When I became a Forest fan, on January 27th 1974, having seen Duncan McKenzie dribble rings around the Manchester City defence in the F.A. Cup 4th Round in front of 42,000 at the City Ground, I thought I'd seen the best football I'd ever see.
I can't show anything from the game as it was not filmed so I can only convey what an impact this made on me by repeating the beautiful description of the game by Richard Pulk in his book "Forest Rambles" (1999).
... his act was flawless, a once in a lifetime virtuoso display of every trick in the Football book. He could do no wrong, shredding their shell shocked defence with an array of impudent flicks, feints, dummies, twists and turns, leaving opponents spinning like tops in his wake.
His set up for Ian Bowyer's first ... was sensational. On the halfway line, tight against the Main Stand touchline, he drew gasps as he contrived to kill an impossible, overhit ball (from George Lyall if I remember rightly), simultaneously swivel through 180 degrees and set off down the line, all in an instant, leaving a baffled marker flat footed.
He danced a tightrope along the line, shimmied past another defender, and wound up, in typical McKenzie fashion with nowhere to go, and defenders snapping at his heals, in the Bridgford corner. (Just in front of where I was standing!) He cut inside, performed an exquisite nutmeg, and suddenly his wiry frame was bearing down on the near post. (I have goose pimples writing this now!)
As the keeper closed down the angles McKenzie made the most difficult part look absurdly easy. He glanced up, before nonchalantly rolling the ball back across the box for the incoming Bowyer to joyously sidefoot home. The City Ground exploded and Forest went on to wollop one of the country's top teams 4-1, McKenzie adding his name to the scoresheet for good measure.
These were heady days. The first ever Sunday matches and every week, it seemed, there were a hat full of goals in front of bumper crowds. Forest drew Portsmouth at home in the 5th round and in front of 38,589 fans, Duncan McKenzie scored the only goal from the penalty spot to see us through to the last eight.
Great though the Man. City cup tie was, there was even better to come just around the corner. The dramatic F.A. Cup 6th Round tie at St James' Park, Newcastle was even better. Surely now, I thought, I'd seen the best game I'd ever see.
In front of 56,000 passionate fans, Forest startled Newcastle by going into a 3-1 lead and looked to be on their way to an historic semi-final appearance, the first since they played Spurs in 1967. But as the match seemed to be slipping away from the magpies, a huge wave of geordies ran onto the pitch from the Leazer's end, some of them apparently striking Forest players. They ran the full length of the pitch into the away, Gallowgate, End, where 14,000 Forest fans watched open mouthed, including my mate Gary Kelly and I. Very scary. The match was abandoned for eight minutes before the referee brought the players back on to resume the match.
It was no coincidence that after such violent passion, Newcastle were inspired and Forest rattled, and after the resumption the geordies swept home to a dramatic 4-3 victory. The F. A. intervened and ruled that the game should be replayed at a neutral venue, Everton's ground Goodison Park, in Liverpool. I didn't attend that match, which was apparently a very tense 0-0 draw that Forest could easily have won. Then, the F.A. let us down. The Goodison Park match was a reply of the Newcastle home tie but now that was drawn, Forest surely deserved to have the replay of that played at home in Nottingham. But worried by crowd trouble, the F. A. decided not to allow that and, instead ruled the the 2nd replay should also be played in Liverpool. 3rd time lucky for Newcastle, then, as they eventually won 1-0 to secure a semi final place against Burnley and ultimately a chance to go to Wembley to get beaten by Liverpool 3-0. It was heartbreaking that the F. A. (it seemed to us) conspired to allow the Newcastle United fans' thuggery overcome Forest's gallant effort at cup success. It took over twenty years, and a love for Kevin Keegan's wonderful Newcastle team that almost won the Premier league in the mid 90s to erase the hatred I had for Newcastle from that day.
The feeling of injustice was only made worse when Duncan McKenzie left Forest at the end of the season to join Brian Clough, who was freshly installed at Leeds United as a crazy (it turned out) replacement for Don Revie. And so to me and many like me, it became apparent that being a Forest fan meant being destined to watch second tier mediocrity for the foreseeable future. Despite this, the excitement of the last few months of the 1973-74 season, and a respectable 7th placed finish, was still enough to persuade me to buy a season ticket next season.
Without McKenzie, life on Trentside seemed very dull as Forest struggled under Allan Brown to get any kind of momentum in a second division dominated by Manchester United after their relegation from the top flight.
