Complete Second Half footage (First Half: • Wolves v Nottingham Fo... ) of the 1980 League Cup Final between Wolves and Nottingham Forest at Wembley Stadium.
The 1979-80 season was the first full season as Wolves manager for John Barnwell manager and it proved to be a hugely successful one, with a finish of 6th in the First Division and victory in the League Cup Final over reigning European Champions Nottingham Forest.
After his arrival at Molineux in mid-November 1978, Barnwell subsequently prevented Wolves' slide to relegation that season and led his team to an unlikely FA Cup Semi-final appearance against Arsenal. The following campaign, Barnwell signed Emlyn Hughes from Liverpool in pre-season and then, in early September, broke the British transfer record with the £1.5m acquisition of striker Andy Gray from Aston Villa. Left-winger Dave Thomas joined from Everton for £350,000 soon after and, following a strong start to the season from Wolves, optimism at Molineux was high.
Wolves, however, began their excursions in the League Cup with a low-key second round defeat of Burnley over two legs before embarking upon an often problematic run that saw Crystal Palace, Queen's Park Rangers, Grimsby Town and Swindon Town all overcome to set up a Wembley encounter with Brian Clough's Forest team.
In addition to Hughes and Gray, the strength of Wolves throughout their successful league and cup campaign was based largely upon an experienced group of players: striker John Richards, midfielder Kenny Hibbitt and full-backs Derek Parkin and Geoff Palmer had all been part of Wolves' 1974 League Cup Final win over Manchester City, while Willie Carr had joined Wolves the same year as their League Cup success and had been an integral part of their midfield ever since.
Following their promotion to the First Division (with Wolves) at the end of the 1976-77 season, Forest quickly established themselves as a major force: a remarkable league and League Cup double was achieved the season after their promotion and another double, this time the League Cup and European Cup, was achieved in 1979.
Against Wolves, Forest were seeking a win that would give them a hat-trick of League Cup successes. The size of the task that faced John Barnwell's team was further emphasised by the fact that Forest were seemingly heading for a second successive European Cup Final, with the second leg of their quarter-final with Dynamo Berlin scheduled for four days after their appearance at Wembley.
For the final, Barnwell and his assistant Richie Barker were concerned primarily with the threat posed by left-winger John Robertson and forward Trevor Francis. In an attempt to nullify Robertson, the Wolves management duo switched Kenny Hibbitt with Peter Daniel in order to utilise the greater energy and tackling ability of Daniel at right midfield.
Further concern for Barnwell and Barker was the potential vulnerability of Wolves' centre-half pairing of Emlyn Hughes and George Berry to the pace of Francis. However, their anxiety eased somewhat when Brian Clough directed Francis to a position wider than expected. In the event, both Hughes and Berry performed magnificently at the heart of the defence as Wolves, courtesy of Andy Gray's 67th minute winner ( • Wolves v Nottingham Fo... , survived Forest's second half pressure to win the last of their major trophies.
Originally shown as networked highlights on ITV with commentary provided by Brian Moore.