There can't be many indications of the contrast between Nottingham Forest's situation today and 40 years ago bigger than the fact that Forest beat both Liverpool and Barcelona within eight days of each other. The former was in the League Cup Semi-Final, as Forest edged ahead on their way to their third successive Wembley appearance, and the latter was in the European Super Cup - the traditional play off between the winners of the European Cup and the Cup Winners Cup.
As if to give the time period an even more surreal twist, Forest were gifted the presence of one of the all-time great football characters of the era, Charlie George. It was he who scored the goal against Barca. Charlie George only made four appearances for Forest, and half of them were against the Spanish giants.
I said there can't be many bigger indications of contrast between now and then, but perhaps the the biggest, is the attitude to competitions like the F.A. Cup. Sabri Lamouchi was recently given lavish praise for his "refreshing honesty" in explaining why he'd played practically a reserve side at Chelsea in the F.A. Cup 3rd round (as did they, of course) because they were 'focusing on winning promotion.' Contrast that with 40 years ago when Clough & Taylor played a full strength side in a friendly at Gravesend & Northfleet to help them celebrate turning on their floodlights. Forest had a squad of 18 or so and were still heavily involved in FIVE major competitions - all three domestic and two European. Sabri today has a squad of 40+ and their "focus" is to maybe get Forest promotion.
Please can we have our Football back !!!?
Also in this (very rushed, sorry) entry, I'll flash a quick mobile phone light at Larry Lloyd - another unsung hero of the miracle men.
Previously... Stan Bowles fills the City Ground during a period of poor form.
Forest slipped to 9th again the First Division, reversing their bit of good form at the end of 1979.
At least, in the current form (last 3 home/away) table, Forest were no longer in the relegation zone.
Then, it was time for the F.A. Cup.
Ah, the excitement of that brilliant day, early in the new year, when the 3rd round was played. Imagine it. 64 teams all playing their best sides, all trying to win. Incredible, isn't it? 32 grounds packed to the rafters with fans filled with the passion of the cup. Not like today, when the only thing you can say is that 64 clubs pretend to take it seriously. There's just not enough money in the F.A. Cup for any club to really do that any more. Making money, after all, is all the game is about these days. And let's face it, you get more money finishing one single place higher in the Greediership than you would winning the F.A. Cup so why would anyone waste their time trying to win such a trophy... it's no contest.
Forest were drawn away at Leeds United on that day but I decided it was easier and cheaper to catch the bus from Kirkby to Mansfield and watch them potentially do a giant killing on First Division Brighton.
Of course, that didn't happen, and meanwhile... (as Murphy's Law would predict)...
Leeds United
1 John Lukic, 2 Trevor Cherry, 3 Byron Stevenson, 4 Gary Hamson, 5 Paul Hart, 6 Paul Madeley, 7 Eddie Gray, 8 Kevin Hird, 9 Terry Connor, 10 Alan Curtis, 11 Carl Harris.
Substitutions: Wayne Entwhistle (12) came on for Alan Curtis(10).
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Gray, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 Trevor Francis, 8 Stan Bowles, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Ian Bowyer, 11 John Robertson.
Goals : Frank Gray 1, Garry Birtles 1, Ian Bowyer 1.
On the following Monday Forest learned that their reward for beating Leeds away was to be draw yet again to Liverpool in 4th Round.
Forest recently played Gasprom Billionaire Reserves (or Chelsea as they are more often called) the other night and Sabri Lamouchi was lavishly praised by Forest fans for his "refreshing honesty" in admitting that as Forest were not going to win the Cup, and as their priority was obviously promotion, this therefore justified him playing the usual surrendering weakened side we always see from every club in the early rounds these days. Contrast that with the fact that back in the good old days, on January 8th 1980, Clough and Taylor played A FULL STRENGTH SIDE for a friendly away at Gravesend & Northfleet to help them commemorate switching on their new floodlights!
Notice that? It was just a friendly!
Nottingham Forest won 6-1 in front of 6,032 with Birtles and Mills scoring 2 each with John Robertson and Trevor Francis getting the others. Note that in those days Forest had a squad of about 18 players (not the 40 odd Sabri has today) and the club were still seriously involved in all three major English domestic trophies and two European ones (and not just having a glimmer of a hope of promotion from the second tier). They were about to embark on matches in all five competitions in the next few days and weeks.
Honestly, the cowardice and total lack of sporting adventure and integrity shown by the coaches employed by the money men these days just makes me sick.
On January 9th Spurs won their replay at Manchester United to progress to the 4th round.
The result was that a brick pillar holding the gate collapsed onto two Boro fans, Irene and Norman Roxby, killing them both. Terrible as this was, it would, of course, be dwarfed by what happened elsewhere later, ultimately causing the game to massively upgrade stadia all over the world. That's one positive change you'll never hear me moaning about.
Meanwhile, in Nottingham, Forest returned to league form by beating West Bromwich Albion 3-1 at the City Ground.
