Garry Birtles (born 27 July 1956) is an English retired professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a forward in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

between the 1970s and 1990s. He is best known for his time at

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

, during which he won the

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

and

1980 European Cup Final The 1980 European Cup Final was a football match held at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, Spain on 28 May 1980, to determine the winner of the 1979–80 European Cup. The final saw defending champions Nottingham Forest of England defeat ...

s. He was also capped three times by England.

Club career

Nottingham Forest

Birtles was signed by

from non-league Long Eaton United for £2,000. He made his Forest debut as a winger in March 1977 in the old Second Division against

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

. His second competitive first team appearance was not until 18 months later in September 1978.

Peter Withe Peter Withe (born 30 August 1951) is an English former football manager and striker who played between 1971 and 1990. At Nottingham Forest he won the Anglo-Scottish Cup and Second Division promotion in 1976–77, First Division and the Foo ...

had been sold to Newcastle and Steve Elliott failed to make the grade. This allowed Birtles a chance that he grasped. He scored his first goal for the club in his third match, a first round

1978–79 European Cup The 1978–79 season of the European Cup football club tournament was won by English champions Nottingham Forest in the final against Swedish side Malmö FF. Forest, enjoying a great run of success under Brian Clough, had defeated defending two-t ...

tie against holders Liverpool. Birtles kept his place for the rest of the season capping his success with two goals in the 3–2 win over Southampton in the 1979 League Cup Final. He also won a 1979 European Cup winner's medal via the 1–0 victory over

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening, commonly known as Malmö FF, Malmö, or MFF, is a professional football club and the most successful football club in Sweden in terms of trophies won. Formed in 1910 and affiliated with the Scania Football Association ...

of Sweden in Munich's Olympic Stadium. He scored 14 times in the league alone that season. He gained another winner's medal in the following season's European Cup against

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

providing the return pass from which John Robertson scored the only goal. Birtles also played in every First Division game for Forest that season scoring 12 goals. He began the 1980–81 season in fine form, scoring six goals in nine league games for Forest, before a £1.25 million fee took him to Manchester United.

Manchester United

Under manager

Dave Sexton David James Sexton (6 April 1930 – 25 November 2012) was an English football manager and player. He was notable for managing Chelsea to their first ever major European trophy. Playing career Son of former professional boxer Archie Sex ...

, Birtles made his debut for

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two ...

in a First Division victory over Stoke City at the

Victoria Ground The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City F.C., Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football ...

on 22 October 1980. He made 28 appearances in his first season with the club.Man Utd stats at aboutmanutd.com
He scored his first league goal for United in the 1981–82 season, and went on to score 11 times for them that season. Coincidentally, his Manchester United spell ended where it began – against Stoke City. His final appearance for them came on the last day of the season, when they beat the Potters 2–0 at Old Trafford. He began the 1982–83 season still with Manchester United, but was not selected for a first team game, and returned to play for Nottingham Forest.

Return to Forest

His second spell at Forest included a spell at centre-half. However, he still proved himself to be a competent goalscorer, particularly with 15 league goals in the 1983–84 season and 14 in the 1986–87 season, the last of which he was joint top goalscorer alongside midfield star Neil Webb and up-and-coming striker Nigel Clough. However, Forest manager

Brian Clough Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Englis ...

allowed Birtles to part from the club on a free transfer in June 1987.Nottingham Forest stats at Sporting Heroes
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Notts County and Grimsby Town

He spent 18 months with Notts County, during which he appeared in almost every league game. Birtles ended his career with Grimsby Town. They won two successive promotions during his time there, and by the end of his career he had accumulated more than 400 professional league appearances.

International career

During the final months of his first spell at Nottingham Forest, when he was still reputed as one of the English league's finest strikers, he was capped three times at senior level for England. His first cap came on 13 May 1980 in a 3–1 friendly win over

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. His last came on 15 October that year in a 2–1 defeat against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

in a

1982 World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy, who defeated West Germany 3–1 i ...

qualifier.

Career statistics

Honours

Nottingham Forest *

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

: 1978–79 *

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

: 1978–79, 1979–80 *

European Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originally ...

Grimsby Town * Lincolnshire Senior Cup: 1989–90 Individual * Nottingham Forest Player of the Year: 1978–79 *

Bravo Award The Bravo Award was an annual award which was handed out by the Italian magazine '' Guerin Sportivo'' to the most outstanding young European footballer. The first winner of the award was Englishman Jimmy Case. The first non-European to win the ...

: 1979 *Supporters Player of the Year: 1989–90

References

External links

*
Englandstats.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Birtles, Garry 1956 births Living people Footballers from Nottingham English footballers England international footballers UEFA Euro 1980 players England under-21 international footballers England B international footballers English Football League players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Gresley F.C. managers Long Eaton United F.C. players English association football commentators English television presenters Association football forwards English football managers UEFA Champions League winning players People from Long Eaton Footballers from Derbyshire