101 Great Goals - John Metgod

You probably thought it was done, but there's still life in the old 101 Great Goals series.

Three wonderful things about John Metgod's legendary free kick for Nottingham Forest immediately spring to mind;

The 100 metres run-up (which gave the hint something special was about to be unleashed;

The Exocet trajectory of the shot;

John Metgod's celebration.

As our focus is the goal nets, I'd like to add a fourth wonderful thing - the simple physics of a traditionally hung and supported goal net killing the shot and retaining the ball.



The West Ham goalkeeper Phil Parkes is beaten - humiliated - and when he finally gets up, he still has the walk of shame to retrieve the ball from the net.

Compare John Metgod's cannonball with the recent Serge Gnabry rocket, a great goal, completely ruined by the ball bouncing straight back out to him.

If the ball had bounced back after John Metgod's free kick, it'd probably still be traveling today.

A-list A-frames - Nottingham Forest

Looking at Forest's History of Goal Nets it was hoped the installation of the Continental D's would coincide with Cloughie's arrival in 1975, or winning the League in 1978, or winning the European Cup in 1979 and further demonstrate the talismanic importance of changing the goals (see Manchester United).




But Forest didn't install the Continental D's until the 1980-81 season, AFTER their second European Cup win against Hamburg. Indeed, the Continental D's could be seen as a herald for a downturn in fortune for Forest, much as they were for Liverpool some ten years later.

Prior to the D's a proud set of A-listers stood at either end of the City Ground, bearing witness to Cloughie and his glory years.