John McGovern

clubs2 = Derby County clubs3 = Leeds United clubs4 = Nottingham Forest clubs5 = Bolton Wanderers totalcaps = 535 | totalgoals = 27 nationalyears1 = 1972–1973 nationalteam1 = Scotland U23 manageryears1 = 1982–1985 manageryears2 = 1990–1991 manageryears3 = 1994–1996 manageryears4 = 1997–1998 manageryears5 = 2000–2003 managerclubs1 = Bolton Wanderers managerclubs2 = Chorley managerclubs3 = Rotherham United managerclubs4 = Woking managerclubs5 = Ilkeston Town

John Prescott McGovern (born 28 October 1949) is a Scottish former association football midfielder and manager. McGovern is most famous for captaining the Nottingham Forest side that won the European Cup twice under the management of Brian Clough, whom he played under at four clubs, and Peter Taylor.

At the age of 19 he became the youngest player to play in all four divisions of the Football League. During his playing career he won promotion with Hartlepools United / Hartlepool, Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He won titles as English League champions with both Derby and Forest. At Forest he also won the European Super Cup, two Football League Cups, the FA Charity Shield and the Anglo-Scottish Cup. He was Forest's club captain throughout this period of success.

A hard working central midfield team-player, McGovern passed the ball comfortably with either foot. John Robertson said, "As far as I'm concerned John McGovern is what epitomises what every good side needs." McGovern played over 650 senior first team games during his playing career spanning 19 seasons.

McGovern won two Scottish under-23 caps. He is one of only two Scots players to win UEFA's premier club trophy to never win a full international cap. He was a 2017 Scottish Football Hall of Fame inductee.

McGovern has player-managed Bolton Wanderers and joint-managed Rotherham United with Archie Gemmill, with whom he won the Football League Trophy. He has served as assistant manager for Plymouth Argyle and Hull City. He has also worked in media punditry.

Early years McGovern was born in Montrose, Angus, in north east Scotland. when his family relocated when his father needed to find work. McGovern's father subsequently moving to work on the Kariba Dam meant he and McGovern would never see each other again. McGovern's father was killed in an accident on the last day of his 2 years working in Africa before he was scheduled to return home. His father died when McGovern was aged 11. The young McGovern attended Henry Smith's Grammar School, a rugby-playing school. However, during school holidays his mother sent him to stay with his grandmother in Bo'ness. It was in Bo'ness that McGovern started to play football with a band of friends he made there. Despite being captain of the school teams at rugby and cricket, football became his preferred sport. Back in Hartlepool he played for his first team when he was 15. His football heroes were both strikers, Denis Law and Jimmy Greaves, and as a boy McGovern also wanted to become a striker. Central Park FC then sent him for a trial with local senior club, Hartlepool United. Within an 18-month period and by the age of 19 he had played in all four divisions of the Football League.

After a disappointing 1970–71 season, Liverpool contesting a 1971–72 four-way league title fight lost 1–0 in their penultimate game to McGovern's 62nd-minute goal at Derby County. Derby had now completed their fixtures with that win. On Monday 8 May 1972, Leeds' 2–1 loss at Wolverhampton Wanderers gave Liverpool their bite at the title. Needing to win the same evening if Leeds lost, Liverpool drew 0–0 at Arsenal with Shankly furious an 88th minute Toshack goal was disallowed. Derby stayed top. to win that 1971–72 First Division title. McGovern played in 40 matches in that league winning campaign scoring 3 goals. He was 22 when they lifted the title. In the following 1972–73 season, during the European Cup McGovern scored in a 3–0 home win against Benfica. Derby were eliminated in the semi-finals in controversial circumstances to Juventus. Mackay gave McGovern's regular starting place to the more attack minded Bruce Rioch.

Clough's reign was only 44 days but even after his departure, McGovern, O'Hare and trainer Jimmy Gordon were tarred with being part of the Clough regime. McGovern declined offers Leeds accepted for him to join Carlisle United and Norwich City. Clough brought Jimmy Gordon to be his club trainer as Gordon had been for him at Derby County and Leeds United. McGovern was aged 25 at the time.

Clough signed McGovern and O'Hare in February with McGovern debuting on 22 February 1975 in a 0–0 home league draw v Cardiff City.

Peter Taylor on 16 July 1976 rejoined Clough becoming his Assistant Manager as he had been when winning the league at Derby.

Together Clough and Taylor took Forest to new heights with McGovern the club captain throughout the success the two brought to Forest. Their first trophy at Forest was the 1976–77 Anglo-Scottish Cup. Forest beat Orient 5–1 on aggregate in the two-legged final played in December 1976.

On 7 May Alan Moore's own goal meant Forest in their last league game of the season beat Millwall 1–0 at the City Ground. This kept Forest in the third promotion spot in the league table and dependent on Bolton Wanderers dropping points in three games in hand in the fight for third place. On 14 May Kenny Hibbitt's goal from his rehearsed free kick routine with Willie Carr gave Wolves a 1–0 win at Bolton. McGovern later said Bolton's defeat reached the Forest team mid-air en route to an end of season break in Mallorca. (two points for a win in England until 1981).

