NOTTINGHAM FOREST THE 1970's

Welcome to the 1970’s,
the parties over. The optimism of the
‘Swinging Sixties had long since vanished,
to be replaced by inflation, conflict and
trade union disputes. As the value of the
pound fell, so did our standing in the
world, we were the sick man of Europe,
rapidly being left behind in a changing
world.
This was the decade that was to
give us glam rock, prog rock, punk rock
and flying rock, as Britain descended
into financial and social chaos but if you
were a supporter of Nottingham Forest it
would turn out to be the greatest period in
your life. It was the decade of two halves,
starting badly, getting worse, beige, boring
and unadventurous, but ultimately ending
in a blaze of unexpected technicolour
glory.
December 1969 had seen the
Nottingham Forest committee deny the
rumours that the club was in financial
trouble and needing to sell a player
quickly to satisfy the bank. Whereas in
years gone by a committee member would
quietly cover a shortfall in the accounts,
now the figures were too high, the rumour
doing the rounds was that £100,000 was
needed within weeks. The club still had
some players that were coveted by others.
Brian Clough in particular was a fan of
Terry Hennessey and not only had he
made a tentative offer, he had also used
the media to unsettle the Reds skipper.
When Hennessey was forced to have
an appendix operation, it looked to have
scuppered any deal, but Terry recovered
far quicker than anyone imagined and was
back in the team within weeks.
By now Hennessey was fully aware of
what was on offer, the football grapevine
ensured that, so Forest really had no
choice but to sell if they couldn’t match his
wage demands. Tottenham were thought
to be the favourites to land him, although
Derby had enquired, even than, there was
no appetite to sell your best players to
your local rivals.
So it was a surprise when Derby
clinched the deal for a fee of only £110,000,
below what Spurs had original offered
and his true market value at this time.
Brian Clough had been shrewd however,
he knew that Hennessey wanted to join
Derby and that Forest were desperate for
money.
The Hennessey situation was not as
cut and dried as it first might appear, the
players form had dipped along with many
others over the previous twelve months
and the emergence of Liam O’Kane led
many fans to call for Terry to be pushed
forward into midfield, so as not to impede
the development of the youngster. So Matt
Gillies had reluctantly sanctioned the
transfer.
To many fans it was just another sign
that the club was going backwards and they
waited to see if and when the fee would
be reinvested in new players, especially
coming on the back of another early
FA Cup exit to lower league opposition,
NOTTINGHAM
FOREST
FOOTBALL CLUB
DIVISION ONE 1969 -70
Back row, left to right:
Middle row, left to right:
Front row, left to right:
JOHN WINFIELD ALAN HILL BOBBY McKINLAY PETER GRUMMITT
BOB CHAPMAN PETER HINDLEY
IAN MORE TERRY HENNESSEY PAUL RICHARDSON BARRY LYONS
DAVE HILLEY HENRY NEWTON
JOHN BARNWELL LIAM OKANE COLIN HALL RONNIE REES
4 NOTTINGHAM FOREST IN THE 1970s
NOTTINGHAM FOREST IN THE 1970s 5