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Gray, 4 Ian Bowyer, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 David Needham, 7 Martin O'Neill, 8 Stan Bowles, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Trevor Francis, 11 John Robertson.
Goals: Viv Anderson 1, David Needham 1, Trevor Francis 1.
for Trevor Francis(10).
West Bromwich Albion
1 Tony Godden, 2 Brendon Batson, 3 Derek Statham, 4 John Trewick, 5 John Wile, 6 Alistair Robertson, 7 David Mills, 8 John Deehan, 9 Cyril Regis, 10 Gary Owen, 11 Peter Barnes.
Goals : Cyril Regis 1.
Substitutions: Tony Brown(12) came on for Peter Barnes (11).
Here's the report in the Football Post...
Here are the highlights of the match...
In other results, Liverpool got held at home by Southampton and Manchester United drew in the tragically ill-fated affair at Ayresome Park.
Forest were now climbing back up the table.
Here are the goals from the match at Ayresome Park between Middlesbrough and Manchester United...
George would only play four games for the club but he made a big impact, so here's a little bit about his career too.
Charlie George was born in Islington in October 1950 and, like Larry Lloyd, joined his local club, who happened to be Arsenal.
Any mention of Charlie George, and I expect most fans of my age think of his great winning goal in the 1971 F A Cup final against Liverpool to clinch the double for the Gunners.
Here's the highlights of that final...
As with Larry Lloyd,whose memory for me stubbornly remains tied to Liverpool, Charlie George's will always be tied to Arsenal, as far as I'm concerned. This, despite him having a couple of spells at Derby County - one of which was quite long and very successful.
During his time at Derby, which resulted in over 100 league appearances, George had two loan spells abroad - one in Sydney, Australia and one in Bloomington, USA.
I wonder how much of a co-incidence it was that Charlie's club in Sydney was called "St George". According to Wikipedia he only made six appearances for them, scoring one goal. Bizarrely, the club has two nicknames - "the Saints" (of course) and, one was... wait for it... "Budapest"! But why?
His spell in the USA was for Minnesota Kicks. George scores 9 goals in 18 appearances for them.
In 1978 he joined Southampton where he played for three years.
George apparently signed for another six clubs (a brief return to Derby being one of them) including Boluva of Hong Kong in a frantic flurry before finally hanging his boots up at the age of 33.
Unlike Larry Lloyd's, Charlie George's career pie looks like a mess with, for me, a surprisingly large (and very unpalatable-looking) slice of Derby County in there.
It was all going on at Forest behind the scenes at the time and on the 15th January Stuart Dryden, Forest chairman, was jailed for 6 months for swindling the post office. The next day it was the draw for the quarter finals of the European Cup and Forest were paired against another club from the eastern block, Dynamo Berlin.
I can't believe I actually went to this game, but it's there in my stats book, so it must be true. Needless to say I have absolutely no memory of it whatsoever, even though it was Charlie George's debut for the club.
It was only Forest's 3rd league game of the month. In fact only 27 first division games were played in total in January 1980.
Leeds United
1 John Lukic, 2 Kevin Hird, 3 Byron Stevenson, 4 Gary Hamson, 5 Brian Greenoff, 6 Paul Madeley, 7 Eddie Gray, 8 Kevin Hird, 9 Terry Connor, 10 Wayne Entwhistle, 11 Peter Hampton.
Goals: Terry Connor 9.
Substitutions: Arthur Graham (12) came on for Wayne Entwhistle(10).
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Gray, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 David Needham, 7 Trevor Francis, 8 Charlie George, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 John Robertson, 11 Stan Bowles.
Goals : Trevor Francis 1, Garry Birtles 1.
If Forest hadn't had their bad spell in December, we might have started to dream about winning the league again after this result as Liverpool inexplicably lost away at Coventry City. Ipswich continued their impressive resurgence and moved up to 5th place after beating Bristol City 3-0 at Ashton Gate.
Forest were now back up to 6th place in the first division.
Forest's form was now back, just in time for some big cup ties.
... and the first of those came up just three days later...
I am embarrassed to say that, again, I have no memory of this game. Forest scraped a win with a last minute penalty through John Robertson to give us a bit of hope for a third successive Wembley appearances in the League Cup final. In the other semi, Swindon surprisingly beat Wolves 2-1 to set up a fascinating second leg.
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Gray, 4 John McGovern, 5
Larry Lloyd, 6 David Needham, 7 Martin O'Neill, 8 Ian Bowyer, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Trevor Francis, 11 John Robertson.
Goals: John Robertson 1 (pen.).
Liverpool
1 Ray Clemence, 2 Phil Neal, 3 Alan Kennedy, 4 Phil Thompson, 5 Ray Kennedy, 6 Alan Hansen, 7 Kenny Dalglish, 8 Jimmy Case, 9 David Johnson, 10 Terry McDermott, 11 Graeme Souness.
Attendance: 32,234
Here, at least, are some highlights of the last gasp winner.
