1978–79 Nottingham Forest F.C. season

Nottingham Forest F.C.
1978–79 season
Chairman	S.M. Dryden, J.P.
Manager	Brian Clough
Football League Division One	2nd
FA Cup	5th Round
League Cup	Winners
FA Charity Shield	Winners
European Cup	Winners
Top goalscorer	League: Garry Birtles (14); All: Garry Birtles (26)
Highest home attendance	41,898 vs. Liverpool (Division One, 28 April 1979)
Lowest home attendance	20,388 vs Southampton (Division One, 2 May 1979)
Average home league attendance	30,446
Home colours	Away colours
	← 1977–78 1979–80 →

The 1978–79 season was Nottingham Forest's second year back in the Football League First Division. They had won the title the previous season. This meant they qualified for the first time in their history for the European Cup.

Summary[]

Forest opened the defence of their title with six draws in their first seven league matches. On 7 September the 2–1 win at Aston Villa broke the previous undefeated record of 34 consecutive league games by Don Revie' Leeds United in the 1968–69 season.^[1] On 28 November the 1–0 win at Bolton set an undefeated record of 42 consecutive league games.^[2] The record stood for twenty six years.^[3] Garry Birtles broke into the first team and ended up being the club's top scorer as they ended up as league runners-up, retained the League Cup and won the European Cup. Along the way they knocked out holders Liverpool and came from behind to oust West German champions Cologne. Trevor Francis became the first £1,000,000 player when he signed for the Reds from Birmingham City and immediately proved his worth by scoring the only goal of the European Cup final against Malmö in Munich. 26 year old Colin Barrett suffered a serious leg injury 10 days after scoring in the win against Liverpool. He only played seven further competitive games for Forest and 12 in his career.

Players[]

Squad Stats[]

The statistics for the following players are for their time during 1978–79 season playing for Nottingham Forest. Any stats from a different club during 1978–79 are not included. Includes all competitive matches.

Position	Nation	Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Position	Nation	Name	Total		Division One		League Cup		FA Cup		European Cup		Charity Shield
GK		Peter Shilton	63	0	42	0	8	0	3	0	9	0	1	0
DF		Viv Anderson	59	3	40	1	7	2	3	0	8	0	1	0
DF		Kenny Burns	37	1	25	0	5	1	1	0	5	0	1	0
DF		Larry Lloyd	55	4	36	0	7	1	3	1	8	1	1	1
DF		Frank Clark	31	0	20	0	3	0	2	0	6	0	0	0
MF		Martin O'Neill	42	15	28	10	6	1	3	1	4	1	1	2
MF		John McGovern	55	4	36	0	7	2	3	1	8	1	1	0
MF		Archie Gemmill	41	2	24	1	6	0	3	0	7	1	1	0
MF		John Robertson	63	16	42	9	8	4	3	0	9	2	1	1
FW		Garry Birtles	54	26	35	14	7	6	3	0	9	6	0	0
FW		Tony Woodcock	57	15	36	10	8	3	3	1	9	1	1	0
GK		Jim Montgomery	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
GK		Chris Woods	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
DF		Dave Needham	39	5	23+3	2	6	1	2	1	4	1	0+1	0
DF		Colin Barrett	18	2	11	1	3	0	0	0	3	1	1	0
DF		Bryn Gunn	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
MF		Ian Bowyer	40	6	26+3	4	5	0	1	0	5	2	0	0
MF		Gary Mills	6	1	4	1	0+1	0	0	0	0+1	0	0	0
MF		John O'Hare	14	0	9+2	0	1+1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
MF		Steve Burke	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
FW		Steve Elliott	6	0	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
FW		Trevor Francis	21	7	19+1	6	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0
FW		Peter Withe	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1

Top scorers[]

Includes all competitive matches. The list is sorted by league goals when total goals are equal.

