Nottingham Forest F.C. and also signed Stan Collymore, Lars Bohinen and Colin Cooper. Clark brought immediate return to the Premier League when the club finished Division One runners-up at the end of the 1993–94 season. Forest finished third in 1994–95 and qualified for the UEFA Cup – their first entry to European competition in the post-Heysel era. Collymore then transferred in the 1995-96 close season to Liverpool for a national record fee of £8.5million. Forest reached the 1995-96 UEFA Cup quarter-finals, the furthest an English team reached in UEFA competition that season. They finished ninth in the league. The 1996–97 season quickly became
1996–97 Nottingham Forest F.C. season 1996–97 Nottingham Forest F.C. season During the 1996–97 English football season, Nottingham Forest F.C. competed in the FA Premier League (known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons). After a Kevin Campbell hat-trick earnt Nottingham Forest an impressive 3-0 away win at Coventry City on the season's opening game, an appalling 4-1 home defeat to Premiership newcomers Sunderland prompted a dismal start to the season which saw them fail to win any of their next 16 league games until a shock 2-1 home win over title contenders Arsenal on 21 December 1996. Ultimately, Forest were bottom of the Premiership