NOTTINGHAM FOREST THE 1970's

Dave loved a bit of showboating, he’d tell me
to trick my way past opponents and wanted
me to turn it on for both the team and fans.
Dave Mackay was the key manager in getting
me to reach my potential as a footballer. All
the lads respected Dave and he inspired
them’.
In light of this, it is surprising that Super
Red, Heanor thought. ‘In fifty years, I have
never seen a side so lacking in skill’.
When appraising Dave Mackays time with
the Reds, we can see that he had stopped
the rot, but we will never know if he would
have brought success to the club, after all he
wasn’t around long enough to implement
the changes he would have liked. That
aside, his parting gift was a good one, when
he signed Ian Bowyer from Orient for a
fee of only £40,000, a transfer that was to
have a profound impact on the fortunes of
Nottingham Forest over the next thirteen
years.
Ian gives us the background to this
transfer. ‘I had joined Orient from Man
City, dropping down a division, but I was
having such a rough time there, I would
have gone anywhere. Although I had played
quite regularly and scored goals, the crowd
never took to me, so it was a relief to get
away. Orient was a world away from what
I was used to with regard to facilities and
living in London was certainly different,
I was a country boy at heart, even though
we had good accommodation in Muswell
Hill. I enjoyed my time there, though when
I heard that Forest were interested in me,
it was always a move I was going to make,
although they were below us in the table. I
just felt that the prospects were greater. It
was disappointing that Dave left shortly after
I arrived, but I had enough confidence in my
ability to think that I would be OK whoever
was appointed manager’.
Ian Bowyer only played two times under
Mackay, the first was a scoring debut at
Blackpool, where he roomed with Duncan
McKenzie, ‘He never stopped talking’
joked Ian. The second was Mackays last
game, a dull 0-0 draw with Hull City. He
left the team in sixth place, two points off a
promotion spot.
As usual, the club turned to Bill Anderson
to assume the managerial duties, whilst they
began the search for a successor.
As it turned out, the Forest revolution could
have begun a year earlier than it eventually
did, as Stuart Dryden made an audacious
attempt to lure Brian Clough and Peter
Taylor to the City Ground. Brian was open
to the idea but the Forest committee weren’t
ready, ‘We don’t want success at any price’
Jim Willmer warned Brian Appleby. Brian
was asked to formally apply for the job, but
didn’t and shortly afterwards ended up on
the south coast with Brighton, had the Reds
blown their opportunity ?
At the Aston Villa game in October, there
were chants for Forest to appoint him and
the Football Post editor agreed with them.
Harry Richards said in his weekly column
several weeks later, ‘When Clough wasn’t
appointed, it was a real missed opportunity’
and lots of others agreed with him.
D Caygill, Attenborough, ‘The Committee
have done what everybody expected them to
do and let Clough slip through their fingers’.
D Smith, Arnold, ‘The club have shown a
lack of vision and timidity’.
Whilst Jim Willmer speaking on the
clubs behalf said, ‘We have had thirty two
applications for the job, Clough was not
amongst them. We hadn’t approached him,
we didn’t think he would be interested’.
Bill Anderson worked the oracle once more.
Three successive wins, away at Palace, the
first away win since he was last in charge,
followed by a 3-0 win over Fulham and a 2-0
win against Carlisle.
Meanwhile power cuts were now being
extensively implemented across the country
and this meant early kick offs, as clubs
weren’t allowed to use floodlights.
Then the club dropped the bombshell that
Allan Brown had been appointed as new
manager. No disrespect to Brown, but he
didn’t fill any of the so called criteria that
the club claimed they were looking for in
a candidate. His managerial experience
consisted of distinctly average spells with
Luton, Torquay and Bury. He was old school
personified. Jim Willmer in welcoming the
manager hoped that he could provide good
entertaining football and satisfactory results,
whilst Brown said ‘I am a quiet man, who
will work hard for this club’. If this was the
level of everyone’s ambition, no wonder
Clough wasn’t wanted.
The players have little to remember Allan
Brown by. John Winfield says ‘You hardly
noticed him, he had no charisma or spark’,
whilst George Lyall adds, ‘he didn’t seem to
have any new ideas’.
Lifelong supporter Harry Durose wrote that
‘He was struggling to keep his long span of
supporting the Reds going’
Allan Browns first game in charge was a goal
less draw at Sunderland. He was fortunate to
inherit a team in a healthy league position,
normally a manager would be brought in
to replace a struggling one. Brown was also
lucky that he had Duncan McKenzie. The
manager recognized the situation for what
it was and to his credit kept changes to a
minimum.
Another point away from home at Cardiff
was followed by his first defeat as manager at
the hands of Middlesbrough, the last of three
successive away games. The 1-0 defeat was
not helped by the dismissal of Liam O’Kane.
‘It was a very icy pitch and I slid in to take
the ball, the referee couldn’t have seen what
had happened because he came over and
sent me off for foul play, I hadn’t touched the
feller. We appealed the decision and I was
vindicated when it was over ruled, but we
had still lost the game’.
The following week, two ex Reds announced
that they were being forced into early
retirement. Terry Hennessey was unable
to continue after a combination of knee
and achilles problems, he was finished at
thirty one, whilst Ian Moore at the age of
only twenty nine had to call it a day after
his ankle problems had been spectacularly
mishandled by the Manchester United
medical team.
The Christmas period saw two sides of the
Nottingham Forest support that we see even
to this day. Only 9,000 attended the years
88 NOTTINGHAM FOREST IN THE 1970s
NOTTINGHAM FOREST IN THE 1970s 89