Last updated on 11 May 2010

Position	Name	Division One	League Cup	FA Cup	European Cup	Charity Shield	Total
1	Garry Birtles	14	6	0	6	0	26
2	John Robertson	9	4	0	2	1	16
3	Tony Woodcock	10	3	1	1	0	15
=	Martin O'Neill	10	1	1	1	2	15
5	Trevor Francis	6	0	0	1	0	7
6	Ian Bowyer	4	0	0	2	0	6
7	Dave Needham	2	1	1	1	0	5
8	John McGovern	0	2	1	1	0	4
=	Larry Lloyd	0	1	1	1	1	4
10	Viv Anderson	1	2	0	0	0	3
11	Colin Barrett	1	0	0	1	0	2
=	Archie Gemmill	1	0	0	1	0	2
12	Gary Mills	1	0	0	0	0	1
=	Kenny Burns	0	1	0	0	0	1
=	Peter Withe	0	0	0	0	1	1
	Own Goals	2	0	0	0	0	2
	TOTALS	61	21	5	18	5	110

Transfers In[]

Pos	Player	From	Fee	Date
MF	Gary Mills	Youth system		September 1978
FW	Trevor Francis	Birmingham City	£1,000,000	February 1979

Transfers Out[]

Pos	Player	To	Fee	Date
FW	Peter Withe	Newcastle United	£200,000	August 1978

Club Kit[]

Supplier: Adidas

Home

Away

Source: Wikipedia Nottingham Forest Article

Competitions[]

Competition	Started round	Final position / round	First match	Last match
First Division	–	2nd	1 August 1978	2 May 1979
FA Cup	–	Fifth Round	1 August 1978
FA Cup	–	Fifth Round

Division One[]

Results by round[]

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42
Ground	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	H	H	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A
Result	D	D	D	D	W	D	D	W	W	W	W	D	D	W	D	W	L	W	D	D	L	W	W	D	D	W	W	W	D	W	W	W	D	D	W	D	L	W	D	W	W	W
Position	11	13	10	10	6	9	8	6	4	3	3	3	4	4	4	4	4	5	5	5	5	5	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	4	4	3	4	3	3	2	3	3	3	3	2

Source: Competitive matches
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss; = Leader, 1979–80 European Cup; = 1979-80 UEFA Cup ; = 1979–80 Second Division

Pos	Team v t	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Liverpool	42	30	8	4	85	16	+69	68	League Champions, qualified for European Cup 1979–80 First round
2	Nottingham Forest	42	21	18	3	61	26	+35	60	European Cup 1979–80 First round^[a]
3	West Bromwich Albion	42	24	11	7	72	35	+37	59	UEFA Cup 1979–80 First round
4	Everton	42	17	17	8	52	40	+12	51
5	Leeds United	42	18	14	10	70	52	+18	50

Source:^{[citation needed]}
Notes:

^ Nottingham Forest won this year's European Cup and thus qualified as defending champions. They also won the League cup for the second year running this year.

Matches[]

Competitive[]

Football League First Division[]

19 August 1978 1	Nottingham Forest	1–1	Tottenham Hotspur	showNottingham
	O'Neill 12'	^[4]	Villa 27'	Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 41,223

22 August 1978 2	Coventry City	0–0	Nottingham Forest	showCoventry
				Stadium: Highfield Road Attendance: 28,585

26 August 1978 3	Queens Park Rangers	0–0	Nottingham Forest	showLondon
				Stadium: Loftus Road Attendance: 17,971

2 September 1978 4	Nottingham Forest	0–0	West Bromwich Albion	showNottingham
				Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 28,239

9 September 1978 5	Nottingham Forest	2–1	Arsenal	showNottingham
	Bowyer Robertson (pen.)'			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 28,124

16 September 1978 6	Manchester United	1–1	Nottingham Forest	showManchester
			Bowyer	Stadium: Old Trafford Attendance: 55,039

23 September 1978 7	Nottingham Forest	2–2	Middlesbrough	showNottingham
	O'Neill Birtles			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 26,287

30 September 1978 8	Aston Villa	1–2	Nottingham Forest	showBirmingham
	Craig	^[5]	Woodcock Robertson	Stadium: Villa Park Attendance: 36,735

7 October 1978 9	Nottingham Forest	3–1	Wolverhampton Wanderers	showNottingham
	O'Neill Birtles ,			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 29,313

14 October 1978 10	Bristol City	1–3	Nottingham Forest	showBristol
			Birtles Robertson ,	Stadium: Ashton Gate Attendance: 26,953

21 October 1978 11	Nottingham Forest	1–0	Ipswich Town	showNottingham
	O'Neill			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 28,911

