For this interview, I look back at Nottingham Forest’s Champions Cup winning
run in 1978/79 season.
The Interview will be as a video link companion, while the Blog
will be a presentation of the events.
The Interviewee is:
English Podcaster Mr. Steven Toplis
Mr. Toplis is on the ‘1865: The #NFFC #PremierLeague Podcast’
Mr. Toplis’ contact info:
Twitter: @steven_toplis
Podacst
Twitter: @nottm_forest
My contact information:
on twitter @sp1873 and on
facebook under Soccernostalgia.
Nottingham Forest FC in
the Champions Cup 1978/79
In today’s era, the Nottingham Forest
story would be virtually impossible to reproduce. A small struggling side in
the Second Division rising up and eventually winning the League Title and be a
force in Europe by winning the Champions Cup in just a few seasons.
Most importantly this success was not
achieved by spending unending supply of cash, but by spending judiciously on
certain players and the force and personality of one man determined to succeed,
Brian Clough.
This story begins in January 1975, when Clough
was appointed as Nottingham Forest Manager (then in the Second Division). After
winning the League title with Derby County in 1972, he had to endure
disappointing spells with Brighton (1973-74) and the much referenced turbulent
44 days at Leeds United in the Fall of 1974.
But perhaps the story really began 20
years earlier in 1955 at Middlesbrough, when the then-striker Brian Clough met
the goalkeeper Peter Taylor.
Taylor would become Clough’s assistant and
the pair would form a formidable duo with Taylor responsible for the
recruitment of players.
The pair would build a strong team in just
a few years. The Scottish pair John McGovern and John O’Hare followed Clough from Derby to Leeds and arrived at
Forest in 1975.
Former Newcastle defender Frank Clark
arrived on a free transfer in 1975 as well.
In 1976, defenders Larry Lloyd and Colin
Barrett came from Coventry and Manchester City, respectively.
In 1977, the Scottish International
striker Kenny Burns arrived from Birmingham City, along with English
International goalkeeper Peter Shilton from Stoke City.
Burns would soon be converted to a central
defender to significant effect.
Defender Dave Needham came on board from
Queens Park Rangers.
Another of Clough’s players at Derby, the
Scottish Archie Gemmill arrived in 1977 as well.
He also promoted right-back Viv Anderson
(and soon to be an International) to the first Team.
These arrivals were the final pieces in a
puzzle that allowed Forest to win the League title in 1977/78 as a newly
promoted team.
.jpg) |
Photo From: Onze, Issue 39, March 1979
|
(Nottingham Forest squad 1978/79) |
.jpg) |
Photo From: Onze, Issue 39, March 1979
|
(Nottingham Forest squad 1978/79) |
Nottingham Forest were now in Europe and
England’s representative in the Champions Cup in the 1978/79 season along with
defending European Champions Liverpool.
The transfer policy at the beginning of
the season consisted of Clough transferring Peter Withe to Newcastle United
(after two matches in August).
Instead of signing a replacement, he
looked within the club and promoted and decided to give an opportunity to Garry
Birtles.
Birtles had been signed from Non-League
Long Eaton United in 1976. Clough had been unconvinced by him, but Peter Taylor
insisted and convinced Clough to sign him.
Both Nottingham Forest and Liverpool,
perhaps, would have expected rather easy first round opponents, but when the
draw was made the two teams were paired against one another.
At this point, Liverpool were on top of
the League with five wins out of five and scoring freely, as Forest were
struggling to score.
However, Liverpool Manager Bob Paisley did
not look upon this as an easy tie and was convinced that in Europe, Clough
could make it difficult for them.
The first leg was at the City Ground on
September 13, 1978. Clough decided to man-mark Souness and Ray Kennedy in the
Liverpool midfield. Burns in the center of defense, and McGovern and Gemmill in
midfield were tasked with this objective.
Liverpool decided to attack as the away
team and in the end, this may have been their undoing.
Birtles, on whom Clough had placed his
trust, would be crucial in Forest’s victory.
In the 27th minute, Birtles
opened the scoring by knocking in an empty net from Woodcock’s cross from the
right as Clemence was out to prevent Woodcock’s advance.
Liverpool continued to attack to force a
tie, and this left gaps. In the 88th minute, Forest scored the second
goal with Birtles once again in the mix. From the left side, he crossed for
Woodcock, who headed to Colin Barrett to volley in the second goal.
