40 years ago I missed the 1978-79 European Cup Final. I had an exam at Nottingham University the next day so that was the end of that dream. Looking back on it from here, I can't understand why I didn't just go - and damn the consequences. After all, it was surely a once in a lifetime opportunity. Never to be repeated, right? I was such a silly boy in those days, such a clown, I find it hard to believe that I was so sensible on this point. There was no crazy "from now on..." here. No, instead I sacrificed the incredible opportunity to go to Munich to see Forest in the European Cup Final so that I could sit my Zoology exam at uni. I wasn't a very good student, but I did take exams very seriously and had a pretty good revision technique that would, ultimately, win me an upper second degree.
But before stepping back in time and trudging, sadly into the Junior Common Room, in Sherwood Hall that Wednesday night in May to watch the match on the tely with a small cluster of students most of whom were only suddenly interested in football, this post will recount the end of the league season which saw Forest climb, quite improbably, to second place for only the second time in the season in the final game. So, Forest finished runners-up behind Liverpool after a flurry of good form in their last seven games, incredibly played out in just twenty days. Forest won four, drew two and lost one (to Wolves) before beating Mansfield in the Nottinghamshire County Cup Final. The European Cup match in Munich was their tenth competitive game in 35 days. Whatever would the like of Jose Mourinho have made of that?
In the middle of that run in was the famous 1979 British General Election which saw Margaret Thatcher move into No 10 Downing street in place of Jim Callaghan. In these times of crazy political turmoil, those events seems relatively calm and civilised from here. Of course that's not what it was like at the time. I'll add a few twists about my old constituency of Ashfield there.
Despite all the amazing success Clough and Taylor were bringing to the club, the last couple of matches on Trentside attracted very disappointing crowds. Forest actually ended with their two worst league attendances of the season: 20,388 and 21,104. I'll happily contrast those figures with the season just finished, when Forest's lowest league attendance, watching a side that finished only 9th in the second tier remember, was well over 4,000 more than in 1978-79.
Unlike 40 years ago, I'll then (virtually) leave British shores and cross the North Sea to summarise the football history of Sweden and their top club, in 1979, Malmö FF, from 1910 through the second world war, up until their most successful period, under the Englishman Bob Houghton.
Who was Houghton's English football coaching colleague that was enjoying Swedish success at the same time? If you don't know, you'll kick yourself when you find out. Sweden will then make up the final place in my EurOpen League. We'll see how the Allsvenskan compared with the other 31 European leagues - was it more open, or more closed up to 1978?
The end of the 1978-79 season saw two of Forest's "magic men" move on: Frank Clark and Archie Gemmill. So I'll say a fond farewell to both of them, but especially to Archie as I've covered Frank a bit before.
Following in the theme of this season's posts, I'll then take a look forward from 1978 towards the end of the century and see how Malmö FF and other Swedish Champions did in that period.
Finally, I'll share some thoughts on Forest's roller coaster end to the season and reaffirm my full support for Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane, with fingers tightly crossed as they prepare for next season. Could this finally be our time? Forest back in the top flight? What a 2020 vision that would be. Incredibly, it's been a traumatic time to be a supporter of the Forest legend, my all-time football hero. I have some thoughts on modern young Forest fans and their strange concept of him being a football "dinosaur".
Previously: Victory in Köln.
Wolverhampton Wanderers
1 Paul Bradshaw, 2 Geoff Palmer, 3 Derek Parkin, 4 Peter Daniel, 5 John McAlle, 6 Colin Brazier, 7 Kenny Hibbitt, 8 Maurice Daley, 9 Bill Rafferty, 10 John Richards, 11 Willie Carr.
Goals: John Richards 1.
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Ian Bowyer, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 John O'Hare, 8 Trevor Francis, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Tony Woodcock, 11 John Robertson.
Attendance: 23,616
This was only Forest's 3rd defeat of the season and an understandable one, considering their fixture pile up. Bob Houghton, the Malmö manager was there but apparently said he was not deceived by Forest's poor form that night.
After this result, Albion fans must have believed they would finish runners-up as they had the rare phenomenon of a game in hand over us, as well as a superior goal difference.
That view would have been strengthened the following night, on Tuesday, 1st May, as the Baggies got an impressive 2-0 win at 4th placed Everton.
Any remaining dreams that West Brom fans might have had about winning the league were dashed, however, as Liverpool won most impressively 4-1 at Bolton Wanderers. This meant they kept their seven point lead over Albion with just five games remaining.
Forest could, mathematically, still retain the title at this point, but we all knew where the title was heading by now.
Liverpool closing in on their 11th title...
Just two days after the Wolves defeat, Forest were in the spotlight again - at home to Southampton. It seems it wasn't just the players feeling a little fatigued as Forest, incredibly, had their lowest crowd of the season - just over 20,000.
Match 331: Wednesday, 2nd May 1979: Division One
Here's the match programme, at least...
Trevor Francis got the only goal of the game to keep Forest's faint sniff of the title alive for a bit longer. I definitely went to the game but, sadly, I have zero memory of it.
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Clark, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 Trevor Francis, 8 Ian Bowyer, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Tony Woodcock, 11 John Robertson.
Goal: Trevor Francis.
Southampton
1 Peter Wells, 2 Manny Andruszewski, 3 David Peach, 4 Chris Nicholl, 5 Graham Baker, 6 Malcom Waldron, 7 Alan Ball, 8 Phil Boyer, 9 Trevor Hebberd, 10 Nick Holmes, 11 Oshor Williams.
Substitutions: Kevin Dawtry(12) came on for Oshor Williams (11).
Attendance: 20,388
Labour had been in power since 1974, at first under Harold Wilson and now Jim Callaghan. But the so-called winter of discontent and the spectre of trade union over-exuberance had turned many people away from any socialist ideals they had. The new Tory leader, Margaret Thatcher, appealed to many average people with her no nonsense analogies of good housekeeping and watching the pennies so that the pounds would take of themselves.
I was a Tory in those days too, but not because of fiscal frugality. I had experienced years of my dad constantly reminding me of the scourge of Communism and warning me about militant trade unionists like Arthur Scargill. It seemed pretty clear cut to me: It was time for the democratically elected government to shift the balance of power away from Soviet-backed militants. The Tories were the most obvious party to stand up against the USSR. And, it was a Labour government, under Harold Wilson in the 1960s, that had given away all of the Baltic gold to Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev - to try to appease the Kremlin. Estonia, Latvia and had deposited it all in the Bank of England during their independence period between the wars.
Thanks, Harold! Some of us will never forget that.
Before leaving Nottingham University to go to vote that day, I distinctly remember chatting briefly to the son of a Kent miner, notorious for their left-wing militant views.
"I'm not just going to hope for a better future, I'm going to vote for one!" I blurted one of the Tory party election slogans. Rob Peters did not look impressed. But I got away without any abuse.
Election day was on a Thursday and it lead to one of the most dramatic nights in British political history as Thatcher's new Tories swept to power.
Bizarrely, my own constituency of Ashfield - normally a very staunch Labour stronghold - had voted in a Tory for the first time in donkey's years (maybe the first time ever!?) at a by-election just a couple of years earlier. Tim Smith was a pretty nice guy as far as I could tell and he came to our school to congratulate the few of us in the sixth form who had managed to get four A Levels.
But the Labour party were well organised locally in 1979 and won the seat back for Labour that night, bucking the national trend.
Before moving back to football, I can't let this opportunity pass to voice my own personal sadness, disappointment and, yes, outright disgust, at how my former constituency voted in the recent Euro elections. Almost half of the votes cast were for Nigel Farage's own new private internet protest venture, the so-called "Brexit Party". When you add in the fact that UKIP, of whom Farage was leader for years, finished fourth in the voting with another 8%, you can only conclude that my former neighbours in Notts have no problem with the tapeworm of British politics. I think he is a fascist myself and I'm very scared that so many (largely English) voters seem to love him.
At least the turn out was not massive, just 37% of the electorate. But still, the EU leavers outnumbered the remainers 3:1 - even more than in the 2016 referendum when it was 2:1.
It's all very depressing indeed to me personally. Surely, I am living proof that the xenophobes are wrong to fear Europe. My father was a Lithuanian, my mother, Romanian, and yet I am as pro-British as anyone. I continue to support England in every sport even though I now live in Australia and I have embraced every aspect of British culture possible.
On the Friday evening of the first day of the new UK government, Queens Park Rangers were finally relegated after a dramatic 4-3 defeat at Elland Road. They were winning three times but succumbed in the end.
The night after that, Forest were in action again, at home to Manchester City.
Match 333: Wednesday, 9th May 1979: Division One
This was another poor crowd, the second worst of the season. It seems incredible to me, looking back from here today, that Forest could only attract just over 21,000 for their last home game of the season. You can only think that most Forest fans had spent all their money on the trip to Munich and were just skint!
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Clark, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 8 Trevor Francis, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Tony Woodcock, 11 John Robertson.
Goals: Garry Birtles 1, Tony Woodcock 1, Ian Bowyer 1.
Substitutions: Ian Bowyer (12) came on
Manchester City
1 Joe Corrigan, 2 Nicky Reid, 3 Willie Donnachie, 4 Tony Henry, 5 Dave Watson, 6 Colin Bell, 7 Mike Channon, 8 Kazimiercz Deyna, 9 Barry Silkman, 10 Asa Hartford, 11 Gary Owen.
(Goal: Larry Lloyd o.g.)
So Forest closed the gap on Albion to just a point with two games to go.
So, what a disappointing end (attendance-wise) to another great season. The last two home games - for the team that had just clinched a place in the European Cup Final, remember - had an average of just 20,746. Shocking, really.
Here's a full list of Forest's home attendances that season, sorted by size in descending order.
It's bizarre to compare it with this (2018-19) season's stats....
Another contrast is in the consistency of the attendances. In 1978-79 the City Ground had a capacity of over 40,000 and they exceeded that a few times. Now, the capacity is under 30,000 but they almost fill it every week. In 1978-79 the highest league crowd was more than twice as big as the smallest. Last season it was just 14% bigger. Another striking difference is the difference in the attendances for the League Cup. In 1978-79 matches at home to Brighton and Watford - both lower ranking teams than us - fetched above average attendances. Last season even a home tie with Premier League Newcastle only brought in about half the league average.
On 10th May Queens' Park Rangers sacked their manager Steve Burtenshaw and Kenny Dalglish was voted Footballer of the Year.
On Friday, 11th May Crystal Palace clinched the Second Division title in front of an amazing crowd of 51,801 at home to Burnley. Meanwhile new boys Wimbledon secured promotion to the Third Division and Swansea City were promoted to Division Two. Tommy Docherty was appointed manager of QPR.
Liverpool beat in form Middlesbrough at Ayresome Park and West Bromwich Albion won at local rivals Aston Villa to extend their lead over Forest to three points with just two games to go.
