This is the story of Mansfield Town’s glory days in the mid-to late 1970’s. We’ve covered their Division Four title win and a season in Division Three, where they finished very strongly. Could they take that form into the new season? The club had never played at a higher level than the third tier of English football. Could they reach their zenith?
1976-77
After the euphoria of their first championship trophy when they won the Fourth Division in 1975, their subsequent season in Division Three was very much a season of two halves. Rock bottom of the table in mid-February, a 19-game unbeaten run saw them finish a creditable 11th. If they could keep that form going into the new season then what could they achieve?
But then just as they were beginning to dream, the club was rocked by two shocking pieces of news. Top scorer, Ray Clarke, announced he didn’t want to play another season in the third tier and the club accepted a record fee from Dutch club, Sparta Rotterdam. Perhaps even more shocking was the news manager Dave Smith, the man who had masterminded their Fourth Division title, was ‘relieved of his duties’.
Suddenly it was now all worry and uncertainty. The new season seemed to ask more questions than answers for Stags’ fans. Who would replace the goals Clarke had provided? Who would be selecting the team in the first place, now Dave Smith had moved on.
The answer to the second question was found in former player, Peter Morris. 33-year old Morris spent eight seasons at Field Mill in the sixties, making over 280 appearances. He moved to Ipswich Town, playing under Bobby Robson, then onto Norwich City where he was managed by John Bond. Mansfield signed him as a player-manager.
Morris brought with him Johnny Miller, who’d been with him at both Ipswich and Norwich. Miller was a winger and would provide the crosses for Kevin Randall. Instead of dipping into the transfer market to find someone to replace Clarke, Morris chose to move Randall into the centre. A bold move given he’d only scored three goals the season before and their coffers were bulging to the tune of £90,000 Sparta paid them for Clarke.
Player-managers were quite common in the lower divisions, but they brought their own particular issues. This was the first managerial appointment for Morris, which in itself wasn’t too much of a problem as Mansfield had been Dave Smith’s first. But how often would, or should Morris play? He’d had experience at a much higher level than this and would surely be an asset.
The season kicked-off with the League Cup. The First Round was over two legs and Mansfield had been drawn against a familiar foe, Scunthorpe. Stags’ fans remember with fondness their team winning 7-0 to secure the Fourth Division title in 1975. The Iron were also opponents at the same stage last season when Mansfield made it all the way to the Quarters. They were also the opponents they came up against in the league too.
Mansfield won both legs in the League Cup that season, and they drew first blood this time with goals from McCaffrey and Eccles. Three days later Scunthorpe won their home leg 2-0 so a replay was required. McCaffrey was again on target but Scunthorpe won 2-1 with goals from Mick Wadsworth and Doug O’Connor. O’Connor had been part of the Stags Fourth Division title winning team, before moving to the Old Show Ground.
With no chance of a repeat of their League Cup run, Mansfield set about tackling the Third Division.
Their form in the last two and a half months of the previous season was the best in the division. Mid-February had seen them sitting at the bottom, five points adrift. They went unbeaten in the last 19 games, picking up more points than any other team during that period. They finished the season in 11th.
During their championship winning season, Terry Eccles had scored 17 in a 45-goal partnership with Ray Clarke. With Clarke now having moved to the Netherlands, Eccles was under pressure to become the top striker at the club. He only hit the target six times the previous season so when he was on the mark twice against Preston, this was an immediate boost for the Stags.
Their first away trip was a short, but ultimately disappointing one. They went down 0-3 to Rotherham. Their first league defeat for 20 matches.
But then they bounced back straight away with a 3-0 win at home to Grimsby. Eccles hit a hat-trick, his third for the club. He was on the scoresheet in midweek when they also beat Oxford United 3-0. He now had matched his previous season’s tally in just four matches.
Morris had played the first three games but stepped down for the Oxford match. Paul Matthews came back into midfield. Kevin Randall scored his first of the season and the two men who were tasked with replacing Clarke’s goals were now up and running. Oxford had come down from the Second Division. Another club who’d been relegated were York City, and they were the next visitors to Field Mill. Eccles scored the only goal of the game. Seven goals in five matches.
Mansfield were top of the table ahead of Swindon on goal difference. You’d never notice the difference from Smith’s team of last season.
Randall scored in the 1-1 draw with Tranmere, before the first big test of season. Crystal Palace were in the promotion hunt throughout the previous season, just missing out on going up. Managed by Terry Venables, Palace were on the verge of their own golden years. Goals in each half from Steve Perrin and Dave Swindlehurst gave Palace the points.
October
October started well when Bury arrived and Mansfield sent them packing with a 5-0 win. New signing, Johnny Miller scored twice as did Randall. But they couldn’t continue this form as they suffered back-to-back defeats at Peterborough United and Chester City.
Eccles picked up an injury against Peterborough and subsequently missed the Chester defeat. Young Robbie Cooke made his debut for the club in his absence. He was back for the crucial visit of Brighton. The Seagulls were managed by former England international, Alan Mullery. Like Venables at Palace, ‘Mullers’ was putting together an exciting team at the Goldstone Ground. They were making the running during the early part of the season.
