The Nottingham Forest F.C. Youth Academy was launched in 1997 under the supervision of
Paul Hart. The academy is run by full and part-time staff including ex-professional footballers alongside Chris McGuane. The academy is located at a site in Nottingham. Since its inception the academy has nurtured the talents of many players that have made it into top flight football; these include
Jermaine Jenas,
Michael Dawson, his brother
Andy,
James Perch,
Carlos Merino,
Scott Loach,
Andy Reid and
Marlon Harewood. Many of these players have gone on to play at international level. Others were released by the academy and went on to develop their careers successfully elsewhere, including
Shaun Wright-Phillips and
Tom Huddlestone. The Nottingham Forest youth team has been part of the
Premier Academy League since 1997, playing in group D. Their best season was 2000–01 when they won the whole competition. They almost repeated this in the 2009–10 season but eventually lost 5–3 to
Arsenal in the play-off final. The Nottingham Forest academy was officially renamed The Nigel Doughty Academy in October 2012 in memory of the former owner
Nigel Doughty, who died earlier in the year. In May 2021, the academy secured a conditional licence to operate a Category 1 Academy. This would allow the club's U21 and U18 teams to enter the elite academy games programme, including Premier League 2 and cup competitions. For the
2023–24 season, Forest entered an under-21 side in the
EFL Trophy for the first time. == B Team ==