Svenskar i september och Baggies, Blackburn, Boro & Birtles

40 years ago I was a Forest fan. I definitely was. I went to most of their games, both home and away. I have to remind myself of this because, right here, right now, I don't feel like I'm one any more. Since the callous sacking of my football hero, Martin O'Neill, after just five (albeit not great, but hardly terrible) months in charge, I really can't bring myself to just "move on" sheep-like, like all the other Forest fans have, and who assure me that I'm supposed to - especially as Forest are now (as I write this) top of the league and the new boss Sabri Lamouchi has had probably the best start (after 12 games) of any Forest manager in their history.

What happenned? Apparently some "revolt" by the players (or perhaps just one mardy, spoilt, egotistical one called Adlene Guediora) who didn't take kindly to running around Wollaton Park to get fit or other "outdated" practices, presumably like not being told exactly how to play, was enough for the owner to step in and sack O'Neill. He was replaced, in the blink of an eye, by the previously unknown (to me, at least) Lamouchi. Roy Keane, it seems, saw what was coming and abandonded ship early.

I 've been getting increasingly grumpy about the way football's going for years, especially in the "Greediership" where the top super-rich six oligarchy of clubs seems to have created their own mini-league amongst themslves using the 14 others as what often seems little more than cannon fodder. Yes, I know about Leicester City winning the Premier League a few years ago and they've started the season pretty well again this year, but I'll believe it when I see it again. I predict, by the end of the season the top six will, as usual, be taken up by Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea - not necessarily, but quite likely, in that order. Actually, when you speak to Arsenal, Chelsea or Spurs fans these days it's quite funny to hear them sometimes moan about how dominant Liverpool and Manchester City have become. Let's face it, if the trend continues, in the not too distant future, there'll just be, as Cloughie might put it, "a top one", like there is already in France, Germany and Italy. How enthralling that would be!

Anyway, with all that looming grumpiness, I have been finding it harder to get enthusiastic about the prospect of Forest going back up to the top flight, whoever the manager. What For!? To be lined up behind Watford et al in the firing squad for City and Liverpool to thrash? Oooh.. how exciting! Maybe, if they play really well, they might finish 16th instead of 17th, and therefore earn somebody an extra £10 million - woopidoo!!

Now, with Forest already taking on the personality of one of the greediership elite in the way they treat their ex-heros, and with, as far as I can tell, all of their "fans" so uncritically endorsing anything the big billionaire owner does, like good little lemmings, I have lost my enthusuasm for a Championship promotion chase a bit earlier than I thought. I have to add that it does feel like (Darryll) Murphy's Law that the moment I stop following Forest is the time when they suddenly become the best team in the league. Typical.

Maybe this will change. I have set myself a 164 day "personal protest period" - the same amount of time Martin was given in the job - to openly moan about it all before I am supposed to return to the fold and say no more about it. But I don't know if I will. I've been put off professional football generally by all this. The greedy players, their agents and their prima donna attitude really makes me sick and it is in complete contrast with my new "love" Perth "Azzurri" and amateur football in the West Australian Premier League, generally, where players all play for the love of the game more than the greed for more money. Besides, I seem to always find myself in a minority of one on most things, eventually. I think the term is "Maverick." Anyway, watch this space.

Previously: August 1979

In this blog I am going to briefly summarise the month of September 40 years ago. From Forest's perspective it was a great time and they (notice that? not "we") smashed West Brom 5-1 at the Hawthorns, Blackburn Rovers 6-1 at home in the League Cup and brushed Middlesborough away 3-1 to reach the last 16 as well as winning their first European Cup tie as champions, beating new Swedish Champions Östers Växjö 2-0. They even ended the month beating the mighty, mighty Liverpool 1-0. Ay, them wo t'days!

Soon to Return to University 

It was September 1979 and I would be returning soon to Nottingham University to start my second year of a Joint degree in Zoology and Pharmacology. I had been working as a "knitter" at Monarch Textiles, a net curtain factory and in my diary I grumble that I was still on £1.10 / hour despite all the regular staff getting a big pay rise. The trouble was the length of my shifts had been cut from 50 hours/week to 42.5, so I was out of pocket.

The month started at the happy hunting ground for Forest, of The Hawthorns. This was my 5th visit and I would wintess Forest win for the 3rd time.

Match 346: Saturday 1st September 1979: Division One
West Bromwich Albion 1 Nottingham Forest 5 (Hawthorns 5, Nottingham Forest 243, West Bromwich Albion 9) Attendance 26,026.

I know I went but, sadly, I have absolutely no memory of how or who with, or of anything to do the with the match. Frustratingly there seems to be no video evidence of the match - or any early in the season - on YouTube. All I could muster was a press report.