28 October 1978 12	Southampton	0–0	Nottingham Forest	showSouthampton
				Stadium: The Dell Attendance: 22,530

4 November 1978 13	Nottingham Forest	0–0	Everton	showNottingham
				Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 35,415

11 November 1978 14	Tottenham Hotspur	1–3	Nottingham Forest	showLondon
			Anderson Robertson Birtles	Stadium: White Hart Lane Attendance: 50,541

18 November 1978 15	Nottingham Forest	0–0	Queens Park Rangers	showNottingham
				Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 28.036

25 November 1978 16	Bolton Wanderers	0–1	Nottingham Forest	showBolton
	Robertson			Stadium: Burnden Park Attendance: 25,692

9 December 1978 18	Liverpool	2–0	Nottingham Forest	showLiverpool
16:00 GMT	McDermott 29' (pen) McDermott 48'			Stadium: Anfield Attendance: 51,469

16 December 1978 19	Nottingham Forest	1–0	Birmingham City	showNottingham
	Gemmill			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 25,224

23 December 1978 20	Manchester City	0–0	Nottingham Forest	showManchester
				Stadium: Maine Road Attendance: 37,012

26 December 1978 21	Nottingham Forest	1–1	Derby County	showNottingham
	Woodcock		(pen) Daly	Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 34,256

13 January 1979 23	Arsenal F.C.	2–1	Nottingham Forest	showHighbury
	Stapleton Price		Robertson	Stadium: Highbury Park Attendance: 52,158

3 February 1979 24	Middlesbrough F.C.	1–3	Nottingham Forest	showMiddlesbrough
	Proctor		Birtles Birtles Robertson	Stadium: Ayresome Park Attendance: 31,330

24 February 1979 26	Nottingham Forest	2–0	Bristol City	showNottingham
	Needham Birtles			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 28,008

3 March 1979 27	Ipswich Town	1–1	Nottingham Forest	showIpswich
	Brazil		Birtles	Stadium: Portman Road Attendance: 27,198

10 March 1979 28	Everton F.C.	1–1	Nottingham Forest	showLiverpool
	Telfer		Barrett	Stadium: Goodison Park Attendance: 37,745

14 March 1979 29	Nottingham Forest	2–1	Norwich City	showNottingham
	Woodcock Woodcock		Fashanu	Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 24,046

24 March 1979 28	Nottingham Forest	3–0	Coventry City	showNottingham
				Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 24,514

28 March 1979 17	Nottingham Forest	6–0	Chelsea F.C.	showNottingham
	O'Neill O'Neill O'Neill Birtles Woodcock Woodcock			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 24,514

31 March 1979 29	Nottingham Forest	1–1	Bolton Wanderers	showNottingham
	Francis		Gowling	Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 29,015

4 April 1979 32	Nottingham Forest	4–0	Aston Villa	showNottingham
	Evans 13' (o.g.) Woodcock 49' Francis 55' O'Neill 71'			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 27,056

7 April 1979 33	Chelsea F.C.	1–3	Nottingham Forest	showFulham
	Wilkins		O'Neill Francis Bowyer	Stadium: Attendance: 29,213

14 April 1979 35	Derby County	1–2	Nottingham Forest	showDerby
	Webb		O'Neill Birtles	Stadium: Baseball Ground Attendance: 30,156

16 April 1979 36	Nottingham Forest	0–0	Leeds United	showNottingham
				Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 37,397

18 April 1979	Nottingham Forest	1–1	Manchester United	showNottingham
	Francis		Jordan	Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 33,074

21 April 1979 37	Birmingham City	0–2	Nottingham Forest	showBirmingham
			Birtles Robertson	Stadium: Attendance: 22,189

28 April 1979 39	Nottingham Forest	0–0	Liverpool F.C.	showNottingham
				Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 41,898

30 April 1979 40	Wolverhampton Wanderers	1–0	Nottingham Forest	showWolverhampton
	Richards			Stadium: Molineux Attendance: 23,616

2 May 1979	Nottingham Forest	1–0	Southampton	showNottingham
	Francis			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 20,388

5 May 1979 41	Norwich City	1–1	Nottingham Forest	showNorwich
	Reeves		Woodcock	Stadium: Carrow Road Attendance: 17,651

9 May 1979 42	Nottingham Forest	3–1	Manchester City	showNottingham
	Bowyer Birtles Woodcock		(o.g.) Lloyd	Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 21,104

