It’s November 1979 and Nottingham Forest are champions of Europe after beating Malmo in Munich.
The Reds are League Cup holders too having beating Southampton 3-2 in a pulsating final beneath the Twin Towers at Wembley. Forest finished the previous season as runners-up to Liverpool in a top six that also included West Bromwich Albion, Everton, Leeds United and Ipswich Town.
Albion were enjoying their first-ever campaign in the top division after their memorable promotion at Newcastle in May. Well, they were, in the League Cup! Cambridge United and Northampton Town had been dispatched in the competition, but Alan Mullery’s men had only won twice in the league, the wins against Bolton Wanderers and Ipswich Town both coming at the Goldstone Ground.
Nottingham Forest, on the other hand, had won their last six matches at the City Ground and sat third in the First Division table, just a point behind early leaders Manchester United. Former Albion bosses Brian Clough and Peter Taylor were getting the absolute best out of their men and in Trevor Francis had the country’s first million-pound player. The duo were also – very publicly – coveting our most saleable asset at the time, Peter Ward.
It’s safe to say that the intrepid Albion fans heading to Nottingham were not hoping for a repeat of their last visit. Two Seagulls Special trains broke down en route to a League Cup tie a year earlier as Albion lost 3-1 to the Football League champions.
While the supporters’ train experience was less painful this time around, spare a thought for the players whose journey home could have been a hungry one. The catering carriage’s light only came on if the train travelled less than 15mph!
Fortunately, they had something to celebrate, winning the game 1-0 courtesy of Gerry Ryan’s first-half goal. Albion’s inaugural away victory in the top-flight was Forest’s first home defeat in the league for over two years – a run of 49 games! The two points moved the stripes off the foot of the table.