As soon as the match finished, apparently, preparations to demolish the East Stand began. The plan was to have the whole thing cleared and the lower tier seats in place for the start of the new season, just weeks away.
Arsenal won the game 3-2 after a dramatic climax saw Manchester United come back from 2-0 down before Alan Sunderland sneaked the winner just before the final whistle.
Here are the match highlights of what was one of the better F.A. Cup finals of the 70s and 80s.
And here's the match report...
The following Monday, West Bromwich Albion lost 1-0 at White Hart Lane which gave Forest a sniff at finishing Runners up again. A win at Spurs would have clinched second spot for Albion.
The same night, Watford clinched their second successive promotion (this time to the Second Division) as the Graham Taylor/Elton John revolution continued.
On Tuesday night, having had the luxury of six whole days without a game, Forest traveled up the M1 to Elland Road to take on Leeds United.
I didn't join them, but was obviously very pleased that we won again with Gary Mills getting his only goal of the season.
Leeds United
1 David Harvey, 2 Kevin Hird, 3 Frank Gray, 4 Brian Flynn, 5 Paul Hart, 6 Paul Madeley, 7 Carl Harris, 8 Trevor Cherry, 9 John Hawley, 10 Eddie Gray, 11 Arthur Graham.
Goal: Trevor Cherry 1.
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Clark, 4 John O'Hare, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 Gary Mills, 8 Trevor Francis, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Ian Bowyer, 11 John Robertson.
Goals : Gary Mills 1, John Hawley (own goal)
Substitutions: David Needham(12) came on for Frank Clark (3).
Attendance: 33,544
Forest now edged to just a point behind West Bromwich Albion and set up a runners-up show down with them at the Hawthorns set for Friday night, just three days later.
On Wednesday, 16th May, Barcelona won the European Cup Winners Cup after beating Fortuna Dusseldorf in a classic 4-3 win after extra time.
Here are the match highlights...
The day after that, on Thursday 17th May, Liverpool completed their fixtures with another very impressive win at Elland Road, beating Leeds 3-0 and reaching a new Football League points record of 68 points.
So, to Forest's last league game of the league season...
Match 334: Friday 18th May 1979: Division One
So, hard luck, Baggies! As it said in the programme, it was a great season for the Albion. Unfortunately for them, it was an even better one for us. And, unfortunately for us both, it was an even better one for Liverpool (at least in the League ~ Liverpool were rubbish in all three cups they took part in!)
It would appear that football fatigue was everywhere as the attendance at Albion was another that was a bit disappointing, only being slightly above their average.
Still Forest were the 3rd biggest crowd pullers in the division. Here are the away average stats for the season...
Here is the final table for the First Division 1978-79. Just look at that defensive record from Liverpool. Just 16 goals conceded all season - another record.
Typical. Forest played so well the season before and dared to challenge Liverpool's domination of the English football league and what happens? Liverpool put in the best league record in the entire history of the game.
Obviously this was enough to overtake Forest in the 1977-79 composite table too.
60 points would often have been easily enough to win the league. In 1979 there had only been three teams before them that had reached 60 or more points and not won the league that season.
And only 23 teams had ever finished with a better record than Forest did in the first 85 versions of the first division of the football league...
63 out of those 85 seasons, 60 points would have been enough to win the league, and 39 times even when the clubs played 42 games...
Still, Forest did finish the season on very good form: 3rd only to Liverpool themselves, and Ipswich.
Here is the First Division Top scorers' table. It includes cup matches too. What a great first season for Garry Birtles and Forest had five players in the top 32.
Here are the other final tables...
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The Saturday after the drama at the Hawthorns saw the start of the British Home International Championships. England beat Northern Ireland 2-0 in Belfast and Wales beat Scotland 3-0 at Ninian Park.
The following Wednesday, I watched my last game of the season, the Nottinghamshire County Cup Final, Forest v Stags. I have no programme or memory of it. As holders , Forest played the final at at the City Ground.
Match 335: Wednesday 23rd May 1979: Nottinghamshire County Cup Final
This was last match of the season and here then are my match attendance stats in my nine seasons as a fan. Not quite as many Forest games as the season before, but the most matches in a season at the time.
The same night, in the Home Championships, England drew 0-0 with Wales at Wembley and Scotland beat Northern Ireland.
Also, that same night, Borussia Monchengladbach clinched the UEFA Cup with a 1-0 home win against Red Star Belgrade after holding them to a 1-1 draw in Belgrade. I wonder if they lifted it over a pub?
England clinched their 52nd Home Championship win (out of 109) by beating the old enemy 3-1 at Wembley. No Forest players took part.
Here are the match highlights...
And the report...
Final table...
There would only be four more Home Championships after this one. the last winners were Northern Ireland, who won it in 1983-84 when all four teams ended up with three points and Northern Ireland won it on goal difference. From then on, England and Scotland declined to enter it, citing lowering interest, increasing fixtures and the threat of hooliganism as reasons.
The Notts. F.A. Cup didn't last much longer either. Another sign of changing times and the slide away from the age when the game was played for love, towards when it is mainly played for money.
After the exams, the crazy pranks continued, including one weekend when Jake the bar manager and I decided to nip over to Paris with some handy funds.
Ay, them wo't days, lad!
It didn't!
So, yes, Football in Sweden has a long history, which began in the 1870's under the influence of English and Scottish inspiration and clubs in Gothenburg, Stockholm and Visby were among the first to play competitively.
Between 1895 and 1952 a tournament called the "Svenska Mästerskapet" was organised once a year along the lines of a World Cup. All the games would be played either in Gothenburg or Stockholm over a matter of a few short weeks. It's a big country but most people live in the south.
Malmö is the third biggest city in Sweden and the most southerly of the bigger ones. Their biggest club, Malmö Fotball Förening (Football Association) was formed on 24th February 1910 and played in regional leagues like the Malmömästerskapen in the south of Sweden. They are based in the south of the city.
In 1925 the first Swedish football league was introduced, the Allsvenskan.
Malmö FF were in one of the inaugural regional second tiers.
So, as Malmö FF headed to Munich, they did so as the No 1 club in Swedish league history.
13 title winners in 53 seasons, though, is a pretty even spread and the Swedish pie has plenty slices...
So, in 1978 Sweden had a pretty open league, ranked 11 out of 32 in my EurOpen league.
So, in eight games, Malmö FF had played out with six clean sheets. They'd scored just nine goals and conceded only two. Contrast that with Forest who had scored 18 and conceded 7 with only three clean sheets.
Here are the highlights of the match. It was the only match my mum ever went to. She loved it, especially the chanting and clapping of the fans.
This was the souvenir programme Forest made for the tie...
And here's the Official program produced in Germany...
And here's a pre-match pull out from a local newspaper the Nottingham News...
Malmö FF
1 Jan Moller, 2 Roland Andersson, 3 Ingemar Erlandsson, 4 Kent Jonsson, 5 Magnus Andersson, 6 Staffan Tapper, 7 Anders Ljungberg, 8 Robert Prytz, 9 Tommy Hansson, 10 Tore Cervin, 11 Jan-Olov Kinnvall.
Substitutions: Tommy Andersson (13) came on for Tommy Hansson (9).
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Clark, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 8 Ian Bowyer, 9 Trevor Francis, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Tony Woodcock, 11 John Robertson.
Goals : Trevor Francis 1.
I parked myself in the prime seat in the JCR (Junior Common Room) in front of the telly with a bottle of plonk at my side. I did this partly so that I wouldn't have to keep nipping out to the bar and partly because I thought I might need a weapon in case my so-called "mates" carried out their really mean threat to drag me away, tie me up and lock me in the toilet. Honestly, what is it with these boisterous antics? Anyway, it never happened and I was allowed to watch the very tense game.
As often is the case, the final was a bit of an anticlimax, to say the least, and Malmö FF's zonal marking system was as effective as we'd feared. Danger-man, Robbo, was quite rightly, given an inordinate amount of attention.
Just before half time though, a slightly mis-kicked pass from Ian Bowyer made Robbo stretch to get the ball causing Prytz to give him a little space for once and Robbo was off on a typical slow run down the left. At last, he carved out enough space to deliver one of his beautifully weighted, floating crosses and, as if scripted, Trevor Francis came sprinting in to head the only goal of the game.
The second half continued the pattern of the first and Forest almost doubled their lead with a mirror image of the first half goal when Robbo hit the post after a brilliant speedy dart to the goal line and pull back by Trevor Francis.
If you're short for time and want to see something quick that isn't shown that often (compared to Francis' goal) then here's a short clip of that run, cross and Robbo's shot.
Despite Forest's overall domination the game spluttered to a 1-0 final score and that was that.
So, amazingly, just two years and two months after we'd gone to Bramall Lane in the Second Division and lost 2-0 to Sheffield United signalling, it seemed, the end of our promotion hopes, Forest had reached the pinnacle of European football.
For the real fans, here is the match in full with lovely commentary from Barry Davies and none other than Bobby Charlton as the expert by his side.
This completed Forest's 63rd competitive match of the season...
The next day Brian and Peter signed a new 4 year contract and the Nottingham public got ready to welcome their heroes home.
Another great season over.
Here are the full squad statistics for the 1978-79 campaign. Notice, just twenty players in total and only 17 if you add a caveat that they had to have made at least 5 appearances.
This tiny squad played 63 competitive games (if you count the Charity Shield) won two major trophies and finished second in the top tier of English football. Incredible.
Contrast that with the current Forest squad...
Joe Lolley was the only player to figure in every game and no less than 33 players played at some point, 31 if you add the 5 game caveat.
Different world, init?
Here's a special commemorative issue of the Evening Post that I kept as a souvinir...
Forest had a road show a few weeks later where the European Cup was brought out to all the local branches. What a privilege to be able to hold the Big Cup. Shame I had to pull a silly face, though!
IFK Göteborg reached the European Cup quarter Finals in 1984-85, losing to Greek Champions Panathinaikos and went one better the season after, reaching the semi finals before losing to Barcelona on penalties. When they beat Barca 3-0 at home, it looked like Malmö FF 's achievement would be repeated but the Spanish champions won the second leg 3-0 too and it had to be settled on penalties.
They made the quarter finals again in 1988-89 but lost to Steaua Bucharest.
In 1992-93 the tournament had a changed format. Instead of quarter finals, there were two groups of four and the two group winners played in the final. IFK Göteborg made the group stage and came second in their group.
In 1994-95 the format changed again, getting closer to the modern champions League format.
IFK Göteborg were put in a very difficult looking group, alongside Barcelona and Manchester United, but the Swedish champions surprised everyone by winning the group. They won all three home matches and managed to draw in Barcelona to reach the quarter finals.
Here's the Manchester United victory...
... and here's the Barcelona win...
That would be as good as it got for Swedish teams in the European Cup.
So, in the period 1978-99 how did the spread of success in the Allsvenskan compare with the rest of Europe?
