The 1983–84 season was Nottingham Forest's 119th year in existence and seventh consecutive season in the First Division. Aside from the league, the club also competed in the UEFA Cup, FA Cup and League Cup.
Summary In his ninth season as manager, Brian Clough transferred in Dutch midfielder Frans Thijssen from Ipswich Town only to be a flop and he left the club within months. On the contrary of the last three seasons, this campaign the offensive line had a good performance with Davenport, Birtles aimed by a superb midfield with Hodge and Walsh despite club legend John Robertson left the club during summer and signed with Peter Taylor's Derby County. After two early eliminations on FA Cup and League Cup the squad reached the UEFA Cup semifinals against RSC Anderlecht. In the first leg, the team took a 2–0 score in Nottingham and for the second leg the Belgian squad won 3–0 classifying to the 1984 UEFA Cup Final. According to Constant Vanden, then Anderlecht club president, the club paid a bribe to Spanish referee Emilio Guruceta Muro before the match. In 1997 the UEFA banned the Belgian club for one season for competing in its continental tournaments. In 2016 it was revealed that UEFA had evidence of the match-fixed scandal since 1992. Meanwhile, in League the squad finished on a decent third spot only 6 points below of Champions Liverpool and clinching a UEFA Cup spot for the second consecutive campaign.
Squad
Transfers In Pos. Name from Type MF Frans ThijssenIpswich Town MF Paul HartLeeds United MF Gary MillsDerby County loan ended MF Mark Smalley FW David RileyKeyworth United DF Shaun Finney GK Kevin HitchcockBarking FW Nigel JohnsonRotherham United FW David Longhurst FW Les Robinson MF Adrian Shaw Out Pos. Name To Type MF John RobertsonDerby County DF Willie YoungBrighton and Hove Albion DF Stuart GrayBarnsley F.C. MF Mark ProctorSunderland £100,000 FW Liam Robinson Southampton MF Steve Kendal
Winter In Pos. Name from Type DF Des Walker Out Pos. Name To Type GK Ronnie SinclairWrexham loan MF Frans ThijssenVancouver Whitecaps
Results Division One
League table
Results by round
Matches .- Source: https://www.11v11.com/teams/nottingham-forest/tab/matches/season/1984/
UEFA Cup
First Round
Second Round
Third Round
Quarter finals
Semi finals
League Cup
FA Cup
Statistics Squad statistics
References