# 1978–79 Nottingham Forest F.C. season

The 1978–79 season was Nottingham Forest's second year back in the Football League First Division. They had won the title in the previous season, meaning that they qualified for the European Cup for the first time in their history.

## Summary

Forest opened the defence of their title with six draws in their first seven league matches. On 7 September the 2–1 win at Aston Villa broke the previous undefeated record of 34 consecutive league games by Don Revie' Leeds United in the 1968–69 season. On 28 November the 1–0 win at Bolton set an undefeated record of 42 consecutive league games. The record stood for twenty six years. Garry Birtles broke into the first team and ended up being the club's top scorer as they ended up as league runners-up, retained the League Cup and won the European Cup. Along the way they knocked out holders Liverpool and came from behind to oust West German champions Cologne. Trevor Francis became the first £1,000,000 player when he signed for the Reds from Birmingham City and immediately proved his worth by scoring the only goal of the European Cup final against Malmö in Munich. 26 year old Colin Barrett suffered a serious leg injury 10 days after scoring in the win against Liverpool. He only played seven further competitive games for Forest and 12 in his career.

## Players

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 Shilton |
| — | GK | ENG | Jim Montgomery |
| — | GK | ENG | Chris Woods |
| — | DF | ENG | Viv Anderson |
| — | DF | SCO | Kenny Burns |
| — | DF | ENG | Larry Lloyd |
| — | DF | ENG | Frank Clark |
| — | DF | ENG | Dave Needham |
| — | DF | ENG | Colin Barrett |
| — | DF | ENG | Bryn Gunn |
| — | MF | NIR | Martin O'Neill |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | MF | SCO | John McGovern |
| — | MF | ENG | Ian Bowyer |
| — | MF | SCO | John Robertson |
| — | MF | SCO | Archie Gemmill |
| — | MF | SCO | John O'Hare |
| — | MF | ENG | Gary Mills |
| — | MF | ENG | Steve Burke |
| — | FW | ENG | Garry Birtles |
| — | FW | ENG | Tony Woodcock |
| — | FW | ENG | Trevor Francis |
| — | FW | ENG | Steve Elliott |
| — | FW | ENG | Peter Withe |

### Transfers

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| GK | Jimmy Montgomery | Birmingham City | |
| MF | Gary Mills | Youth system | |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| FW | Peter Withe | Newcastle United | £200,000 |

#### Winter

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| FW | Trevor Francis | Birmingham City | £999,999.99 |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |

## Competitions

| Competition | Started round | Final position / round | First match | Last match |
| First Division | – | 2nd | 1 August 1978 | 2 May 1979 |
| FA Cup | – | Fifth round | 1 August 1978 |
| FA Cup | – | Fifth round | |

### Division One
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Liverpool (C) | 42 | 30 | 8 | 4 | 85 | 16 | +69 | 68 | Qualification for the European Cup first round |
| 2 | Nottingham Forest | 42 | 21 | 18 | 3 | 61 | 26 | +35 | 60 | Qualification for the European Cup first round |
| 3 | West Bromwich Albion | 42 | 24 | 11 | 7 | 72 | 35 | +37 | 59 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 4 | Everton | 42 | 17 | 17 | 8 | 52 | 40 | +12 | 51 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 5 | Leeds United | 42 | 18 | 14 | 10 | 70 | 52 | +18 | 50 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
* ↑ Nottingham Forest qualified for the European Cup first round as the 1978–79 European Cup winners.

#### 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 | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | A | H | H | H | H | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A |
| Result | D | D | D | D | W | D | D | W | W | W | W | D | D | W | D | W | L | W | D | D | L | W | W | D | D | W | W | W | D | W | W | W | D | D | W | D | L | W | D | W | W | W |
| Position | 11 | 13 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |

#### Matches

Last updated: 28 August 2011 Source: Bridport Red Archive

### League Cup
#### Final

Last updated: 28 August 2011 Source: Bridport Red Archive

### FA Cup
#### Fifth round

Last updated: 28 August 2011 Source: Bridport Red Archive

### FA Charity Shield

Last updated: 28 August 2011 Source: Bridport Red Archive

### European Cup
#### First round
##### Final

Last updated: 28 August 2011 Source: Bridport Red Archive

### Pre-season and Friendlies
## Statistics
### Squad statistics

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Football League Division One | Football League Division One | Football League Cup | Football League Cup | FA Cup | FA Cup | European Cup | European Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| | GK | ENG | Shilton | 62 | 0 | 42 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| | DF | ENG | Anderson | 58 | 3 | 40 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Burns | 36 | 1 | 25 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| | DF | ENG | Lloyd | 54 | 3 | 36 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 1 |
| | DF | ENG | Clark | 32 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| | MF | NIR | O'Neill | 41 | 13 | 28 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| | MF | SCO | McGovern | 54 | 4 | 36 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 1 |
| | MF | ENG | Bowyer | 40 | 6 | 26+3 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 |
| | MF | SCO | Robertson | 62 | 15 | 42 | 9 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 2 |
| | FW | ENG | Birtles | 54 | 26 | 35 | 14 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 6 |
| | FW | ENG | Woodcock | 56 | 15 | 36 | 10 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 1 |
| | GK | ENG | Montgomery | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Gemmill | 40 | 2 | 24 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 1 |
| | DF | ENG | Needham | 38 | 5 | 23+3 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| | FW | ENG | Francis | 21 | 7 | 19+1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| | DF | ENG | Barrett | 17 | 2 | 11 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| | MF | SCO | O'Hare | 14 | 0 | 9+2 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | MF | ENG | Mills | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| | FW | ENG | Elliott | 6 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | ENG | Withe | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | ENG | Gunn | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | GK | ENG | Woods | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | ENG | Burke | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* Source:
Last updated: 28 August 2011 Source: The City Ground