Afterwards Paisley blamed his tactics. He
said against a Continental side, they would have closed the match at (0-1) to
have a chance for the return leg. However, against Nottingham Forest, his team
treated it like an FA Cup match and continued attacking.
The Return leg at Anfield was on September
27th, 1978, with everything still at play. Before the match, Clough
stated that Liverpool’s winning run had to end and added that we had enough of
hearing that Liverpool were the best, the strongest and invincible.
He added that facing Liverpool at Anfield
would be like facing Rommel and his Panzers.
The main change for Forest was Frank Clark
starting in place of the injured Barrett.
Burns was tasked with marking his
compatriot, Kenny Dalglish.
As expected, Liverpool attacked throughout
the match but it was to no avail as Forest held on to a scoreless tie to
advance and eliminate Liverpool.
It is worth remembering that Liverpool had
won in successive seasons, the UEFA Cup in 1976 and the Champions Cup in 1977
and 1978.
England National Team manager Ron
Greenwood praised Clough’s organization as did Bob Paisley.
Paisley referred to Forest as the most
Continental of English sides.
Clough stated, “Liverpool threw everything
at us, except the docks”. He added that his team have defeated the invincible
machine. He believed this victory was important for his side to realize their
true dimension.
_1535x792.jpg) |
Photo From: World Soccer, November 1978
|
(September 27, 1978, Liverpool 0-Nottingham Forest 0) |
_1496x1092.jpg) |
Photo From: World Soccer, October 1978
|
(September 27, 1978, Liverpool 0-Nottingham Forest 0) |
After these battles with Liverpool, the
second round against Greek side AEK Athens was bound to be a formality.
The first leg was held in Athens on
October 18, 1978. Forest came away with a (2-1) win with John McGovern and Garry Birtles scoring.
For the second leg at the
City Ground on November 1st, Forest would be missing the suspended
Burns, as well as McGovern.
Larry Lloyd would be
captain in McGovern’s absence. There had been some issues with Lloyd and club
management as he had not worn the official club blazers on the trip home from
Athens.
In any case, this match
was a routine and easy win for the English as Forest won (5-1). David Needham, Tony
Woodcock, Vivian Viv Anderson, and Garry Birtles with two goals scored Forest’s
goals.
For the Quarterfinals in
the Spring of 1979, Forest were paired with Swiss side Grasshopper Zurich.
But just a month before
the encounters, on February 9th, 1979, Nottingham Forest grabbed all
the headlines with £1
Million signing of Trevor Francis from Birmingham City.
There was competition from
Coventry City for a similar sum, but Francis chose Nottingham Forest because he
stated that Clough was a winner.
Clough felt investments were needed to
strengthen the side for Europe and that they
could not let the opportunity pass to sign
the greatest striker of his generation.
Ultimately, his signing
took place too late for him to be eligible for the Quarterfinals and Semifinals
and he would only be eligible for the Final should Forest qualify.
.jpg) |
Photo From: World Soccer, March 1979
|
(Trevor Francis) |
Forest hosted the first
leg on March 7th, 1979. Grasshopper were expected to defend and only
played with two upfront.
In the end Forest produced
twenty-eight corners in the match.
Unexpectedly, Grasshopper took the lead in
the 11th minute as Claudio
Sulser took advantage of Lloyd’s error in trying to clear and got passed him to
score.
Forest took control
afterwards and Garry Birtles tied the match in the 31st minute
from a pass by Woodcock on the right
side.
John Robertson gave Forest
the lead with a penalty kick in the 47th minute.
Peter Shilton came to the
rescue of Forest with an important excellent save in the 75th minute
from Sulser.
Clough called this the
turning point of the match and praised Shilton’s performance and stated that
they had spent money on Shilton because he was the best.
Forest put the match and
the tie beyond reach by scoring twice in the last minutes through Gemmill (87th
minute) and Lloyd (89th minute).
Clough praised his
strikers: Birtles and Woodcock. He felt they had worked extremely hard in difficult conditions and each one deserved three
goals. He criticized his midfielders: O’Neill, McGovern and Gemmill for
offering mediocre service to the front pair.
He also criticized Lloyd and said that he
deserved a kick in the rear end for getting passed by like a debutant on
Sulser’s goal.
Grasshopper Manager Helmuth
Johannsen said Nottingham
Forest were built for 90 mins, unlike his squad. He felt he would have been
happy with (1-2) scoreline but (1-4) had their task in the return leg
impossible.