The answer is... about the same as before but perhaps a little more open.
Of course, Frank was on the wrong side in one big match in 1974, when he was part of the Newcastle United team that cheated Forest out of F.A. Cup glory.
It's got to be worth another look, hasn't it?
So Clark's Newcastle United ended up at Wembley, not Forest. It was with some satisfaction that they got hammered 3-0.
It wasn't long after that the Joe Harvey made way for a new face at St James' Park, Gordon Lee and it seems Cloughie, who was by now the new face at Forest, heard on the grapevine that Gordon was going to let Frank go.
One of Brian Clough's best signings, Frank was picked up for nowt at the age of 28 having been with the Geordies for 13 years and having made 389 league appearances (484 altogether). Thanks then, to Gordon Lee, who had just become their new manager a month earlier. It's amazing how two mangers can have such different opinions about any player, let alone one as dependable as Frank was.
Frank Clark made his debut for Forest in the first game of the 1975-76 season, a 2-0 home win against newly promoted Plymouth Argyle. He was an ever present that season, and the next.
So here's a question for you: What was the first league match Frank Clark missed for Forest?
A: away to Wolves, a 3-2 win in the first division after 88 consecutive appearances.
The rest, as they say is history and I've covered quite a bit of it in these pages.
So, Gordon Lee missed out on the best quarter of his career.
Thanks Frank!!!
The signing from Preston to Derby is one of those Brian Clough legendary tales. Apparently he was spotted by Peter Taylor and, with inside info that he was probably on his way to first division Everton, Clough drove to his house and refused to leave until he signed. He said he'd sleep outside in his car until Gemmill's wife invited him in and he ended up staying the night and signing him for the club, over breakfast for £60,000.
Yes, yes. We all know he had a very successful time at Derby...
But when Forest got promotion to the first division, Cloughie and Taylor wanted him to play under them again and he didn't take much persuading this time, although it seemed that his decision was made easier because of a personality clash with a new Derby manager.
Colin Murphy left Derby on 22nd September 1977 and when Tommy Docherty came in the next day, Gemmill put in a transfer request and was sold immediately for £100,000 + John Middleton. The Doc made him sign a written transfer request and so he lost his slice of the fee. Docherty said "I think it's only fair that the supporters should know the real position and not blame us for getting rid of Gemmill."
I didn't see his Forest debut at home to Norwich City as I was at my dear sister's wedding, and as Archie Gemmill was cup tied in the League Cup, the first time I saw him in a Forest shirt was when he came on as substitute away at West Ham United, although I must admit I was too scared for my life to notice. He came on as sub again in the next home game, against Manchester City but the first time I saw him make a start for Forest was in their 4-0 home win against Middlesbrough.
His goal against Arsenal later that season won the "Goal of the Season" award and was probably the key moment that indicated Forest were on their way to winning the league.
Of course, Archie also had a long and successful international career with Scotland too and will always be remembered for this brilliant goal against Holland in the Argentina World Cup in 1978. Alas even their 3-2 win was not enough for them to qualify out of the group stages.
So Archie Gemmill only made 56 full league appearances (+two as substitute) for us overall. He scored 6 league goals.
On 4th August he signed for Second division Birmingham for £150,000, good business from Forest's point of view, I suppose but you have to feel sorry for Gemmill, shipped off to a club he probably had no great desire to go to.
Still he helped win them an immediate promotion back to the first division and on November 11th 1980 he played in a Birmingham City side that beat Cloughie's Forest 2-0.
So, thanks, Archie. You were a good 'un!
Now it's time to turn our attention back to the present and Forest's roller coaster end of the season.
The Four successive league defeats was bad. The last time that had happened was in January 2017 but even Brian Clough had suffered a similar spell once at Forest.
The three successive league wins was the first time Forest had done that since December 2016 and it has had the effect of restoring my faith in yer man. To any doubting Thomases, I just say: look at his stats.
Already, at Forest, after just 19 games and some pretty bad luck and refereeing decisions, Martin has the 5th best record of any manager in Forest's history (if one goes by wins/game.) A bit of faith and patience and money and Martin will have us chasing promotion next season, I'm sure.
It's been quite harrowing to have to go on line and defend his record against so-called Forest supporters (detractors, more like) who openly and angrily criticise the club for replacing what they considered a forward-looking young manager in Aitor Karanka, with an old "dinosaur".
I keep pointing out that this is a massive upgrade. Karanka's achievements in football management (one promotion at Middlesbrough, having been given plenty time and money, are nothing compared with Martin O'Neill's.
The argument often comes to some irrational criticism of him being old and playing outdated football. I just don't know what they expect. They would have called for Brian Clough's removal months after his appointment.
Some young fans today have no patience or loyalty. They ignore blatant facts and seem to follow gossip like sheep. They're always complaining and never have any sense of gratitude for what they have. And a lot of them are ageist and seem to dream of appointing some young (but unspecified) manager who plays the game like they do on their X-Box.
All of this makes me feel like a grumpy old man. Maybe it's me that's the dinosaur around here, going by the popularity of these blog posts, anyway. Last season, I used to regularly get two or three thousand views of each of my posts but this season it's averaged less than 100. A good deal of the reason for that is the demise of the original Forest Supporters' Facebook group which used to have over 25,000 members. It got disbanded when some bright spark started live streaming Forest games on it. Since then, at least two new competing groups have emerged - but neither group has more than a couple of thousand members.
So, if no-one's reading these things, it does make me wonder - why do I bother?
The answer is that I do so for my own personal satisfaction of scratching around my own memory and archived programmes and bits and bobs in order to try to retrieve any fragment that might still remain before it's gone forever. I hope that some other Forest fans find them interesting and that one day, after I am gone, they'll hang around a bit longer just in case anyone searches for something about that amazing time to be a Forest fan, 40 years ago.
But before stepping back in time and trudging, sadly into the Junior Common Room, in Sherwood Hall that Wednesday night in May to watch the match on the tely with a small cluster of students most of whom were only suddenly interested in football, this post will recount the end of the league season which saw Forest climb, quite improbably, to second place for only the second time in the season in the final game. So, Forest finished runners-up behind Liverpool after a flurry of good form in their last seven games, incredibly played out in just twenty days. Forest won four, drew two and lost one (to Wolves) before beating Mansfield in the Nottinghamshire County Cup Final. The European Cup match in Munich was their tenth competitive game in 35 days. Whatever would the like of Jose Mourinho have made of that?
In the middle of that run in was the famous 1979 British General Election which saw Margaret Thatcher move into No 10 Downing street in place of Jim Callaghan. In these times of crazy political turmoil, those events seems relatively calm and civilised from here. Of course that's not what it was like at the time. I'll add a few twists about my old constituency of Ashfield there.
Despite all the amazing success Clough and Taylor were bringing to the club, the last couple of matches on Trentside attracted very disappointing crowds. Forest actually ended with their two worst league attendances of the season: 20,388 and 21,104. I'll happily contrast those figures with the season just finished, when Forest's lowest league attendance, watching a side that finished only 9th in the second tier remember, was well over 4,000 more than in 1978-79.
Unlike 40 years ago, I'll then (virtually) leave British shores and cross the North Sea to summarise the football history of Sweden and their top club, in 1979, Malmö FF, from 1910 through the second world war, up until their most successful period, under the Englishman Bob Houghton.
Who was Houghton's English football coaching colleague that was enjoying Swedish success at the same time? If you don't know, you'll kick yourself when you find out. Sweden will then make up the final place in my EurOpen League. We'll see how the Allsvenskan compared with the other 31 European leagues - was it more open, or more closed up to 1978?
The end of the 1978-79 season saw two of Forest's "magic men" move on: Frank Clark and Archie Gemmill. So I'll say a fond farewell to both of them, but especially to Archie as I've covered Frank a bit before.
Following in the theme of this season's posts, I'll then take a look forward from 1978 towards the end of the century and see how Malmö FF and other Swedish Champions did in that period.
Finally, I'll share some thoughts on Forest's roller coaster end to the season and reaffirm my full support for Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane, with fingers tightly crossed as they prepare for next season. Could this finally be our time? Forest back in the top flight? What a 2020 vision that would be. Incredibly, it's been a traumatic time to be a supporter of the Forest legend, my all-time football hero. I have some thoughts on modern young Forest fans and their strange concept of him being a football "dinosaur".
Previously: Victory in Köln.
Forest's Compressed End to the League Season
After Forest's amazing 1-0 European Cup semi-final win in West Germany, on 25th April, clinching them a place in the final just one month away, they had the small matter of seven league matches to fit in. Now there had been a terrible winter which resulted in many games being postponed but let's be clear here: Forest's stressful run was one of their own making. They were literally the victims of their own success. To put it into context, Coventry City, Bristol City, Norwich City and Derby County all had just two games left to play as Forest returned from the Mungersdorfer Stadium that night. Three other clubs had three games left and eight had four. Ironically, only West Bromwich Albion, our rivals for that second spot now the title was clearly heading back to Anfield, had the same number of games to play as we did.
Of the seven, I only went to four of the games. I missed the first of them, the short trip to Molineux, which was played on the Monday night after Forest faced on form Liverpool. That encounter being just three days after their triumph in Köln.
Granny Google, my usual source of information, has little to offer about this game. All I have been able to glean is the match stats from my old copy of the Rothman's football Yearbook.
Of the seven, I only went to four of the games. I missed the first of them, the short trip to Molineux, which was played on the Monday night after Forest faced on form Liverpool. That encounter being just three days after their triumph in Köln.
Granny Google, my usual source of information, has little to offer about this game. All I have been able to glean is the match stats from my old copy of the Rothman's football Yearbook.
Wolverhampton Wanderers
1 Paul Bradshaw, 2 Geoff Palmer, 3 Derek Parkin, 4 Peter Daniel, 5 John McAlle, 6 Colin Brazier, 7 Kenny Hibbitt, 8 Maurice Daley, 9 Bill Rafferty, 10 John Richards, 11 Willie Carr.
Goals: John Richards 1.
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Ian Bowyer, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 John O'Hare, 8 Trevor Francis, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Tony Woodcock, 11 John Robertson.
Attendance: 23,616
This was only Forest's 3rd defeat of the season and an understandable one, considering their fixture pile up. Bob Houghton, the Malmö manager was there but apparently said he was not deceived by Forest's poor form that night.
After this result, Albion fans must have believed they would finish runners-up as they had the rare phenomenon of a game in hand over us, as well as a superior goal difference.
That view would have been strengthened the following night, on Tuesday, 1st May, as the Baggies got an impressive 2-0 win at 4th placed Everton.
Any remaining dreams that West Brom fans might have had about winning the league were dashed, however, as Liverpool won most impressively 4-1 at Bolton Wanderers. This meant they kept their seven point lead over Albion with just five games remaining.
