1979–80 Nottingham Forest F.C. season

Nottingham Forest F.C.

1979–80 season
Chairman	Stuart Dryden
Manager	Brian Clough
Stadium	The City Ground
First Division	5th
FA Cup	4th round
League Cup	Runners up
European Cup	Winners (in European Cup)
European Super Cup	Winners
Top goalscorer	League: Trevor Francis (14) All: Robertson (19)
Highest home attendance	32,266 (League)
Lowest home attendance	21,242 (League)
Average home league attendance	26,330 (League)
Home colours Away colours
← 1978–79 1980–81 →

The 1979–80 season was Nottingham Forest's 115th year in existence and third campaign consecutive in the First Division.

Summary

During summer chairman Stuart M. Dryden reinforced the squad with several players, Left-back Frank Clark announced his retirement and the club bought Frank Gray to cover the spot after bought from Leeds United in £500,000.^[1] With the team plummeting to mid-table the club loaned in Forward Charlie George from Southampton F.C. who only played 4 matches ^[2] and failed to reinforce the offensive line already weakened after the departure of Tonny Woodcock to 1.FC Köln^[3] and the injury of Trevor Francis. For replacing Archie Gemmill in midfield, the club bought Asa Hartford from Manchester City only to be a failure in three matches played being sold to Everton F.C.^[4] Also, for the second half of the season arrived midfielder Stan Bowles from Queen's Park Rangers^[5] but the transfer did not work out owing to differences between Bowles and manager Clough. The squad already playing four tournaments resented the disappointing of new arrivals in League finishing on a 5th spot.

The club refused to play the Intercontinental Cup against Paraguayan side and Copa Libertadores Champion Club Olimpia.^[6] Meanwhile in FA Cup the team was eliminated by Liverpool F.C. in fourth round. On the contrary, in League Cup the squad advance to the Final being defeated 0-1 by Wolverhampton Wanderers by a single goal. However, the squad won its first European Super Cup with a 2-1 aggregate score after two legs against FC Barcelona.^[7] In the European Cup as the holders, the club which advanced again to the Final and clinched its second successive title after defeating 1-0 West German side Hamburg SV in spite of being reinforced in midfield by ex-Liverpool fan favourite Kevin Keegan.^[8]

Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  ENG Peter Shilton — GK  ENG Jimmy Montgomery — GK  ENG Steve Sutton — DF  ENG Viv Anderson — DF  ENG Larry Lloyd — DF  SCO Kenny Burns — DF  SCO Frank Gray — DF  ENG Bryn Gunn — DF  ENG David Needham — MF  NIR Martin O'Neill — MF  SCO John McGovern (c)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  SCO John Robertson — MF  ENG Ian Bowyer — MF  ENG Gary Mills — MF  SCO John O'Hare — MF  SCO Asa Hartford — MF  SCO Colin Walsh — FW  ENG Trevor Francis — FW  ENG Stan Bowles — FW  ENG Garry Birtles — FW  ENG Tony Woodcock — FW  ENG Charlie George

Transfers

Competitions

A list of Nottingham Forest's matches in the 1979–80 season.^[9][10][11]

First Division

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
3	Ipswich Town	42	22	9	11	68	39	+29	53	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
4	Arsenal	42	18	16	8	52	36	+16	52
5	Nottingham Forest	42	20	8	14	63	43	+20	48	Qualification for the European Cup first round[h]
6	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	19	9	14	58	47	+11	47	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round[i]
7	Aston Villa	42	16	14	12	51	50	+1	46

Results by round

Matches

League Cup

Second round

Third round

Fourth round

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Final

FA Cup

Third round

Fourth round

European Cup

Round of 32

Eightfinals

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Final

UEFA Super Cup

Statistics

Players statistics

^[e]

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		First Division		League Cup		FA Cup		European Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
	GK	ENG	Shilton	63	-43	42	-43	10	0	2	0	9	0
	DF	ENG	Anderson	61	4	41	3	10	1	2	0	8	0
	DF	ENG	Lloyd	62	4	42	3	9	1	2	0	9	0
	DF	SCO	Burns	51	3	33+1	3	8	0	1	0	8	0
	DF	SCO	Gray	62	4	41	2	10	1	2	1	9	0
	MF	NIR	O'Neill	44	5	27+1	3	8	2	1	0	7	0
	MF	SCO	McGovern	60	2	41	2	8	0	2	0	9	0
	MF	SCO	Robertson	63	19	41+1	11	10	4	2	1	9	3
	MF	ENG	Bowles	22	2	19	2	0	0	1	0	2	0
	FW	ENG	Francis	42	17	30	14	6	0	2	0	4	3
	FW	ENG	Birtles	62	16	42	12	9	1	2	1	9	2
	GK	ENG	Montgomery	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	DF	ENG	Gunn	3	0	1+1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	DF	ENG	Needham	13	1	6+2	1	3	0	1	0	1	0
	MF	ENG	Bowyer	27	7	5+7	1	7	2	2	1	6	3
	MF	ENG	Mills	16	1	6+4	1	3	0	0	0	3	0
	MF	SCO	O'Hare	12	3	6+1	1	4	2	0	0	1	0
	FW	ENG	Woodcock	25	11	16	4	5	5	0	0	4	2
	FW	ENG	George	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	MF	SCO	Hartford	3	0	3	0
	GK	ENG	Sutton
	MF	SCO	Walsh

Notes

References