1977–78 Birmingham City F.C. season

Add links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Birmingham City F.C.
1977–78 season
ChairmanKeith Coombs
Manager
  • Bristol City
    , Anglo-Scottish Cup, 12 August 1977
Average home league attendance23,910

The

Notts County in their opening second-round match in the League Cup. They entered the Anglo-Scottish Cup
but failed to progress past the group stage.

Twenty-two players made at least one appearance in nationally organised first-team competition, and there were ten different goalscorers. Forward pairing Keith Bertschin and Trevor Francis played in all 48 first-team matches of the season – midfielder Terry Hibbitt missed only one – and Francis was the club's top scorer with 29 goals, of which 25 were scored in the league. Both Francis and Hibbitt had been ever-present in the previous season.

After defeats in the first four league matches of the season,

Blackburn Rovers manager Jim Smith took over, having decided, according to the Rovers' website, that "Birmingham City offered better career prospects".[4]

Football League First Division

Main article: 1977–78 Football League
Date League
position		 Opponents Venue Result Score
F–A		 Scorers Attendance
20 August 1977 21st
Manchester United
 H L 1–4 Hibbitt 28,005
24 August 1977 22nd Chelsea A L 0–2 18,108
27 August 1977 22nd
Leeds United
 A L 0–1 24,551
3 September 1977 22nd Liverpool H L 0–1 28,239
10 September 1977 20th Middlesbrough A W 2–1 Francis 2 19,240
17 September 1977 18th
Newcastle United
 H W 3–0 Connolly, Bertschin 2 19,259
24 September 1977 19th
West Bromwich Albion
 A L 1–3 Connolly 29,115
1 October 1977 16th
Aston Villa
 A W 1–0 Bertschin 45,436
4 October 1977 13th
Queens Park Rangers
 H W 2–1 Francis 2 21,304
8 October 1977 16th
Coventry City
 H D 1–1 Francis pen 27,412
15 October 1977 16th
Ipswich Town
 A L 2–5 Francis 2 21,313
22 October 1977 15th
Derby County
 H W 3–1 Hibbitt 2, Towers 23,108
29 October 1977 14th Arsenal A D 1–1 Bertschin 31,355
5 November 1977 11th
Wolverhampton Wanderers
 H W 2–1 Francis, Hibbitt 28,103
12 November 1977 14th Everton A L 1–2 Bertschin 37,743
19 November 1977 14th
Leicester City
 H D 1–1 Francis 21,208
26 November 1977 16th
Norwich City
 A L 0–1 16,800
3 December 1977 16th
Nottingham Forest
 H L 0–2 29,925
10 December 1977 18th Manchester City A L 0–3 36,671
17 December 1977 18th Everton H D 0–0 22,177
26 December 1977 18th
West Ham United
 A L 0–1 25,572
27 December 1977 18th
Bristol City
 H W 3–0 Gallagher, Towers, Francis 24,110
31 December 1977 18th Chelsea H L 4–5 Bertschin, Francis 2, Hibbitt 19,876
2 January 1978 16th
Manchester United
 A W 2–1 Dillon, Francis 53,501
14 January 1978 18th
Leeds United
 H L 2–3 Bertschin, Connolly 23,703
21 January 1978 17th Liverpool A W 3–2 Emmanuel, Bertschin, Francis 48,401
4 February 1978 18th Middlesbrough H L 1–2 Gallagher 14,302
25 February 1978 17th
Aston Villa
 H W 1–0 Francis 33,679
28 February 1978 17th
West Bromwich Albion
 H L 1–2 Francis 26,633
4 March 1978 18th
Coventry City
 A L 0–4 22,925
15 March 1978 18th
Newcastle United
 A D 1–1 Francis 19,486
18 March 1978 18th
Derby County
 A W 3–1 Connolly, Francis, Bertschin 19,843
21 March 1978 18th Arsenal H D 1–1 Francis 22,087
25 March 1978 15th
Bristol City
 A W 1–0 Francis 21,434
28 March 1978 13th
West Ham United
 H W 3–0 Francis 2 (1 pen), Bertschin 23,554
1 April 1978 12th
Wolverhampton Wanderers
 A W 1–0 Francis 19,926
8 April 1978 12th
Norwich City
 H W 2–1 Gallagher, Francis 20,858
11 April 1978 10th
Ipswich Town
 H D 0–0 19,289
15 April 1978 9th
Leicester City
 A W 4–1 Hibbitt, Pendrey, Bertschin, Francis 15,431
22 April 1978 11th Manchester City H L 1–4 Sbragia 25,294
25 April 1978 11th
Queens Park Rangers
 A D 0–0 16,049
29 April 1978 11th
Nottingham Forest
 A D 0–0 37,625

