1975–76 Nottingham Forest F.C. season

Nottingham Forest F.C.
1975–76 season
Chairman	BJ Appleby, QC
Manager	Brian Clough
Second Division	8th
FA Cup	3rd round
League Cup	3rd round
Top goalscorer	League: Bowyer (11); All: Bowyer (14)
Highest home attendance	19,757 (League)
Lowest home attendance	11,343 (League)
Average home league attendance	14,047 (League)
Home colours	Away colours
	← 1974–75 1976–77 →

The 1975–76 season was Nottingham Forest's 111th year in existence and fourth campaign consecutive in the Second Division since their relegation in 1972.

Summary

During summer the Board appointed BJ Appleby as its new club chairman. The team was reinforced with several players, Goalkeeper Peter Wells from the youth team.^[1] For the defensive line, Frank Clark arrived free from Newcastle United after 14 seasons.^[2] For the midfield, Terry Curran was transferred in from Doncaster Rovers included the transfers out of Peacock and Ian Miller.^[3] In spite of the arrivals, the squad started poorly in League, and was early eliminated in League Cup. For winter, defender Colin Barrett was transferred in from Manchester City playing only a few matches in the season because an injury.^[4] The club was early eliminated in FA Cup being defeated by Peterborough United. For the second half of the season, Clough reinforced the defensive line with McGovern acting as a central-back defender, combined with a boosted performance of Bowyer and Curran allowed the squad to finish on a decent 8th spot in League.

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 Wells
—	GK	ENG	John Middleton
—	DF	ENG	Viv Anderson
—	DF	ENG	Frank Clark
—	DF	SCO	John McGovern
—	DF	ENG	Sammy Chapman (Captain)
—	DF	ENG	John Cottam
—	DF	NIR	Liam O'Kane
—	DF	ENG	David Sunley
—	DF	ENG	Colin Barrett
—	DF	ENG	Bryn Gunn
—	DF	ENG	Paddy Greenwood


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	ENG	Terry Curran
—	MF	ENG	Ian Bowyer
—	MF	NIR	Martin O'Neill
—	MF	SCO	John Robertson
—	MF	SCO	George Lyall
—	MF	SCO	Jim McIntosh
—	MF	ENG	Paul Richardson
—	FW	SCO	John O'Hare
—	FW	ENG	Barry Butlin
—	FW	ENG	Jimmy McCann
—	FW	ENG	Bert Bowery

Transfers

In
Pos.	Name	from	Type
GK	Peter Wells		Free
MF	David Sunley	Sheffield Wednesday	loan
DF	Glynn Saunders
DF	Frank Clark	Newcastle United	Free
MF	Terry Curran	Doncaster Rovers	£42,000^[5]

Out
Pos.	Name	To	Type
FW	Tony Woodcock	Lincoln City F.C.	loan
DF	Dave Jones	Norwich City	^[6]
MF	Miah Dennehy	Walsall F.C.	^[7]
DF	John Cottam	Chesterfield F.C.
GK	Dennis Peacock	Doncaster Rovers
MF	Ian Miller	Doncaster Rovers

Winter

In
Pos.	Name	from	Type
DF	Colin Barrett	Manchester City	£29,000^[8]

Out
Pos.	Name	To	Type
MF	Jim McIntosh	Chesterfield F.C.^[9]	loan
DF	Dave Sunley	Sheffield Wednesday	loan ended
FW	Bert Bowery	Lincoln City F.C.
MF	George Lyall	Hull City F.C.
DF	Paddy Greenwood	Boston Minutemen
FW	Jimmy McCann

Competitions

Second Division

League Table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts	Qualification or relegation
6	Southampton	42	21	7	14	66	50	1.320	49	Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round^[a]
7	Luton Town	42	19	10	13	61	51	1.196	48
8	Nottingham Forest	42	17	12	13	55	40	1.375	46
9	Charlton Athletic	42	15	12	15	61	72	0.847	42
10	Blackpool	42	14	14	14	40	49	0.816	42

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Goals scored
Notes:

^ Southampton qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup first round as the 1975–76 FA Cup winners.

