After reaching the League Cup quarter finals in midweek against the second city's top team, Aston Villa, Forest returned to league action with a trip to their Midlands rivals, Birmingham City. It meant a return to their previous club for Forest's center half, Kenny Burns and center forward, Peter Withe.
St Andrew's was the 38th English League ground I'd visited.
It was a happy first visit, as I'll describe later, but first, I want to take a look at the history of "The Blues".
Birmingham's best league placing coincided with an F.A. Cup final appearance when they lost 1-3 to Manchester City at Wembley in 1956.
It's an old song, first sung by the Scot Harry Lauder...
I've always found it a bit of an annoying song, mainly because I never knew what they were singing. But Birmingham fans seem to love it.
Talking of Birmingham fans, the most famous, surely, is Jasper Carrott. Here's a clip of him being typically critical about his club - but being worse about their rivals, Villa.
Bizarrely, despite this period of English decline, Birmingham City were promoting the game in Europe through the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup which, in the early days was initially open to teams from cities that hosted trade fairs and where these teams finished in their national league had no relevance, although this changed in 1968.
Birmingham, being England's second biggest city, held many such trade fairs and so often found themselves as ambassadors for England. In fact they were the first English team to play in a European final when they played Barcelona in a two legged final of the tournament that stretched from 1958 until 1960. Birmingham drew the home leg 0-0 but lost away 1-4.
I wonder if this European spirit was involved in the choice of the Birmingham City badge which came in about this time.
They made it to the final the next season too. Again they drew the home leg but lost away, this time to Roma.
We were driven the 60 odd miles to the ground by Ian White, if I remember rightly and took our place in the away end, opposite the vocal Birmingham support. I have few recollections of the game other than Forest were rarely in trouble and then Kenny Burns seemed to have Trevor Francis in his pocket. Goals by Martin O'Neill and Tony Woodcock sealed a comfortable win for Forest to keep them top of the table.
Leeds joined Everton on top of the current form league whereas Forest at least halted their slide.
Top scorers chart..
Next week, we faced Coventry City at home, one of the leading pack teams that were currently on better form than Forest, so it would be another stern test.
St Andrew's was the 38th English League ground I'd visited.
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| St Andrew's Birmingham City's Ground - 38th Visited |
Birmingham City History
Formed in 1875 originally as "Small Heath Alliance" (but "Alliance" was dropped in 1888) they, like Forest, were early members of the Football Alliance, a league set up in competition to the Football League in the early days.
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| The Last Football Alliance Table |
Small Heath, joined the League the same season Forest did, in 1892-93 during the League's first major expansion. Although they finished 3rd in the last Alliance table, Sheffield Wednesday got the nod to be placed in the First division along with Forest and Newton Heath (soon to become Manchester United.) Small Heath were placed in the new second division along with Ardwick (to become Manchester City) and others.
The league had started with 12 teams in 1888, went to 14 in 1891-92 and then doubled to 28 when Forest, Birmingham, Manchester City and United and Sheffield Wednesday (among others) joined the league. This was the biggest (as a percentage) expansion in members of the league.
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| Birmingham City (as they were renamed in 1905) win promotion to the first division in their first season |
Several minor expansions occurred after that. 1893-94 to 32 teams, 1898-99 to 36, 1905-06 to 40 and 1919-20 to 44. The biggest absolute expansion happened when the Third Divisions (North and South) were added in 1921-22. The league then went from 44 to 86 teams. Two more teams were added to Division Three North two years later. The full (and still current) 92 wasn't reached until both North and South leagues were expanded to 24 teams each for the 1950-51 season.
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| Even Birmingham were largely dominant over Forest |
As seems to be a recurring theme in these historical comparisons, Forest started as top dogs in the early years. Forest finished above Birmingham in all but three of the first 19 seasons of league membership, but then followed a long period of being underdogs. From 1911-12 until 1952-53, that's 32 seasons, Birmingham were the higher ranked team. Forest enjoyed a ten year period of domination over them from 1960 until 1972 but since Forest's relegation from the top tier, Birmingham had been back on top.
All in all, in the 76 years Forest and Birmingham had been in the league the "brummies" had finished above us on 46 occasions. Obviously, the other 30 Forest were on top. Birmingham's average league position had been 20th, compared to Forest's 24th.
