Unfair comparison really but we played really good football under Gordon Lee, had 3rd and 4th placed finishes, European football and two FA Cup semi-finals (getting done over by Clive Thomas in one). A month after we signed George Wood in 1977, Forest signed Shilton and he only conceded 18 goals in 37 matches. He was the reason they won the league that year.
We were still perceived to be one of the elite clubs in the 70s, but when Moyes took over we were making the numbers up in the league. He got us up the league and competitive at least at Goodison. I preferred to watch the Gordon Lee team, but as others have said it’s not a fair comparison.