Position by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42
Ground	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H
Result	W	D	L	D	L	W	L	L	L	D	W	D	D	W	D	L	W	W	W	D	L	L	L	W	L	L	D	W	W	D	W	D	W	W	L	W	D	W	D	L	W	W
Position	3	7	12	12	14	12	15	17	19	20	16	14	15	11	11	13	12	10	10	9	11	13	14	11	13	15	16	11	12	12	9	11	8	8	8	8	8	6	6	8	8	8

Source: Competitive matches
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss; = Leader, 1976–77 First Division; = 1976–77 First Division; = 1976–77 Third Division

A list of Nottingham Forest's matches in the 1975–76 season.^[10]^[11]^[12]

Matches

16 August 1975 1	Nottingham Forest	2-0	Plymouth Argyle	West Bridgford
	Horswill 32' (own goal) O'Hare 81'			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 13,083

23 August 1975 2	Portsmouth F.C.	1–1	Nottingham Forest	Portsmouth
	Went 86'		15' Bowyer	Stadium: Fratton Park Attendance: 10,655

30 August 1975 3	Nottingham Forest	0–1	Notts County F.C.	West Bridgford
			89' Bradd	Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 19,757

6 September 1975 4	Chelsea F.C.	0–0	Nottingham Forest	Fulham
				Stadium: Stamford Bridge Attendance: 21,023

13 September 1975 5	Nottingham Forest	1–2	Hull City F.C.	West Bridgford
	Robertson 13'		46' Galvin 86' Greenwood	Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 12,191

20 September 1975 6	Oxford United	0–1	Nottingham Forest	Oxford
			88' Lyall	Stadium: Manor Ground Attendance: 5,068

24 September 1975 7	Nottingham Forest	1–2	Charlton Athletic	West Bridgford
	Robertson 89'		34' Phil Warman 51' John Harrison	Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 10,588

27 September 1975 8	Nottingham Forest	1–2	Bolton Wanderers	West Bridgford
	Lyall 85'		44' Whatmore 57' (pen) P Jones	Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 10,775

4 October 1975 9	Bristol Rovers	4–2	Nottingham Forest	Bristol
	Prince 30', 49' Powell 52' Bannister 72'		70' Robertson 85' Bowyer	Stadium: Eastville Stadium Attendance: 7,689

11 October 1975 10	Fulham F.C.	0–0	Nottingham Forest	Fulham
				Stadium: Craven Cottage Attendance: 10,149

18 October 1975 11	Nottingham Forest	3–1	Southampton F.C.	West Bridgford
	O'Neill 21' O'Hare 37' Cottam 57'		58' Osgood	Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 12,677

21 October 1975 12	Nottingham Forest	0–0	Luton Town	West Bridgford
				Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 12,290

25 October 1975 13	Oldham Athletic	0–0	Nottingham Forest	Oldham
				Stadium: Boundary Park Attendance: 11,324

1 November 1975 14	Nottingham Forest	4–0	Carlisle United	West Bridgford
	Butlin 20' O'Hare 30' O'Hare 70' Curran 74' (pen)			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 11,894

4 November 1975 15	Blackpool	1–1	Nottingham Forest	Blackpool
	Alan Ainscow		O'Neill	Stadium: Bloomfield Road Attendance: 5,851

8 November 1975 16	Sunderland F.C.	3–0	Nottingham Forest	Sunderland
	Robson 30' Halom 35', 78'			Stadium: Roker Park Attendance: 31,227

15 November 1975 17	Nottingham Forest	1–0	Bristol City F.C.	West Bridgford
	Butlin 5'			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 11,583

22 November 1975 18	Southampton F.C.	0–3	Nottingham Forest	Southampton
			65' Bowyer 75' Bowyer 83' Richardson	Stadium: The Dell Attendance: 14,245

29 November 1975 19	Nottingham Forest	1–0	York City	West Bridgford
	Butlin 37'			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 13,108

6 December 1975 20	Leyton Orient	1–1	Nottingham Forest	Leyton
	Cunningham 20'		65' Bowyer	Stadium: Brisbane Road Attendance: 5,629

13 December 1975 21	Nottingham Forest	0–1	Portsmouth F.C.	West Bridgford
			55' McGuiness	Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 11,343

20 December 1975 22	Plymouth Argyle	1–0	Nottingham Forest	Plymouth
	Mariner 57'			Stadium: Home Park Attendance: 10,545

26 December 1975 23	Nottingham Forest	0–2	West Bromwich Albion	West Bridgford
			1' Giles 2' Johnston	Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 19,393

27 December 1975 24	Blackburn Rovers	1–4	Nottingham Forest	Blackburn
	Parkes 86'		13' Bowery 32' Robertson 76' Bowyer 89' Bowery	Stadium: Ewood Park Attendance: 10,724