Forest could, mathematically, still retain the title at this point, but we all knew where the title was heading by now.
Liverpool closing in on their 11th title...
Just two days after the Wolves defeat, Forest were in the spotlight again - at home to Southampton. It seems it wasn't just the players feeling a little fatigued as Forest, incredibly, had their lowest crowd of the season - just over 20,000.
Match 331: Wednesday, 2nd May 1979: Division One
Nottingham Forest 1 Southampton 0 (City Ground 166 , Nottingham Forest 236, Southampton 9) Attendance 20,388.
Here's the match programme, at least...
Trevor Francis got the only goal of the game to keep Forest's faint sniff of the title alive for a bit longer. I definitely went to the game but, sadly, I have zero memory of it.
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Clark, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 Trevor Francis, 8 Ian Bowyer, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Tony Woodcock, 11 John Robertson.
Goal: Trevor Francis.
Southampton
1 Peter Wells, 2 Manny Andruszewski, 3 David Peach, 4 Chris Nicholl, 5 Graham Baker, 6 Malcom Waldron, 7 Alan Ball, 8 Phil Boyer, 9 Trevor Hebberd, 10 Nick Holmes, 11 Oshor Williams.
Substitutions: Kevin Dawtry(12) came on for Oshor Williams (11).
Attendance: 20,388
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| It's not over, 'till it's over |
Mrs Thatcher moves into no. 10
It seems a bit surreal to remember that amidst this frantic end of season scramble, the United Kingdom was preparing for one of the most significant general elections in its history.Labour had been in power since 1974, at first under Harold Wilson and now Jim Callaghan. But the so-called winter of discontent and the spectre of trade union over-exuberance had turned many people away from any socialist ideals they had. The new Tory leader, Margaret Thatcher, appealed to many average people with her no nonsense analogies of good housekeeping and watching the pennies so that the pounds would take of themselves.
I was a Tory in those days too, but not because of fiscal frugality. I had experienced years of my dad constantly reminding me of the scourge of Communism and warning me about militant trade unionists like Arthur Scargill. It seemed pretty clear cut to me: It was time for the democratically elected government to shift the balance of power away from Soviet-backed militants. The Tories were the most obvious party to stand up against the USSR. And, it was a Labour government, under Harold Wilson in the 1960s, that had given away all of the Baltic gold to Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev - to try to appease the Kremlin. Estonia, Latvia and had deposited it all in the Bank of England during their independence period between the wars.
Thanks, Harold! Some of us will never forget that.
Before leaving Nottingham University to go to vote that day, I distinctly remember chatting briefly to the son of a Kent miner, notorious for their left-wing militant views.
"I'm not just going to hope for a better future, I'm going to vote for one!" I blurted one of the Tory party election slogans. Rob Peters did not look impressed. But I got away without any abuse.
Election day was on a Thursday and it lead to one of the most dramatic nights in British political history as Thatcher's new Tories swept to power.
Bizarrely, my own constituency of Ashfield - normally a very staunch Labour stronghold - had voted in a Tory for the first time in donkey's years (maybe the first time ever!?) at a by-election just a couple of years earlier. Tim Smith was a pretty nice guy as far as I could tell and he came to our school to congratulate the few of us in the sixth form who had managed to get four A Levels.
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| Tim Smith MP - The only Tory in living memory(?) to hold Ashfield, presents the 6th Form with their A Levels |
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| The Tory blip in Ashfield's political history |
But the Labour party were well organised locally in 1979 and won the seat back for Labour that night, bucking the national trend.
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| Tory landslide 1979 |
At least the turn out was not massive, just 37% of the electorate. But still, the EU leavers outnumbered the remainers 3:1 - even more than in the 2016 referendum when it was 2:1.
It's all very depressing indeed to me personally. Surely, I am living proof that the xenophobes are wrong to fear Europe. My father was a Lithuanian, my mother, Romanian, and yet I am as pro-British as anyone. I continue to support England in every sport even though I now live in Australia and I have embraced every aspect of British culture possible.
Back to the Football...
Ok, enough of that. Let's get back to the plot and the run in to the first division title in 1978-79.On the Friday evening of the first day of the new UK government, Queens Park Rangers were finally relegated after a dramatic 4-3 defeat at Elland Road. They were winning three times but succumbed in the end.
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| Rangers - going down with both the Blues |
Forest played yet again, of course, at the weekend. This time a tough away game at Carrow Road, Norwich, where we never seem to be able to win.
Again, no reports or video clips could be found, so here are the match details.
Norwich City
1 Roger Hansbury, 2 Kevin Bond, 3 Ian Davies, 4 Mick McGuire, 5 Phil Hoadley, 6 Tony Powell, 7 Jimmy Neighbour, 8 Kevin Reeves, 9 Justin Fashanu, 10 Graham Paddon, 11 Martin Peters.
Goals: Kevin Reeves 1.
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Clark, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 Trevor Francis, 8 Ian Bowyer, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Tony Woodcock, 11 John Robertson.
Goals : Tony Woodcock 1.
Liverpool edged closer to the title with another win and on the Saturday night Forest could no longer catch them. Albion were now the only team that could do that, even mathematically.
Derby continued their alarming slide toward the relegation zone, alas too late, as Boro gained another victory taking them up to 10th in the league.
Ipswich topped the current form (last three home/away) table but Liverpool, most importantly were right up there. No-one was going to stop them reclaiming the title.
I missed the trip to Norwich too and, instead, took my place on the terracing at Meadow Lane to watch Stoke City gain promotion back to the top flight.
Match 332: Saturday, 5th May 1979: Division Two
I don't have many memories of the game as I have seen Notts play several home games against clubs that have brought thousands of away fans. they all seem to blur into one.
Stoke City must have had 12,000 of the fans there, at least. And they went home happy as their 1-0 win was enough to clinch them promotion back to the top flight. Crystal Palace would overtake them to clinch the title but it would be Sunderland that missed out on promotion, not Stoke.
The following Tuesday, Liverpool finally were crowned English League Champions again with a comfortable 3-0 win at home to Aston Villa. Albion won too, so still looked favourites to finish runners-up.
Ironically Liverpool clinched the title for a record 11th time on the 40th anniversary of Bob Paisley's arrival at Anfield, as signified on the front cover of their match day programme.
Here's the match report in the Guardian the next day...
With three games to go for Forest, they were still three points behind West Bromwich Albion.
Again, no reports or video clips could be found, so here are the match details.
Norwich City
1 Roger Hansbury, 2 Kevin Bond, 3 Ian Davies, 4 Mick McGuire, 5 Phil Hoadley, 6 Tony Powell, 7 Jimmy Neighbour, 8 Kevin Reeves, 9 Justin Fashanu, 10 Graham Paddon, 11 Martin Peters.
Goals: Kevin Reeves 1.
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Clark, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 Trevor Francis, 8 Ian Bowyer, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Tony Woodcock, 11 John Robertson.
Goals : Tony Woodcock 1.
Attendance: 17,651
Derby continued their alarming slide toward the relegation zone, alas too late, as Boro gained another victory taking them up to 10th in the league.
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| Almost there for Liverpool |
Ipswich topped the current form (last three home/away) table but Liverpool, most importantly were right up there. No-one was going to stop them reclaiming the title.
I missed the trip to Norwich too and, instead, took my place on the terracing at Meadow Lane to watch Stoke City gain promotion back to the top flight.
Match 332: Saturday, 5th May 1979: Division Two
Notts County 0 Stoke City 1 (Meadow Lane 20, Notts County 28, Stoke City 1) Attendance 21,571.
This, the battle of two of the four oldest clubs in the league at the time, was actually the first time I'd ever seen Stoke City. Notts are the oldest, followed by Wrexham, then Forest and then Stoke. Of course now, Notts County lost their league status and join Wrexham in the 5th tier of English football, it means that as i write this, the oldest club in the football league is Nottingham Forest.
I don't have many memories of the game as I have seen Notts play several home games against clubs that have brought thousands of away fans. they all seem to blur into one.
Stoke City must have had 12,000 of the fans there, at least. And they went home happy as their 1-0 win was enough to clinch them promotion back to the top flight. Crystal Palace would overtake them to clinch the title but it would be Sunderland that missed out on promotion, not Stoke.
The following Tuesday, Liverpool finally were crowned English League Champions again with a comfortable 3-0 win at home to Aston Villa. Albion won too, so still looked favourites to finish runners-up.
Ironically Liverpool clinched the title for a record 11th time on the 40th anniversary of Bob Paisley's arrival at Anfield, as signified on the front cover of their match day programme.
Here's the match report in the Guardian the next day...
With three games to go for Forest, they were still three points behind West Bromwich Albion.
The night after that, Forest were in action again, at home to Manchester City.
Match 333: Wednesday, 9th May 1979: Division One
Nottingham Forest 3 Manchester City 1 (City Ground 167 , Nottingham Forest 237, Manchester City 5) Attendance 21,104.
This was another poor crowd, the second worst of the season. It seems incredible to me, looking back from here today, that Forest could only attract just over 21,000 for their last home game of the season. You can only think that most Forest fans had spent all their money on the trip to Munich and were just skint!
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Clark, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 8 Trevor Francis, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Tony Woodcock, 11 John Robertson.
Goals: Garry Birtles 1, Tony Woodcock 1, Ian Bowyer 1.
Substitutions: Ian Bowyer (12) came on
Manchester City
1 Joe Corrigan, 2 Nicky Reid, 3 Willie Donnachie, 4 Tony Henry, 5 Dave Watson, 6 Colin Bell, 7 Mike Channon, 8 Kazimiercz Deyna, 9 Barry Silkman, 10 Asa Hartford, 11 Gary Owen.
(Goal: Larry Lloyd o.g.)
Another home win, albeit against a very out-of-form Manchester City completed a second full season at home without a defeat. Again, no memory of the match, no video clips and no match report I could find.
But it signified another key milestone for Forest: Two whole seasons of league football in the top flight without a home defeat:
But it signified another key milestone for Forest: Two whole seasons of league football in the top flight without a home defeat:
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| City Ground - 42 League Games Unbeaten in Division One |
So Forest closed the gap on Albion to just a point with two games to go.
So, what a disappointing end (attendance-wise) to another great season. The last two home games - for the team that had just clinched a place in the European Cup Final, remember - had an average of just 20,746. Shocking, really.
Here's a full list of Forest's home attendances that season, sorted by size in descending order.
It's bizarre to compare it with this (2018-19) season's stats....
The home match against Millwall (when Forest threw away a lead to draw 2-2) drew the worst home league crowd of the season of 25,753 but this was 26% bigger than the worst crowd in 1978-79.
I guess it shows how broke many Forest fans were at the end of the 1978-79 season and also how loyal and strong their support is today.
More comparative stats: Here's the overall home league average and median attendance then and now.