Just to keep track of another on-going incredible run in the great Forest side of that era, this was John Robertson's 152nd consecutive appearance. I will never cease reminding people how amazing his run was -239 consecutive games at the very top level of the game at a time when pitches were as terrible as the brutish tackles.

I seem to have lost a few of the programmes I'd collected from this season, but here's a bumper edition of Albion News with an added glossy supplement in the middle.

Kevin Summerfield

One name of the Albion teamsheet I hadn't heard of was 20 year old Kevin Summerfield. This was his debut for Albion and he'd only make 7 appearances for the club in total. He had longer spells at Walsall, Plymouth Argyle and especially Shrewsbury Town, scoring 70 league goals in a career spanning 19 years and 384 matches.

Forest seemed to move on from the sale of Asa Hartford without so much as a blink of an eye. Ian Bowyer stepped up and filled his boots without any difficuty, apparently.

But the highlight for Forest fans was, of course, The Garry Birtles hattrick and the 5-1 win. Forest had started the season on fire, winning all four games and scoring nine goals and conceding just 2. It was a win that, as one would expect, put Forest top of the nascent league table.

West Bromwich Albion
1 Tony Godden, 2 Brendon Batson, 3 Derek Statham, 4 Tony Brown, 5 John Wile, 6 Alistair Robertson, 7 Bryan Robson, 8 Kevin Summerfield, 9 David Mills, 10 Gary Owen, 11 Peter Barnes.
Goals: Gary Owen 1.

Substitutions: John Trewick (12) came on for David Mills(9).

Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Gray, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 Martin O'Neill, 8 Ian Bowyer, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Tony Woodcock, 11 John Robertson.
Goals : Frank Gray 1, Larry Lloyd 1, Garry Birtles 3.

This defeat left Albion at the bottom of the league. Elsewhere Liverpool lost 3-2 at Southampton to give Forest fans real encouragement that this might be a season where Forest could return to the top. Crystal Palace beat Derby County 4-0 for their first win in the top flight. Manchester United beat Middlesbrough, another team that had started well.

So, Forest were top of the league once again.

In the three-season 1977-1980 composite table, Forest were now four points ahead of Liverpool.

The following Tuesday, I went along to Field Mill, home of Mansfield Town, to watch the Stags for a change.

Match 347: Tuesday 4th September 1979: League Cup 2nd Round (2nd Leg) Mansfield Town 4 Reading 2 (Field Mill 57, Mansfield Town 62, Reading 3) Attendance 4,326.

Mansfield won 7-6 on aggregate and were drawn at home to Queens Park Rangers in the next round.

The following night, I went to the City Ground to wartch the second leg of Forest's 2nd Round tie against Blackburn Rovers. The 1-1 draw at Ewood Park led us to believe it might be a tought match but in the end Forest blew Rovers away easily, 6-1.

Match 348: Wednesday 5th September 1979: League Cup 2nd Round (2nd Leg)
Nottingham Forest 6 Blackburn Rovers 1 (City Ground 173, Nottingham Forest 244, Blackburn Rovers 6) Attendance 22,244.

I seem to have lost my programme for this match and, again, no videos of the match seem to be on line. I couldn't even find a match report.

Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Gray, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 Martin O'Neill, 8 Ian Bowyer, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Tony Woodcock, 11 John Robertson.
Goals: Frank Gray 1, Ian Bowyer 2, Tony Woodcock 1, John Robertson 2 (1 pen.).

Blackburn Rovers
1 John Butcher, 2 Paul Round, 3 Brian Morley, 4 Howard Kendall, 5 Glen Keeley, 6 Derek Fazackerly, 7 Simon Garner, 8 Martin Fowler, 9 Joe Craig, 10 Duncan McKenzie, 11 Tony Parkes.
Substitutions: Russell Coughlin(12) came on for Martin Fowler (8).
Goal: Joe Craig.

Other results that night...

On the same night Arsenal beat Leeds 7-0. It was Leeds' heaviest defeat since 1966.  In other news Manchester City signed Steve Daley from Wolves for £1,437,500 - a new British record. Trevor Francis feels like a bargain in comparison.

Here he describes who his ten-year contract failed...

The record only lasted three days, as Wolves spent the money, plus a bit more, on striker Andy Gray from Aston Villa for £1,469,000. Forest would live to regret that.

Andy Gray - £1,469,000 Record British Transfer

In the draw for the next round, Forest were paired away to Middlesborough, so that meant I could arrange a trip up north to see my old mate from University before term even started.