10 January 1976 25	Hull City F.C.	1–0	Nottingham Forest	Kingston Upon Hull
	Wood 83'			Stadium: Boothferry Park Attendance: 6,465

17 January 1976 26	Nottingham Forest	1–3	Chelsea F.C.	West Bridgford
	Bowyer 12'		15' Garner 80' Wilkins 87' Hutchinson	Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 14,172

31 January 1976 27	Luton Town	1–1	Nottingham Forest	Luton
	R Futcher 71'		67' Curran	Stadium: Kenilworth Road Attendance: 8,503

7 February 1976 28	Nottingham Forest	3–0	Blackpool	West Bridgford
	Curran 55' Butlin 56' Bowyer 80'			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 8,582

21 February 1976 29	Bristol City	0–2	Nottingham Forest	Bristol
			18'Curran 50'O'Hare	Stadium: Ashton Gate Attendance: 15,302

24 February 1976 30	Charlton Athletic	2–2	Nottingham Forest	Charlton
	Derek Hales 24', 53'		69'Bowyer 74' McCann	Stadium: The Valley Attendance: 10,655

28 February 1976 31	Nottingham Forest	4–3	Oldham Athletic	West Bridgford
	Butlin 6'O'Neill 37' Curran 50' (pen) O'Neill 74'		35' Shaw 64' Bell 74' Hicks	Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 11,509

6 March 1976 32	Carlisle United	1–1	Nottingham Forest	Carlisle
	Martin 55'		15' (o.g.) Barry	Stadium: Brunton Park Attendance: 7,153

13 March 1976 33	Nottingham Forest	1–0	Fulham F.C.	West Bridgford
	O'Hare 66'			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 11,445

17 March 1976 34	Nottingham Forest	2–1	Sunderland F.C.	West Bridgford
	Bowyer 3' O'Hare 30'		28' Mel Holden	Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 16,995

20 March 1976 35	York City	3–2	Nottingham Forest	York
	Hinch 43' Pollard 62', 86'		78' O'Hare Downing 84' (o.g.)	Stadium: Bootham Crescent Attendance: 5,571

27 March 1976 36	Nottingham Forest	1–0	Leyton Orient	West Bridgford
	Bowyer 12'			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 11,127

3 April 1976 37	Bolton Wanderers	0–0	Nottingham Forest	Bolton
				Stadium: Burnden Park Attendance: 22,415

10 April 1976 38	Nottingham Forest	4–0	Oxford United	West Bridgford
	Curran 80' (pen) O'Neil 78' Butlin 74' Robertson 89'			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 11,259

13 April 1976 39	Notts County	0–0	Nottingham Forest	West Bridgford
				Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 29,279

17 April 1976 40	West Bromwich Albion	2–0	Nottingham Forest	West Bromwich
	Martin 55' Johnston 67'			Stadium: The Hawthorns Attendance: 26,447

20 April 1976 41	Nottingham Forest	1–0	Blackburn Rovers	West Bridgford
	Butlin			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 13,006

24 April 1976 42	Nottingham Forest	3–0	Bristol Rovers	West Bridgford
	O'Hare 61' Bowyer 63', 76'			Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 12,127

League Cup

First round

19 August 1975 1	Rotherham United	1–2	Nottingham Forest	Rotherham
			Chapman McGovern	Attendance: 4,912

27 August 1975 2	Nottingham Forest	5–1 (7-2 agg.)	Rotherham United	Nottingham
	Paul Richardson , George Lyall (pen) George Lyall (pen) Ian Bowyer		} Jimmy Goodfellow	Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 7,977

Second round

10 September 1975	Nottingham Forest	1–0	Plymouth Argyle	Nottingham
			84' Bowyer	Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 8,978

Third round

8 October 1975	Manchester City	2–1	Nottingham Forest	Moss Side
	Colin Bell Joe Royle		Bowyer	Stadium: Maine Road Attendance: 26,536

FA Cup

Third round

1 January 1976 1	Nottingham Forest	0–0	Peterborough United	Nottingham
				Stadium: City Ground Attendance: 31,525

7 January 1976 replay	Peterborough United	1–0 (1–0 agg.)	Nottingham Forest	Peterborough
	Jon Nixon 22'			Stadium: London Road Attendance: 17,886

Statistics

Players statistics

The statistics for the following players are for their time during 1975–76 season playing for Nottingham Forest. Any stats from a different club during 1974–75 are not included. Includes all competitive matches.