Chris Cattlin gave the visitors the lead at the break, but Colin Foster scored his second of the season to earn a point.
One win in six wasn’t the form they were hoping for. Eccles was again missing for the final game of the month. No one knew it at the time, but he’d played his last game for the club. Morris brought himself back for the trip to Sheffield Wednesday.
Wednesday had narrowly escaped the drop the season before, but this time round had made a much better start. First half goals from Miller and Matthews were enough to turn things round for Mansfield.
Mansfield ended the month in eighth, five points behind the leaders, Brighton. Next up Shrewsbury.
November
Morris was now having to juggle his squad as a spate of injuries caused headaches. Both full-backs, Sandy Pate and Colin Foster, were now out. Kevin Bird moved from the centre to the right in defence. Local boy, Ian Wood, was now installed at left-back making his debut against Wednesday.
Shrewsbury were The Stags’ next opponents. They’d pushed them all the way when Mansfield won the Fourth Division. The first half of last season saw The Shrews pushing for promotion, before they tailed off alarmingly during the second period. This time they began strongly again, and were in third just a point behind the leaders. The game ended goalless.
Mansfield
then took their unbeaten run to five matches with back-to-back home wins
against Lincoln and Reading. The Lincoln game saw Gordon Hodgson finally open
his account for the season. The Reading match was a personal triumph for
Randall. He scored all four goals in a 4-0
win. Stags’ fans had worried about the loss of Clarke, and they were now
without Eccles. Could Randall now provide the necessary fire-power up front?
The injury situation was getting worse as Bird was now out and Morris had to fill in at right-back.
Mansfield were now up to third, level on points with Shrewsbury. They were four behind the leaders, Brighton.
The run came to an end the following week when they went down 1-3 at Gillingham. Pate and Colin Foster were back. Pate would only be seen twice more that season.
The FA Cup kicked off the following week. Stags had been drawn against Fourth Division Huddersfield Town. The first meeting was at Leeds Road and ended goalless.
The replay was the following Monday at Field Mill. Randall put Stags in front, but Huddersfield equalised through Arnie Sidebottom. Sidebottom was one of those multi-sports professionals you never see these days. He was a fast bowler at Yorkshire and father to Ryan, who played for England many times. Eccles won it for Mansfield in the second half. Was there to be another cup run for the supporters?
Hodgson had scored in the defeat at Gillingham and he was again on target in the home draw with Swindon. He now had three in his last four matches. This was an important contribution.
At the end of November they were sixth, one of three teams on 20 points, Sheffield Wednesday and Bury were the others. They were four points behind the leaders Brighton and Wrexham.
December
Everyone knows about the summer of 1976 being one of the hottest ever known, but the winter of 1976-77 was one which started to muck about with the fixture schedule. It was two weeks into the December before Mansfield took to the pitch. They couldn’t play their FA Second Round fixture on the designated day, and this was postponed to the following Wednesday.
They were drawn at home to non-league Matlock Town. Matlock were in the Northern Premier League. They had built up a bit of a pedigree too. They reached the First Round for the first time two seasons before, losing 1-4 to Blackburn Rovers. They then went on to win the FA Trophy for the first time. The following season they were in the First Round again but lost to Wigan Athletic, also a Northern Premier League side then.
During this season Matlock were again up against Wigan, and this time won 2-0. They then made the 18-mile journey west to Mansfield for the Second Round clash.
When Matlock won the FA Trophy their side contained three brothers. Tom, Mick and Nick Fenoughty. It remains the only time three brothers have featured in a cup final at Wembley. All three were in the side when they arrived at Field Mill, with Tom now player-manager.
Nick scored one of the goals which gave Matlock a surprise 2-1 lead at the break. The second half was a disaster for the Stags, one of their worst experiences at home especially in the cup. Nick Fenoughty scored from the spot for his second of the game, with Oxley and Scott adding further strikes. Non-league Matlock had pulled off a famous FA Cup giant-killing winning 5-2. Losing to a side several divisions below them was bad enough, losing at home was unbelievable but losing by such a scoreline was huge embarrassment for the club.
Morris acted straight away. Next day he signed Ernie Moss from Peterborough. Moss had won the Fourth Division during a seven year spell at Chesterfield, before spending a season at Peterborough. He and Randall had been at Chesterfield together and Morris was hoping the two could hit it off again.
The boost to the team was immediately noticeable. They won three on the trot to finish the year. Hodgson and Randall were on target against Wrexham and Chesterfield. Moss scored his first for the club against Port Vale.
The Wrexham game was an important win. The Red Dragons were managed by John Neal, before he moved on to Middlesbrough and then Chelsea. They were second to Shrewsbury in the table, but only on goal difference. Goals from Hodgson and Miller gave Stags a crucial victory. This was the eighth meeting between the two clubs in two years, with Stags only losing once.
The year ended with Mansfield fifth, now three points behind leaders Rotherham. Shrewsbury were second, Wrexham third and Brighton fourth. Brighton, Mansfield, Preston and Sheffield Wednesday were all on 26 points. Things were well set for a push towards promotion in the new year.
Join us for Part Five when we cover the second half of the 1976-77 season. Could Mansfield mount a push for promotion?
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