_480x757.jpg) |
Photo From: World Soccer, April 1979
|
(March 7,
1979, Champions Cup, Nottingham
Forest 4- Grasshopper -Club Zürich 1) |
The return leg on March 21st,
at Zurich was comfortable for Forest as they were never in danger.
Claudio Sulser gave the
Swiss the lead in the 33rd minute with Martin O'Neill tying the
match in the 38th minute.
Grasshopper’s Raimundo Ponte did catch
Clough’s eye and would be signed by him in 1980.
The semifinals were a much sterner test
against West German side FC Koln managed by Hennes Weisweiler.
Clough and Weisweiler were at odds
politically as both were public about their political preferences.
Koln had eliminated Scottish side Rangers
Glasgow in the previous round and apparently Clough had contacted Rangers Manager
John Greig to learn of Koln’s tactics.
Forest once more hosted the first leg on
April 11th, 1979. Koln were missing the injured Heinz Flohe.
Forest were missing the injured Burns and
the suspended Viv Anderson in defense. As a result, Clough was forced to
shuffle his defense. Colin Barrett was moved from the left back position to the
right to deputize for Anderson. Ian Bowyer, nominally a midfielder, played as
the left back. Dave Needham was called up to partner Lloyd in the center of
defense.
It was this disorganization that allowed
Koln to take a (0-2) lead. Roger
van Gool (6th minute) and Dieter Müller (20th minute)
opened the scoring for the West German side.
Garry Birtles pulled a
goal back in the 28th minute going into halftime.
Clough decided to replace
Gemmill with Frank Clark. He placed Clark at left back and moved Bowyer to
midfield.
Forest attacked and tied
the match in the 53rd minute through Bowyer himself.
Ten minutes later, John Robertson gave Forest the lead
for the first time in the match with a diving header.
Forest seemed headed for a
win when the Japanese striker Yasuhiko Okudera, who had come on as a substitute
tied the match in the 85th minute with a shot from outside of the
box.
At the conclusion of this
match, it appeared that Koln held the advantage going into the second leg.
Shilton publicly took the
responsibility for two of the goals.
At the end of this match,
Weisweiler hugged and praised Clough and they took photos together (According
to Clough, after the second leg, Weisweiler would snub him and ignore him, no
handshakes nor accolades).
_1928x1403.jpg) |
Photo From: France Football, Issue 1723, April 17, 1979
|
(April 11,
1979, Champions Cup, Nottingham Forest 3- Fußball-Club Köln 3) |
Ahead of the second leg at
Koln on April 25th, Clough had declared that Forest would qualify.
Burns and Viv Anderson
were back for this tie to stabilize the defense.
Koln were missing Van Gool
(ill) and defender Roland Gerber (injured).
Clough’s tactics for this match was to
attack Koln aerially, he had sensed a weakness with Koln in that aspect.
The match was balanced in the first half.
In the second half, Weisweiler made a tactical adjustment. He asked Bernd
Cullmann and Bernd Schuster to switch positions. Cullmann moved into the
defensive midfielder position with Schuster playing as Sweeper.
Forest scored the winner in the 65th
minute. Robertson took a corner that was flicked on by Birtles (or Lloyd in
other sources) to Bowyer to head in.
_2622x3812.jpg) |
Photo From: France Football, Issue 1725, May 2, 1979
|
(April 25, 1979, Champions Cup, Fußball-Club Köln 0- Nottingham Forest 1) |
Nottingham Forest were in the Final facing
Swedish side Malmo managed by Englishman Bob Houghton.
Forest were expected to win and they had
the added advantage of being able to call upon Francis.
To accommodate Francis, Clough would be
forced to drop one out of his three regulars: O’Neill, Gemmill or Bowyer.
In the end he was spared that choice as
O’Neill and Gemmill were not fully fit and out. Francis was employed as a deep
lying outside right.
Malmo were overmatched and defended in
numbers as Forest attacked throughout.
It was a poor spectacle of a match as
Malmo rarely threatened.
In the end the match was decided in the
injury time of the first half, Robertson’s cross from the left side was headed
in by Francis at the far post.
Nottingham Forest were Champions of Europe
to continue the three-season domination of England in the Champions Cup.
The question was now whether they could
continue dominating at the European level. That is another story…….