More photos from the night...
The following day Brian Clough asked if Forest's England & Scotland players could be released from international duties so that they could all play against Barcelona in the European Super Cup that was scheduled for the following week. "I co-operated with national teams in the past, and I am confident that this time they will help me. Beating a Spanish team would be a morale booster before the European Championship Finals" he said.
Four days after beating league leaders Liverpool in the League Cup semi-final, Forest had to play them again in the F.A. Cup 4th Round. The biggest crowd of the season packed into the City Ground to watch Liverpool continue Forest's (and Brian Clough's) miserable history in the F.A. Cup.
Not for the first time, it was a Shilton gaff that gave Liverpool the edge when he spilled a ball he would normally take comfortably to the one man you don't want to be in receipt of such gifts, Kenny Dalglish. Later, a Terry McDermott penalty confirmed Liverpool's superiority on the day.
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Gray, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 Martin O'Neill, 8 Ian Bowyer, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Trevor Francis, 11 John Robertson.
Substitutions: David Needham (12) came on for Kenny Burns(6).
Liverpool
1 Ray Clemence, 2 Phil Neal, 3 Alan Kennedy, 4 Phil Thompson, 5 Ray Kennedy, 6 Alan Hansen, 7 Kenny Dalglish, 8 Jimmy Case, 9 David Johnson, 10 Terry McDermott, 11 Graeme Souness.
Goals : Kenny Dalglish 1, Terry McDermott 1 (pen.).
I suppose then, as now, people were a bit cynical about contrived competitions like the European Super Cup - a competition designed to pair off the two major European cup winners against each other.
The competition had only been dreamt up in 1971 by a Dutch journalist called Anton Witkamp, whose main motivation would appear to have been extra glorification of Ajax Amsterdam. In the first final, held in 1972, Ajax beat Glasgow Rangers 6-3 on aggregate but UEFA refused to value the title that season as Rangers were banned after their fans antics in a final the year before. So 1973 is recorded as the first official Super Cup tournament - again won by Ajax.
The competition wasn't held in 1974 because Bayern Munich and Magdeburg couldn't agree on a date and venue to play the fixtures, so this was only the 6th European Super Cup to be held. If Forest won (as, of course, they did) they'd join a small band of European clubs which included Ajax and Liverpool, but was led by Anderlecht.
Forest, of course, had qualified for the match by beating FF Malmo the season before in a very disappointing final whilst Barcelona had been victorious in a spectacular final against the German "Pokalmeister" Fortuna Dusseldorf.
Here are the highlights...
The plaque that was given to the winners of the Super Cup at the time was pretty shoddy. It's since been replaced with the much more handsome-looking trophy these days.
Fittingly, it was none other than Charlie George who scored the decisive goal, in the 9th minute. As we'll see next month, it would be enough to secure the trophy for Forest.
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Gray, 4 Martin O'Neill, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 Stan Bowles, 8 Trevor Francis, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Charlie George, 11 John Robertson.
Goals: Charlie George 1.
Barcelona
1 Pedro Artola, 2 Rafael Zuviria, 3 Bernardo Bianquetti Migueli, 4 Antonio Olmo, 5 Joan Manuel Serrat, 6 Quique Costas, 7 Juan Manuel Asensi, 8 Jesus Landaburu, 9 Julian Rubio, 10 Allan Simonsen, 11 Rebrto Fernandez Bonillo.
Substitutions: Esteban Vigo (13) came on for Allan Simonsen (10), Francisco Jose Carrasco (12) came on for Roberto Fernandez Bonillo (11).
Attendance: 23,807
Here are my selections...
Not my favourite by any means, but a track that evokes strong memories of the time.... New Musik (Living By Numbers)
Next, a timeless classic from The Clash (London Calling)
Another one that captured the mood for me at the time...Joe Jackson (It's Different for Girls)
Madness' latest (My Girl) as always was a good mood song.
At the time the Specials were my favourite band and I watched them several times. I'd forgotten hat they made No 1 with "Too Much Too Young" as Forest were beating Barcelona.
As if to give the time period an even more surreal twist, Forest were gifted the presence of one of the all-time great football characters of the era, Charlie George. It was he who scored the goal against Barca. Charlie George only made four appearances for Forest, and half of them were against the Spanish giants.
I said there can't be many bigger indications of contrast between now and then, but perhaps the the biggest, is the attitude to competitions like the F.A. Cup. Sabri Lamouchi was recently given lavish praise for his "refreshing honesty" in explaining why he'd played practically a reserve side at Chelsea in the F.A. Cup 3rd round (as did they, of course) because they were 'focusing on winning promotion.' Contrast that with 40 years ago when Clough & Taylor played a full strength side in a friendly at Gravesend & Northfleet to help them celebrate turning on their floodlights. Forest had a squad of 18 or so and were still heavily involved in FIVE major competitions - all three domestic and two European. Sabri today has a squad of 40+ and their "focus" is to maybe get Forest promotion.