League table (part)

Final First Division table (part)[5]
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
9th
Leeds United
 42 18 10 14 63 53 +10 46
10th
Manchester United
 42 16 10 16 67 63 +4 42
11th
Birmingham City
 42 16 9 17 55 60 −5 41
12th
Derby County
 42 14 13 15 54 59 −5 41
13th
Norwich City
 42 11 18 13 52 66 −14 40

FA Cup

Main article: 1977–78 FA Cup
Round Date Opponents Venue Result Score
F–A		 Scorers Attendance
Third round 7 January 1978
Wigan Athletic
 H W 4–0 Francis 2, Bertschin 2 29,202
Fourth round 1 February 1978
Derby County
 A L 1–2 Bertschin 31,955

League Cup

Main article: 1977–78 Football League Cup
Round Date Opponents Venue Result Score
F–A		 Scorers Attendance
Second round 30 August 1977
Notts County
 H L 0–2 14,993

Anglo-Scottish Cup

Main article: 1977–78 Anglo-Scottish Cup
Round Date Opponents Venue Result Score
F–A		 Scorers Attendance
Group stage 5 August 1977
Plymouth Argyle
 A D 1–1 Craven og 5,176
Group stage 9 August 1977
Bristol Rovers
 A D 1–1 Francis 2,317
Group stage 12 August 1977
Bristol City
 H W 1–0 Francis 9,512

Appearances and goals

Numbers in parentheses denote appearances made as a substitute.
Players marked † left the club during the playing season.
Key to positions: GK – Goalkeeper; DF – Defender; MF – Midfielder; FW – Forward
Players' appearances and goals by competition
Pos. Nat. Name
League
 FA Cup League Cup Anglo-Scottish Cup Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
GK  ENG Dave Latchford 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
GK  ENG Jimmy Montgomery 41 0 1 0 1 0 3 0 46 0
GK  ENG Steve Smith † 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
DF  SCO Jimmy Calderwood 36 0 2 0 1 0 0 (1) 0 39 (1) 0
DF  ENG Joe Gallagher 21 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 23 3
DF  ENG Pat Howard 35 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 38 0
DF  ENG Garry Pendrey 37 1 1 0 1 0 3 0 42 1
DF  ENG Mick Rathbone 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 4 0
DF  SCO Ricky Sbragia 5 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 7 1
DF  ENG Archie Styles 5 (1) 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 6 (1) 0
DF  ENG Tony Want † 18 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 22 0
MF  ENG Kevan Broadhurst 9 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 (1) 0
MF  SCO John Connolly 12 (8) 4 1 0 0 0 3 0 16 (8) 4
MF  ENG Kevin Dillon 16 (1) 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 18 (1) 2
MF  WAL Gary Emmanuel 20 (2) 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 21 (2) 1
MF  ENG Steve Fox 10 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 (1) 0
MF  ENG Terry Hibbitt 41 6 2 0 1 0 3 0 47 6
MF  ENG Gary Jones † 3 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 6 (2) 0
MF  WAL Malcolm Page 29 (1) 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 33 (1) 0
MF  ENG Tony Towers 37 (1) 2 2 0 1 0 2 0 42 (1) 2
FW  ENG Keith Bertschin 42 11 2 3 1 0 3 0 48 14
FW  ENG Trevor Francis 42 25 2 2 1 0 3 2 48 29

See also

  • Birmingham City F.C. seasons

Sources

  • Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books.
    ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9
    .
  • Matthews, Tony (2010). Birmingham City: The Complete Record. Derby: DB Publishing.
    ISBN 978-1-85983-853-2
    .
  • For match dates and results: "Birmingham City 1977–1978 : Results". Statto Organisation. Archived from the original on 12 December 2015. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  • For lineups, appearances, goalscorers and attendances: Matthews (2010), Complete Record, pp. 390–91, 478.

References

  1. ^ "Birmingham City Managers". Birmingham City F.C. Archived from the original on 12 February 2012. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  2. ISBN 978-0-00-719378-3
    .
  3. ^ "Francis issue caused Sir Alf to quit". The Times. 9 March 1978. p. 14.
  4. ^ "1975–1984: The bald eagle has landed". Blackburn Rovers F.C. 2 July 2007. Archived from the original on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  5. ^ "Birmingham City 1977–1978 : English Division One (old) Table". Statto Organisation. Archived from the original on 5 October 2015. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1977–78_Birmingham_City_F.C._season&oldid=1226410487"