Football suffered as gates dropped and interest lessened dramatically, a factor in this decline being quite simply than men with long hair and moustaches simply do not look like athletes. Scotland's national team made two trips to World Cup Finals – an honourable one to Germany and a disgraceful one to Argentina, but the Scottish domestic game was certainly in the doldrums. The League structure was changed form 1975-6 season, but it made no appreciable difference. Hooliganism besmirched the game, although more so in England than in Scotland.

Forfar Athletic had a curious decade. "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times" as Charles Dickens might have said. The League Cup campaign with all its glory of 1978 must be balanced with the horrors of 1974 and1975, but the point was surely made that with ambition, Forfar can always go somewhere. Indeed 1978 made this very clear and it was a watershed in the history of the club. No-one will ever say that Forfar should aspire to challenging the big teams in Scotland, but their supporters will not now tolerate being below Stenhousemuir, Albion Rovers, East Stirlingshire etc. Sadly in the 1970s, their toleration was pushed to extreme limits.

The decade opened with a fairly predictable 7-0 thrashing in February when Rangers came on Scottish Cup business. Station Park's record attendance was set up on that day and money was generated. From then on, however, it was all downhill. The early 1970s uncannily resembled the bad days of the early 1960s and it was all the more galling to the support because they had had a couple of seasons under Jake Young in the late 1960s,which proved that it did not need to be like that.

Highlights are hard to pick out in the early 1970s. There was a good victory over Raith Rovers on New Year's Day 1973, but otherwise Alan Kennedy and Dave Easson, the management team, struggled. Major mistakes were made as well in that Malcolm Lowe, a local boy (from Padanaram) of some talent was allowed to depart to Montrose, and others were persevered with for far too long.

By the time that Kennedy departed and then Easson after him, the slide had developed into a cascade, and Jerry Kerr was appointed manager in autumn 1974. Jerry had been a great manager for Dundee United in the 1960s, but was now too old and was handicapped by a Board who had now quite clearly lost the confidence of the support. The phrase "I'm no comin' back" traditionally used by Forfarians after defeats was now taken seriously as crowds dipped to below 500 on occasion, ans sometimes well below. Season 1974-5 was the worst of all with only one victory, and season 1975-6 was only marginally better.

But in summer 1976, Sam Smith took over as Chairman. He was honest enough not to offer any immediate improvement, but there now seemed to be the commitment to the club that had been lacking in the recent past. He also had the undeniable advantage of knowing something about football. His biggest coup came in November of 1976 when he persuaded Archie Knox to return as player-manager, and he promised Archie any financial support that he would need to bring decent players to the club. With Dave McGregor now producing an excellent programme for home matches, there was a renewed air of optimism about the club that had not been there for some considerable time.

Pay off time came as soon as season 1977-78. Knox had signed two experienced professionals in Henry Hall, late of St.Johnstone and Alex Rae who only six years previously had won a League Cup medal with Partick Thistle. In addition many good players were brought in and those who had disgraced the club a few years previously were now removed. It was the League Cup campaign of 1977-78 which really made the country sit up and take notice. First Premier League Ayr United bit the dust, then First Division Queen of the South before Forfar were drawn against Rangers at Hampden Park in the Semi Final. Bad weather compelled a cancellation from November until late February. History will record a 5-2 win for Rangers, but that does not tell the whole story, especially when Forfar were 2-1 up inside the last ten minutes.

But there was much more than that to enthuse over. The team finished sixth in Division 2, but there was a steely determination about them as they beat teams like Falkirk and Raith Rovers. New Year was a good time when they beat Raith at Stark's Park, then wiped the floor with Brechin on January 2nd. Forfar were now respectable. They were back and supporters did not any longer have to be ashamed to admit that they supported Forfar. The jokes about a team called Forfar Nil now stopped.

1978-79 did not see the glory of the previous year, but it was once again a solid performance. The feeling was that glory was just round the corner, and then in summer 1979 for the first time for almost 50 years and since the days of McLean and Kilgour, Forfar won the Forfarshire Cup. They beat Dundee in the Final at Station Park, and although the Forfarshire Cup was by no means a major trophy, it nevertheless was a pointer that Forfar were now a team to be reckoned with. In the event in season 1979-80, promotion itself was only narrowly missed.