Please can we have our Football back !!!?
Also in this (very rushed, sorry) entry, I'll flash a quick mobile phone light at Larry Lloyd - another unsung hero of the miracle men.
Previously... Stan Bowles fills the City Ground during a period of poor form.
January 1st - Everton 1 Nottingham Forest 0
The 1980s, eh? The decade began (if you hold that view, as I do) with a New Years Day league match at Goodison Park. I didn't go, of course, and Forest lost 1-0.
Everton
1 Martin Hodge, 2 John Gidman, 3 John Bailey, 4 Billy Wright, 5 Michael Lyons, 6 Andy King, 7 Gary Stanley, 8 Bob Latchford, 9 Imre Varadi, 10 Brian Kidd, 11 Joe McBride.
Goals: Brian Kidd 1.
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Gray, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 Trevor Francis, 8 Stan Bowles, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Ian Bowyer, 11 John Robertson.
Attendance: 34,616
Other matches that day ...
Forest slipped to 9th again the First Division, reversing their bit of good form at the end of 1979.
At least, in the current form (last 3 home/away) table, Forest were no longer in the relegation zone.
Then, it was time for the F.A. Cup.
Ah, the excitement of that brilliant day, early in the new year, when the 3rd round was played. Imagine it. 64 teams all playing their best sides, all trying to win. Incredible, isn't it? 32 grounds packed to the rafters with fans filled with the passion of the cup. Not like today, when the only thing you can say is that 64 clubs pretend to take it seriously. There's just not enough money in the F.A. Cup for any club to really do that any more. Making money, after all, is all the game is about these days. And let's face it, you get more money finishing one single place higher in the Greediership than you would winning the F.A. Cup so why would anyone waste their time trying to win such a trophy... it's no contest.
January 5th - F.A. Cup 3rd Round Day
Match 376: Saturday, 5th January 1980, F.A. Cup 3rd Round.
Mansfield Town 0 Brighton & Hove Albion 2 (Field Mill 58, Mansfield Town 63 Brighton & Hove Albion 3) Attendance 8,204.
Of course, that didn't happen, and meanwhile... (as Murphy's Law would predict)...
Leeds United 1 Nottingham Forest 4
Up the M1 Forest according to some, played out of their skins and cruised past Leeds 4-1 on their own pitch. Patrick Barclay, of the Guardian, wasn't one of them and from his match report you'd think Forest were luck to win.
Leeds United
1 John Lukic, 2 Trevor Cherry, 3 Byron Stevenson, 4 Gary Hamson, 5 Paul Hart, 6 Paul Madeley, 7 Eddie Gray, 8 Kevin Hird, 9 Terry Connor, 10 Alan Curtis, 11 Carl Harris.
Substitutions: Wayne Entwhistle (12) came on for Alan Curtis(10).
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Gray, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 Trevor Francis, 8 Stan Bowles, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Ian Bowyer, 11 John Robertson.
Goals : Frank Gray 1, Garry Birtles 1, Ian Bowyer 1.
Attendance: 35,945
The game's all about opinions and John Robertson's 4th goal was described by the Forest Review as "the final spectacular goal... the master craftsman ... on the edge of the United box, methodically bends one of his delightful chips into the far corner of the net."
According to Barclay (below) "... Robertson scored with a misjudged chip that took a deflection and spun over Lukic: a goal that television flattered."
Larry Lloyd still seems synonymous, for me, with the successful Liverpool team of the 1970s. I say "successful" but compared what was to follow, these were relatively barren years for the club. Lloyd actually only one one Championship medal with Liverpool (1972-73) and one UEFA Cup winners medal, the same season.
It was whilst with Liverpool that he won the first of four England caps. Three were with Liverpool (1971 v Wales, 1972 v Switzerland and v Norther Ireland.)
Anyway, back to the F. A. Cup 3rd round that day and in other the ties on traditionally one of the most exciting Saturdays of the season, Halifax Town beat Manchester City.
It was a fixture list to set the heart racing, and it's not just me.
7,844 watched Altrincham beat Orient. 5,000 watches Chesham lose at home to Cambridge United. 12,599 packed into The Shay Ground to see Manchester City knocked out. Almost 36,000 packed into Elland Road to watch Forest march into the 4th Round. Almost 50,000 watched Liverpool brush past Grimsby. I was one of 8,204 who watched the Stags at home to Brighton and 45,207 watched Spurs v Man Utd. Note that 27 of the 32 games were played on the Saturday. Only one was played on a Friday and four were postponed.
The game's all about opinions and John Robertson's 4th goal was described by the Forest Review as "the final spectacular goal... the master craftsman ... on the edge of the United box, methodically bends one of his delightful chips into the far corner of the net."
According to Barclay (below) "... Robertson scored with a misjudged chip that took a deflection and spun over Lukic: a goal that television flattered."