_4962x3164.jpg) |
Photo From: L’Annee du Football, 1979
|
(May 30, 1979, Champions Cup,
Nottingham Forest 1- Malmö
FF 0) |
_4867x2851.jpg) |
Photo From: L’Annee du Football, 1979
|
(May 30, 1979, Champions Cup,
Nottingham Forest 1- Malmö
FF 0) |
_2976x3166.jpg) |
Photo From: L’Annee du Football, 1979
|
(May 30, 1979, Champions Cup,
Nottingham Forest 1- Malmö
FF 0) |
Nottingham Forest
Football Club (1978/79 season):
Players who took part in
these matches (on the field or on the bench):
Goalkeeper:
Peter Shilton (September 18, 1949, Leicester) (aged
28-29 years old at the time)
Chris Woods (November 14, 1959, Swineshead,
Lincolnshire) (aged 18-19 years old at the time)
Defenders:
Viv Anderson (July 29, 1956, Clifton,
Nottingham) (aged 22 years old at the time)
Kenny Burns (Scotland)
(September
23, 1953, Glasgow, Scotland) (aged 24-25
years old at the time)
Larry Lloyd (October 6, 1948, Bristol)
(aged 29-30 years old at the time)
Frank Clark (September 9, 1943, Rowland Gill, County Durham) (aged 35 years old at the
time)
Dave Needham (May 21, 1949, Leicester) (aged 29 years old at the time)
Colin Barrett (August 3, 1952, Stockport) (aged 26 years old at the time)
Midfielders:
Martin O’Neill (Northern Ireland)
(March 1,
1952, Kilrea, Northern Ireland) (aged 26 years old at the time)
John McGovern (Scotland) (October 28, 1949, Montrose,
Scotland) (aged 28-29 years old at the time)
Archie Gemmill (Scotland) (March 24, 1947, Pasiley,
Scotland) (aged 31 years old at the time)
John Robertson (Scotland) (January 20, 1953,
Viewpark, Lanarkshire, Scotland) (aged 25 years old at the time)
Ian Bowyer (June 6, 1951, Little Sutton, Ellesmere Port) (aged 27 years old at the
time)
Gary Mills (November 11, 1961, Northampton) (aged 16-17 years old at
the time)
John O’Hare (Scotland) (September 24,
1946, Renton, Scotland) (aged 31-32 years old at the time)
Forwards:
Garry Birtles (July 27, 1956, Nottingham)
(aged 22 years old at the time)
Tony Woodcock (December 6, 1955, Eastwood,
Nottinghamshire) (aged 22-23 years old at the time)
Trevor Francis (April 19, 1954, Plymouth) (aged 24-25 years old at the time)
(signed February 9th, 1979)
Peter Withe (August 30, 1951, Liverpool)
(aged 27 years old at the time) (transferred out in August 1978 after making
two appearances)
Coach: Brian Clough (March 21, 1935, Middlesbrough-September 20, 2004, Derby) (aged 43
years old at the time)
Team Captain: John McGovern
(Scotland)
Official Kit Supplier/Designer:
Adidas
Shirt Sponsor: None
References:
Football, Issue 1718,
March 13, 1979
Football, Issue 1720,
March 27, 1979
France Football, Issue
1723, April 17, 1979
France Football, Issue 1725,
May 2, 1979
Mondial, old series,
issue 23, October 1978
Mondial, old series,
issue 31, June 1979
Mondial, old series,
issue 32, July 1979
Mondial, New series,
issue 13, April 1981
Onze, Issue 39, March
1979
Onze, Issue 41, May 1979
Onze, Issue 42, June 1979
World
Soccer, November 1978
World
Soccer, December 1978
World
Soccer, April 1979
World
Soccer, May 1979
World
Soccer, June 1979
L’Annee
du Football, 1979
.jpg) |
| (Nottingham Forest squad 1978/79) |
.jpg) |
Photo From: Onze, Issue 41, May 1979
|
(Nottingham Forest squad 1978/79) |
.jpg) |
Photo From: Onze, Issue 41, May 1979
|
(Nottingham Forest squad 1978/79) |
.jpg) |
Photo From: Onze, Issue 41, May 1979
|
(Nottingham Forest squad 1978/79) |
_2495x3300.jpg) |
Photo From: Onze, Issue 41, May 1979
|
(Nottingham Forest squad 1978/79) |
.jpg) |
Photo From: Mondial, old series, issue
31, June 1979
|
(Nottingham Forest squad 1978/79) |
.jpg) |
Photo From: Panini England 78/79
|
(Nottingham Forest squad 1978/79) |
.jpg) |
Photo From: Panini England 78/79
|
(Nottingham Forest squad 1978/79) |
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