Villa hold their own in the first half without looking like they would threaten high flying Forest but are obliterated in the second half to leave them languishing in thirteenth in the table.

More worrying than the result and second half collapse were the murmuring behind the scenes of player problems.... not something Ron Saunders 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 was ever going to allow to continue.

Ron Saunders' 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Villa suffer their 🟥 heaviest defeat of the season to make it 🟩 ten wins, 🟨 twelve draws and 🟥 eight defeats in 🕒 thirty division one games this season. 

Casualties abounded as the Forest debacle would prove to be centre forward Andy Gray’s 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 final Villa appearance. Villa had signed Gray 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 from Dundee United 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 for a fee of £110,000 as a 19 year old and he went on to represent Villa between 1975-76 and 1978-79 but ended his time with the club out of favour with boss Ron Saunders 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 in 1978-79 and ostracised completely in 1979-80 before his departure from the club to Wolverhampton Wanderers 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 in September 1979 for a fee of £1,469,000.

Gray 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 left with a record of 🟩 W59 🟨 D41 🟥 L41 across 🕒 141 appearances (140 Starts) contributing ⚽ 69 Goals and 🔥 20 Assists at a rate of one every 1.58 games.

Gray 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 would return to the club in the 1984-85 season but would never manage to recreate the dynamism and success of his earliest years.

Also seeing his Villa career end was midfielder Tommy Craig 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 who made his final appearance aged 26 before moving on to Swansea City in July 1979 for a fee of £150,000. Villa had signed Craig from Newcastle United in January 1978 for £270,000 and he played for the club between 1977-78 and 1978-79 making 32 appearances and scoring twice.