Larry Lloyd own goal
The only scorer for Leeds that day was Larry Lloyd. I had planned to "do one" on Larry at some point during these blogs. After all, he was a major player in our glory years and, like many of the squad, he never really seems to get the credit he deserves.
I do feel a bit mean to pick his own goal at Leeds as an excuse to focus on his contribution but what can I do? I'm running out of blog posts (only four more after this one) and I need to cover him somewhere.
I do feel a bit mean to pick his own goal at Leeds as an excuse to focus on his contribution but what can I do? I'm running out of blog posts (only four more after this one) and I need to cover him somewhere.
Sorry Larry!
Lloyd was born in Bristol in October 1948 and joined his local club, third division Rovers, as a 19 year old.
Here's the only photo I could find of him in a Bristol Rovers team. Bizarrely, the club were going through a strange three year period when the club decided to play in all-blue rather than their distinctive blue and white quarters that they wore for most of their history.
After a couple of years he was snapped up by none other than Bill Shankley of the mighty, mighty Liverpool.
Larry Lloyd still seems synonymous, for me, with the successful Liverpool team of the 1970s. I say "successful" but compared what was to follow, these were relatively barren years for the club. Lloyd actually only one one Championship medal with Liverpool (1972-73) and one UEFA Cup winners medal, the same season.
It was whilst with Liverpool that he won the first of four England caps. Three were with Liverpool (1971 v Wales, 1972 v Switzerland and v Norther Ireland.)
After Bill Shankley left, new boss Bob Paisley preferred Phil Thompson and Lloyd was sold to Coventry City for their record fee of £240,000 - a fee that nearly broke the club.
Coventry struggled even with Lloyd in the squad and in a classic Clough coup, Forest snapped him up for £60,000 early in the 1976-77 season. You can't imagine many first team Premier League players taking a step down to the Championship today, but that's what Cloughie persuaded Larry to do. It was a key signing helping Forest gain promotion back to the top flight.
The rest of his time at Forest, of course, is the subject of these pages - so I'll fast forward to the end of his career, but in passing, I just want to note that his fourth and last England cap was whilst playing for Forest, in 1980 v Wales.
After Forest, Lloyd tried his hand at management and joined Wigan Athletic as player manager.
I had the bizarre privilege of watching him play for them in my only visit to Plainmoor as I witnessed Torquay United and Wigan play out a 0-0 draw on 13th February 1982. Lloyd took himself off late on in the game. It was my 478th match seen and second of the day, having watched Bristol Rovers beat Preston North End 2-0 at their old ground of Eastville earlier.
I had the bizarre privilege of watching him play for them in my only visit to Plainmoor as I witnessed Torquay United and Wigan play out a 0-0 draw on 13th February 1982. Lloyd took himself off late on in the game. It was my 478th match seen and second of the day, having watched Bristol Rovers beat Preston North End 2-0 at their old ground of Eastville earlier.
Lloyd's club appearance pie has a remarkable symmetry to it. Three slices of about 10% each and two others making up the other 70%.
Larry is not one of those ex-players who comes to mind when you think of the phrase "he kept himself in shape"...
It was a fixture list to set the heart racing, and it's not just me.
7,844 watched Altrincham beat Orient. 5,000 watches Chesham lose at home to Cambridge United. 12,599 packed into The Shay Ground to see Manchester City knocked out. Almost 36,000 packed into Elland Road to watch Forest march into the 4th Round. Almost 50,000 watched Liverpool brush past Grimsby. I was one of 8,204 who watched the Stags at home to Brighton and 45,207 watched Spurs v Man Utd. Note that 27 of the 32 games were played on the Saturday. Only one was played on a Friday and four were postponed.
Here are the highlights of one of the matches of the round, Spurs v Manchester United. This tie, at White Hart Lane, ended in a draw. Spurs won the replay 1-0.
On the following Monday Forest learned that their reward for beating Leeds away was to be draw yet again to Liverpool in 4th Round.
Playing for Pride, not Money
In complete contrast to today's game, where all clubs, not just the top ones, play little more than reserve sides in the F.A. Cup, it's important for younger fans to remember that it wasn't always like this - and it shouldn't be today.Forest recently played Gasprom Billionaire Reserves (or Chelsea as they are more often called) the other night and Sabri Lamouchi was lavishly praised by Forest fans for his "refreshing honesty" in admitting that as Forest were not going to win the Cup, and as their priority was obviously promotion, this therefore justified him playing the usual surrendering weakened side we always see from every club in the early rounds these days. Contrast that with the fact that back in the good old days, on January 8th 1980, Clough and Taylor played A FULL STRENGTH SIDE for a friendly away at Gravesend & Northfleet to help them commemorate switching on their new floodlights!
Notice that? It was just a friendly!
Nottingham Forest won 6-1 in front of 6,032 with Birtles and Mills scoring 2 each with John Robertson and Trevor Francis getting the others. Note that in those days Forest had a squad of about 18 players (not the 40 odd Sabri has today) and the club were still seriously involved in all three major English domestic trophies and two European ones (and not just having a glimmer of a hope of promotion from the second tier). They were about to embark on matches in all five competitions in the next few days and weeks.
