 to Forest's 58.

And while Forest do quite clearly have a longer list of major trophies won than Derby, it is worth remembering that all of these trophies are historical. Neither club has won any in the 21st century, with the last of them being Forest's League Cup triumph in 1990. The two European Cup wins that AI ranked as extremely important in defining the gap between the two clubs occurred in 1979 and 1980, with the League win that qualified them for that competition in the first place coming in 1978.

Derby's two League titles both came in the 1970s, in 1972 and 1975, and the architect of both of these highly successful teams was, of course, Brian Clough, who built both the Derby team that won the League in 1972 - Dave Mackay was the manager by 1975 - and the Forest team of later in that same decade. It is entirely appropriate that the A52, the main road linking the two cities, is called Brian Clough Way.

But this is all in the past, and while Forest's current ascendency is just as real, it might not take long for that gap to close. Derby are one excellent season away from the Premier League, while Forest's charge towards the top half of the Premier League last season was completely unexpected. These roles can reverse very quickly, and Derby fans will be hoping that they do again soon.