Nottingham Forest 1976 - 77 Retro Football Shirt

While overshadowed by what followed in the immediate years following, the 1976-77 season was an important one for Nottingham Forest as the club made a successful return to the top flight after half a decade away. The main catalysts behind their strong performances were the outstanding young full back Viv Anderson and the Scottish playmaker John Robertson, successfully reinvented by Forest's management team of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor.

Promotion was a close run thing, however. Forest finished in the third and last of the promotion places, just a single point clear of both Bolton Wanderers and Blackpool - indeed, Bolton could have taken than the third spot had they won their final fixture at divisional champions Wolves. The game was lost, however, and the Forest squad learned of their promotion as their holiday-bound plane landed in Palma, Mallorca.

Forest's season in the Cup was less successful with eliminations to Southampton in the FA Cup and Coventry City in the League Cup.