European Cup Preliminary Round

On the same night as the Blackburn match there was the second leg of a European Cup, preliminary Round game. It's incredible to think that in those days there was so much daily violence in the UK caused by the "troubles" in Northern Ireland. The threat of bombings or other killings was part of every day reality.

It was a sick twist of fate, then, that the preliminary round draw set the Irish champions, Dundalk, against the champions from close by, north of the border, Linfield.

Away-day excuse for violence

As the clubs faced each other there were chaotic scenes at Dundalk's Oriel Park home for the first leg with rioting Linfield fans - there were over 30 fans injured and over 30 arrested - causing UEFA to take action.

The first leg sounds horrendous... You have to listen to this radio commentary from the night to get a feel for what happened.

The European body ensured the Northern Irish champions paid a heavy price for the trouble - forcing the second leg to be played in the Dutch city of Haarlem, in Holland, to avoid trouble and the travel expenses of the Dundalk team had to be paid for by Linfield. Justice seems to have been done as the Irish prevailed.

The following Saturday, I was at the City Ground again to watch Forest play Leeds United in the league. Frustratingly, Forest couldn't get the win we were expecting and Leeds denied us victory at home once more.

Match 349: Saturday 8th September 1979: Division One
Nottingham Forest 0 Leeds United 0 (City Ground 174, Nottingham Forest 245, Leeds United 14) Attendance 26,917.

Nottingham Forest

1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Gray, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 Martin O'Neill, 8 Ian Bowyer, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Tony Woodcock, 11 John Robertson.

Leeds United

1 David Harvey, 2 Kevin Hird, 3 Peter Hampton, 4 Brian Flynn, 5 Paul Hart, 6 Paul Madeley, 7 Eddie Gray, 8 Trevor Cherry, 9 Ray Hankin, 10 Alan Curtis, 11 Arthur Graham.

In other results, Manchester United continued their promising start to the season with a 3-0 win at Villa Park.

Andy Gray signed for Wolves on the pitch before their game with Crystal Palace. Palace drew 1-1 to continue their unbeaten start to the season. Mick Channon rejoined Southampton from Manchester City. Ominously, Liverpool beat Coventry 4-0 at Anfield.

The results meant that Liverpool reduced the gap at the top of the 1977-80 composite table to three points.

In midweek, England beat Denmark 1-0 in the European Championship Qualifier to stay top of their group.

12th England 1 Denmark 0

The following Saturday, I endured another long trip acros to East Anglia for another frustrating game at Carrow Road, Norwich which Forest lost.

Match 350: Saturday 15th September 1979: Division One
Norwich City 3 Nottingham Forest 1 (Carrow Road 2, Nottingham Forest 246, Norwich City 4) Attendance 18,567.

Forest were unchanged for the third match running. This was John Robertson's 155th consecutive match.

Norwich City
1 Kevin Keelan, 2 Kevin Bond, 3 Richard Symonds, 4 John McDowell, 5 Phil Hoadley, 6 Tony Powell, 7 Alan Taylor, 8 Kevin Reeves, 9 Justin Fashanu, 10 Graham Paddon, 11 Keith Robson.
Goals: Kevin Reeves, Justin Fashanu and Keith Robson

Nottingham Forest
1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Gray, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 Martin O'Neill, 8 Ian Bowyer, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Tony Woodcock, 11 John Robertson.
Goals : Tony Woodcock 1.

Manchester United's 1-0 win against Derby put them top of the table for the first time for over ten years, and put Derby second from bottom, bizarrely above United's rivals, City.

Andy Gray scored on his debut for Wolves and so did Mike Channon for Sothampton.

Liverpool closed the gap in the 77-80 composite table to just two points.

To Europe!!

So, having made a great start to the league campaign and found themselves in the last 32 of the League Cup it was time to turn their attention to Europe and their attempt to retain the magnificent "big Cup" they'd won in Munich last May against Swedish champions Malmo.

Who, then, would they draw in the first round? The Swedish Champions again, of course. This time it was a club few people would have heard of... Östers Växjö.

I must admit, I was not only totally ignorant about them forty years ago, I really made no effort to learn anything about them either.

Shame on me.

So, to make up, just a little, forty years too late, I know, here's a little bit about the "Eastern" club from the town of Växjö.

History of Östers Växjö

So where is Växjö? Well, it's a relatively small (population approximately 66,000) city in the south of Sweden. That's smaller than Mansfield. The name, apparently is derived from "road" and "lake" depicting that it used to be where farmers would cross over a frozen lake in winter..

The club were formed around 1930 by a group of boys who liked cycling.