The most significant event that happened before the end of the year was on Boxing Day, 28th December, in front of over 25,000 fans. Forest lost at home to neighbours Notts County, 2-0. It was a humiliating defeat that led to the sacking of Allan Brown. But, as they say, every cloud has a silver lining and in the days that followed, events would conspire to hand Forest the shiniest silver platter imaginable. I'll cover what happened from January 1976 up to the start of the 1977-78 season in my next blog.
Algis Kuliukas
Perth
1st August 2018
Duncan McKenzie simply tore Man City's star studded team to shreds in a one man show that had the match finished by half time and the packed, swaying terraces delirious with adulation. ...
... his act was flawless, a once in a lifetime virtuoso display of every trick in the Football book. He could do no wrong, shredding their shell shocked defence with an array of impudent flicks, feints, dummies, twists and turns, leaving opponents spinning like tops in his wake.His set up for Ian Bowyer's first ... was sensational. On the halfway line, tight against the Main Stand touchline, he drew gasps as he contrived to kill an impossible, overhit ball (from George Lyall if I remember rightly), simultaneously swivel through 180 degrees and set off down the line, all in an instant, leaving a baffled marker flat footed.
He danced a tightrope along the line, shimmied past another defender, and wound up, in typical McKenzie fashion with nowhere to go, and defenders snapping at his heals, in the Bridgford corner. (Just in front of where I was standing!) He cut inside, performed an exquisite nutmeg, and suddenly his wiry frame was bearing down on the near post. (I have goose pimples writing this now!)
Great though the Man. City cup tie was, there was even better to come just around the corner. The dramatic F.A. Cup 6th Round tie at St James' Park, Newcastle was even better. Surely now, I thought, I'd seen the best game I'd ever see.
In front of 56,000 passionate fans, Forest startled Newcastle by going into a 3-1 lead and looked to be on their way to an historic semi-final appearance, the first since they played Spurs in 1967. But as the match seemed to be slipping away from the magpies, a huge wave of geordies ran onto the pitch from the Leazer's end, some of them apparently striking Forest players. They ran the full length of the pitch into the away, Gallowgate, End, where 14,000 Forest fans watched open mouthed, including my mate Gary Kelly and I. Very scary. The match was abandoned for eight minutes before the referee brought the players back on to resume the match.
It was no coincidence that after such violent passion, Newcastle were inspired and Forest rattled, and after the resumption the geordies swept home to a dramatic 4-3 victory. The F. A. intervened and ruled that the game should be replayed at a neutral venue, Everton's ground Goodison Park, in Liverpool. I didn't attend that match, which was apparently a very tense 0-0 draw that Forest could easily have won. Then, the F.A. let us down. The Goodison Park match was a reply of the Newcastle home tie but now that was drawn, Forest surely deserved to have the replay of that played at home in Nottingham. But worried by crowd trouble, the F. A. decided not to allow that and, instead ruled the the 2nd replay should also be played in Liverpool. 3rd time lucky for Newcastle, then, as they eventually won 1-0 to secure a semi final place against Burnley and ultimately a chance to go to Wembley to get beaten by Liverpool 3-0. It was heartbreaking that the F. A. (it seemed to us) conspired to allow the Newcastle United fans' thuggery overcome Forest's gallant effort at cup success. It took over twenty years, and a love for Kevin Keegan's wonderful Newcastle team that almost won the Premier league in the mid 90s to erase the hatred I had for Newcastle from that day.
The feeling of injustice was only made worse when Duncan McKenzie left Forest at the end of the season to join Brian Clough, who was freshly installed at Leeds United as a crazy (it turned out) replacement for Don Revie. And so to me and many like me, it became apparent that being a Forest fan meant being destined to watch second tier mediocrity for the foreseeable future. Despite this, the excitement of the last few months of the 1973-74 season, and a respectable 7th placed finish, was still enough to persuade me to buy a season ticket next season.
Without McKenzie, life on Trentside seemed very dull as Forest struggled under Allan Brown to get any kind of momentum in a second division dominated by Manchester United after their relegation from the top flight.
The most significant event that happened before the end of the year was on Boxing Day, 28th December, in front of over 25,000 fans. Forest lost at home to neighbours Notts County, 2-0. It was a humiliating defeat that led to the sacking of Allan Brown. But, as they say, every cloud has a silver lining and in the days that followed, events would conspire to hand Forest the shiniest silver platter imaginable. I'll cover what happened from January 1976 up to the start of the 1977-78 season in my next blog.
Algis Kuliukas
Perth
1st August 2018
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