15 May 1979	Leeds United	1–2	Nottingham Forest	showLeeds
	Cherry		Mills (o.g.) Hawley	Stadium: Elland Road Attendance: 33,544

18 May 1979	West Bromwich Albion	0–1	Nottingham Forest	showWest Bromwich
			Francis	Stadium: The Hawthorns Attendance: 28,246

Last updated: 28 August 2011
Source: Bridport Red Archive

League Cup[]

29 August 1978 R2	Oldham Athletic	0–0	Nottingham Forest	showOldham
				Stadium: Boundary Park Attendance: 13,793

6 September 1978 R2 Replay	Nottingham Forest	4–2	Oldham Athletic	showNottingham
	Needham Burns Woodcock Robertson (pen.)'			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 19,669

4 October 1978 R3	Oxford United	0–5	Nottingham Forest	showOxford
			Anderson McGovern O'Neill Birtles Robertson	Stadium: Manor Ground Attendance: 14,287

7 November 1978 R4	Everton	2–3	Nottingham Forest	showLiverpool
			Anderson Woodcock Lloyd	Stadium: Goodison Park Attendance: 48,503

13 December 1978 R5	Nottingham Forest	3–1	Brighton & Hove Albion	showNottingham
	McGovern Birtles Robertson			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 30,672

17 January 1979 Semi-Final, 1st Leg	Nottingham Forest	3–1	Watford	showNottingham
	Birtles , Robertson			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 32,438

30 January 1979 Semi-Final, 2nd Leg	Watford	0–0 (1–3 agg.)	Nottingham Forest	showWatford
				Stadium: Vicarage Road Attendance: 27,656

17 March 1979 Final	Nottingham Forest	3–2	Southampton	showWembley, London
	Birtles 51', 79' Woodcock 83'		16' David Peach 88' Holmes	Stadium: Wembley Attendance: 96,952 Referee: P. Reeves

Last updated: 28 August 2011
Source: Bridport Red Archive

FA Cup[]

27 January 1979 Fourth round	Nottingham Forest	3–1	York City	showNottingham
	McGovern Lloyd O'Neill			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 25,228 Referee: -

26 February 1979 Fifth round	Nottingham Forest	0–1	Arsenal	showNottingham
			Stapleton	Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 35,908 Referee: -

Last updated: 28 August 2011
Source: Bridport Red Archive

FA Charity Shield[]

12 August 1978 Final	Nottingham Forest	5–0	Ipswich Town	showWembley, London
	O'Neill , Lloyd Withe Robertson			Stadium: Wembley Attendance: 64,438 Referee: P. Reeves

Last updated: 28 August 2011
Source: Bridport Red Archive

European Cup[]

First Round[]

13 September 1978 First Leg	Nottingham Forest	2–0	Liverpool	showNottingham
	Barrett 26' Birtles 87'			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 38,318 Referee: -

27 September 1978 Second Leg	Liverpool	0–0 (0–2 agg.)	Nottingham Forest	showLiverpool, England
				Stadium: Anfield Attendance: 51,679 Referee: -

Second Round[]

18 October 1978 First Leg	AEK Athens	1–2	Nottingham Forest	showAthens, Greece
			McGovern Birtles	Stadium: Nea Filadelfeia Stadium Attendance: 36,000 Referee: -

1 November 1978 Second Leg	Nottingham Forest	5–1 (7–2 agg.)	AEK Athens	showNottingham
	Needham Woodcock Anderson Birtles ,			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 38,069 Referee: -

Quarter Final[]

7 March 1979 First Leg	Nottingham Forest	4–1	Grasshopper	showNottingham
	Lloyd Gemmil Birtles Robertson (pen.)'			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 31,949 Referee: -

21 March 1979 Second Leg	Grasshopper	1–1 (2–5 agg.)	Nottingham Forest	showZürich, Switzerland
			O'Neill	Stadium: Hardturm Attendance: 7,800 Referee: -

Semi Final[]

11 April 1979 First Leg	Nottingham Forest	3–3	1. FC Köln	showNottingham
	Bowyer Birtles Robertson			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 40,804 Referee: -