First Team photo - 1930

Öster (English: "East") was named after a district in the city of Växjö. They were not part of the upper divisions in the early days of swedish football and only made their first appearance in the third tier in 1947.

The club, perhaps not surprisingly considering the root of the name of the town, also played ice hockey and so were known as Öster Idrottsförening (Oster Sports Association, rather than just "Football Club").

During the 1950s and early-1960s the club made a push to raise the level of football by inviting and playing against foreign teams such as Flamengo, Juventus and Fluminense. This coupled with an increase in the amount of training helped the team establish themselves in the second tier.

In 1961 Öster had a chance to qualify for Allsvenskan but failed, ending up in last place in the four team promotion playoffs. Success in the promotion playoffs did come six years later in 1967 when they beat IK Brage in the deciding game in front of a home crowd of 26,404 people.

Here's a summary of that play off sequence...

These were massive times for the club and this photo after Sune Persson's a late winner that made it 1-0 to Osters, says it all!

Scenes after Osters IF made it to the Allsvenskan for the fisrt time in 1967

In those days football in Sweden was largely amateur but Oster paid 6,000 Kroner to eight players and introduced the radically new tactic of "afternoon training" (blimey, those Swedes were innovative). The town was buzzing at Växjö in that first season in the Allsvenskan and they had the highest average attendance in the league hat season at 15,622.

The sqquad was bolstered by the signing of Harry Bild back from Fejenoord. He would eventaully make 115 appearances for the Oster IF and played for Sweden 28 times, scoring 13 goals.

One of Växjö's most famous footballing sons, Harry Bild, returned from Fejenoord in 1968.

Öster defied the odds during their first season in the top division and won the league on goal difference after a total of four teams had ended the season on exactly the same number of points.

The situation ahead of the final set of games was that Malmö FF were top with one point more. Both teams had scored 42 goals but Malmö FF had a better goal difference, or something. (The Google translation of the Swedish page describing this doesn't quite make it clear) With Malmö facing Elfsborg at home and Öster at home to Örgryte, Öster had to win and hope that Malmö lost points.

Djurgården and Norrköping also had a chance of the title but had a poorer goal difference so needed both Oster and Malmo to lose. Osters' stadium Värendsvallen was full even though the main stand was being rebuilt. The match against Örgryte started nervously as the away team were battling against relegation. At half-time both leading contenders were drawing 0-0.

Early in the second half, Inge Ejderstedt made it 1-0 to Oser IF. Later Harry Bild scored his 14th goal and made the final score to 2-0. Öster IF now had 27 points and 44 goals. The match down in Malmö was still going on and the crowd gathered around radios to hear the last minutes.

The game ended 0-0 and Östers IF won their first Allsvenskan. It Four teams ended up finishing on the same number of points but Öster IF had the best goal difference. This was the first time a newly promoted side had won the Allsvenksan at the first attempt.

In the 1968-69 European Cup, Oster IF were drawn against Italian Champions Fiorentina and lost 3-1 on aggregate (1-0 away and 2-1 at home.)

In the following seasons after a flirtation with relegation and a few seasons in mid-table, Oster IF continued to do well in the Swedish league and often qualified for Europe.

They qualified for UEFA Cup in 1973-74 (and lost to Fejenoord in the 1st round), 1974-75 (losing to Dynamo Moscow on away goals in the 1st round), 1975-76 (losing 1-2 on aggregate to Roma in the 2nd round, having beaten Norwegian side Molde 6-1 in the first) and in 1976-77 (when they lost 8-1 to Barcelona in the 3rd round, having beaten Finnish side KuPS in the first and the famous Scottish club, Hibernian in the 2nd.)

In 1976 Oster IF qualified for the European Cup Winners Cup, where they lost to the Czechoslovak team Lokomotiva Koscice in the first round.

Of course Oster IF won the Allsvenskan for the second time (this time by six points) in 1978 for them to qualify to represent Sweden in the 1979-80 European Cup.

Following their championship title the club had ten years of solid Allsvenskan finishes before becoming dominant in the late-1970s and early-1980s where they won the league three times in four years.

Meteoric Rise to the top

So, as the Swedes headed to Nottingham we were clearly naive and wrong to think the game would be  a walkover - and I for one did very much think that.

Match 351: Wednesday 19th September 1979: European Cup First Round (1st Leg)
Nottingham Forest 2 Östers Växjö 0 (City Ground  175, Nottingham Forest 247, Östers Växjö 1) Attendance 21,974.

Again, I have no memory of the game at all and have lost my match-day programme.

Nottingham Forest

1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Gray, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 Martin O'Neill, 8 Ian Bowyer, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Tony Woodcock, 11 John Robertson.

