# 1983–84 Nottingham Forest F.C. season

The 1983–84 season was Nottingham Forest's 119th year in existence and seventh consecutive season in the First Division. Also the club competed in the UEFA Cup, FA Cup and League Cup.

## Summary

In his ninth season as manager Brian Clough transferred in Dutch midfielder Frans Thijssen from Ipswich Town only to be a flop and he left the club within months. On the contrary of the last three seasons, this campaign the offensive line had a good performance with Davenport, Birtles aimed by a superb midfield with Hodge and Walsh despite club legend John Robertson left the club during summer and signed with Peter Taylor's Derby County. After two early eliminations on FA Cup and League Cup the squad reached the UEFA Cup semifinals against RSC Anderlecht. In the first leg, the team took a 2–0 score in Nottingham and for the second leg the Belgian squad won 3–0 classifying to the 1984 UEFA Cup Final. According to Constant Vanden then Anderlecht club President, the club paid a bribe to Spanish referee Emilio Guruceta Muro before the match.In 1997 the UEFA banned the Belgian club for 1 season for competing in its continental tournaments. In 2016 it was revealed that UEFA had evidence of the match-fixed scandal since 1992. Meanwhile, in League the squad finished on a decent third spot only 6 points below of Champions Liverpool and clinching a UEFA Cup spot for the second consecutive campaign.

## 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 | NED | Hans van Breukelen |
| — | GK | ENG | Steve Sutton |
| — | GK | ENG | Kevin Hitchcock |
| — | DF | ENG | Viv Anderson |
| — | DF | ENG | Bryn Gunn |
| — | DF | ENG | Chris Fairclough |
| — | DF | ENG | Colin Todd |
| — | DF | ENG | Mark Smalley |
| — | DF | ENG | Paul Hart |
| — | DF | ENG | Des Walker |
| — | DF | ENG | Nigel Johnson |
| — | DF | ENG | Les Robinson |
| — | DF | ENG | Kenny Swain |
| — | MF | ENG | Ian Bowyer (c) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | MF | NED | Frans Thijssen |
| — | MF | ENG | Gary Mills |
| — | MF | ENG | Steve Wigley |
| — | MF | SCO | Colin Walsh |
| — | MF | ENG | Steve Hodge |
| — | MF | ENG | Adrian Shaw |
| — | FW | SCO | Ian Wallace |
| — | FW | ENG | Peter Davenport |
| — | FW | ENG | Garry Birtles |
| — | MF | NIR | Danny Wilson |
| — | FW | ENG | David Riley |
| — | FW | ENG | Shaun Finney |
| — | FW | ENG | David Longhurst |

### Transfers

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| MF | Frans Thijssen | Ipswich Town | |
| MF | Paul Hart | Leeds United | |
| MF | Gary Mills | Derby County | loan ended |
| MF | Mark Smalley | | |
| FW | David Riley | Keyworth United | |
| DF | Shaun Finney | | |
| GK | Kevin Hitchcock | Barking | |
| FW | Nigel Johnson | Rotherham United | |
| FW | David Longhurst | | |
| FW | Les Robinson | | |
| MF | Adrian Shaw | | |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| MF | John Robertson | Derby County | |
| DF | Willie Young | Brighton and Hove Albion | |
| DF | Stuart Gray | Barnsley F.C. | |
| MF | Mark Proctor | Sunderland | £100,000 |
| FW | Liam Robinson | Southampton | |
| MF | Steve Kendal | | |

#### Winter

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| DF | Des Walker | | |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| GK | Ronnie Sinclair | Wrexham | loan |
| MF | Frans Thijssen | Vancouver Whitecaps | |

## Results
### Division One
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Liverpool (C) | 42 | 22 | 14 | 6 | 73 | 32 | +41 | 80 | Qualification for the European Cup first round |
| 2 | Southampton | 42 | 22 | 11 | 9 | 66 | 38 | +28 | 77 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 3 | Nottingham Forest | 42 | 22 | 8 | 12 | 76 | 45 | +31 | 74 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 4 | Manchester United | 42 | 20 | 14 | 8 | 71 | 41 | +30 | 74 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 5 | Queens Park Rangers | 42 | 22 | 7 | 13 | 67 | 37 | +30 | 73 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |

#### Results 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 | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H |
| Result | L | W | L | D | W | W | W | L | W | L | D | W | L | W | D | W | L | W | W | W | L | W | W | W | D | W | W | D | L | L | W | L | D | W | D | L | W | D | L | W | W | W |
| Position | 17 | 10 | 15 | 14 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 7 | 8 | 11 | 7 | 6 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 2 |
Manager: Geoff Twentyman

#### Matches

* .- Source: https://www.11v11.com/teams/nottingham-forest/tab/matches/season/1984/

### FA Cup
## Statistics
### Squad statistics

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Football League Division One | Football League Division One | FA Cup | FA Cup | Other | Other |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| | GK | NED | Hans van Breukelen | 46 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| | DF | ENG | Viv Anderson | 53 | 6 | 40 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| | DF | ENG | Chris Fairclough | 41 | 0 | 31 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7+2 | 0 |
| | DF | ENG | Paul Hart | 48 | 2 | 36 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 1 |
| | DF | ENG | Kenny Swain | 54 | 1 | 41 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| | MF | ENG | Steve Wigley | 47 | 1 | 27+8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
| | MF | ENG | Ian Bowyer | 55 | 7 | 42 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 1 |
| | MF | SCO | Colin Walsh | 51 | 16 | 35+3 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 11+1 | 3 |
| | MF | ENG | Steve Hodge | 52 | 14 | 39 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 4 |
| | FW | ENG | Garry Birtles | 43 | 15 | 33+1 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 6+2 | 0 |
| | FW | ENG | Peter Davenport | 45 | 17 | 32+1 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 10+1 | 2 |
| | GK | ENG | Steve Sutton | 9 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Ian Wallace | 35 | 5 | 22+5 | 3 | 0+1 | 0 | 6+1 | 2 |
| | MF | NED | Frans Thijssen | 19 | 3 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | DF | ENG | Colin Todd | 19 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| | MF | ENG | Gary Mills | 9 | 0 | 5+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | DF | ENG | Bryn Gunn | 7 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 |
| | DF | ENG | Des Walker | 4 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | ENG | Mark Smalley | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | ENG | David Riley | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | NIR | Danny Wilson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| | FW | ENG | Shaun Finney | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | GK | ENG | Kevin Hitchcock | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | ENG | Nigel Johnson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | ENG | David Longhurst | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | ENG | Les Robinson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | ENG | Adrian Shaw | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* Source: https://www.11v11.com/teams/nottingham-forest/tab/players/season/1984/