Honestly, the cowardice and total lack of sporting adventure and integrity shown by the coaches employed by the money men these days just makes me sick.
On January 9th Spurs won their replay at Manchester United to progress to the 4th round.
Saturday January 12th - Two die at Ayresome Park after the Manchester United game there
Another big contrast with today's game is the way that fans' comfort and safety is taken far more seriously than it was back then. On 12th January Middlesbrough hosted Manchester United in the league and after the match, the United fans surged towards a gate, perhaps in fear of an over-excited police horse, or perhaps to attack Boro fans who they claim were throwing stones at them. |
| Irene and Norman Roxby |
Match 377: Saturday, 12th January 1980, Division One.
Nottingham Forest 3 West Bromwich Albion 1 (City Ground 183, Nottingham Forest 265 West Bromwich Albion 17) Attendance 27,724.
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Gray, 4 Ian Bowyer, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 David Needham, 7 Martin O'Neill, 8 Stan Bowles, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Trevor Francis, 11 John Robertson.
Goals: Viv Anderson 1, David Needham 1, Trevor Francis 1.
for Trevor Francis(10).
West Bromwich Albion
1 Tony Godden, 2 Brendon Batson, 3 Derek Statham, 4 John Trewick, 5 John Wile, 6 Alistair Robertson, 7 David Mills, 8 John Deehan, 9 Cyril Regis, 10 Gary Owen, 11 Peter Barnes.
Goals : Cyril Regis 1.
Substitutions: Tony Brown(12) came on for Peter Barnes (11).
Here's the report in the Football Post...
Here are the highlights of the match...
In other results, Liverpool got held at home by Southampton and Manchester United drew in the tragically ill-fated affair at Ayresome Park.
Forest were now climbing back up the table.
Here are the goals from the match at Ayresome Park between Middlesbrough and Manchester United...
Charlie George Joins Forest
On January 14th Charlie George joined Forest on loan, pending a £500,000 move if fit. Clough said "we cannot allow any of our players to leave, we have too many commitments."George would only play four games for the club but he made a big impact, so here's a little bit about his career too.
Charlie George was born in Islington in October 1950 and, like Larry Lloyd, joined his local club, who happened to be Arsenal.
Any mention of Charlie George, and I expect most fans of my age think of his great winning goal in the 1971 F A Cup final against Liverpool to clinch the double for the Gunners.
Here's the highlights of that final...
As with Larry Lloyd,whose memory for me stubbornly remains tied to Liverpool, Charlie George's will always be tied to Arsenal, as far as I'm concerned. This, despite him having a couple of spells at Derby County - one of which was quite long and very successful.
During his time at Derby, which resulted in over 100 league appearances, George had two loan spells abroad - one in Sydney, Australia and one in Bloomington, USA.
I wonder how much of a co-incidence it was that Charlie's club in Sydney was called "St George". According to Wikipedia he only made six appearances for them, scoring one goal. Bizarrely, the club has two nicknames - "the Saints" (of course) and, one was... wait for it... "Budapest"! But why?
His spell in the USA was for Minnesota Kicks. George scores 9 goals in 18 appearances for them.
In 1978 he joined Southampton where he played for three years.
George apparently signed for another six clubs (a brief return to Derby being one of them) including Boluva of Hong Kong in a frantic flurry before finally hanging his boots up at the age of 33.
 |
| Charlie's in better shape than Larry |
Unlike Larry Lloyd's, Charlie George's career pie looks like a mess with, for me, a surprisingly large (and very unpalatable-looking) slice of Derby County in there.
It was all going on at Forest behind the scenes at the time and on the 15th January Stuart Dryden, Forest chairman, was jailed for 6 months for swindling the post office. The next day it was the draw for the quarter finals of the European Cup and Forest were paired against another club from the eastern block, Dynamo Berlin.
Match 378: Saturday, 19th January 1980, Division One.
Leeds United 1 Nottingham Forest 2 (Elland Road 4, Leeds United 10 Nottingham Forest 266) Attendance 29,816.
It was only Forest's 3rd league game of the month. In fact only 27 first division games were played in total in January 1980.
 |
| Francis scores for Forest |
 |
| Shilton keeps Leeds at bay |
Leeds United
1 John Lukic, 2 Kevin Hird, 3 Byron Stevenson, 4 Gary Hamson, 5 Brian Greenoff, 6 Paul Madeley, 7 Eddie Gray, 8 Kevin Hird, 9 Terry Connor, 10 Wayne Entwhistle, 11 Peter Hampton.
Goals: Terry Connor 9.
Substitutions: Arthur Graham (12) came on for Wayne Entwhistle(10).
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Gray, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 David Needham, 7 Trevor Francis, 8 Charlie George, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 John Robertson, 11 Stan Bowles.