Goals: Ian Bowyer 1. Own Goal by Jon Hallan.

Östers Växjö

1 Goran Hadberg, 2 Bengt Gustavsson, 3 Harry Bild, 4 Andreas Ravelli, 5 Karl-Gunnar Bjorklund, 6 Jon Hallan, 7 Peter Nilssen, 8 Tommy Svensson, 9 Teitur Thordarson, 10 Mats Nordgren, 11 Tommy Evesson.

Here are the reports in the Guardian of the two English teams involved. Look at that headline - shame on David Lacey and the Guardian editors. Surely they knew Tblisi was in Georgia! The Guardian, in those days, were perhaps a little apologetic to the Soviet regime - another difference from these days.

Some photos of the game...

Birtles puts in a powerful diving header

Goalkeeper Goran Hadberg beats Birtles to the ball

Kenny Burns hits the bar from close range

Woodcock follws the ball as it goes in after Bowyer makes it two

Again no video of Forest seems to be available on the interweb but here's a smattering of (largely Italian) video clips the other games...

Arges Pitesti 3 AEK Athens 0

Dynamo Berlin 4 Ruch Chorzow 1

Servette 3 Beveren

The result of the night, HJK Helsinki 1 Ajax 8

Liverpool 2 Dynamo Tblisi 1

The biggest clash was between the Portuguese and Italian champions. Porto and AC Milan where played out a 0-0 draw.

Celtic lost 1-0 in Albania. The build up to the match made the headlines as the hardline Communist leader Enver Hoxha ran the country in a very strict and bizarre way. Facial hair was banned and so Celtic right back, Danny McGrain was the focus of attention - would he shave it off for the trip?

Bearded Danny McGrain

In the end he didn't but very few of Celtic's usual army of fans were allowed visas. The hostile measures seemed to work as the Tirana cklub won the first leg 1-0.

SV Hamburg got a comfortable 3-0 first leg lead at the Icelandic club Valur Rekjavik and Real Madrid won 1-0 at Bulgarian champions, Levski Spartak.

Here are all the results that night.

On the following Saturday I paid my second visit to Ashton Gate to watch Forest get another draw at Bristol City. Martin O'Neill and Ian Bowyer made way for 17 year old Gary Mills and 33 year old John O'Hare. It was Mills who got a deserved late equaliser for Forest to save them from two successive defeats.

Match 352: Saturday 22nd September 1979: Division One
Bristol City 1 Nottingham Forest 1 (Ashton Gate 2, Bristol City 8, Nottingham Forest 248) Attendance 22,362.

Bristol City

1 John Shaw, 2 Trevor Tainton, 3 Clive Whitehead, 4 Gerry Gow, 5 Gerry Sweeney, 6 Geoff Merrick, 7 Tony Fitzpatrick, 8 Andy Ritchie, 9 Kevin Mabbutt, 10 James Mann, 11 Peter Cormack.

Goals: James Mann 1.

Substitutions: Joe Royle (12) came on for Andy Ritchie(8).

Nottingham Forest

1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Gray, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 Gary Mills, 8 John O'Hare, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Tony Woodcock, 11 John Robertson.

Goals : Gary Mills 1.

Manchester United lost at Wolves, so Forest went back to the top of the league that night. Liverpool were held at home to Norwich 0-0 and so Crystal Palace, the only unbeaten side in the division, joined Forest and Man U on ten points at the top after a 2-1 win at fellow promoted Stoke City. Manchester City beat Coventry 3-0, so Spurs were now bottom of the league.

It was a really close start to the season with only five points seperating top from bottom.

Forest kept their two-point lead over Liverpool in the 1977-80 composite league.

In the following midweek, I headed north to Marton, near to Middlesbrough, to see my university football fanatic mate. We went in the Holgate End to watch the game where I kept my mouth pretty much shut most of the game as a Tony Woodcock hattrick sweapt Boro aside and Forest into the last 16.

Match 353: Tuesday 25th September 1979: League Cup 3rd Round
Middlesbrough 1 Nottingham Forest 3 (Ayresome Park 2, Middlesbrough 8, Nottingham Forest 249) Attendance 29,832.

Middlesbrough

1 Jim Platt, 2 John Craggs, 3 Ian Bailey, 4 Craig Johnston, 5 Tony McAndrew, 6 Irving Nattrass, 7 David Hodgson, 8 Mark Proctor, 9 Bozo Jankovic, 10 Micky Burns, 11 Dave Armstrong.

Goals: Dave Armstrong 1.

Substitutions: David Shearer (12) came on for Bozo Jankovic(9).

Nottingham Forest

1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Gray, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 Gary Mills, 8 John O'Hare, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Tony Woodcock, 11 John Robertson.