Taylor secretly followed Kenny Burns concluding Burns's reputation as a hard drinker and gambler was exaggerated. Taylor sanctioned his £150,000 July signing. Burns become FWA Footballer of the Year in 1977–78 after being moved from centre-forward to centre-back. Forest started their return to the top league campaign with a 3–1 win at Everton. Three further wins in league and cup followed without conceding a goal. Then came five early September goals conceded in losing 3–0 at Arsenal and beating Wolves 3–2 at home. Peter Shilton then signed for a record fee for a goalkeeper of £325,000. Taylor reasoned: "Shilton wins you matches." 20 year old John Middleton was first team goalkeeper pre-Shilton. Middleton later in the month went in part exchange with £25,000 to Derby County for Archie Gemmill transferring to Forest to rejoin McGovern in midfield. Gemmill was another Scottish former 1972 Derby title winner bringing something to central midfield in which McGovern was deficient; pace. Chris Woods chalked up two clean sheets in the final covering Shilton's league cup absence. McGovern missed the replay through injury meaning Burns lifted the trophy as deputising captain. Robertson's penalty was the only goal of the game.

Forest started season 1978–79 by beating Ipswich Town 5–0 for an FA Charity Shield record win. McGovern opened the scoring in the second round 2–1 victory against AEK Athens. On 9 December 1978 Liverpool ended Forest's 42 match unbeaten league run dating back to the November the year before. The record stood until surpassed by Arsenal in August 2004 a month before Clough's death. Arsenal played 49 league games without defeat.

In February 1979 Taylor authorised the English game's first £1 million transfer signing Trevor Francis from Birmingham City. In the April European Cup semi final home first leg against 1. FC Köln Forest were two goals behind after 20 minutes. Forest scored three to edge ahead before Köln equalised to start the German second leg ahead on the away goals rule. Ian Bowyer's goal in Germany put Forest through. Günter Netzer asked afterwards, "Who is this McGovern? I have never heard of him, yet he ran the game." Forest beat Malmö 1–0 in Munich's Olympiastadion in the 1979 European Cup Final. Francis on his European debut scored with a back post header from Robertson's cross. When later interviewed for "My Forest Story" McGovern said when he lifted the European Cup the first time he was thinking of his father. In the 1979–80 Football League Cup Forest reached a third successive final. A defensive mix up between Needham and Shilton let Wolves' Andy Gray tap in to an empty net. Forest passed up numerous chances losing 1–0. In the 1979–80 European Cup quarter final Forest won 3–1 at Dinamo Berlin to overturn a 1–0 home defeat. In the semi-final they beat AFC Ajax 2–1 on aggregate. They beat Hamburg 1–0 in the 1980 European Cup Final at Madrid's Santiago Bernabéu Stadium to retain the trophy. Robertson scored after exchanging passes with Birtles. Forest finished fifth in the 1979–80 Football League.

In the 1980–81 European Cup first round Forest lost 2–0 on aggregate to 1–0 home and away defeats by CSKA Sofia. McGovern subsequently said the double defeat by CSKA affected the team's self-confidence in that they had lost out to modestly talented opponents. On 11 February 1981, Forest lost 1–0 in the 1980 Intercontinental Cup against Uruguayan side, Club Nacional de Football. The match was played for the first time at the neutral venue National Stadium in Tokyo before 62,000 fans.

The league and European Cup winning squad was broken up to capitalise on player sale value. Clough and Taylor both later said this was a mistake. "For many weeks now I don't believe I've been doing justice to the partnership and I certainly haven't been doing justice to Nottingham Forest the way I felt. And consequently after a great deal of thought, there was no option. I wanted to take an early retirement. That's exactly what I've done." Jimmy Gordon retired and McGovern transferred in the same close season.

Scotland McGovern played twice for Scotland at under-23 level, both against Wales while at Derby County. The first was on 26 January 1972 in a 2–0 win at Pittodrie. He was substituted by Denis McQuade of Partick Thistle, who direct from a corner scored the second goal. McGovern's second and final international game was on 14 March 1973 at the Vetch Field in Swansea. He was again substituted this time by Pat McCluskey of Celtic as Scotland won 2–1. He later said, "I would have walked up the M74 over broken glass to get one cap for Scotland. I just wish I'd have got one cap because that would have been the proudest moment of my life."

He has since worked as a club ambassador for Forest, as a pundit on Radio Nottingham and as an after dinner speaker.

Style of play Brian Clough said of him, "He never stopped going, never stopped running, and he was a reasonably intelligent young man." John Robertson said of McGovern, "As far as I'm concerned John McGovern is what epitomises what every good side needs."

A profile of the young McGovern on Sporting Heroes states, "John's ability to do the simple things well, allied to his work ethic and willingness to act as a man marker saw him return a series of solid displays; often against much older and experienced opponents."

The same article closes by stating of his time at Derby, "He scored twenty goals and at his best demonstrated ball control and passing skills of the highest level, a talent that frequently allowed others to shine." He said, "It is a fantastic feeling that I have to be inducted into the Scottish Hall of Fame. Although I may not sound Scottish having left there when I was seven-years-old, I am a proud Scotsman having been born and bred in Montrose and any honour that you get in football is very well received."

Division!!Apps !!Goals 1965–66 Fourth Division

1966–67 Fourth Division

1967–68 Fourth Division

1968–69 Third Division

1968–69 Second Division

1969–70 First Division

1970–71 First Division

1971–72 First Division

1972–73 First Division

1973–74 First Division

190!!16!!18!!0!!15!!2!!8!!1!!8!!2!!239!!21 Leeds United 1974–75 First Division

1974–75 Second Division

1975–76 Second Division

1976–77 Second Division

1977–78 First Division

1978–79 First Division

1979–80 First Division

1980–81 First Division

1981–82 First Division

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1982–83 Second Division

1983–84 Third Division

16 Football League First Division: 1977–78 FA Charity Shield: 1978 European Cup: 1978–79, 1979–80

As a manager Rotherham United Football League Trophy: 1995–96