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Over the past couple of seasons, Manchester City and Liverpool have dominated English football.
During 2018/19, City clinched an unprecedented domestic treble of Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup (sponsored by Carabao), while Liverpool won Europe’s biggest prize - the Champions League.
City won 32 of their 38 league fixtures, as they became English champions for the second straight year. The previous season they reached 100 points for the campaign to finish 19 clear of their nearest rivals.
Liverpool, meanwhile, lost just a single Premier League game last season and by the end of October 2019, had not been beaten at home in the competition for two and a half years.
Yet, four decades later, a similar run of form was being enjoyed by Nottingham Forest, managed by the incomparable Brian Clough.
The achievements of Clough’s Forest between 1977 and 1980 have generally been undervalued, largely because they were never considered the most fashionable or most exciting of teams.
"Tropeiro - King Street, Nottingham - Bri" (CC BY-SA 2.0) by ell brown
During those three seasons, the only other club in England playing to such a high level of consistency was Liverpool – under the stewardship of Bob Paisley.
These two giants from the late 1970s faced each other 13 times during those three campaigns – over four different competitions – with Forest winning four of those encounters, Liverpool three, with six draws.
In this golden three-year period of Forest’s history, they won one League Championship, back-to-back European Cups (now the Champions League) and reached three straight League Cup finals – in which they lifted the trophy twice.
The current Forest team have made an encouraging start to the 2019/20 season, in tier two of English football.
"Forest Notts" (CC BY 2.0) by domfell
As things stand, football betting tables give them a realistic chance of earning promotion back to the Premier League for the first time in more than 20 years.
But unlike earlier eras, it would be extremely difficult for a club such as Forest to repeat their epic glory from 40 years ago.
And when they began their historic three-season stint in the late 1970s, it was achieved so unexpectedly and immediately following promotion from the old Division Two.
Here is a list of their accolades (1977-80):
During 2018/19, City clinched an unprecedented domestic treble of Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup (sponsored by Carabao), while Liverpool won Europe’s biggest prize - the Champions League.
City won 32 of their 38 league fixtures, as they became English champions for the second straight year. The previous season they reached 100 points for the campaign to finish 19 clear of their nearest rivals.
Liverpool, meanwhile, lost just a single Premier League game last season and by the end of October 2019, had not been beaten at home in the competition for two and a half years.
Yet, four decades later, a similar run of form was being enjoyed by Nottingham Forest, managed by the incomparable Brian Clough.
The achievements of Clough’s Forest between 1977 and 1980 have generally been undervalued, largely because they were never considered the most fashionable or most exciting of teams.
"Tropeiro - King Street, Nottingham - Bri" (CC BY-SA 2.0) by ell brown
During those three seasons, the only other club in England playing to such a high level of consistency was Liverpool – under the stewardship of Bob Paisley.
These two giants from the late 1970s faced each other 13 times during those three campaigns – over four different competitions – with Forest winning four of those encounters, Liverpool three, with six draws.
In this golden three-year period of Forest’s history, they won one League Championship, back-to-back European Cups (now the Champions League) and reached three straight League Cup finals – in which they lifted the trophy twice.
The current Forest team have made an encouraging start to the 2019/20 season, in tier two of English football.
"Forest Notts" (CC BY 2.0) by domfell
As things stand, football betting tables give them a realistic chance of earning promotion back to the Premier League for the first time in more than 20 years.
But unlike earlier eras, it would be extremely difficult for a club such as Forest to repeat their epic glory from 40 years ago.
And when they began their historic three-season stint in the late 1970s, it was achieved so unexpectedly and immediately following promotion from the old Division Two.
Here is a list of their accolades (1977-80):
- Having secured promotion to the top flight in May 1977, they promptly won the old First Division at the first attempt.
- In 1977-78 they won the title by seven points (two for a win in those days) ahead of Liverpool, having lost just three of 42 matches.
- They won the League Cup, beating Liverpool in the final which needed a replay at Old Trafford.
- In all, during 1977-78, they lost just four times in 56 matches, and were knocked out of the FA Cup by West Brom in round six.
- Once again, in 1978-79, they lost just three matches in Division One but, on this occasion, had to be satisfied with the runners-up slot behind Liverpool.
- They did, however, knock the Reds out of the European Cup, when Liverpool were chasing a third straight victory in the competition.
- Over the two seasons, they put together an unbeaten 42-game run in the league, ended by Liverpool at Anfield in December 1978.
- They successfully defended the League Cup – beating Southampton in the final at Wembley.
- After losing at the City Ground in Division Two on April 23rd, 1977, they did not suffer another home defeat in the league until November 17th, 1979.
- They successfully defended the European Cup in 1980, beating Kevin Keegan’s Hamburg in the final.
- They lost to Wolves in the final of the 1980 League Cup, while chasing a hat-trick of titles.