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Football League Second Division		Football League Cup		FA Cup
No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
	GK	ENG	Wells	25	0	23	0	0	0	2	0
	DF	ENG	Anderson	24	0	21	0	3	0
	DF	SCO	McGovern	47	1	41	0	4	1	2	0
	DF	ENG	Chapman	43	1	37	0	4	1	2	0
	DF	ENG	Clark	48	0	42	0	4	0	2	0
	MF	ENG	Curran	33	6	33	6
	MF	ENG	Bowyer	46	14	40	11	4	3	2	0
	MF	NIR	O'Neill	31	5	28+1	5	2	0
	MF	SCO	Robertson	42	5	34+3	5	4	0	1	0
	FW	SCO	O'Hare	45	9	38+1	9	4	0	2	0
	FW	ENG	Butlin	38	8	32	7	4	1	2	0
	GK	ENG	Middleton	23	0	19	0	4	0
	MF	ENG	Richardson	28	3	22+1	1	4	2	1	0
	DF	ENG	Gunn	14	0	11	0	3	0
	DF	ENG	Barrett	10	0	10	0
	DF	ENG	Cottam	9	1	8	1	1	0
	DF	NIR	O'Kane	11	0	8	0	1	0	2	0
	MF	SCO	Lyall	7	4	3+2	2	2	2
	FW	ENG	McCann	5	1	1+4	1
	FW	ENG	Bowery	3	2	1	2	0	0	2	0
	DF	ENG	Sunley	1	0	1	0
	MF	ENG	McIntosh	3	0	0+1	0	0	0	2	0
	DF	ENG	Greenwood

Source: https://www.11v11.com/teams/nottingham-forest/tab/players/season/1976/

References

^ Holley, Duncan; Chalk, Gary (1992). The Alphabet of the Saints. ACL & Polar Publishing. p. 359. ISBN 0-9514862-3-3.
^ "How Newcastle United legend Frank Clark celebrated his birthday – with a host of Geordie fans" chroniclelive.co.uk 10 September 2016
^ Wilson, Jonathan (10 November 2011). Brain Clough: Nobody Ever Says Thank You: The Biography. Orion. ISBN 9781409123187.
^ Colin Barret, Blue Moon
^ Wilson, Jonathan (10 November 2011). Brain Clough: Nobody Ever Says Thank You: The Biography. Orion. ISBN 9781409123187.
^ Transferred out on 14 April 1975
^ Transferred out on 19 April 1975
^ Manchester City profile at Sporting heroes
^ On 6 January 1976
^ "1977-1978". Archived from the original on 11 December 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
^ Smales, Ken (1991). Forest – The First 125 Years. Nottingham: Temple Printing. ISBN 978-1870010092.
^ Attaway, Pete (2010). Nottingham Forest: Brian Clough and His Legacy - A Complete Record 1975 - 2010. Southend-on-Sea: Desert Island Book. ISBN 978-1905328833.

[table_note_res_CWC1R0.012409742461708-10] Southampton qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup first round as the 1975–76 FA Cup winners.

[1] Holley, Duncan; Chalk, Gary (1992). The Alphabet of the Saints. ACL & Polar Publishing. p. 359. ISBN 0-9514862-3-3.

[chronic-2] "How Newcastle United legend Frank Clark celebrated his birthday – with a host of Geordie fans" chroniclelive.co.uk 10 September 2016

[3] Wilson, Jonathan (10 November 2011). Brain Clough: Nobody Ever Says Thank You: The Biography. Orion. ISBN 9781409123187.

[4] Colin Barret, Blue Moon

[5] Wilson, Jonathan (10 November 2011). Brain Clough: Nobody Ever Says Thank You: The Biography. Orion. ISBN 9781409123187.

[6] Transferred out on 14 April 1975

[7] Transferred out on 19 April 1975

[shmcfc-8] Manchester City profile at Sporting heroes

[9] On 6 January 1976

[11] "1977-1978". Archived from the original on 11 December 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2019.

[12] Smales, Ken (1991). Forest – The First 125 Years. Nottingham: Temple Printing. ISBN 978-1870010092.

[13] Attaway, Pete (2010). Nottingham Forest: Brian Clough and His Legacy - A Complete Record 1975 - 2010. Southend-on-Sea: Desert Island Book. ISBN 978-1905328833.

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