Goals : Trevor Francis 1, Garry Birtles 1.
If Forest hadn't had their bad spell in December, we might have started to dream about winning the league again after this result as Liverpool inexplicably lost away at Coventry City. Ipswich continued their impressive resurgence and moved up to 5th place after beating Bristol City 3-0 at Ashton Gate.
Forest were now back up to 6th place in the first division.
Forest's form was now back, just in time for some big cup ties.
... and the first of those came up just three days later...
Match 379: Tuesday, 22nd January 1980, League Cup Semi Final (1st Leg).
Nottingham Forest 1 Liverpool 0 (City Ground 185, Nottingham Forest 267 Liverpool 11) Attendance 32,234.
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Gray, 4 John McGovern, 5
Larry Lloyd, 6 David Needham, 7 Martin O'Neill, 8 Ian Bowyer, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Trevor Francis, 11 John Robertson.
Goals: John Robertson 1 (pen.).
Liverpool
1 Ray Clemence, 2 Phil Neal, 3 Alan Kennedy, 4 Phil Thompson, 5 Ray Kennedy, 6 Alan Hansen, 7 Kenny Dalglish, 8 Jimmy Case, 9 David Johnson, 10 Terry McDermott, 11 Graeme Souness.
Attendance: 32,234
More photos from the night...
The following day Brian Clough asked if Forest's England & Scotland players could be released from international duties so that they could all play against Barcelona in the European Super Cup that was scheduled for the following week. "I co-operated with national teams in the past, and I am confident that this time they will help me. Beating a Spanish team would be a morale booster before the European Championship Finals" he said.
Match 380: Saturday, 26th January 1980, F.A. Cup 4th Round.
Nottingham Forest 0 Liverpool 2 (City Ground 186, Nottingham Forest 268 Liverpool 12) Attendance 33,277.
Not for the first time, it was a Shilton gaff that gave Liverpool the edge when he spilled a ball he would normally take comfortably to the one man you don't want to be in receipt of such gifts, Kenny Dalglish. Later, a Terry McDermott penalty confirmed Liverpool's superiority on the day.
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Gray, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 Martin O'Neill, 8 Ian Bowyer, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Trevor Francis, 11 John Robertson.
Substitutions: David Needham (12) came on for Kenny Burns(6).
Liverpool
1 Ray Clemence, 2 Phil Neal, 3 Alan Kennedy, 4 Phil Thompson, 5 Ray Kennedy, 6 Alan Hansen, 7 Kenny Dalglish, 8 Jimmy Case, 9 David Johnson, 10 Terry McDermott, 11 Graeme Souness.
Goals : Kenny Dalglish 1, Terry McDermott 1 (pen.).
Attendance: 33,277
Despite this loss, Forest could still hold their heads up high at their record against the mighty, mighty Liverpool since their return to the top flight. This was only Forest's second defeat in eleven games against the Merseyside giants.
How sweet it would have been to have knocked Liverpool out of the F.A. Cup too, but alas, it wasn't to be. The defeat did somewhat spoil another great day of fixtures in the good old days, the fourth round of the cup. It's worth noting some of the attendances that day... 29,152 at St Andrews to watch Birmingham City beat Middlesbrough. 20,785 at Ewood Park to watch Blackburn beat Coventry. 19,608 at Ashton Gate to watch Bristol City (and not Bradford City reported in my Rothmans!) lose at home to Ipswich. 51,853 at Goodison Park to watch Everton beat Wigan Athletic. 21,521 at Brisbane Road to watch West Ham win at Orient. 26,000 at the County Ground to watch Swindon draw 0-0 with Spurs and 24,586 at Vicarage Road to watch a pulsating tie with Watford overcoming non-league Harlow 4-3.
Aah... when the F.A. Cup mattered. Here are the highlights of Watford's win.
The month of football ended on a dramatic note, even though it didn't seem all that remarkable at the time. Less than 24,000 fans came along to the City Ground to watch the illustrious Catalonian team.
How sweet it would have been to have knocked Liverpool out of the F.A. Cup too, but alas, it wasn't to be. The defeat did somewhat spoil another great day of fixtures in the good old days, the fourth round of the cup. It's worth noting some of the attendances that day... 29,152 at St Andrews to watch Birmingham City beat Middlesbrough. 20,785 at Ewood Park to watch Blackburn beat Coventry. 19,608 at Ashton Gate to watch Bristol City (and not Bradford City reported in my Rothmans!) lose at home to Ipswich. 51,853 at Goodison Park to watch Everton beat Wigan Athletic. 21,521 at Brisbane Road to watch West Ham win at Orient. 26,000 at the County Ground to watch Swindon draw 0-0 with Spurs and 24,586 at Vicarage Road to watch a pulsating tie with Watford overcoming non-league Harlow 4-3.
Aah... when the F.A. Cup mattered. Here are the highlights of Watford's win.
Match 381: Wednesday, 30th January 1980, European Super Cup First Leg.
