Skip to main content

Brian Clough and Peter Taylor

As we approached the final few days of Forest's most successful and hectic season ever, there was no taking the foot off the peddle. They'd been averaging two games a week pretty much since December 1977 so what better way to finish the season but with four games in six days?!

Having celebrated being handed the English Championship trophy (oh, and getting a 0-0 draw with in-form Birmingham City in the bargain) two days ago, Forest now faced Derby County (albeit in a friendly) before playing away at West Bromwich Albion tomorrow (Tuesday, 2nd May) only then to end the season at Anfield to play the previous English champions, current European Cup holders and this years' finalists, Liverpool two days after.


This was the last game I watched in this most amazing season as I didn't go to Albion or Liverpool and, to be absolutely honest, I have no memory of it whatsoever. So what follows here is a very short tribute to Cloughie & Taylor - I'll do a much fuller one in the future - and a copy of the programme.

I honestly don't know how Forest played so many games in such a short period of time. It's been a real effort just keeping up with them only writing about them!

Small Tribute to Cloughie and Taylor

I don't want to be "a bit previous" here by analysing the Brian Clough & Peter Taylor years at Forest. That will come later. And, perhaps it was a bit "previous" of Forest to offer them a testimonial at this point in their career too. I'm sure Cloughie & Taylor didn't object to pocketing a tidy sum of money between them, though.

But here's a snapshot of their amazing timeline at Forest.


As you can see, this testimonial was given to them pretty early in their time at Forest. It marked the point 31% of time into Taylor's period at the club and only 18% of Cloughie's time there.

Still, I don't think anyone at Forest would begrudge them the rewards their management deserved.

Thanks Brian! Thanks Peter!

The Game

Forest fielded another full strength team for this match which, bizarrely, included a very unexpected striking partnership of Peter Ward and Duncan McKenzie.

I must say I really am not interested in friendlies. One of the greatest things about sport is the real drama it creates (as opposed to the 'pretend' rehearsed drama of the arts - the theater or opera, say) but that drama is only real if the game really matters. With Forest still having two games to go - both tough away games, and both in the next three days, you couldn't expect the players to "get stuck in" and, by all accounts, they didn't.

Anyway, here's what Cyril Chapman of the Guardian made of it all.


The Programme











Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stan Bowles fills the Brian Clough Stand

40 years ago, the Brian Clough Stand was nearing completion and, despite not yet having a roof, people started sitting in the vast array of seats of its upper tier. It wasn't called "The Brian Clough Stand" then, of course. Someone, bizarrely, thought "The Executive Stand" was appropriate. It would seem a perverse name, even in today's billionaire infused world of football, never mind in those dark days at the end of the 1970s, as Britain was only just throwing off its last flirtation with socialism. Filling the seats was something we had never really questioned, as Clough and Taylor had brought so much success to Nottingham in the last two years. The City Ground had attracted several 40,000+ attendances during this era, so getting 32,000 or so once the City Ground capacity was reduced,  would surely be no problem. However, Forest's league form seemed to suddenly become very fragile as the construction of the stand neared its completion. Most alarmingl
3 comments
Read more

Cup dreams of Bury, buried by Forest

The 1977-78 season was sliding inexorably to the so-called "pointy-end" (meaning, I think, when things are decided). Forest, top of the first division by four points, after drawing 0-0 at Derby now turned their attention to a League Cup Quarter Final - the first time they'd ever got this far in the tournament. In their way stood third division Bury, who were looking for some cup glory themselves. They had already beaten 4th Division Crewe Alexandra, 3rd Division Oxford United, 2nd Division Millwall, and 1st Division West Bromwich Albion on their way to this quarter final. But, unlike Forest, they'd been here before. In fact if they won, Bury would get to the semi-finals of the League Cup for their second time. Could they do it, or would it be Forest's year? You know the answer but before describing my trip to the match let's pay respect to the long history of Bury F.C. and some of their great historical highlights. The North West is Football Mad
4 comments
Read more

Forest Go Breaking Watford, Herts.

40 Years is a long long time. Here, touching back, brings us round again to find when Forest took a big step towards returning to returning to Wembley to defend the League Cup that they had won the season before (when they were victorious  over the mighty, mighty Liverpool in a replay at Old Trafford) by eliminating a swarm of ascendant hornets. (That's Watford, to those not acquainted with their nickname.) In this post, I'll give a brief outline of Watford Football Club's bizarre chameleon-like (but, it has to be said, remarkably unsuccessful) history before doing a big catch up with what had happened in the world of football in the weeks between Forest beating Brighton in the quarter finals back at the start of December, and this game. The most famous Watford fan, of course, is Reg Dwight. Y'know... Elton John - so I'll do a bit on him as well, interweaving his career into my life via my dear sister who, as far as I was aware, discovered him, and some of his f
2 comments
Read more