Another contrast is in the consistency of the attendances. In 1978-79 the City Ground had a capacity of over 40,000 and they exceeded that a few times. Now, the capacity is under 30,000 but they almost fill it every week. In 1978-79 the highest league crowd was more than twice as big as the smallest. Last season it was just 14% bigger. Another striking difference is the difference in the attendances for the League Cup. In 1978-79 matches at home to Brighton and Watford - both lower ranking teams than us - fetched above average attendances. Last season even a home tie with Premier League Newcastle only brought in about half the league average.
Forest's home average was only the eight best in the division...
On Friday, 11th May Crystal Palace clinched the Second Division title in front of an amazing crowd of 51,801 at home to Burnley. Meanwhile new boys Wimbledon secured promotion to the Third Division and Swansea City were promoted to Division Two. Tommy Docherty was appointed manager of QPR.
Liverpool beat in form Middlesbrough at Ayresome Park and West Bromwich Albion won at local rivals Aston Villa to extend their lead over Forest to three points with just two games to go.
As soon as the match finished, apparently, preparations to demolish the East Stand began. The plan was to have the whole thing cleared and the lower tier seats in place for the start of the new season, just weeks away.
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| East Stand Gone |
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| Preparations for the New Stand |
Cup Final Day 1979
On the Saturday, it was one of the biggest fixtures in the football calendar in those days - the F.A. Cup Final. It was one of the few games you could watch live and the tradition was to park yourself in front of the telly all morning to soak up the pre-match atmosphere. What a contrast with the non-event, lambs to the slaughter final this season when UAE Cities (sorry, Manchester City) destroyed Watford 6-0.Arsenal won the game 3-2 after a dramatic climax saw Manchester United come back from 2-0 down before Alan Sunderland sneaked the winner just before the final whistle.
Here are the match highlights of what was one of the better F.A. Cup finals of the 70s and 80s.
And here's the match report...
The following Monday, West Bromwich Albion lost 1-0 at White Hart Lane which gave Forest a sniff at finishing Runners up again. A win at Spurs would have clinched second spot for Albion.
The same night, Watford clinched their second successive promotion (this time to the Second Division) as the Graham Taylor/Elton John revolution continued.
On Tuesday night, having had the luxury of six whole days without a game, Forest traveled up the M1 to Elland Road to take on Leeds United.
I didn't join them, but was obviously very pleased that we won again with Gary Mills getting his only goal of the season.
Leeds United
1 David Harvey, 2 Kevin Hird, 3 Frank Gray, 4 Brian Flynn, 5 Paul Hart, 6 Paul Madeley, 7 Carl Harris, 8 Trevor Cherry, 9 John Hawley, 10 Eddie Gray, 11 Arthur Graham.
Goal: Trevor Cherry 1.
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Clark, 4 John O'Hare, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 Gary Mills, 8 Trevor Francis, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Ian Bowyer, 11 John Robertson.
Goals : Gary Mills 1, John Hawley (own goal)
Substitutions: David Needham(12) came on for Frank Clark (3).
Attendance: 33,544
Forest now edged to just a point behind West Bromwich Albion and set up a runners-up show down with them at the Hawthorns set for Friday night, just three days later.
On Wednesday, 16th May, Barcelona won the European Cup Winners Cup after beating Fortuna Dusseldorf in a classic 4-3 win after extra time.
Here are the match highlights...
The day after that, on Thursday 17th May, Liverpool completed their fixtures with another very impressive win at Elland Road, beating Leeds 3-0 and reaching a new Football League points record of 68 points.
So, to Forest's last league game of the league season...
Match 334: Friday 18th May 1979: Division One
West Bromwich Albion 0 Nottingham Forest 1 (Hawthorns 4, Nottingham Forest 238, West Bromwich Albion 8) Attendance 28,246.
This was my 4th visit to the Hawthorns and I must admit I felt a bit guilty that we won to steal the second spot they'd held for most of the season.
I seem to have lost the front cover to the programme, but here's the rest of it...
I seem to have lost the front cover to the programme, but here's the rest of it...
So, hard luck, Baggies! As it said in the programme, it was a great season for the Albion. Unfortunately for them, it was an even better one for us. And, unfortunately for us both, it was an even better one for Liverpool (at least in the League ~ Liverpool were rubbish in all three cups they took part in!)
West Bromwich Albion
1 Tony Godden, 2 Brendon Batson, 3 Derek Statham, 4 Tony Brown, 5 John Wile, 6 David Mills, 7 Bryan Robson, 8 Alistair Brown, 9 Cyril Regis, 10 Len Cantello, 11 John Trewick.
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Ian Bowyer, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 John O'Hare, 8 Trevor Francis, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Tony Woodcock, 11 John Robertson.
Goals : Trevor Francis 1.
Attendance; 28,246
It would appear that football fatigue was everywhere as the attendance at Albion was another that was a bit disappointing, only being slightly above their average.
Still Forest were the 3rd biggest crowd pullers in the division. Here are the away average stats for the season...
Here is the final table for the First Division 1978-79. Just look at that defensive record from Liverpool. Just 16 goals conceded all season - another record.
Typical. Forest played so well the season before and dared to challenge Liverpool's domination of the English football league and what happens? Liverpool put in the best league record in the entire history of the game.
Obviously this was enough to overtake Forest in the 1977-79 composite table too.
60 points would often have been easily enough to win the league. In 1979 there had only been three teams before them that had reached 60 or more points and not won the league that season.
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| 60 or more points not good enough to win the league 1888-1979 |
And only 23 teams had ever finished with a better record than Forest did in the first 85 versions of the first division of the football league...
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| Best 26 points tallies in First Division History |
63 out of those 85 seasons, 60 points would have been enough to win the league, and 39 times even when the clubs played 42 games...
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| Clubs that won the league having played 42 games with 60 points or less. |
Still, Forest did finish the season on very good form: 3rd only to Liverpool themselves, and Ipswich.
Here is the First Division Top scorers' table. It includes cup matches too. What a great first season for Garry Birtles and Forest had five players in the top 32.
Here are the other final tables...
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| Division Two 1978-79 |
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| Division Three 1978-79 |
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| Division Four 1978-79 |
The Saturday after the drama at the Hawthorns saw the start of the British Home International Championships. England beat Northern Ireland 2-0 in Belfast and Wales beat Scotland 3-0 at Ninian Park.
The following Wednesday, I watched my last game of the season, the Nottinghamshire County Cup Final, Forest v Stags. I have no programme or memory of it. As holders , Forest played the final at at the City Ground.
Match 335: Wednesday 23rd May 1979: Nottinghamshire County Cup Final
Nottingham Forest 3 Mansfield Town 1 (City Ground 168, Nottingham Forest 240, Mansfield Town 60) Attendance 9,500.
Despite the looming European Cup Final (or perhaps because of it) Forest played a full strength side and won 3-1.
This was last match of the season and here then are my match attendance stats in my nine seasons as a fan. Not quite as many Forest games as the season before, but the most matches in a season at the time.
Also, that same night, Borussia Monchengladbach clinched the UEFA Cup with a 1-0 home win against Red Star Belgrade after holding them to a 1-1 draw in Belgrade. I wonder if they lifted it over a pub?
Here are the match highlights...
And the report...
Final table...
There would only be four more Home Championships after this one. the last winners were Northern Ireland, who won it in 1983-84 when all four teams ended up with three points and Northern Ireland won it on goal difference. From then on, England and Scotland declined to enter it, citing lowering interest, increasing fixtures and the threat of hooliganism as reasons.
The Notts. F.A. Cup didn't last much longer either. Another sign of changing times and the slide away from the age when the game was played for love, towards when it is mainly played for money.
First Year at Nottingham University Completed
As the season completed, so did my first full year at university. I was a first year student of Zoology/Pharmacology and the exams were looming fast.
One memory from my diary at the time was that my dad bought new car, a bright green Opel Kadett. I helped him research the best car to buy with a series of statistical weightings. This was long before the time of spreadsheets too! One time, soon after, he drove down to Sherwood Hall with mum to visit - it was the only time my mum came into my room at Sherwood Hall.
So, after a very studious start back in September, when I was probably the most enthusiastic student in the lecture hall, I had settled into a more relaxed, and typical, student life full of booze and larking around with a set of mates at Sherwood Hall, some of whom have remained friends for life.
We did (well I did, certainly) plenty of very very daft things, like "doing a hulk" where you'd pretend to be the incredible hulk to a random student. We adopted plenty of crazy "from now on"s where you'd pledge to change your behaviour, usually to something ridiculous, for ever... only for the said promise to be broken in the next half an hour or so.
One memory from my diary at the time was that my dad bought new car, a bright green Opel Kadett. I helped him research the best car to buy with a series of statistical weightings. This was long before the time of spreadsheets too! One time, soon after, he drove down to Sherwood Hall with mum to visit - it was the only time my mum came into my room at Sherwood Hall.
So, after a very studious start back in September, when I was probably the most enthusiastic student in the lecture hall, I had settled into a more relaxed, and typical, student life full of booze and larking around with a set of mates at Sherwood Hall, some of whom have remained friends for life.
We did (well I did, certainly) plenty of very very daft things, like "doing a hulk" where you'd pretend to be the incredible hulk to a random student. We adopted plenty of crazy "from now on"s where you'd pledge to change your behaviour, usually to something ridiculous, for ever... only for the said promise to be broken in the next half an hour or so.
Most of these were, I have to admit, under the influence... like "lifting the UEFA Cup over a pub" and "being a herring gull".
Ah.. those student days, when there were no responsibilities, other than passing a final exam.
Ah.. those student days, when there were no responsibilities, other than passing a final exam.
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| Me and Fax - philosophical after beers |
My revision programme was good though, I have to admit. Here's one of my typical revision sheets. I used to try to summarise a whole topic in one page and then blu-tak it to the wall. By the time the exams started My room was covered in them like nerdy wallpaper.
Despite my good revision technique, I somehow managed to miss the first hour of my Zoology exam. I can't actually remember if this was the morning after the European Cup final, but I think a bit of poetic licence is fair play here. So, yes, let's say it was!
I still managed to pass the exam somehow.
I still managed to pass the exam somehow.
After the exams, the crazy pranks continued, including one weekend when Jake the bar manager and I decided to nip over to Paris with some handy funds.
Ay, them wo't days, lad!
I was obviously a bit concerned by my stupid behaviour. "Clowning stops here!" I wrote in my diary on 21st May.
After my exams were over it was party time until everyone had completed and term wound down. So, to recapture that party mood, here's some of the music of the day.
Here the UK music chart as Forest set off for Munich...
My selection: Dance Away by Roxy Music..
Roxanne by the Police
Gary Numan and Tubeway Army "Are Friends Electric?"
One of the most iconic songs that's still played today in disco's trying to cater for oldies is "We are Family" by "Sister Sledge". 40 years ago it had only been in the charts two weeks at No 33.
Here the UK music chart as Forest set off for Munich...
