Garry Birtles (born 27 July 1956) is an English retired professional footballer who played as a forward in the Football League between the 1970s and 1990s. He is best known for his time at Nottingham Forest, during which he won the 1979 and 1980 European Cup Finals. He was also capped three times by England.
Club career
Nottingham Forest
Birtles was signed by Nottingham Forest from non-league Long Eaton United
Manchester United
Under manager Dave Sexton, Birtles made his debut for Manchester United in a First Division victory over Stoke City at the Victoria Ground on 22 October 1980. He made 28 appearances in his first season with the club.
He scored his first league goal for United in the 1981–82 season, and went on to score 11 times for them that season. He began the 1982–83 season still with Manchester United, but was not selected for a first team game, and returned to play for Nottingham Forest.
Return to Forest
His second tenure at Forest included a spell at centre-half. However, he still proved himself to be a competent goalscorer, particularly with 15 league goals in the 1983–84 season and 14 in the 1986–87 season, the last of which he was joint top goalscorer alongside midfield star Neil Webb and up-and-coming striker Nigel Clough. However, Forest manager Brian Clough allowed Birtles to part from the club on a free transfer in June 1987.
Notts County and Grimsby Town
He spent 18 months with Notts County, during which he appeared in almost every league game. Birtles ended his career with Grimsby Town.
Career statistics
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
|-
!rowspan="2"|Club
!rowspan="2"|Season
!colspan="3"|League
!colspan="2"|FA Cup
!colspan="2"|League Cup
!colspan="2"|Europe
!colspan="2"|Other
!colspan="2"|Total
|-
!Division!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals
|-
|rowspan="6"|Nottingham Forest
|1976–77
|Second Division
|1||0||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||0||0||1||0
|-
|1977–78
|First Division
|0||0||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||0||0
|-
|1978–79
|First Division
|35||14||3||0||6||5||9||6||0||0||50||25
|-
|1979–80
|First Division
|42||12||2||1||9||1||9||2||2||0||64||16
|-
|1980–81
|First Division
|9||6||0||0||3||3||2||0||0||0||14||9
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!87!!32!!5!!1!!18!!9!!20!!8!!2!!0!!129!!50
|-
|rowspan="3"|Manchester United
|1980–81
|First Division
|25||0||3||1||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||28||1
|-
|1981–82
|First Division
|33||11||1||0||2||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||36||11
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!58!!11!!4!!1!!2!!0!!colspan="2"|—!!colspan="2"|—!!64!!12
|-
|rowspan="6"|Nottingham Forest
|1982–83
|First Division
|25||7||1||0||4||4||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||30||11
|-
|1983–84
|First Division
|34||16||1||0||1||0||7||0||colspan="2"|—||43||16
|-
|1984–85
|First Division
|13||2||2||0||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||15||2
|-
|1985–86
|First Division
|25||0||2||2||3||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||30||2
|-
|1986–87
|First Division
|28||14||0||0||5||1||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||33||15
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!125!!39!!6!!2!!13!!5!!7!!0!!colspan="2"|—!!151!!46
|-
|rowspan="3"|Notts County
|1987–88
|Third Division
|43||7||2||1||2||0||colspan="2"|—||9||1||56||9
|-
|1988–89
|Third Division
|20||2||2||0||4||1||colspan="2"|—||0||0||26||3
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!63!!9!!4!!1!!6!!1!!colspan="2"|—!!9!!1!!82!!12
|-
|rowspan="4"|Grimsby Town
|1989–90
|Fourth Division
|38||8||3||0||3||1||colspan="2"|—||2||0||46||9
|-
|1990–91
|Third Division
|23||1||1||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||0||0||24||1
|-
|1991–92
|Second Division
|8||0||1||0||2||1||colspan="2"|—||1||0||12||1
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!69!!9!!5!!0!!5!!2!!colspan="2"|—!!3!!0!!82!!11
|-
!colspan="3"|Career total
!402!!100!!24!!5!!44!!17!!27!!8!!14!!1!!511!!131
|}
Honours
Nottingham Forest
- League Cup: 1978–79
- European Cup: 1978–79, 1979–80
- European Super Cup: 1979
Grimsby Town
- Lincolnshire Senior Cup: 1989–90
Individual
- Nottingham Forest Player of the Year: 1978–79
- Bravo Award: 1979
- Supporters Player of the Year: 1989–90