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Ian Wallace's excellent strike rate of a goal virtually every other game
persuaded Nottingham Forest manager Brian Clough to part with £1
million, but the striker was never able to reproduce the form he had
shown for Coventry City. That spell at Highfield Road had seen him enjoy
a prolific partnership with Mick Ferguson and many observers felt he
was never the same player without Ferguson by his side.
Things started
well enough for the Scottish International when he grabbed a brace in
Forest's 5-0 thrashing of Stoke City in his fourth League game, but it
was to be a disappointing season for the club. After that truly
remarkable spell when they had swept all before them, seventh in the
League and failure in all the Cups represented a poor return. Wallace
topped the scoring charts with eleven League goals as, indeed, he did
the following season with nine, but he was not weighing in with the
amount of goals that had made Clough spend such a huge fee on him.
The
1982/83 campaign was probably Ian's best at the club, as he found the
net 13 times in 41 League games to help the Reds to fifth in the League
and back into Europe. The following season proved to be the Glaswegian's
last at the City Ground with Clough deciding he was surplus to
requirements due to the form of Garry Birtles and youngster Peter
Davenport. Wallace played his last game for the Reds in a 2-0 win
against Manchester United on the last day of the season with his final
goal coming in a 5-1 home win over Birmingham City. He moved on to
French club Brest in the summer after scoring 36 goals in his 134 League
games for the club. (David Scranage)
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