McFarland said: “He dealt with things on the field; if anything went wrong, you just knew that Henry Newton would do something in the match to support us as a team – he was an excellent footballer.
“Henry added that little bit of class, that little bit of extra to the group, which made us a lot, lot stronger as a team.”
In a playing career which began in 1963, Newton made 492 league appearances, including 282 for Forest.
He arrived at the Baseball Ground in September 1973, as Brian’s Clough last signing as Derby County manager, the club said.
During the title-winning season, Newton netted in consecutive victories against Manchester City, Liverpool and Wolves.
Newton also played the full 90 minutes as Derby beat West Ham at Wembley in August 1975 to win the Charity Shield.
Newton was capped by the England Under-23 side on four occasions, scoring twice.
A spokesperson for Derby County said the thoughts of everyone at the club were with Newton’s family.
Former BBC Radio Derby sports editor Colin Gibson said he was a “really gifted” footballer.
“[He was] a player that Brian Clough and Peter Taylor had wanted to sign for a long time to get [him] into their championship winning side of 71-72,” he said.
“He became very much a centre point, one of the unsung heroes of Dave Mackay’s team that won the championship in 1974-75.”
Everton said it was deeply saddened to learn of Newton’s death.