Nottingham Forest 1 Barcelona 0 (City Ground 187, Nottingham Forest 269 Barcelona 1) Attendance 23,807.
I suppose then, as now, people were a bit cynical about contrived competitions like the European Super Cup - a competition designed to pair off the two major European cup winners against each other.
The competition had only been dreamt up in 1971 by a Dutch journalist called Anton Witkamp, whose main motivation would appear to have been extra glorification of Ajax Amsterdam. In the first final, held in 1972, Ajax beat Glasgow Rangers 6-3 on aggregate but UEFA refused to value the title that season as Rangers were banned after their fans antics in a final the year before. So 1973 is recorded as the first official Super Cup tournament - again won by Ajax.
The competition wasn't held in 1974 because Bayern Munich and Magdeburg couldn't agree on a date and venue to play the fixtures, so this was only the 6th European Super Cup to be held. If Forest won (as, of course, they did) they'd join a small band of European clubs which included Ajax and Liverpool, but was led by Anderlecht.
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| Super Cup Winners in 1978 |
Forest, of course, had qualified for the match by beating FF Malmo the season before in a very disappointing final whilst Barcelona had been victorious in a spectacular final against the German "Pokalmeister" Fortuna Dusseldorf.
Here are the highlights...
The plaque that was given to the winners of the Super Cup at the time was pretty shoddy. It's since been replaced with the much more handsome-looking trophy these days.
Fittingly, it was none other than Charlie George who scored the decisive goal, in the 9th minute. As we'll see next month, it would be enough to secure the trophy for Forest.
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Gray, 4 Martin O'Neill, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 Stan Bowles, 8 Trevor Francis, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Charlie George, 11 John Robertson.
Goals: Charlie George 1.
Barcelona
1 Pedro Artola, 2 Rafael Zuviria, 3 Bernardo Bianquetti Migueli, 4 Antonio Olmo, 5 Joan Manuel Serrat, 6 Quique Costas, 7 Juan Manuel Asensi, 8 Jesus Landaburu, 9 Julian Rubio, 10 Allan Simonsen, 11 Rebrto Fernandez Bonillo.
Substitutions: Esteban Vigo (13) came on for Allan Simonsen (10), Francisco Jose Carrasco (12) came on for Roberto Fernandez Bonillo (11).
Attendance: 23,807
Musical Interlude
Time to get into the mood 40 years ago with a music interlude. As January ended this was the top 20 in the UK charts.
Here are my selections...
Not my favourite by any means, but a track that evokes strong memories of the time.... New Musik (Living By Numbers)
Next, a timeless classic from The Clash (London Calling)
Another one that captured the mood for me at the time...Joe Jackson (It's Different for Girls)
Madness' latest (My Girl) as always was a good mood song.
At the time the Specials were my favourite band and I watched them several times. I'd forgotten hat they made No 1 with "Too Much Too Young" as Forest were beating Barcelona.
Return to Sender...
I don't have time to review the current Forest situation much here. Things are definitely looking good at the moment and, as I write, it seems to have been a pretty good transfer window for the club again. Maybe the glory days are about to return? (well, greediership cannon-fodder status, at least!)
Sabri Lamouchi, remarkably, now has the third best ever record (in terms of points /game) in Forest's history and it'd be the absolute best if one added the caveat that the manager must have been in the job at least six months.
Some might be smugly wondering what I make of this, in particular with regard to my oft promoted Martin O'Neill obsession. Well, I'll tell you. Of course I'm impressed with Sabri. He has not done anything wrong in my books and, of course, it's not his fault that the club's owners, players and most fans shafted a club legend so disgracefully after just 164 days in charge. Despite the mess he inherited, Martin was doing a half decent job. Who else has been sacked after winning three successive games? Sabri's done very well, but he's been gifted a perfect opportunity. I bet Martin would have loved, and taken full advantage of, two new goalkeepers, a return to the club of Joe Worrell, the fitness of Michael Dawson and two new defenders as well as a sprinkling of new midfield players.
I won't dwell on the fact that angel boy, Joao Carvalho, has been largely overlooked by Lamouchi, as he was by O'Neill, but I can't resist noting the contrasting way the "fans" have reacted to his repeated omissions. When Martin left out the midfielder, it was definitive proof of O'Neill's stupidity and stubbornness. When Sabri does it, somehow it's a sign of genius.
Good luck to Sabri, anyway. Only another 23.7 years of continued success - including three promotions, 13 trophy wins, 13 cup finals, including ten wins - to go and he'll be able to say his record is as good as Martin's.
On that note, yesterday I received a returned to sender letter I'd hopefully sent to Martin back in October. I don't know his address so I sent it to Martin O'Neill, Beaconsfield, hoping that the British Postal service, famous, I thought, for its ingenuity, would get it to him.
Unfortunately not. So here it is. If anyone out there knows Martin, I'd really appreciate it if you could give him a nod and tell him about it. Cheers!
Next... February 1980
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