“You win something once and people say it is all down to luck,” Brian Clough said after Nottingham Forest had successfully defended the European Cup on May 28, 1980. “You win it twice and it shuts the buggers up.”
Winning the 1979 European Cup was hardly a fluke. Defeating Liverpool and Cologne on their way to the final in Munich, Nottingham Forest could not be accused of having things easy. Admittedly, Malmo were not the most testing of opponents in the final. But a year on, Forest’s opponents in the final at the Bernabeu could not be dismissed so lightly.
Inevitably the British media focussed on Kevin Keegan and his part in the forthcoming final, as he looked to bid a similar farewell to Hamburg as he did with Liverpool three years before. But Hamburg were dealt a couple of major blows three days before their date with Forest. A defeat to Bayer Leverkusen saw hopes of retaining the Bundesliga fade in a match that saw 20-goal striker Horst Hrubesch suffer an ankle ligament injury.
Forest had their own problems, suffering a hammer blow when they lost Trevor Francis due to a ruptured Achilles tendon picked up in a league match against Crystal Palace. “Of course we will miss Trevor Francis,” Brian Clough explained. “At the time of his injury the lad was going like a bomb.”
Francis’ form had been a revelation in recent months, his goals against Dynamo Berlin and Ajax crucial in getting Forest to the final. Nevertheless, Clough left Francis devastated when he told his £1 million man not to attend the final on crutches. For such a great man manager, it seemed a rare blemish.
However, Clough had his hands full with another issue at the time. After he was not selected to play in John Robertson’s testimonial, Stan Bowles became involved in a row, the midfielder walking out of the club. Missing the club’s mini break to Majorca before the final, Bowles had ruled himself out of a potential European Cup final appearance.
There was no doubting Bowles would have featured at some point. Travelling to Madrid with only a 15-man squad, Forest could not even fill the allocated five spaces on the substitutes bench. Former Sunderland goalkeeper Jim Montgomery sat alongside John O’Hare, Bryn Gunn and David Needham. The very definition of being down to the bare bones.
The task of filling the boots of Francis would fall to 18-year-old Gary Mills. “It is beyond my wildest dreams,” Mills revealed, initially taking his place up front in support of Garry Birtles. But as the evening progressed, Mills ended up dropping back into midfield, leaving Birtles to run himself into the ground. Forest had no option other than to spread five across midfield.
With the absence of Francis, assistant manager Peter Taylor admitted that Forest would have to change their game plan drastically. “If you’re a betting man get your money on us to win 1-0,” Taylor said, hinting that Forest would hardly be at their most expansive. It would be a case of the ends justifying the means.
For Peter Shilton, the match in Madrid would be a triumph, but there had been a strong possibility that the keeper would miss the final, needing a pain killing injection in his shoulder to play. Montgomery had performed heroics for Sunderland in 1973, but the prospect of the 36-year-old winning the European Cup on his Forest debut may even have been a stretch for Clough’s script writer.
A save from a Felix Magath free kick early on set the tone for Shilton’s evening, his levels of concentration soaring through the roof as Hamburg probed all night. A point-blank block from Jurgen Milewski kept Forest in front; another stop denied the same man as the first half drew to a close. Not bad for a man who had trained twice on a roundabout before the final, due to a lack of suitable facilities.
Before the match, there had been a lot of hype regarding West German international Manny Kaltz, an attacking full back renowned for his Bananenflanken (banana crosses). Clough was unperturbed. “We’ve got a little fat guy that will turn him inside out,” he noted. “A very talented, highly skilled, unbelievable outside-left.”
Clough’s sly smile almost suggested that John Robertson was destined to score the winning goal in the final. In the 20th minute, the winger collected the ball on the left before cutting inside and away from Kaltz. Playing a one-two with Birtles, who assisted whilst laying on the ground, Robertson took the ball away from Keegan before firing home from the edge of the box.
Crucially, it gave Forest something to hold on to, as the rest of the evening developed into a backs against the wall assignment. Centre backs Larry Lloyd and Kenny Burns were superb; Lloyd, who passed a late fitness test on his ankle, had warned his old mate Keegan that his defensive partner Burns was after him. Burns’ tackle on Keegan that earned him a yellow card in the first half certainly confirmed this.
A lot has been made of that tackle by Burns, and whether Keegan went deeper and deeper as the match progressed in order to escape the attentions of the Scottish centre back. The introduction of a half-fit Hrubesch at half-time possibly had more to do with this, yet the fact that Forest kept Keegan quiet was a telling factor on the night.
Shilton continued to thwart Hamburg, a fine save from Peter Nogly in the second half another for the highlights package. When he was beaten by Kaltz on the hour, Forest were relieved when the ball came back off the post. A scramble after a corner saw the ball strike Ivan Buljan five yards out and go wide. Forest were just about managing to hold back the tide.
Naturally fatigue kicked in. A limping Frank Gray was replaced by Gunn, O’Hare came on for Mills, and Birtles was so tired that he failed to test the Hamburg keeper when put through on goal late on. But as the seconds ticked down, the worst fears of the Germans were coming true.
ITV commentator Brian Moore may have wrongly announced that Hamburg were European champions as the final whistle blew, but the trophy was in fact staying in England for a fourth successive year. Real Madrid, Benfica, Inter, Ajax, Bayern Munich and Liverpool had successfully defended the European Cup; amazingly, the name of Nottingham Forest could be added to that list.
In the immediate aftermath of the glory, Clough and Taylor found themselves defending Forest’s approach to the match. The Observer’s Hugh McIlvanney enquired: “But was it much of a thrill for anyone outside the impressive numbers of Nottingham supporters?” The Times reported that a commentator proclaimed: “Nottingham have taken the soul out of this European final.”
It may not have been thrilling or entertaining. Yet in the circumstances, you could surely forgive Forest for their tactics? “We gave Hamburg a lesson in application, determination, and pride,” Clough said defiantly. “Defending well is just as important as attacking well. We weren’t lucky, we were good.”
Clough turned his attentions to the future, announcing that the club intended to build upon their success. But nothing ever lasts forever. A defeat to CSKA Sofia ended Forest’s hold on the European Cup and the cracks in the Clough-Taylor partnership slowly began to open. Gradually the team broke up, and sadly the replacements brought in were not of the same quality.
Madrid turned out to be the end of an era. But what a glorious era it was. A time when Clough and Taylor performed miracles in leading Nottingham Forest to two European Cups. It may not be the greatest achievement in European club football. But I reckon it’s in the top one.
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I vividly recall watching the final on TV and the tension was unbearable - Forest were underdogs and under the cosh from the outset (the absence of Francis only too obvious). Yet Forest being Forest proceeded to do what they did best , namely soak up the pressure and break down the opposing side's play (it helped having two central defenders in Loyd and Burns like the Rock of Gibraltar). Shilton produced his greatest performance in a Forest shirt and wing wizard Robertson grabbed the all important goal.
ReplyDeleteKevin Keegan ended up in Southampton...