Every period of success needs an element of luck and Nottingham Forest’s unparalelled success and the end of the 1970’s was no different. If events one week in February 1977 had turned out different the clubs history could have had quite a different look.

Forest began the week sat in 5^th place in the league table in the desperate search for points as they chased a hopeful promotion place but were on a worrying poor run of form that had seen a F.A.Cup defeat to Southampton followed by two more defeats against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Luton Town so far in the month of February. Southampton were the opponents again this time for a midweek league visit to the City Ground.

Forest were boosted for the game by the return of right winger Terry Curran after recovering from a severe knee injury sustained in October. His return did not bring the desired effect as a lacklustre first half saw Forest trail 1-0 with Peter Osgood prominent for Southampton giving Larry Lloyd a troubled game and the liklihood that the bad run would continue as Southampton looked more likely to score more rather than Forest to equalise.

Just when Forest’s promotion campaign was about to have a severe setback they received a major stroke of luck as fog descended on the ground. Firstly the referee was unable to see a bad challenge by Lloyd on Osgood for which Lloyd was threatened with a club ban and then after 47 minutes the referee had little choice but to abandon the match.

This call off could not have worked out better for Forest as when the game was replayed a month later form had changed for the better and they were able to record a 2-1 victory and with Forest only ending up gaining the desired promotion by a solitarty point the two points gained from the Southampton victory when none looked likely when the game was originally played proved to be a massive break for the club.

Whilst the fog had drifted over Nottingham clouds were hanging down the A52 at Derby County where manager Dave Mackay had resigned the previous December, initially he had been replaced by former Forest coach Colin Murphy in a caretaker capacity but a change at boardroom level had created the desire for a more prominent name. Feeling that he had got unfinished business at the club new Derby chairman George Hardy approached Forest hoping to bring Clough and Taylor back to the Baseball Ground.

With Clough feeling he had got unfinished business at Derby it seemed inevitable that he would return to Derby and when a press conference was called it expected that it was only to rubber stamp the return. However to Forest’s delight Clough and Taylor had decided to remain in Nottingham.

Had the fog not caused the referee to abandon the Southampton game, had Clough and Taylor returned to Derby it was these two big strokes of luck one week in February 1977 that had they gone the other way the clubs future would have had a completely different look.

Wednesday 16 February 1977

LEAGUE DIVISION TWO

NOTTINGHAM FOREST 0 v SOUTHAMPTON 1

Abandoned after 47 minutes due to Fog

NFFC

John Middleton, Viv Anderson, Frank Clark, John McGovern, Larry Lloyd, Ian Bowyer, Terry Curran, John O’Hare, Peter Withe, Tony Woodcock, John Robertson

Referee :           Roy Capey (Crewe)

Tuesday 22 March 1977

LEAGUE DIVISION TWO

NOTTINGHAM FOREST (1) 2 v SOUTHAMPTON (0) 1

Tony Woodcock, Martin O’Neill / Peter Rodrigues

NFFC

John Middleton, Viv Anderson, Frank Clark, Sammy Chapman, Larry Lloyd, Ian Bowyer, John McGovern, Martin O’Neill, Peter Withe, Tony Woodcock, John Robertson

SOUTHAMPTON

Peter Wells, Peter Rodrigues, David Peach, Nick Holmes, Mel Blyth, Jim Steele, Alan Ball, Mick Channon, Peter Osgood (Trevor Hebberd), Steve Williams, Ted MacDougall

Attendance :      12,393

Referee :           Roy Capey (Crewe)