1977–78 Nottingham Forest F.C. season

Nottingham Forest F.C.

1977–78 season
Chairman	S.M. Dryden, J.P.
Manager	Brian Clough
Football League Division One	1st (Champions)
FA Cup	Sixth Round
League Cup	Winners
Top goalscorer	League: John Robertson, Peter Withe (12) All: Peter Withe, Tony Woodcock (19)
Highest home attendance	47,218 vs. Liverpool (Division One, 26 December 1977)
Lowest home attendance	18,224 vs West Ham United (League Cup, 30 August 1977)
Average home league attendance	32,501
← 1976–77 1978–79 →

The 1977–78 season was Nottingham Forest's first year back in the First Division since their relegation in 1972. They had finished third in the Second Division the previous season to earn promotion.

Summary

Forest's credentials at the start of the season did not appear to be especially impressive. Promotion from Division Two in 1976–77 had been achieved only by the skin of their teeth and the squad of players was a mixture of underachievers, journeymen and inexperienced youngsters. Many pundits tipped them to struggle. However, Brian Clough and Peter Taylor had already proved at Derby County that they were capable of blending a winning formula from apparently limited resources and they would now do so again. No player epitomised Forest's success more than Kenny Burns, who arrived for £150,000 in pre-season from Birmingham City where he had acquired something of a 'wild man' reputation. Having spent several years playing as a forward, Burns was converted back to the defensive role where he had begun his career and although it took a few matches for him to settle he ended the season by being voted Footballer of the Year.

Forest confounded the critics from the outset, registering three straight league wins to top the first table of the season and thrashing West Ham United 5-0 in the second round of the League Cup. Although their 100% record ended with a 3-0 defeat at Arsenal, Forest won the next three and ended September second in the table behind Manchester City on goal difference. A 4-0 win over Ipswich Town at the beginning of October (Peter Withe scoring all four) restored them to the top of the table and there they stayed for the rest of the season. After a slight hiccup in November saw them lose consecutive away matches at Chelsea and Leeds United they went unbeaten in their remaining 26 league fixtures and were confirmed as champions following a goalless draw at Coventry City in April.

Two further additions had been made to the playing squad in the early weeks of the season. Peter Shilton was signed from Stoke City for £325,000, then a record transfer fee for a goalkeeper, and Archie Gemmill joined from Derby in a deal that also saw Shilton's predecessor John Middleton move in the opposite direction. Middleton had conceded six goals in Forest's opening five league matches - Shilton would concede only 18 in the remaining 37. In December, Forest bought David Needham from Queens Park Rangers for £140,000 to add depth to the defence. Nevertheless, they used just 17 players during the season, one of whom (teenage reserve goalkeeper Chris Woods) only appeared in the League Cup as cover for the cup-tied Shilton.

Forest's League Cup run saw them score 23 goals in just six matches en route to facing Liverpool in the final at Wembley where Woods performed heroics to keep the reigning league and European champions at bay and earn Forest a goalless draw. Liverpool also had the better of the replay at Old Trafford but a controversial penalty converted by John Robertson was enough to give Forest their first piece of major silverware since the FA Cup in 1959. A clean sweep of domestic trophies looked a distinct possibility until defeat at West Bromwich Albion in the FA Cup quarter-final.

Players

Squad Stats

The statistics for the following players are for their time during 1977-78 season playing for Nottingham Forest. Any stats from a different club during 1977-78 are not included. Includes all competitive matches.

Position	Nation	Name	Total		Division One		League Cup		FA Cup
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK		John Middleton	6	0	5	0	1	0	0	0
GK		Peter Shilton	43	0	37	0	0	0	6	0
GK		Chris Woods	7	0	0	0	7	0	0	0
DF		Viv Anderson	50	4	37	3	8	1	5	0
DF		Colin Barrett	41(2)	1	33(2)	1	5	0	3	0
DF		Kenny Burns	55	4	41	4	8	0	6	0
DF		Frank Clark	19(1)	1	12(1)	1	4	0	3	0
DF		Bryn Gunn	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
DF		Larry Lloyd	34	1	26	0	6	1	2	0
DF		David Needham	22	4	16	4	0	0	6	0
MF		Ian Bowyer	36(3)	6	25(3)	4	8	6	3	0
MF		Steve Burke	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
MF		Archie Gemmill	36(2)	3	32(2)	3	0	0	4	0
MF		John McGovern	42	5	31	4	7	1	4	0
MF		Martin O'Neill	52(2)	13	38(2)	8	8	3	6	2
MF		John Robertson	56	18	42	12	8	3	6	3
FW		Garry Birtles	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
FW		Steve Elliott	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
FW		John O'Hare	11(2)	1	10	0	1(1)	1	0(1)	0
FW		Peter Withe	54	19	40	12	8	5	6	2
FW		Tony Woodcock	50	19	36	11	8	4	6	4
		Own goals		2		2