My selection: Dance Away by Roxy Music..
Roxanne by the Police
Gary Numan and Tubeway Army "Are Friends Electric?"
One of the most iconic songs that's still played today in disco's trying to cater for oldies is "We are Family" by "Sister Sledge". 40 years ago it had only been in the charts two weeks at No 33.
Number 1 in the week of the European Cup final was "Sunday Girl" by Blondie.
To Europe
So...
To Munich, To Munich
Tra la la lalalala
Tra lalalalala
(At least it was to the lucky fans who didn't have other commitments.)
To Munich, To Munich
Tra la la lalalala
Tra lalalalala
(At least it was to the lucky fans who didn't have other commitments.)
History of Swedish Football and Malmö FF
Fotboll i Sverige har en lång historia ...
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| Allsvenskan |
Landet är väldigt stort, men de flesta bor i söder...
So, yes, Football in Sweden has a long history, which began in the 1870's under the influence of English and Scottish inspiration and clubs in Gothenburg, Stockholm and Visby were among the first to play competitively.
Between 1895 and 1952 a tournament called the "Svenska Mästerskapet" was organised once a year along the lines of a World Cup. All the games would be played either in Gothenburg or Stockholm over a matter of a few short weeks. It's a big country but most people live in the south.
Malmö is the third biggest city in Sweden and the most southerly of the bigger ones. Their biggest club, Malmö Fotball Förening (Football Association) was formed on 24th February 1910 and played in regional leagues like the Malmömästerskapen in the south of Sweden. They are based in the south of the city.
In 1925 the first Swedish football league was introduced, the Allsvenskan.
Malmö FF were in one of the inaugural regional second tiers.
They won promotion to the Allsvenskan in 1931 from the second division south...
...and in their first season in the top flight they managed to survive against immediate relegation, unlike their neighbours, IFK Malmö.
Malmö FF had their first really good spell after the war, although they won the Swedish Cup for the first actually during the war in 1944. Sweden was, of course, officially a neutral country. Despite Norway and Denmark being occupied by Germany, they somehow managed to cling onto their neutrality.
They won the cup again in 1946 and 1948 before winning their first of three successive Swedish championships in 1949, 1950 and 1951. They won it again in 1953 when they also won the Svenska Cupen too. Between 6 May 1949 and 1 June 1951, the team were unbeaten in 49 matches, of which 23 were an unbroken streak of victories.
In 1959 the Allsvenskan switched from a typical winter season to playing in the summer. It's amazing it took them so long to do that. Imagine playing football in Sweden in November or March. It must be freezing! I can't imagine they ever played in December or January though - as temperatures often drop to 30 degrees below or lower.
Malmö FF had a relatively barren period until the mid 1960s when they won their 6th Allsvenskan title in 1965.
Their first foray into the European Cup, in 1966-67, ended at the first hurdle when they lost 5-1 on aggregate to Atletico Madrid.
Two years later, Malmö FF won the Swedish league again...
Malmö FF again were knocked out of the European Cup in the first round, losing 5-3 on aggregate to Italian champions, AC Milan.
In the 1970s Malmö FF had their best spell and won the Allsvenskan five times in eight years.
Their title in 1974 was won by a margin of nine points.
In the European Cup, Sweden's poor record continued, however. Malmö FF lost 4-1 on aggregate to Hungarian champions, Ujpesti Dozsa in 1971 and then, to Portuguese champions Benfica 4-2 in 1972, both times in the First Round.
1973 Swedish champions, Atvidaberg, made the European Cup quarter finals in 1974-75 but got hammered 5-0 on aggregate by Barcelona.
In 1974 Malmö FF appointed an Englishman, Bob Houghton, as their new manager, and it signaled the most successful spell in their history. Bob was a close friend and professional colleague of Roy Hodgson, who also managed in Sweden at the same time, at Halmstads BK - as well as at Bristol City in 1982.
Houghton brought in a system of zonal defence which opponents found very hard to beat and they conceded few goals.
In the 1975-76 Malmö FF beat Magdeburg of East Germany in the European Cup 1st Round the next season and even beat Bayern Munich the 2nd Round First leg 1-0, but still lost overall 2-1 on aggregate. In 1976-77 Malmö FF lost 3-2 on aggrehate in the first round to Italian champions Torino.
But by the time Malmö FF won their 12th Allsvenskan they had become the dominant club in Sweden, just as Brian Clough and Peter Taylor were taking the English League by storm.
...and in their first season in the top flight they managed to survive against immediate relegation, unlike their neighbours, IFK Malmö.
Malmö FF had their first really good spell after the war, although they won the Swedish Cup for the first actually during the war in 1944. Sweden was, of course, officially a neutral country. Despite Norway and Denmark being occupied by Germany, they somehow managed to cling onto their neutrality.
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| Malmö FF 1943 |
They won the cup again in 1946 and 1948 before winning their first of three successive Swedish championships in 1949, 1950 and 1951. They won it again in 1953 when they also won the Svenska Cupen too. Between 6 May 1949 and 1 June 1951, the team were unbeaten in 49 matches, of which 23 were an unbroken streak of victories.
In 1959 the Allsvenskan switched from a typical winter season to playing in the summer. It's amazing it took them so long to do that. Imagine playing football in Sweden in November or March. It must be freezing! I can't imagine they ever played in December or January though - as temperatures often drop to 30 degrees below or lower.
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| Malmo's stadium circa 1961 |
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| Malmö FF 1965 |
Their first foray into the European Cup, in 1966-67, ended at the first hurdle when they lost 5-1 on aggregate to Atletico Madrid.
Two years later, Malmö FF won the Swedish league again...
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| Malmö FF 1967 |
In the 1970s Malmö FF had their best spell and won the Allsvenskan five times in eight years.
Their title in 1974 was won by a margin of nine points.
In the European Cup, Sweden's poor record continued, however. Malmö FF lost 4-1 on aggregate to Hungarian champions, Ujpesti Dozsa in 1971 and then, to Portuguese champions Benfica 4-2 in 1972, both times in the First Round.
1973 Swedish champions, Atvidaberg, made the European Cup quarter finals in 1974-75 but got hammered 5-0 on aggregate by Barcelona.
In 1974 Malmö FF appointed an Englishman, Bob Houghton, as their new manager, and it signaled the most successful spell in their history. Bob was a close friend and professional colleague of Roy Hodgson, who also managed in Sweden at the same time, at Halmstads BK - as well as at Bristol City in 1982.
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| Brits in Sweden: Roy Hodgson Halmstads 1976-1980, Bob Houghton, Malmö FF manager 1974- 1980 |
Houghton brought in a system of zonal defence which opponents found very hard to beat and they conceded few goals.
In the 1975-76 Malmö FF beat Magdeburg of East Germany in the European Cup 1st Round the next season and even beat Bayern Munich the 2nd Round First leg 1-0, but still lost overall 2-1 on aggregate. In 1976-77 Malmö FF lost 3-2 on aggrehate in the first round to Italian champions Torino.
But by the time Malmö FF won their 12th Allsvenskan they had become the dominant club in Sweden, just as Brian Clough and Peter Taylor were taking the English League by storm.
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| The Allsvenskan that put Malmö FF on course to play Forest - Good to see Derby go down again! |
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| Malmö FF 1977 |
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| Malmö FF History 1925-1978 |
So, as Malmö FF headed to Munich, they did so as the No 1 club in Swedish league history.
13 title winners in 53 seasons, though, is a pretty even spread and the Swedish pie has plenty slices...
So, in 1978 Sweden had a pretty open league, ranked 11 out of 32 in my EurOpen league.
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| EurOpen Table 1977 |
How did Malmö FF get to the final?
Whilst Forest were knocking European Champions Liverpool out in the first round, Malmö FF beat French champions, Monaco. They drew 0-0 in France and won 1-0 at home. Next up was Dinamo Kyiv of the USSR, They drew 0-0 in Ukraine and won 2-0 at home.
As Forest were powering past Grasshopper club Zurich, Malmö FF had a relative goal feast against Polish champions Wisla Krakow. Again the Swedes drew the away leg and, again, they won at home. This time though it was 1-1 in Krakow and 4-1 in Malmö.
In the semi-finals, it was back to the Houghton formula - 0-0 away and 1-0 at home, against Austrian champions Vienna.
So, in eight games, Malmö FF had played out with six clean sheets. They'd scored just nine goals and conceded only two. Contrast that with Forest who had scored 18 and conceded 7 with only three clean sheets.
European Cup Final Forest 1 Malmö FF 0 Wed 30 May 1979
Although I wasn't able to go to the big match, at least I could console myself that I had actually been to the spectacular Olympic stadium in Munich before.
I visited my Oma and my Uncle and Aunt in Bavaria for the World Cup in 1974 and I actually attended three games, including Poland 7 Haiti 0 in the space-age looking stadium in Munich. (Unfortunately, due to the massive running track, you don't get a space-age view of the game.)
Here are the highlights of the match. It was the only match my mum ever went to. She loved it, especially the chanting and clapping of the fans.
This was the souvenir programme Forest made for the tie...
And here's the Official program produced in Germany...
And here's a pre-match pull out from a local newspaper the Nottingham News...
The teams: O'Neill and Gemmill Left Out
The team selection was keenly anticipated. It had long been expected that Trevor Francis would play. He'd been signed four months earlier but, due to UEFA rules, wasn't eligible to play in a European Cup for three months. So, now was his big opportunity to shine on the biggest platform in club football.
So, who would make way? Martin O'Neill had shown that he could play alongside Francis as had Archie Gemmill and Ian Bowyer. Bomber was definitely fully fit but there were big question marks about the other two. It had, after all, been a horrendously busy run in at the end of the season. Ten competitive games, remember, in just 35 days.
Martin O'Neill had only played one out of Forest's last six league games - against Manchester City when he had to make way for Ian Bowyer having taken a whack on the thigh which had caused a haematoma (continued bleeding due to damaged blood vessels causing very severe bruising.) It needed a series of injections that were very painful.
Archie Gemmil's last appearance for Forest was at home to 1FC Köln, on Wednesday 11th April, the classic 3-3 draw. He was substituted for Frank Clark just before half time after tearing his groin chasing back, twisting this way and that, defending against the speedy Belgian striker, Van Gool. Gemmill took one for the team there, and did just enough to put him off from scoring a third goal for the visitors, but he had to go off straight away.
The game before that, in the league, at Stamford Bridge, on Saturday 7th April, too, Archie started but was substituted - this time by John O'Hare. So, Archie's last full appearance for Forest was the 4-0 home win against Aston Villa on Wednesday 4th April.
That was 56 says before the European Cup final. Gemmill had missed all twelve first team games from the European Cup semi final home leg until the end of the season although he'd been working like mad to get fit again and did play half an hour against Mansfield in the County Cup.