25 April 1979 Second Leg	1. FC Köln	0–1 (3–4 agg.)	Nottingham Forest	showCologne, West Germany
			Bowyer	Stadium: Müngersdorfer Stadion Attendance: 60,000 Referee: -

Final[]

30 May 1979	Nottingham Forest	1–0	Malmö FF	showMunich
20:15 CET	Francis 45+1'	Report		Stadium: Olympiastadion Attendance: 68,000 Referee: Erich Linemayr

Last updated: 28 August 2011
Source: Bridport Red Archive

Pre-season and Friendlies[]

25 July 1978 Friendly	Red Star Belgrade	3–2	Nottingham Forest	showBelgrade, Yugoslavia
			O'Neill Withe	Stadium: Stadion FK Crvena Zvezda Attendance: 33,000 Referee: -

27 July 1978 Friendly	Dinamo Zagreb	1–1	Nottingham Forest	showZagreb, Yugoslavia
			Needham	Stadium: Stadion Maksimir Attendance: 35,000 Referee: Raus

30 July 1978 Friendly	NK Osijek	1–1	Nottingham Forest	showOsijek, Yugoslavia
			Bowyer	Stadium: Stadion Gradski vrt Attendance: 15,000 Referee: Fresl

2 August 1978 Friendly	AEK Athens	1–1	Nottingham Forest	showAthens, Greece
			Woodcock	Stadium: Nea Filadelfeia Stadium Attendance: 30,000 Referee: Aleksopoulos

14 August 1978 Vigo Tournament	R.C. Celta Vigo	1–1	Nottingham Forest	showVigo, Spain
	Senra 89'		90+2' Withe	Stadium: Balaídos Attendance: 13,000 Referee: Balsa-Ron

16 August 1978 Vigo Tournament	F.C. Porto	1–0	Nottingham Forest	showVigo, Spain
	Gonzales 81'			Stadium: Balaídos Attendance: 25,000 Referee: Garcia De Loza

4 September 1978 Sandy Pate Testimonial	Mansfield Town	1–6	Nottingham Forest	showMansfield
				Stadium: Field Mill Attendance: 7,051 Referee: -

5 December 1978 Friendly	Nottingham Forest	2–0	Dinamo Zagreb	showNottingham
	Birtles ,			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 5,338 Referee: Styles

19 February 1979 Nick Jennings Testimonial	Exeter City	0–5	Nottingham Forest	showExeter
			Anderson Birtles , Woodcock Bowyer	Stadium: St James Park Attendance: 9,479 Referee: Atkins

21 February 1979 Trevor Stokes Testimonial	West Bromwich Albion	0–0	Nottingham Forest	showWitney
				Stadium: Marriots Stadium Attendance: 3,500 Referee: Ladbrook

11 May 1979 Lawrie McMenemy Testimonial	Southampton	0–4	Nottingham Forest	showSouthampton
			, Bowyer Birtles Mills	Stadium: The Dell Attendance: 14,693 Referee: -

Last updated: 28 August 2011
Source: The City Ground

References[]

^ "Longest unbeaten runs in English Football". thefootballfaithful.com. 20 December 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
^ "List of Nottingham Forest 42 games unbeaten". rsssf.com. 20 April 1999. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
^ McCarra, Kevin (22 October 2004). "Sense of injustice burns as Arsenal fires fade". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
^ "Argentine cup star aids Tottenham tie". Montreal Gazette. 21 August 1978. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
^ "Forest make Soccer history". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2 October 1978. Retrieved 20 January 2013.

[table_note_res_EC1b0.024370520387017-4] Nottingham Forest won this year's European Cup and thus qualified as defending champions. They also won the League cup for the second year running this year.

[1] "Longest unbeaten runs in English Football". thefootballfaithful.com. 20 December 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2021.

[2] "List of Nottingham Forest 42 games unbeaten". rsssf.com. 20 April 1999. Retrieved 20 August 2021.

[3] McCarra, Kevin (22 October 2004). "Sense of injustice burns as Arsenal fires fade". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 26 August 2015.

[5] "Argentine cup star aids Tottenham tie". Montreal Gazette. 21 August 1978. Retrieved 20 January 2013.

[6] "Forest make Soccer history". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2 October 1978. Retrieved 20 January 2013.

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