# 1984–85 Nottingham Forest F.C. season

The 1984–85 season was Nottingham Forest's 120th year in existence and 8th consecutive season in the First Division. The club competed in the UEFA Cup, FA Cup and League Cup.

## Summary

In his tenth season as manager, Brian Clough, after several disagreements the previous season with Hans van Breukelen, transferred in Dutch Goalkeeper Hans Segers from PSV Eindhoven. Also, starter right back defender Viv Anderson left the club after nine seasons, being transferred out to Arsenal for £250,000. His spot for this campaign was covered by Kenny Swain who already was playing as a left back during the last two seasons. Swain was replaced by Scottish left back defender Jim McInally who delivered an outstanding performance during the season. Meanwhile, Clough transferred out Ian Wallace after a disappointing 1983–84 season, but Trevor Christie, his replacement was a flop, and left the club during Winter due to injuries. Birtles and Riley collapsed the offensive line, meaning Peter Davenport was the only striker with a decent outcome including 17 goals scored.
Clough reinforced the midfield with John Metgod; after his chaotic seasons in Real Madrid the Dutch player delivered a decent performance in a competitive line with Hodge, Bowyer, Wigley and Mills reinforcing the mid line during winter. However, the injuries (including Colin Walsh) and the mediocre performance of the strikers sink the squad to the 9th spot in League and early eliminations in UEFA Cup, League Cup and FA Cup. The season is best remembered due to the debut of forward Nigel Clough, son of the club manager, and the flop of midfielder Gary Megson, about whom Clough said "he couldn't trap a bag of cement". Megson spent five months at the City Ground, without making a single first-team appearance before being sold to Newcastle United.

## 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 Segers |
| — | GK | ENG | Steve Sutton |
| — | GK | ENG | Darren Heyes |
| — | DF | ENG | Kenny Swain |
| — | DF | ENG | Bryn Gunn |
| — | DF | ENG | Chris Fairclough |
| — | DF | ENG | Mark Smalley |
| — | DF | ENG | Paul Hart |
| — | DF | ENG | Des Walker |
| — | DF | AUS | Alan Davidson |
| — | DF | ENG | Gary Fleming |
| — | DF | SCO | Jim McInally |
| — | MF | ENG | Ian Bowyer (c) |
| — | MF | NED | Johnny Metgod |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | MF | ENG | Franz Carr |
| — | MF | ENG | Paul Raynor |
| — | MF | NIR | David Campbell |
| — | MF | ENG | Gary Megson |
| — | MF | ENG | Gary Mills |
| — | MF | ENG | Steve Wigley |
| — | MF | SCO | Colin Walsh |
| — | MF | ENG | Steve Hodge |
| — | FW | ENG | Peter Davenport |
| — | FW | ENG | Garry Birtles |
| — | FW | ENG | David Riley |
| — | FW | ENG | David Longhurst |
| — | FW | ENG | Trevor Christie |
| — | FW | NIR | Paul Kee |

### Transfers

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| GK | Hans Segers | PSV Eindhoven | £42,000 |
| DF | Jim McInally | Celtic Glasgow | |
| MF | Johnny Metgod | Real Madrid | |
| FW | Trevor Christie | Notts County | |
| FW | Paul Kee | Mansfield Town F.C. | |
| MF | Gary Megson | Sheffield Wednesday | |
| MF | Franz Carr | Blackburn Rovers | £100,000 |
| DF | Alan Davidson | South Melbourne FC | |
| MF | Paul Raynor | | |
| DF | Gary Fleming | | |
| MF | David Campbell | | |
| GK | Darren Heyes | | |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| DF | Viv Anderson | Arsenal | £210,000 |
| FW | Ian Wallace | Brest | |
| GK | Hans van Breukelen | PSV Eindhoven | |
| GK | Kevin Hitchcock | Mansfield Town | loan |
| DF | Colin Todd | Oxford United | |
| MF | Danny Wilson | Brighton and Hove Albion | |
| DF | Nigel Johnson | | |
| DF | Les Robinson | | |
| DF | Adrian Shaw | | |
| DF | Shaun Finney | | |

#### Winter

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| FW | Nigel Clough | | |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| MF | Gary Megson | Sheffield Wednesday | |
| FW | Trevor Christie | Derby County | |

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

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 7 | Arsenal | 42 | 19 | 9 | 14 | 61 | 49 | +12 | 66 |
| 8 | Sheffield Wednesday | 42 | 17 | 14 | 11 | 58 | 45 | +13 | 65 |
| 9 | Nottingham Forest | 42 | 19 | 7 | 16 | 56 | 48 | +8 | 64 |
| 10 | Aston Villa | 42 | 15 | 11 | 16 | 60 | 60 | 0 | 56 |
| 11 | Watford | 42 | 14 | 13 | 15 | 81 | 71 | +10 | 55 |

#### 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 | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A |
| Result | L | W | W | W | L | W | D | W | D | L | D | L | L | L | W | W | L | W | L | W | W | W | L | W | W | W | L | D | L | D | W | L | L | W | D | W | W | L | D | L | W | L |
| Position | 18 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 13 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 |
On June 2, 1985 English teams were banned by UEFA from its competitions from the season 1985–86 on until the season 1990–91 because of the Heysel Disaster in 1985, involving Liverpool fans.

#### Matches

* .- Source: https://www.11v11.com/teams/nottingham-forest/tab/matches/season/1985/

### 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 Segers | 32 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | ENG | Kenny Swain | 47 | 0 | 39 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| | DF | ENG | Chris Fairclough | 45 | 0 | 35 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| | DF | ENG | Paul Hart | 38 | 1 | 34 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Jim McInally | 28 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | ENG | Steve Wigley | 44 | 2 | 34+1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 4+1 | 1 |
| | MF | ENG | Ian Bowyer | 49 | 4 | 39 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| | MF | ENG | Gary Mills | 31 | 4 | 18+8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3+2 | 0 |
| | MF | NED | Johnny Metgod | 50 | 6 | 40 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| | MF | ENG | Steve Hodge | 51 | 13 | 42 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
| | FW | ENG | Peter Davenport | 44 | 17 | 35 | 16 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| | GK | ENG | Steve Sutton | 20 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| | DF | ENG | Bryn Gunn | 24 | 1 | 17 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
| | FW | ENG | Trevor Christie | 20 | 7 | 14 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| | FW | ENG | Garry Birtles | 15 | 2 | 12+1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Colin Walsh | 18 | 1 | 10+3 | 1 | 0+1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| | FW | ENG | Nigel Clough | 9 | 1 | 8+1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | ENG | David Riley | 11 | 2 | 7+3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | DF | AUS | Alan Davidson | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | ENG | Paul Raynor | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | DF | ENG | Des Walker | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | NIR | Gary Fleming | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | ENG | Mark Smalley | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | MF | NIR | David Campbell | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | GK | ENG | Darren Heyes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | NIR | Paul Kee | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | ENG | Gary Megson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | ENG | Franz Carr |
* Source: https://www.11v11.com/teams/nottingham-forest/tab/players/season/1985/