NOTTINGHAM FOREST THE 1970's

N.F.
F.C.
suffering from concussion, so he didn’t know
what what he was doing , as his defence. The
Chelsea game also saw the Trent End hound
off young Paul Richardson with chants of
‘Get off and stay off ’, the atmosphere was
getting toxic.
The year ended the week after, with
a home defeat to Ipswich in front of only
14,000 fans, a game that saw the first
real, concerted chants of ‘Gillies out’ and
‘Committee out’. There had been calls before,
but now it seemed as if the whole crowd
wanted him gone. Sections of the Trent End
even relocated to a position in front of the
Directors box (where Matt Gillies watched
the game from) to make their feelings
known. In truth the team had played well
and created a hatful of chances, hitting the
bar three times, but luck just wasn’t going
their way.
The team had now also completed
a calendar year without an away win and
were grateful that there were two teams in
Blackpool and Burnley that were worse than
them.
Before returning to League action, the
New Year began with a home FA Cup tie
against Luton. Given the Reds poor recent
record against Division Two opposition
and current form, this had all the makings
of another upset. The game turned out to be
an uninspiring 1-1 draw, memorable only
for the ten minute delay whilst the goalposts
were repaired after Peter Hindley fell into
his own net after making a clearance at the
Bridgford End.
After completing a year without an
away victory, success at West Brom was
immediately followed up by another away
victory, 4-3 at Luton in the Cup replay,
impressive because Ian Moore was missing
through injury. Lutons three goals were
scored by young centre forward Macolm
Macdonald, surely the type of signing the
Reds should be looking at.
The victory at the Hawthorns had been
preceded by the signing of Doug Fraser
from Albion, although he wasn’t allowed
to play against his former team. Fraser was
a tough combative player, either in defence
or midfield. He was also the clubs former
skipper, though he had recently lost his place
in the team and nearing thirty, his best days
were behind him. In a relegation fight, he
was the sort of good honest pro you needed,
though it was another example of short term
reactive thinking by the club. It really doesn’t
need to be said, but he was Scottish.
He made his debut in a 2-1 home victory
over Newcastle, the returning Moore scoring
twice.
Forest had decided to cut their losses
and allow Alex Ingram to return to Ayr
United, a loss of £20,000 on the deal. Gillies
was sanguine about the affair, claiming that
Ingram had filled a necessary gap and a
manager cannot be right all of the time.
Sammy Chapman had by now
accumulated six bookings and was
summoned to Lancaster gate for a
disciplinary hearing, somehow he was only
given a six week ban, suspended on his
behavior improving.
Forests other ‘bad boy’ Peter Cormack
had shown that he was able to shrug off
the tag, as he had neither been sent off or
cautioned since joining and had now been
recalled to the Scottish national team.
The reward for beating Luton was
another home tie against lower opposition
in Orient, but yet again the Reds were luck
to escape with a draw, Ian Moore from the
penalty spot putting the Reds ahead before
they were pegged back
The replay took place only two days
later at Brisbane Road, it should never
have started, incessant rain meant the ball
could hardly move, or as Liam O’Kane put
it, ‘When we came out to kick off, we half
expected to see a family of ducks swimming
around’. The farce was ended at half time
with no score and the rearranged game was
scheduled for the following Thursday.
This time the Reds made no mistake, a
professional 1-0 victory set up a fifth round
encounter at Spurs. Graham Collier scored
the winner and he also was on target in the
next game against Tottenham, although he
was substituted in both games.
Another helpful bit of advice was
offered by MJ Buxton from Breaston who
wondered, ‘In view of Alan Hills size and
his inability to play in goal because of arm
injury, could he not be retrained as a centre
forward’?
A National Postal strike meant that the
club asked fans to visit the ground to collect
their tickets for the Cup game in London. In
the end a sizeable away following were left
disappointed, after a listless performance
resulted in a 2-1 defeat at Tottenham.
Although totally outplayed for the first
sixty minutes, the Reds were only two down,
before rallying late on and missing out on
an undeserved equalizer when they were
denied by a great Pat Jennings save.
Matt Gillies declared that Forest could
now concentrate on their primary objective
of staying up and he set the team a points
target of twenty eight, to be achieved by
Easter.
After a 2-0 defeat to Chelsea, Gillies
finally decided to act, splashing out £65,000
on Coventry’s 30 year old Scottish centre
forward Neil Martin. Although he had
already scored thirteen goals this season,
this was yet another example of short term
thinking, very much in the mould of signings
such as Len Juliens in the early 1960’s. Even
if Martin could shoot the goals to keep the
Reds up, he could hardly be described as one
for the future. Compare this with Derby’s
signing of Colin Todd for £170,000 the same
week.
Neil Martin made his home debut
against Burnley, providing the knock down
for Ian Moore to fire home the winner in
front of the watching Alf Ramsey. In truth
the clubs hope for survival rested purely on
the fitness of Moore, the team on average
picked up twice as many points when he was
playing.
Two successive defeats, the second
a calamitous 3-1 loss to relegation rivals
Huddersfield plunged everyone back into
despair. After an early first goal for Neil
Martin, the Reds appeared to be coasting to
victory, but the defence just collapsed. So
how can you explain that four days later,
they could go to White Hart Lane and pull
32 NOTTINGHAM FOREST IN THE 1970s
NOTTINGHAM FOREST IN THE 1970s 33