Goals : Tony Woodcock 3.

Substitutions: Martin O'Neill(12) came on for Gary Mills (7).

This was Forest's 19th consecutive match in the League Cup without defeat.

And so to the last game of the month, the league fixture we'd all been waiting for: A chance to show the mighty, mighty Liverpool that we were no pushovers and that they couldn't just assume Forest would roll over and let them back in to dominate English football.

In other news, the Pope visited Ireland for the first time. 

Match 354: Saturday, 29th September 1979. Division One
Nottingham Forest 1 Liverpool 0  (City Ground 176,  Nottingham Forest 250, Liverpool 10) Attendance 28,262.

With work on the new "Executive Stand" still crippling the ground cappacity, only just over 28,000 packed into the City Ground to watch. Martin O'Neill came back in for Gary Mills but otherwise Forest were unchanged. There was still no sign of Trevor Francis who, at least, made an appearance for the reserves at Bolton. Francis had suffered a groin strain playing in the USA before the season started.

Nottingham Forest

1 Peter Shilton, 2 Viv Anderson, 3 Frank Gray, 4 John McGovern, 5 Larry Lloyd, 6 Kenny Burns, 7 Martin O'Neill, 8 John O'Hare, 9 Garry Birtles, 10 Tony Woodcock, 11 John Robertson.

Goals: Garry Birtles 1.

Liverpool

1 Steve Ogrizovic, 2 Phil Neal, 3 Alan Kennedy, 4 Phil Thompson, 5 Ray Kennedy, 6 Alan Hansen, 7 Kenny Dalglish, 8 Jimmy Case, 9 David Fairclough, 10 Colin Irwin, 11 Graeme Souness. for Alan Kennedy (3).

Thanks to my dear old mate, Boro, here's a few beautiful moments from the game - again with Italian commentary. (I don't know how I missed it)

The win put Forest five points ahead of Liverpool in the league, though they did have a game in hand.

The irony was that on the day Forest beat the mighty, mighty Liverpool - champions last season - they  slipped from 1st place to 3rd because both Crystal Palace and Manchester United both won by greater margins. This was the first time Crystal Palace had ever sat on the top spot in English league football.

But at least, in the composite 1977-1980 league table, the win stretched Forest's lead over Liverpool to four points.

September Summary

So after 10 games in August, I watched a further 9 in September. I was really at the peak of my fanaticism in these days.

Tribute to Garry Birtles

It was a good month for Garry Birtles, starting with a hattrick at West Brom and ending with the winner against the mighty, mighty Liverpool.

He's a player that sometimes gets overlooked but one shouldn't underestimate the significance of that amazing performance against Liverpool in the first leg of the European Cup tie in 1978. If Birtles hadn't scored that goal in the first half and played so well, who knows how different Forest's history would have been.

Garry was born in Nottingham on 27th July 1956 and was a bit of a late starter in terms of his professional football development. He worked laying carpets as a youngster, playing for Long Eaton United part-time until he was spotted by Forest's scouts. He made his debut for Forest, not yet 21, at home to Hull City in Division Two on 12th March 1977 but would not play for the first team again after that for another eighteen months. So Birtles missed out completely in Forest's championship and League Cup winning side.

Birtles Debut 1977 v Hull City

Birtles had played in midfield against Hull but his preferred position was as striker and when he did return to the side, now Champions of England, it was in the hope of replacing Peter Withe who had been moved on to Newcastle after that row over a fiver. Stephen Elliott had been tried in that No 9 position but hadn't impressed.

So it was at home to Arsenal in the league, in September 1978, that Birtles was able to make a claim to a regular spot.

And so in just his third game for the club, he lined up against the mighty, mighty Liverpool in the European Cup. No Forest fan (not even me) will forget that moment when he put Forest 1-0 up against the European Champions...

... and the rest, as they say, is history.

By the time we get to the point in time of this blog post, 29th September 1979, the match at home to Liverpool in the league was his 62nd appearance for the club. I had watched 49 of them, so just shy of 80%.

Birtles would be an ever present for Forest in the 1979-80 season but then, almost exactly one year on from this point, in October 1980, he was sold off to Manchester United for about £1.35 million.  His last game for Forest before this move was, ironically against United. Garry had scored six in just nine league games at the time as well as three in the League Cup.

Things seemed to start well for Garry at Old Trafford and his debut at Stoke City on 22nd October 1980 ended in a 2-1 victory for United. Unfortunately, Garry didn't get on the scoresheet. United won their next game with Garry in the side too but he seemed to have been jinxed and would end up making 25 league appearances for the big club that season without scoring once. So it was not, with the benefit of hindsight, the greatest signing Dave Sexton ever made. To be fair, Garry did get an injury in that first season at United.