If you had to pick a three year period when Birmingham were at their best in the league, it would be the period from 1904 to 1907, when they were the 6th best team in England.
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| Birmingham City - 6th best team in England 1904-1907 |
It was during this period that Birmingham City moved into their current ground, St Andrews. Their first match there was a Boxing Day fixture which they drew 0-0 with Midlesbrough at the end of 1906.
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| Birmingham at their best? in 1905 |
Despite their undoubted overall league position superiority over Forest, Birmingham City have been spectacularly unsuccessful at actually winning things. Their trophy cabinet is remarkably bare for a club that is so old and has spent almost all their time in the top two tiers. Birmingham City's highest league position was just 6th, in 1955-56, and they had never won the F.A. Cup, although they were finalists twice (in 1931 and 1956). In 1977 their one and only piece of silverware was the League Cup, which they won in 1963. Despite this, Birmingham City have somehow managed to do rather well in Europe, reaching the Fairs Cup final twice.
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| Birmingham City's highest ever League Position |
Birmingham's best league placing coincided with an F.A. Cup final appearance when they lost 1-3 to Manchester City at Wembley in 1956.
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| F.A. Cup Finalists 1955-56 - Including Alex Govan on the right at the front |
The final is perhaps most widely remembered for the injury inflicted on the Manchester City goalkeeper, Bert Trautmann by the Birmingham City striker Peter Murphy. The two collided and Trautmann received a severe blow to his neck but continued playing (in the days before substitutes.)
Towards the End of the Road
But for the blues fans, the cup run was significant for a very different reason. In the team that day was Alex Govan, a Glaswegian outside right signed from Plymouth Argyle. (He's sat on the front row on the far right in the photo above.)
Anyway, there are several versions of the story but Alex is widely attributed as the man responsible for Birmingham City's odd club anthem "Keep right on to the end of the road".
As we journey on,
We will sing this song,
For the boys in royal blue,
We’re often partizan, clap x3
We will journey on, clap x3
Keep right on to the end of the road,
Keep right on to the end.
Though the way be long,
Let your heart beat strong,
Keep right on to the end,
Though you’re tired and weary,
Still journey on, ’
til you come to your happy abode,
Where all the love, you’ve been dreaming of will be there,
Where?
At the end of the road,
Birmingham! Birmingham!
It's an old song, first sung by the Scot Harry Lauder...
I've always found it a bit of an annoying song, mainly because I never knew what they were singing. But Birmingham fans seem to love it.
Talking of Birmingham fans, the most famous, surely, is Jasper Carrott. Here's a clip of him being typically critical about his club - but being worse about their rivals, Villa.
Rare Silverware
Birmingham City's only major trophy as they came to the City Ground in 1977 was the League Cup won in the 1962-63. It was a sweet win for the blues as they played their bitter rivals Villa and beat them over two legs, Birmingham won the first 3-1 at St Andrews and then drew the away leg 0-0.
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| Birmingham City League Cup Winners 1963 |
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| Action from the League Cup Final |
After this win, Birmingham City's record in the domestic league declined and the blues were relegated to the second division in 1964-65 and would not return to the top flight until 1972-73.
European Adventures
Birmingham, being England's second biggest city, held many such trade fairs and so often found themselves as ambassadors for England. In fact they were the first English team to play in a European final when they played Barcelona in a two legged final of the tournament that stretched from 1958 until 1960. Birmingham drew the home leg 0-0 but lost away 1-4.
I wonder if this European spirit was involved in the choice of the Birmingham City badge which came in about this time.
They made it to the final the next season too. Again they drew the home leg but lost away, this time to Roma.
Trevor Francis
Lurking somewhere in the youth set up at second division Birmingham City in 1970 was a young lad from Plymouth called Trevor Francis. He made his full league debut at home to Oxford United on 12th September 1970 at the age of 16, scoring the winning goal. He came on as a sub at Cardiff City the week before.
In his first season, Francis scored 15 goals in just 22 league appearances. After this amazing start, Francis couldn't quite continue this rate of scoring but was always amongst the goals at Birmingham City's especially after Bob Latchford had left for Everton.
Francis quickly won a reputation for his lightning pace, acceleration and lethal finishing. Despite this record, Francis still had not won any caps for England at this stage of his career. If only he could join a more successful club with a more successful manager.
