The footballing climate now is designed to specifically avoid a story like this - keep the biggest (or richest) teams at the top and suppress smaller sides from progressing. Do whatever makes you the most money. Forest were in their pomp in an era where it was far more common for their to be diversity in league and cup winners.
The only reason Scudamore came out yesterday to praise Leicester is because he sees a money making opportunity in their win. If Stoke, West Ham, Leicester, Everton and Man City (gotta throw one of the big boys a bone) were to win the next five titles between themselves, Scudamore would be pulling his hair out - you can only shill the underdogs/unlikely winners story every so often, because it loses it's luster after awhile, same as how he probably hated it when Man United were dominating the league because that makes the whole thing very stale.
Same with the 'Champions' League (how can it be a 'Champions' League if you're allowing the fourth, third and second place teams in?). We talk of it as the greatest trophy in European sport, but it has been deeply hindered by the same top teams absolutley dominating the bloody thing for the better part of a half decade (its been dominated by a core, elite group of ten or twelve for a long time, but Bayern, Barca and Real being three of the final four in four of the last six competitions illustrates this point best).
Things like this simply didn't happen in Nottingham Forest's heyday. The only way you had multiple teams from the same league in the tournament was if the holders weren't the domestic champions. Forest never had to go through the ringer against the constantly dominating super clubs. They beat Liverpool (holders), AEK Athens, Grasshoppers, Cologne and ultimately Malmo to win their first European Cup.
Take the modern day counterparts of those first three opponents (so Olympiacos, Basel and Bayern Munich - excluding Liverpool due to the rule to prevent teams from the same country playing against each other). Leicester could get through that and still have to go through another six games before they could even get to the final. Winning the European Cup, while amazing and remarkable (and doing it back-to-back no less), was easier back when Forest did it.
It's a different era, like comparing apples with oranges. They're both fine fruit.
This may be the most un-Barbosa-like post but it's so spot on.