Garry Birtles - 25 league appearances, zero goals

In one of those moaning Man Utd fan web sites, Garry was ranked the third biggest flop in Manchester United's history - and their first big one. Our Garry can take a bit of solace that Alexis Sanches and Anderson have both been ranked worse signings since then.

But here's a question for you: Garry Birtles did score one goal for Manchester United that season. So, where did he score it? (Answer at the end of this section.)

Things did get better for our Garry next season and he scored 11 goals in 33 league appearances but his last game for United was their final game of the season, at home to Stoke City on 15th May 1982, which ended 2-0. Birtles didn't score.

11 goals in 33 games is pretty good in my book so to try to dispell the myth of a completely barren time at Old Trafford here's a clip of Garry Birtles scoring for Manchester United (at Tottenham) in November 1981.

All in all, Birtles made 58 league appearances for United, 64 in total, and scored 12 goals.

Birtles started the 1982-83 season with Manchester United but new manager Ron Atkinson decided to sell him and Cloughie was happy to take Birtles back for an undisclosed (but probably tiny) fee.

So, on 4th September 1982 Garry put on the No 9 shirt for Forest at the City Ground to start his second spell at the club. Forest won 4-0. Birtles made 25 appearances for Forest that season scoring another 7 goals. He also scored four more in the League Cup (Milk Cup) including two in that amazing 7-3 win over Watford.

Gary Birtles played out another four seasons with Forest making his last appearance for the club on 4th April 1987 at home to Coventry City, aged 30 years old. The game ended 0-0. Garry was joint top scorer (along with Nigel Clough) that season with 14 goals. His last goal for the club was a penalty scored at home to West Ham United on 14th February 1987. He ended up just four short of scoring 100 goals for the club.

Birtles back at Forest, then Notts County and Grimsby Town

As with many Forest players on their way to retirement, Garry moved over the Trent to play for Notts County for a couple of years. He scored two on his debut, the opening fixture at home to Wigan Athletic on 15th August 1987, and would only miss three third division league games that season. His last full appearance was as center half at the Vetch Field, Swansea on 7th January 1989 but he did make an appearance as substitue at home to Port Vale on 25th March 1989.

Garry Birtles stepped down again to play for Fourth Division Grimsby Town at the start of the 1989-90 season. He made his debut, playing No 11, against Colchester United. The Mariners won 4-1. Grimsby won immediate promotion to the Third Division with Garry in the team as they did the following season too. So, with Grimsby Town in the Second tier, finishing 19th, their highest position (apart from 83-84) since 1948 and their highest position ever since then, Garry Birtles ended his playing career on 9th November 1991 at, of all places, St James' Park, Newcastle for a 2-0 league defeat. Birtles, playing in the No 4 shirt was just over 35 years old. That's a pub question, if ever I saw one. If you ever do get to ask it, you could start it by saying "At which ground, of a club that finished lower in the league than Garry's team at the time, did Birtles play his last game?" Yes Newcastle United finished an astonishing 20th in the second tier that season, their second worst ever. (Worse still was in 1937-38 when they finished 19th, but in those days there were 22 teams in the First Division making their overall league ranking 41st, not 40th).

Garry Birtles only won three caps for England, all in 1980, making his debut in a friendly against Argentina on 13th May and his last against Romania on 15th October.

Birtles, like many of the so-called "miracle men" wrote a book about his experiences, called

"My Magic Carpet Ride".

He's a regular pundit today, especially on local radio and the press in the Nottingham area.

If you were wondering, Garry Birtles' only goal for Manchester United in the 1980-81 season was at the Goldstone Ground, Brighton, where Man Utd won an F. A. Cup 3rd Round Replay 2-0. Ironically, the win set them up for a 4th Round tie at... you've guessed it, Nottingham Forest. Forest won that game 1-0, with Trevor Francis scoring the only goal.

Garry Birtles Playing Statistics

Birtles 71% Nottingham Boy

The 1978-79 season was certainly his best ever with a 50% scoring rate. He'd never quite emulate that again but it was a pretty brilliant career... a kind of magic carpet ride! Thanks Garry!!

Garry Birtles Appearances and Goals scored over the years

Musical Interlude

To really get into the mood as the 70s drew to a close, you have to listen to the sounds that were "cool" at the time. Here are my five picks from the top twenty as September drew to a close...

No 1 at the end of September was the iconic song from Police, "Message in a Bottle", still one of my faves today.

No 2 was Blondie with "Dreaming".

