76 was the year I first went to see the pies play. Living in Bridgford my whole family was red so I dragged my dad over the bridge and I became black and white
Ahhhhhhh the heatwave, funny how global warming wasn't blamed on it back then.
45 years ago, probably the most forgotten competitive Trentside derby game of all time.
Nots 0 Fword 0 in the Anglo-Scottish Cup qualifying group B. Our first ever match in that competition.
NOTTS COUNTY
Manager:- Ron Fenton
1. Eric McManus
2. Lloyd Richards
3. Ray O'Brien
4. Eric Probert
5. David Needham
6. Brian Stubbs
7. Steve Carter
8. David McVay
9. Les Bradd
10. Arthur Mann
11. Ian Scanlon *
Sub: John Sims *
NOTTINGHAM FOREST
Manager:- Brian Clough
1. Peter Wells
2. Glynn Saunders
3. Colin Barrett
4. John McGovern
5. Sammy Chapman
6. Ian Bowyer
7. Terry Curran
8. Sean Haslegrave
9. John O'Hare
10. Barry Butlin
11. John Robertson
The attendance was a shockingly low 4,258, possibly due to the heatwave of all heatwaves that famous summer.
No.1 single at the time: Elton John and Kiki Dee "Don't Go Breaking My Heart".
A notable climber from 26 to 12, "Doctor Kiss Kiss" by 5000 Volts.
76 was the year I first went to see the pies play. Living in Bridgford my whole family was red so I dragged my dad over the bridge and I became black and white
Ahhhhhhh the heatwave, funny how global warming wasn't blamed on it back then.
Ah but we were very naive back then. I'm mean okay, China is currently increasing its carbon dioxide emissions by 15% year-on-year, but these days we're fighting back with low-energy light bulbs and bags for life.
Those line-ups for Notts and Forest are an interesting snapshot of two teams in the early stages of transition on their respective journeys towards a golden era for Nottingham football. Jimmy Sirrel was away from the club at that point, but it wasn't long before he returned to complete the work he'd started.
I'm not certain, but I think that Anglo-Scottish game against Fword might have been Peter Taylor's first after he was reunited with Clough, which probably made all of the difference for them.
I've got an off-air home video recording somewhere of Magnus Magnusson (Mastermind fame) in the mid 1970s previewing a programme on BBC2 which would ask the question - Are we entering another ice age?
I was there boring game but what a team that was I have a signed photo on my wall with most of their signatures.
Didn’t we play em in the Anglo Italian or one of those trophies as well?
Yes, there were goals in that one though and a bigger crowd, so probably a few more recall it, Lund scored for Notts, Collymore equalised and with that draw we qualified from the group and knocked them out.
At the time, that 1976 Fword match was the 2nd earliest date in a summer in which we'd played a competitive fixture, the earliest being the Watney Cup clash with Sheffield United on 29th July 1972.
The 'coming Ice Age' programme I mentioned in my previous post was "The Weather Machine" broadcast 20th November 1974 (four days after Scanlons record time hat-trick)
Oh, I should also mention that eight years ago on this very day was the last time we played a League Cup tie at Meadow Lane, we beat Fleetwood Town 3-2 with goals from Enoch Showunmi, Danny Haynes and Callum McGregor.