Big decision for Clough and Taylor then. Frank Clark had also been fighting a hamstring injury too, so there was a definite selection dilemma to be resolved.
According to Daniel Taylor's "I Believe in Miracles" Clough quietly told Ian Bowyer he'd decided to play him when he joined the group in Munich before the game.
Clough to Bowyer: "I was going to play you at tennis today but I can't - you're in the team tomorrow."
But, according to typical Clough legend, he left it until the morning of the game to tell the rest of the team. Even Trevor Francis didn't dare tell his friends and relatives to come to Munich to watch the game, believing Clough was capable of dropping him.
This is how Daniel Taylor describes what happened...
Squatting on a football, Clough faced Martin O'Neill.
"You first. Do you think you're fit?"
O'Neill: "Right as rain, gaffer."
Clough to Clark "You?"
Clark: "Right as Rain".
Then Clough turned to Gemmill.
Gemmill: "Sure boss, I can play - absolutely perfect."
Clough: "Smashing. I'm delighted. But you're all lying and I can only risk one of you."
He pointed at Clark. "You're playing Frank."
It seems, Clough just trusted Frank Clark more than the other two.
Martin and Archie were both absolutely devastated. O'Neill was stunned into silence but perhaps, Gemmill was most upset of all. According to him, Clough had promised him a few weeks earlier "If you get fit, son, you will play in the final."
Gemmill stood up and gave Clough what for: "You must be fucking joking" He exploded and had a serious falling out with the management pair. They tried the "good cop, bad cop" routine but Gemmill told Taylor "Don't give me all that bollocks." The row raged on all day.
Gemmill said later; "I was devastated at the time. I was led to believe I'd be playing in the match... I was far from happy. I hated every minute of the 90 and I hated afterwards as well."
So, who would make way? Martin O'Neill had shown that he could play alongside Francis as had Archie Gemmill and Ian Bowyer. Bomber was definitely fully fit but there were big question marks about the other two. It had, after all, been a horrendously busy run in at the end of the season. Ten competitive games, remember, in just 35 days.
Martin O'Neill had only played one out of Forest's last six league games - against Manchester City when he had to make way for Ian Bowyer having taken a whack on the thigh which had caused a haematoma (continued bleeding due to damaged blood vessels causing very severe bruising.) It needed a series of injections that were very painful.
Archie Gemmil's last appearance for Forest was at home to 1FC Köln, on Wednesday 11th April, the classic 3-3 draw. He was substituted for Frank Clark just before half time after tearing his groin chasing back, twisting this way and that, defending against the speedy Belgian striker, Van Gool. Gemmill took one for the team there, and did just enough to put him off from scoring a third goal for the visitors, but he had to go off straight away.
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| The moment of Gemmill's injury |
The game before that, in the league, at Stamford Bridge, on Saturday 7th April, too, Archie started but was substituted - this time by John O'Hare. So, Archie's last full appearance for Forest was the 4-0 home win against Aston Villa on Wednesday 4th April.
That was 56 says before the European Cup final. Gemmill had missed all twelve first team games from the European Cup semi final home leg until the end of the season although he'd been working like mad to get fit again and did play half an hour against Mansfield in the County Cup.
Big decision for Clough and Taylor then. Frank Clark had also been fighting a hamstring injury too, so there was a definite selection dilemma to be resolved.
According to Daniel Taylor's "I Believe in Miracles" Clough quietly told Ian Bowyer he'd decided to play him when he joined the group in Munich before the game.
Clough to Bowyer: "I was going to play you at tennis today but I can't - you're in the team tomorrow."
But, according to typical Clough legend, he left it until the morning of the game to tell the rest of the team. Even Trevor Francis didn't dare tell his friends and relatives to come to Munich to watch the game, believing Clough was capable of dropping him.
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| The Book. The Film's pretty good too |
This is how Daniel Taylor describes what happened...
Squatting on a football, Clough faced Martin O'Neill.
"You first. Do you think you're fit?"
O'Neill: "Right as rain, gaffer."
Clough to Clark "You?"
Clark: "Right as Rain".
Then Clough turned to Gemmill.
Gemmill: "Sure boss, I can play - absolutely perfect."
Clough: "Smashing. I'm delighted. But you're all lying and I can only risk one of you."
He pointed at Clark. "You're playing Frank."
It seems, Clough just trusted Frank Clark more than the other two.
Martin and Archie were both absolutely devastated. O'Neill was stunned into silence but perhaps, Gemmill was most upset of all. According to him, Clough had promised him a few weeks earlier "If you get fit, son, you will play in the final."
Gemmill stood up and gave Clough what for: "You must be fucking joking" He exploded and had a serious falling out with the management pair. They tried the "good cop, bad cop" routine but Gemmill told Taylor "Don't give me all that bollocks." The row raged on all day.
Gemmill said later; "I was devastated at the time. I was led to believe I'd be playing in the match... I was far from happy. I hated every minute of the 90 and I hated afterwards as well."
It almost ruined the pre-match atmosphere and even Clough's usual tactic of getting a crate of beer on the bus on the way to the ground didn't go down too well.
Of course, there were quite a few players who really didn't have to worry about whether they'd be in the team that night. I can't imagine Peter Shilton, Viv Anderson, John McGovern, Garry Birtles or Tony Woodcock lost much sleep that night. And, surely, Trevor Francis needn't have worried.
Did I miss one? Of course, John Robertson was set to make his 147th CONSECUTIVE game for the Reds. Even with this, though, he was still only 61.5% of the way through his incredible 239 game sequence.
Did I miss one? Of course, John Robertson was set to make his 147th CONSECUTIVE game for the Reds. Even with this, though, he was still only 61.5% of the way through his incredible 239 game sequence.
The Swedes: Who are ya!?
Goalkeeper Jan Möller would make over 300 appearances for Malmö FF in two spells and followed Bob Houghton to Bristol City for a couple of years where he made 48 appearances. He also won 17 caps for Sweden. It was a similar story for fullback Roland Andersson, a similar number of appearances, in two spells for Malmö FF and 19 caps for Sweden - but no spell with Bristol City.
Malmö FF had an injury crisis of their own and two of their most senior and most trusted defenders were out of contention on the night. So Houghton had to turn to several youngsters to fill in - and only had four players on the bench. Ingemar Erlandson was a one club player who made 258 appearances for Malmö FF and on 69 caps for Sweden. Ken Jonsson was another defender who made over 200 appearances for the club and was capped 5 times for Sweden.
Staffan Tapper was the captain of the side and another one-club man. He made 220 appearances for the club, scoring 42 goals. He also won 36 caps for Sweden and scored 3 goals. Another, more senior, midfielder in the team was Anders Ljungberg. He played for several clubs and made nine appearances for Sweden.
Robert Prytz, another midfielder, was given the extra job to "watch Robbo" during the match. He was only a young 19 year old lad on the day of the final but would go on to have a long and eventful career, making 576 appearances for 15 clubs, in five countries. These included Glasgow Rangers, Kilmarnock, Dumbarton, Cowdenbeath, East Fife, Pollok and Hamilton Academical in Scotland, Young Boys in Switzerland, Uerdingen 05 in Germany and Atalanta and Hellas Verona in Italy. Another young lad in midfield that night was Jan-Olov Kinnvall. He had a short career, making just 128 appearances in total for two clubs spanning ten years. No caps for Sweden either.
Tommy Hansson was a 23 year old striker who scored the goal that put Malmö FF into the final. Probably their most accomplished striker was Tore Cervin who scored 55 goals in 126 appearances for the club. He also made four appearances for Sweden.
Malmö FF
1 Jan Moller, 2 Roland Andersson, 3 Ingemar Erlandsson, 4 Kent Jonsson, 5 Magnus Andersson, 6 Staffan Tapper, 7 Anders Ljungberg, 8 Robert Prytz, 9 Tommy Hansson, 10 Tore Cervin, 11 Jan-Olov Kinnvall.
Substitutions: Tommy Andersson (13) came on for Tommy Hansson (9).
Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Clark, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 8 Ian Bowyer, 9 Trevor Francis, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Tony Woodcock, 11 John Robertson.
Goals : Trevor Francis 1.
I parked myself in the prime seat in the JCR (Junior Common Room) in front of the telly with a bottle of plonk at my side. I did this partly so that I wouldn't have to keep nipping out to the bar and partly because I thought I might need a weapon in case my so-called "mates" carried out their really mean threat to drag me away, tie me up and lock me in the toilet. Honestly, what is it with these boisterous antics? Anyway, it never happened and I was allowed to watch the very tense game.
As often is the case, the final was a bit of an anticlimax, to say the least, and Malmö FF's zonal marking system was as effective as we'd feared. Danger-man, Robbo, was quite rightly, given an inordinate amount of attention.
Just before half time though, a slightly mis-kicked pass from Ian Bowyer made Robbo stretch to get the ball causing Prytz to give him a little space for once and Robbo was off on a typical slow run down the left. At last, he carved out enough space to deliver one of his beautifully weighted, floating crosses and, as if scripted, Trevor Francis came sprinting in to head the only goal of the game.
The second half continued the pattern of the first and Forest almost doubled their lead with a mirror image of the first half goal when Robbo hit the post after a brilliant speedy dart to the goal line and pull back by Trevor Francis.
If you're short for time and want to see something quick that isn't shown that often (compared to Francis' goal) then here's a short clip of that run, cross and Robbo's shot.
Despite Forest's overall domination the game spluttered to a 1-0 final score and that was that.
So, amazingly, just two years and two months after we'd gone to Bramall Lane in the Second Division and lost 2-0 to Sheffield United signalling, it seemed, the end of our promotion hopes, Forest had reached the pinnacle of European football.
For the real fans, here is the match in full with lovely commentary from Barry Davies and none other than Bobby Charlton as the expert by his side.
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| Champions of Europe!! |
This completed Forest's 63rd competitive match of the season...
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| 63 games - 4 defeats |
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| 57% win rate |
The next day Brian and Peter signed a new 4 year contract and the Nottingham public got ready to welcome their heroes home.
Another great season over.
Here are the full squad statistics for the 1978-79 campaign. Notice, just twenty players in total and only 17 if you add a caveat that they had to have made at least 5 appearances.
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| Forest Appearances & Goals 1978-79 |
This tiny squad played 63 competitive games (if you count the Charity Shield) won two major trophies and finished second in the top tier of English football. Incredible.
Contrast that with the current Forest squad...
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| Forest Appearances & Goals 2018-19 |
Joe Lolley was the only player to figure in every game and no less than 33 players played at some point, 31 if you add the 5 game caveat.
Different world, init?
Here's a special commemorative issue of the Evening Post that I kept as a souvinir...
Forest had a road show a few weeks later where the European Cup was brought out to all the local branches. What a privilege to be able to hold the Big Cup. Shame I had to pull a silly face, though!
Sweden in the EurOpen League
Ok, so what happened to Malmö FF in the years that followed? Well it was more of the same, really and the club continued to be a major force in the Allsvenkan.