Francis had been managed by two relatively unknown managers before the season reviewed here, Freddie Goodwin and Wille Bell. For the 1977-78 season, though, he had a much more famous boss.
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| Francis, 37 days before his 17th Birthday |
In his first season, Francis scored 15 goals in just 22 league appearances. After this amazing start, Francis couldn't quite continue this rate of scoring but was always amongst the goals at Birmingham City's especially after Bob Latchford had left for Everton.
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| Francis' seven-year goal-scoring record - still only 23 |
Francis quickly won a reputation for his lightning pace, acceleration and lethal finishing. Despite this record, Francis still had not won any caps for England at this stage of his career. If only he could join a more successful club with a more successful manager.
Sir Alf Ramsey
Alf Ramsey remains the only manager to have won the World Cup with England. It will always make me feel sick that as England beat Germany 4-2 at Wembley in '66, I was just not bothered.
After resigning from the England post after England's unsuccessful defence of the World Cup in Mexico 1970, Ramsey had a period away from the game before finding himself as director at Birmingham City. When Willie Bell was sacked Ramsey was asked to step in as a temporary manager and after a few weeks decided to take the job on permanently. In the end he only stayed as Birmingham manager for this one season, and it still seems bizarre to me that Sir Alf managed Francis at this time.
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| Alf Ramsey - England's most successful manager |
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| Sir Alf at Brum |
The Teams
In the Birmingham goal was ex-Sunderland keeper, Jim Montgomery who made that spectacular double save in their recent final against Leeds United at Wembley. He would later join Forest as a squad goalkeeper.
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| Jim Montgomery |
The key line up that everyone was focusing on, though, was the pairing of Trevor Francis against Kenny Burns. Last season the two had paired up as a striking partnership even though, apparently, they didn't really get on. Now, Burns was installed at the heart of Forest's defence and given the task to nullify Francis' potency.
Birmingham City
1 Jim Montgomery, 2 Jimmy Calderwood, 3 Gary Pendrey, 4 Kevin Dillon, 5 Pat Howard, 6 Tony Want, 7 Malcom Page, 8 Trevor Francis, 9 Keith Bertschin, 10 Terry Hibbitt, 11 Gary Emanuel.
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Colin Barrett, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 Martin O'Neill, 8 Archie Gemmill, 9 Peter Withe, 10 Tony Woodcock, 11 John Robertson.
Goals : Martin O'Neill 1, Tony Woodcock 1.
1 Jim Montgomery, 2 Jimmy Calderwood, 3 Gary Pendrey, 4 Kevin Dillon, 5 Pat Howard, 6 Tony Want, 7 Malcom Page, 8 Trevor Francis, 9 Keith Bertschin, 10 Terry Hibbitt, 11 Gary Emanuel.
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Colin Barrett, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 Martin O'Neill, 8 Archie Gemmill, 9 Peter Withe, 10 Tony Woodcock, 11 John Robertson.
Goals : Martin O'Neill 1, Tony Woodcock 1.
The Match
This was the 70th competitive game between the sides. Although Birmingham were ahead overall, Forest actually were ahead on matches in the top tier.
We were driven the 60 odd miles to the ground by Ian White, if I remember rightly and took our place in the away end, opposite the vocal Birmingham support. I have few recollections of the game other than Forest were rarely in trouble and then Kenny Burns seemed to have Trevor Francis in his pocket. Goals by Martin O'Neill and Tony Woodcock sealed a comfortable win for Forest to keep them top of the table.
Other Games That Day
Elsewhere, Everton continued their strong form with a win at Stamford Bridge with Bob Latchford scoring again to stretch his lead at the top of the leading scorers' table. West Bromwich lost ground on Forest, by being held by Norwich at home 0-0. Liverpool were back to winning ways and rose to 4th place, just 4 points behind Forest. Newcastle won the bottom of the table clash with Leicester, giving their fans renewed hope as Christmas approached.
Leeds joined Everton on top of the current form league whereas Forest at least halted their slide.
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| First Division Current Form on 4th December 1977 |
Top scorers chart..
Next week, we faced Coventry City at home, one of the leading pack teams that were currently on better form than Forest, so it would be another stern test.
The Programme
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