Another classic from that time, at no 3 was Cars by Gary Numan.

Another classic from the age was "The buggles" with their one hit wonder "Video Killed the Radio Star"...

And Michael Jackson was in there too, innocent-looking as perhaps we should remember him...

Here's the full top twenty at the end of the month...

EurOpen League - The last 20 years - First installment

As we saw earlier, Dundalk beat Linfield in preliminary Round, so the first league to analyse in this season's EurOpen league is Northern Ireland.

Before we start let's look at the comparative analysis of all the European Leagues for the period up to the end of what was Forest's golden age - 1978. For that period of time, England had one of the most open leagues in Europe but the most open leagues in Europe were in Norway and West and East Germany. At the other end of the spectrum, Greece and Portugal were the least open. If you consider that these two were ranked even worse than the boring duopology of the Old Firm dominated, Scotland, you'll see how bad it must have been there.

The 22 years or so following Forest's great period, from 1979 to 2000 are summarised below. England, dominated first by Liverpool and then Manchester United, began the slide into openness mediocrity. New open champions were Denmark, with the USSR, teetering on collapse, not far behind. At the other end - still Portugal where Porto now had taken over from (yawn) Benfica as the No 1 club but nothing much else had changed. The Old Firm in Scotland managed to get closer to this domination though... good for them, eh?

Throughout all this time Sweden had a slightly more open than average league.

OK, so let's start the survey of the final twenty years and bring the whole thing up to date. I'll do just three countries here and do a few more in each future blog post to cut through the tedium and spread the work out.

Linfield - Northern Ireland

So, as Linfield were the first club to be eliminated - by Dundalk, remember - let's cover them first.

So, Linfield... again. Their domination of the Northern Ireland league had been going on for a long time, and by the time of the subject of this blog they had won more than 40% of league titles.

Glentoran's challenge, in the next twenty years or so only declined. Northern Ireland, therefore, continued to be one of the less open leagues in Europe. Not as bad as Portugal or Scotland but not too far off.

So what happenned next? Did it get even worse?

Well, strangely not. In fact Linfield's dominance of 11 titles in 20 seasons has been exactly replicated in the last period.The same five clubs dominate with Crusaders catching up with Glentoran and Cliftonville leapfrogging Portdown. So, not a very open league, still.

AEK Athens - Greece

It might be a bit "previous" to write about Greece here, but as AEK Athens were 3-0 down after the first leg at Romanian Champions, Arges Pitesti - and as anyone who knows anything about Forest during this period will know that the Romanians would be Forest's next opponents in the next round - it seems fair enough to cover them while I have the chance.

As we have seen the Greek league was one of the least open in Europe for many years. It improved a little in the 20 years before 2000, but if we look at the last two decades, it's got much worse.

Forest's own owner Evangelos Marinakis' club Olympiacos have dominated more than ever. I expect a lot of Forest fans will be rubbing their hands with glee at that thought. "He must be a good boss" then. He's bound to bring "success" (whatever than means these days) to Nottingham.

HJK Helsinki - Finland

When you're 8-1 down after the first leg (played at home) to Ajax Amsterdam, I don't think many Finns, even among the most ardent HJK Helsinki fans, had any hope that they'd score eight goals in Amsterdam to sneak through to the next round so, forgive me, I'll cover them next.

The Finnish champions were HJK Helsinki, the biggest club in the country.

I actually saw a game there last year (in 2018) in my travels around the countries surrounding Russia, for the 2018 World Cup. It's quite an impressive ground, despite it, necessarily having an artificial surface. You really don't have much choice in countries like Finland.

HJK hosted a team from a very remote small town in the north called Kemi. They had a heart-warmingly vociferous following of about six fans that had made the long long journey.

Kemi - amazing fans travelled 712 km to watch their team lose at HJK

Surprisingly, for me at least, despite so much of the country's population being centered around the capital Helsinki, and HJK being the biggest club in the city, Finland has a pretty open league. No less than 19 clubs had won the title in the first 68 years of Finnish football history.

HJK were the No 1 club but not by much. A series of other teams with TLAs have always competed with them.

Perhaps not surprisingly, this openness diminshed in the 20 years from the time of this blog post to the end of the last century but still, seven clubs winning the league in 21 years is pretty good in my book.

The percentage of title wins HJK managed to achieve doubled but, 33% is still not too domineering. In comparison with other European Leagues, then, Finland was not the most open, but it was more open than most.

Alas, Finland seems to be going the same way as the rest of the sporting world with HJK now winning more than half of the titles in the last two decades.

This season, I'll cover three or four countries each month as this researcrh does take up an inordinate amount of time!

October next...