NOTTINGHAM FOREST THE 1970's

Of course
relegation had
hit Nottingham Forest hard. Billy Walker
had spent many years reshaping the club
until they finally achieved promotion in
1957. Money was always tight, but with
prudent management the club were always
able put out a competitive team, sticking
closely to the Nottingham Forest philosophy
of playing the right way. There was even an
FA Cup victory to savour.
A change of emphasis in the early 1960’s
to develop home grown talent, had seen
many fine youngsters, such as Ian Moore
and Henry Newton reach the first team
and along with a better quality of signing,
real progress was made in ensuring that
Forest were seen as an established Division
One Club. This culminated in the fantastic
1966/67 season, when they attained their
highest ever league position and reached the
Cup semi final. Crowds were regularly over
40,000, the coffers were full and there were
plans to build a super stadium on the banks
of the River Trent and compete with the best.
So where did it all go wrong? The rot set in
almost as soon as the final whistle went in
1967. By adopting a penny pinching attitude
with players wages and bonuses, what
should have been a great time was sullied as
half the team refused the terms offered and
the morale was punctured.
The team should have been
strengthened, the money was there, but
in fact by the time the new season kicked
off the squad was weaker, with a couple of
fringe players leaving, to be followed by
Alan Hinton. Whereas the team had been
lucky with injuries, now several players were
missing, in particular John Barnwell and
there were doubts about Joe Bakers fitness
after a long lay off.
History would show the absolute
turning point was the signing of Jim Baxter
from Sunderland for the clubs first £100,000
purchase. Chairman Tony Wood had let
the glamour go to his head and boasted in
print and person that Forest would sign
the first top class player available. Instead
of listening to manager Johnny Carey, they
purchased Jim Baxter after seeing him on
one of his few good games, as Sunderland
beat the Reds. Within eighteen months he
was released on a free transfer, Carey was
sacked as the scapegoat and the Committee
from that day on, acted like rabbits caught in
the headlights as they began selling off the
clubs best players whilst reverting back to
the old philosophy of journeyman signings.
The decline may have taken a few years but
it was inexorable and came as a shock to noone
in football, except the Forest Committee,
when relegation finally came. It was made
far worse because of the sharp contrast with
what was happening just fifteen miles down
the A52. A young charismatic manager and
a little investment saw Derby change from
a backward outfit, to League Champions in
only five years.
It didn’t look as if there was any hope
of a quick return. Peter Cormack, the
absolutely last valuable playing asset was
sold to Liverpool for £110,000, meaning
that the fans could clearly see that with
the unspent Moore money, there should
be over £300,000 in the kitty, that could be
invested. So they waited, surely there had
to be some transfer activity, something to
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
68 NOTTINGHAM FOREST IN THE 1970s
NOTTINGHAM FOREST IN THE 1970s 69