| Club: | Nottingham Forest |
| Season: | 1984–85 |
| Manager: | Brian Clough |
| Chairman: | Maurice Roworth |
| Stadium: | The City Ground |
| League: | First Division |
| Cup1: | FA Cup |
| Cup1 Result: | Second round |
| Cup2: | League Cup |
| Cup2 Result: | Third round |
| Pattern La1: | _3_stripes_border_white |
| Pattern B1: | _3 stripes_vneck_white |
| Pattern Ra1: | _3_stripes_border_white |
| Pattern Sh1: | _adidaswhite |
| Pattern So1: | _3_stripes_white |
| Leftarm1: | DD0000 |
| Body1: | DD0000 |
| Rightarm1: | DD0000 |
| Shorts1: | DD0000 |
| Socks1: | DD0000 |
| Pattern La2: | _shoulder_stripes_blue_stripes |
| Pattern B2: | _shoulder_stripes_blue_stripes |
| Pattern Ra2: | _shoulder_stripes_blue_stripes |
| Pattern Sh2: | _blue_stripes_adidas |
| Pattern So2: | _3_stripes_blue |
| Leftarm2: | FFFF31 |
| Body2: | FFFF31 |
| Rightarm2: | FFFF31 |
| Shorts2: | FFFF31 |
| Socks2: | FFFF31 |
| League Topscorer: | Peter Davenport (16) |
| Season Topscorer: | Davenport (17) |
| Prevseason: | 1983–84 |
| Nextseason: | 1985–86 |
The 1984–85 season was Nottingham Forest's 120th year in existence and 8th consecutive season in the First Division. The club competed in the UEFA Cup, FA Cup and League Cup.
In his tenth season as manager, Brian Clough, after several disagreements the previous season with Hans van Breukelen, transferred in Dutch Goalkeeper Hans Segers from PSV Eindhoven.[1] Also, starter right back defender Viv Anderson left the club after nine seasons, being transferred out to Arsenal for £250,000[2] . His spot for this campaign was covered by Kenny Swain who already was playing as a left back during the last two seasons. Swain was replaced by Scottish left back defender Jim McInally who delivered an outstanding performance during the season.[3] Meanwhile, Clough transferred out Ian Wallace after a disappointing 1983–84 season, but Trevor Christie, his replacement was a flop, and left the club during Winter due to injuries. Birtles and Riley collapsed the offensive line, meaning Peter Davenport was the only striker with a decent outcome including 17 goals scored.
Clough reinforced the midfield with John Metgod[4] ; after his chaotic seasons in Real Madrid the Dutch player delivered a decent performance in a competitive line with Hodge, Bowyer, Wigley and Mills reinforcing the mid line during winter. However, the injuries (including Colin Walsh) and the mediocre performance of the strikers sink the squad to the 9th spot in League and early eliminations in UEFA Cup, League Cup and FA Cup. The season is best remembered due to the debut of forward Nigel Clough, son of the club manager, and the flop of midfielder Gary Megson, about whom Clough said "he couldn't trap a bag of cement". Megson spent five months at the City Ground, without making a single first-team appearance before being sold to Newcastle United.
| In | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=3% | Pos. | width=33% | Name | width=28% | from | width=36% | Type |
| GK | Hans Segers | £42,000 | |||||
| DF | Jim McInally | £47,000,000 | |||||
| MF | Johnny Metgod | ||||||
| FW | Trevor Christie | ||||||
| FW | Paul Kee | Mansfield Town F.C. | |||||
| MF | Gary Megson | ||||||
| MF | Franz Carr | £100,000 | |||||
| DF | Alan Davidson | ||||||
| MF | Paul Raynor | ||||||
| DF | Gary Fleming | ||||||
| MF | David Campbell | ||||||
| GK | Darren Heyes | ||||||
| Out | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=3% | Pos. | width=33% | Name | width=28% | To | width=36% | Type |
| DF | Viv Anderson | £210,000 | |||||
| FW | Ian Wallace | ||||||
| GK | Hans van Breukelen | ||||||
| GK | Kevin Hitchcock | loan | |||||
| DF | Colin Todd | Oxford United | |||||
| MF | Danny Wilson | Brighton and Hove Albion | |||||
| DF | Nigel Johnson | ||||||
| DF | Les Robinson | ||||||
| DF | Adrian Shaw | ||||||
| DF | Shaun Finney | ||||||
| In | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=3% | Pos. | width=33% | Name | width=28% | from | width=36% | Type |
| FW | Nigel Clough | ||||||
| Out | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=3% | Pos. | width=33% | Name | width=28% | To | width=36% | Type |
| MF | Gary Megson | ||||||
| FW | Trevor Christie | ||||||
See main article: 1984–85 Football League.
On June 2, 1985 English teams were banned by UEFA from its competitions from the season 1985–86 on until the season 1990–91 because of the Heysel Disaster in 1985, involving Liverpool fans.[5]
See main article: 1984-85 UEFA Cup.
See main article: 1984-85 Football League Cup.
See main article: 1984-85 FA Cup.