Östers IF (Östers Växjö) were winning their second title that season qualifying them for the European Cup for 1979-80 and they would actually draw Nottingham Forest early in the tournament. Roy Hodgson's Halmstads BK won the league for his first Swedish title the following season. After two more title wins by Östers Växjö the league started to be dominated by IFK Göteborg.
IFK Göteborg reached the European Cup quarter Finals in 1984-85, losing to Greek Champions Panathinaikos and went one better the season after, reaching the semi finals before losing to Barcelona on penalties. When they beat Barca 3-0 at home, it looked like Malmö FF 's achievement would be repeated but the Spanish champions won the second leg 3-0 too and it had to be settled on penalties.
They made the quarter finals again in 1988-89 but lost to Steaua Bucharest.
In 1992-93 the tournament had a changed format. Instead of quarter finals, there were two groups of four and the two group winners played in the final. IFK Göteborg made the group stage and came second in their group.
In 1994-95 the format changed again, getting closer to the modern champions League format.
IFK Göteborg were put in a very difficult looking group, alongside Barcelona and Manchester United, but the Swedish champions surprised everyone by winning the group. They won all three home matches and managed to draw in Barcelona to reach the quarter finals.
Here's the Manchester United victory...
... and here's the Barcelona win...
That would be as good as it got for Swedish teams in the European Cup.
So, in the period 1978-99 how did the spread of success in the Allsvenskan compare with the rest of Europe?
The answer is... about the same as before but perhaps a little more open.
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| EurOpen League 1978-1999 |
Frank Clark retires 6th July 1979... See you soon, Frank!
Winning the European Cup isn't a bad way to end your playing career and that's exactly what happened with our ever dependable left back, Frank Clark.
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| Clark in 1964-ish |
Frank started playing non-league football for one of his local teams, Crook Town as an 18 year old. But he was soon snapped up (for 200 quid!) by Joe Harvey, boss of the big club in the area, Newcastle United.
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| Joe Harvey bought Frank Clark for 200 quid |
He made his debut for Newcastle in April 1964 in the second division against Scunthorpe United when the Geordies struggled in 8th place and Scunthorpe were relegated.
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| Frank Clark's first season in the league |
Next season Newcastle would win the division under Joe Harvey and Clark became a regular.
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| Clark '66 |
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| Clark '67 |
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| Frank Clark 1969 |
After a couple of years where they struggled, Newcastle started to challenge at the right end of the table and qualified for the Fairs Cup - it has to be said, in the days when it was as much about commerce between European cities as it was about the quality of the team.
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| Frank Clark with Bobby Moncur lifting the Fairs Cup (out of shot, below, no doubt, is a pub!) |
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| Frank Clark in 1972 |
Of course, Frank was on the wrong side in one big match in 1974, when he was part of the Newcastle United team that cheated Forest out of F.A. Cup glory.
It's got to be worth another look, hasn't it?
So Clark's Newcastle United ended up at Wembley, not Forest. It was with some satisfaction that they got hammered 3-0.
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| Kevin Keegan and Frank Clark in the 1973-74 Cup Final |
It wasn't long after that the Joe Harvey made way for a new face at St James' Park, Gordon Lee and it seems Cloughie, who was by now the new face at Forest, heard on the grapevine that Gordon was going to let Frank go.
One of Brian Clough's best signings, Frank was picked up for nowt at the age of 28 having been with the Geordies for 13 years and having made 389 league appearances (484 altogether). Thanks then, to Gordon Lee, who had just become their new manager a month earlier. It's amazing how two mangers can have such different opinions about any player, let alone one as dependable as Frank was.
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| Brian Clough signed him for nowt |
Frank Clark made his debut for Forest in the first game of the 1975-76 season, a 2-0 home win against newly promoted Plymouth Argyle. He was an ever present that season, and the next.
So here's a question for you: What was the first league match Frank Clark missed for Forest?
A: away to Wolves, a 3-2 win in the first division after 88 consecutive appearances.
The rest, as they say is history and I've covered quite a bit of it in these pages.
So, Gordon Lee missed out on the best quarter of his career.
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| The Frank Clark Journey |
Thanks Frank!!!
Bye Bye Archie Gemmill, and Thank you!
If Frank Clark left the club in the happiest possible way, it was pretty much the opposite for Archie Gemmill.
As described earlier, he had a massive fall out with Brain Clough and Peter Taylor on the night of the final and although he stayed with the club for the next few weeks, the writing was on the wall for him and he'd soon be sent on his way - to newly relegated Birmingham City.
Gemmill only made 58 appearances for us, but I want to pay this small tribute to him here.
Archie was four years younger than Frank Clark but like the Geordie, he started playing for a local club, actually in his home town of Paisley, which was St Mirren.
Gemmill was there for three years and made 65 league appearances, scoring 9 goals before moving south of the border, following many fellow Scots, to Preston North End.
Preston were struggling in the second division at the time.
The signing from Preston to Derby is one of those Brian Clough legendary tales. Apparently he was spotted by Peter Taylor and, with inside info that he was probably on his way to first division Everton, Clough drove to his house and refused to leave until he signed. He said he'd sleep outside in his car until Gemmill's wife invited him in and he ended up staying the night and signing him for the club, over breakfast for £60,000.
Yes, yes. We all know he had a very successful time at Derby...
But when Forest got promotion to the first division, Cloughie and Taylor wanted him to play under them again and he didn't take much persuading this time, although it seemed that his decision was made easier because of a personality clash with a new Derby manager.
Colin Murphy left Derby on 22nd September 1977 and when Tommy Docherty came in the next day, Gemmill put in a transfer request and was sold immediately for £100,000 + John Middleton. The Doc made him sign a written transfer request and so he lost his slice of the fee. Docherty said "I think it's only fair that the supporters should know the real position and not blame us for getting rid of Gemmill."
I didn't see his Forest debut at home to Norwich City as I was at my dear sister's wedding, and as Archie Gemmill was cup tied in the League Cup, the first time I saw him in a Forest shirt was when he came on as substitute away at West Ham United, although I must admit I was too scared for my life to notice. He came on as sub again in the next home game, against Manchester City but the first time I saw him make a start for Forest was in their 4-0 home win against Middlesbrough.
His goal against Arsenal later that season won the "Goal of the Season" award and was probably the key moment that indicated Forest were on their way to winning the league.
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| Forest Scottish Quartet |
Of course, Archie also had a long and successful international career with Scotland too and will always be remembered for this brilliant goal against Holland in the Argentina World Cup in 1978. Alas even their 3-2 win was not enough for them to qualify out of the group stages.
So Archie Gemmill only made 56 full league appearances (+two as substitute) for us overall. He scored 6 league goals.
On 4th August he signed for Second division Birmingham for £150,000, good business from Forest's point of view, I suppose but you have to feel sorry for Gemmill, shipped off to a club he probably had no great desire to go to.
Still he helped win them an immediate promotion back to the first division and on November 11th 1980 he played in a Birmingham City side that beat Cloughie's Forest 2-0.
Now it's time to turn our attention back to the present and Forest's roller coaster end of the season.
Forest's end to the season 2018-19
After four league defeats on the trot which not only put paid to any hopes of reaching the play offs this season, but also shook my own belief in Martin O'Neill for a few days, Forest ended the season strongly with three successive wins, including a 3-0 thrashing of promotion chasing Middlesbrough - surely Forest's best performance in years.
The Four successive league defeats was bad. The last time that had happened was in January 2017 but even Brian Clough had suffered a similar spell once at Forest.
The three successive league wins was the first time Forest had done that since December 2016 and it has had the effect of restoring my faith in yer man. To any doubting Thomases, I just say: look at his stats.
Already, at Forest, after just 19 games and some pretty bad luck and refereeing decisions, Martin has the 5th best record of any manager in Forest's history (if one goes by wins/game.) A bit of faith and patience and money and Martin will have us chasing promotion next season, I'm sure.
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| Martin O'Neill already has the 5th best record (in terms of wins/game) of any Forest manager ever |
Thoughts about being a dinosaur
I have to admit though, it's not working out as quite I'd hoped it would - this Martin O'Neill reign. And it's nothing to do with him or his style or anything like that. What I mean is I had never considered that he wouldn't be welcomed with open arms by each and every Forest fan. I just assumed that, like me, everyone would be over the moon at his appointment.It's been quite harrowing to have to go on line and defend his record against so-called Forest supporters (detractors, more like) who openly and angrily criticise the club for replacing what they considered a forward-looking young manager in Aitor Karanka, with an old "dinosaur".
I keep pointing out that this is a massive upgrade. Karanka's achievements in football management (one promotion at Middlesbrough, having been given plenty time and money, are nothing compared with Martin O'Neill's.
The argument often comes to some irrational criticism of him being old and playing outdated football. I just don't know what they expect. They would have called for Brian Clough's removal months after his appointment.
Some young fans today have no patience or loyalty. They ignore blatant facts and seem to follow gossip like sheep. They're always complaining and never have any sense of gratitude for what they have. And a lot of them are ageist and seem to dream of appointing some young (but unspecified) manager who plays the game like they do on their X-Box.
All of this makes me feel like a grumpy old man. Maybe it's me that's the dinosaur around here, going by the popularity of these blog posts, anyway. Last season, I used to regularly get two or three thousand views of each of my posts but this season it's averaged less than 100. A good deal of the reason for that is the demise of the original Forest Supporters' Facebook group which used to have over 25,000 members. It got disbanded when some bright spark started live streaming Forest games on it. Since then, at least two new competing groups have emerged - but neither group has more than a couple of thousand members.
So, if no-one's reading these things, it does make me wonder - why do I bother?
The answer is that I do so for my own personal satisfaction of scratching around my own memory and archived programmes and bits and bobs in order to try to retrieve any fragment that might still remain before it's gone forever. I hope that some other Forest fans find them interesting and that one day, after I am gone, they'll hang around a bit longer just in case anyone searches for something about that amazing time to be a Forest fan, 40 years ago.
The plan for next season
Next season, I'll scale back the posts somewhat. I won't try to cover every game as much as I have this season but I'll be more selective and try to pick a few key games in the league and cups that reflect what was going on at the time.
The first season was mainly looking to the past - comparing Forest's relatively barren long history with the fantastic first season in the top flight. This season has done some of that, but also looked at the Forest glory years. Next season, the focus will be on what happened since 2000 - Forest's sad demise - but also, hopefully, their new resurgence now under the best owners and management we've had for decades.
Fingers crossed there!
The first season was mainly looking to the past - comparing Forest's relatively barren long history with the fantastic first season in the top flight. This season has done some of that, but also looked at the Forest glory years. Next season, the focus will be on what happened since 2000 - Forest's sad demise - but also, hopefully, their new resurgence now under the best owners and management we've had for decades.
Fingers crossed there!
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