Pub quiz question: what English region dominated the European Cup competition between 1979-82? Answer – as if you didn’t know! – the Midlands. Forest won that cup in 1979 and 1980 and Aston Villa in 1982. (Ok, Liverpool won it in 1981.) It’s a detail of footballing history that I revisit each time the two Midlands’ teams meet. Neither is at their zenith of football in terms of trophy success these days and the most recent fixture saw the Reds start at the bottom of the Premiership and Villa in 17th place. But they’re both back in the top flight after years in the Championship.
My childhood scrapbook reflected an obsession with football and Forest … and European Cup winners. Real Madrid dominated my pages with pictures of their stars – like Di Stefano and Puskas – and their team holding one giant cup after another. There was something exotic about teams that you’d never seen but who came to be champions of Europe. By 1960, other clubs grew to be all-conquering. My collection shifted to Benfica and then Inter Milan. When British teams found success in the elite competition, starting with Celtic and then Manchester United in 1968 at Wembley, (with George Best and co) I got to see my first European Finals on television.
Fast-forward a decade and there’s a new kid on the European block: Nottingham Forest. Magisterial in knocking out reigning champions, Liverpool, in the the first round, they eventually find themselves up against Malmo of Sweden in the final. It’s May 1979 in the Olympiastadion, Munich, the breath-taking stadium venue for the 1972 Olympics, the 1974 World Cup, and the 1973 trespass by me when I clambered over the fence one dawn and ran around the 400 metre running track before scrambling back out. (Somewhere, there is photographic evidence of this event.) Now, Forest were strutting their stuff on that pitch and claiming their first European Cup, courtesy of a Trevor Francis – that was a million pounds well spent! – goal provided by John ‘Robbo’ Robertson. And I watched every minute with the family on our black and white (but reliable) TV.
‘Robbo’ seals his legendary status in City Ground history a year later when Forest fight their way to another final, this time at the prestigious Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid. Their opponents, Hamburg, have Kevin Keegan, who had already made his international reputation at Liverpool. A church billboard near our house always had me smile. ‘Jesus Saves’, it said. Underneath, someone had written, ‘But Keegan knocks in the re-bound’. If the German team could parade their star on the day of the final, though, Forest could not. Francis is injured and the Reds cannot even complete the full set of subs allowed on the bench!
My friend, Phil, is with me (has he got the photo of my Munich sprint?) when we fetch up in Norfolk for a couple of days’ cycling before kick-off. Being offered a near-collapsed caravan for free is how we get to be at that far-east outpost on the coast called Overstrand for Forest’s big night. We’re confident we’ll be able to catch the match on TV in a local hotel, less confident about a caravan reeking of gas. No lighting, heating or cooking, then, but lots of fresh-air coastal cycling as pre-match prep and then it’s Final day. My senses are on high alert. The sea sounds louder than usual, I can feel the temperature rise by each degree, I catch snippets of conversation I’d usually miss. Even the coffee at a cliff-side cafe packs more punch than I’d normally register. I read everything I set eyes on. Annoyingly, newspapers frame the final as Keegan’s. Amusingly, sellotaped on the cafe window (how can I forget?) is a note: ‘Found at top of cliff. Top dentures. Apply within’.
By mid afternoon, we’re checking out where we’ll watch the match. (Remember, this is way before Sky mass-footie coverage in pubs.) Confidence crumbles when hotels tell us their television is for residents only until one informs us that there is a television that we might have access to but there’s no guarantee residents will want to watch football. I’m incredulous! I’d never thought anyone would watch anything other than Forest in a final. We sit in the lounge with our pints and catch the whole game. Not another resident in sight. Black and white and not the best reception but we’re cheering and doing a jig when ‘Robbo’ slots in the only goal of the game. ‘You win something once and people say it is all down to luck,’ says Brian Clough after Forest successfully defend the Cup. ‘You win it twice and it shuts the buggers up.’
A feat unlikely to be repeated, I think, but some of us are lucky enough to be able to recall those heady times and take sustenance from them. Now, though, we have the more urgent task of putting our supporter-shoulders to the wheel to spur on the Reds. The latest Forest v Villa clash ending in a 1-1 stalemate is a chance for both sides to draw breath in the struggle for survival but it found the City Ground in fine voice yet again.
*Article provided by Stephen Parker (Nottingham Forest Correspondent).
*Main image @NFFC Brian Clough with the European Cup trophy.