Transfers In

Pos	Player	From	Fee	Date
DF	Kenny Burns	Birmingham City	£150,000	July 1977
GK	Peter Shilton	Stoke City	£325,000	September 1977
MF	Archie Gemmill	Derby County	£25,000 & P/E	September 1977
DF	David Needham	Queens Park Rangers	£140,000	December 1977

Transfers Out

Pos	Player	To	Fee	Date
DF	Sammy Chapman	Notts County	£7500	July 1977
FW	Barry Butlin	Peterborough United	£20,000	September 1977
MF	Sean Haslegrave	Preston North End	£25,000	September 1977
GK	John Middleton	Derby County	P/E	September 1977
MF	Terry Curran	Derby County	£50,000	November 1977

Club Kit

Supplier: Adidas

Home

Away

Source: Wikipedia Nottingham Forest Article

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GD		Pts
1	Nottingham Forest	42		15	6	0	37	8		10	8	3	32	16		69	24	+45		64
2	Liverpool	42		15	4	2	37	11		9	5	7	28	23		65	34	+31		57
3	Everton	42		14	4	3	47	22		8	7	6	29	23		76	45	+31		55
4	Manchester City	42		14	4	3	46	21		6	8	7	28	30		74	51	+23		52
5	Arsenal	42		14	5	2	38	12		7	5	9	22	25		60	37	+23		52
6	West Bromwich Albion	42		13	5	3	35	18		5	9	7	27	35		62	53	+9		50
7	Coventry City	42		13	5	3	48	23		5	7	9	27	39		75	62	+13		48
8	Aston Villa	42		11	4	6	33	18		7	6	8	24	24		57	42	+15		46
9	Leeds United	42		12	4	5	39	21		6	6	9	24	32		63	53	+10		46
10	Manchester United	42		9	6	6	32	23		7	4	10	35	40		67	63	+4		42
11	Birmingham City	42		8	5	8	32	30		8	4	9	23	30		55	60	–5		41
12	Derby County	42		10	7	4	37	24		4	6	11	17	35		54	59	–5		41
13	Norwich City	42		10	8	3	28	20		1	10	10	24	46		52	66	–14		40
14	Middlesbrough	42		8	8	5	25	19		4	7	10	17	35		42	54	–12		39
15	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42		7	8	6	30	27		5	4	12	21	37		51	64	–13		36
16	Chelsea	42		7	11	3	28	20		4	3	14	18	49		46	69	–23		36
17	Bristol City	42		9	6	6	37	26		2	7	12	12	27		49	53	–4		35
18	Ipswich Town	42		10	5	6	32	24		1	8	12	15	37		47	61	–14		35
19	Queens Park Rangers	42		8	8	5	27	26		1	7	13	20	38		47	64	–17		33
20	West Ham United	42		8	6	7	31	28		4	2	15	21	41		52	69	–17		32
21	Newcastle United	42		4	6	11	26	37		2	4	15	16	41		42	78	–36		22
22	Leicester City	42		4	7	10	16	32		1	5	15	10	38		26	70	–44		22

P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

Key
	League Champions, qualified for European Cup
	Qualified for European Cup
	FA Cup winners, qualified for Cup Winners' Cup
	League Cup winners, see Nottingham Forest
	Qualified for UEFA Cup
	Relegated

Matches

A list of Nottingham Forest's matches in the 1977-78 season.^[1][2][3]

Competitive

Division One

League Cup

FA Cup

Pre-season and Friendlies

References

External links