Great read and Brucey gets a mention. http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/sep/06/brian-clough-10th-anniversary-death The last time I saw Brian Clough in the flesh â and sadly there were not enough of those occasions in a work capacity â he went through a routine that the football writers who used to cover his patch and spent their working lives in the forcefield of that personality will know well. It was a December day, 2003, in Burton-on-Trent and what we did not know at the time was that the cancer was already inside his body. His knees were causing him discomfort and he looked older than I remembered. Yet there was still that overwhelming personality. âThe eyes have it,â as Pat Murphy wrote in His Way. âThose hazel eyes may have become a shade rheumy, but they could still flash at the merest hint of weakness or a perceived character defect. Testing you, always probing, looking for vulnerable areas.â There was the raised finger, if necessary, for added effect and a tongue, you just knew, that could shake your bones if you said the wrong thing. He wanted to know who I worked for, could I spell, did I have O-levels and, son, get yourself a haircut, and in those moments it would be a lie to say your heart is not racing. Your palms are sweaty. Your mouth is so dry it feels as if you have swallowed a cup of sawdust. And yet, there is also that rare appreciation of being in the presence of authentic greatness. The 10th anniversary of his death is later this month and it pains me that the stories of his drinking cover the final acts of his career like a black drape. A manâs life has to be judged in the full and Cloughâs legacy should not just be measured by his European Cups and all the other trophies. It was the charisma with which he did it, with his own set of rules, and the way he mesmerised everyone in his company, to the point that Clough in his pomp could probably have sauntered up to the gates of the White House and persuaded whoever was on the door to let him in. If you missed those years you should dig out the clip of him verbally jousting with Muhammad Ali on that 1973 episode of The Big Match and wonder how many football managers would have the wit and presence to bring the greatest of them all to declare: âClough, Iâve had enough!â Search for that famous interview with John Motson when Clough, straight off the squash court, provides nine minutes of television gold, much of it at the expense of the man sitting opposite him. Or the footage of the Calendar Special on the night he was fired at Leeds United and his boyish joy when he realises he has got under the skin of Don Revie, doing his absolute best to avoid eye contact in the next seat. Clough, leaning in, even gets in a brilliantly condescending âgood ladâ. The 40th anniversary is on Friday and that programme, Goodbye Mr Clough, just gets better with age. âLeeds had to get someone who was slightly special,â Clough explains to his predecessor. âNow, I donât want to sound blasé or conceited â¦â Next weekend, the supporters of Nottingham Forest and Derby County will rise to their feet, in the 10th minute of their Championship match, to remember the man whose name now takes the 15-mile stretch of dual carriageway between the two cities. Many will pull on green sweatshirts for added effect and it would not surprise me if they plan something similar at Middlesbrough and Sunderland as well. Clough scored 251 goals in his 274 league appearances for the two clubs and was still reminding us about it on that wintry day when he arrived, unannounced, at one of his son Nigelâs press conferences and turned it into a lecture about how he was sick of hearing how nice Clough Jr was when, as the old man knew very well, every manager occasionally had to use his elbows. Steve Bruce can testify to that, bearing in mind the story he tells of standing in a public lavatory, zip down, at one function, then becoming aware of a presence behind him, and suddenly taking a whack that knocked him into the urinal. The voice behind him was familiar: âYoung man, thatâs for kicking my Nigel as many times as you did. Now carry on â¦â Matt Dickinsonâs biography of Bobby Moore, The Man In Full, is published this week and contains another piece of vintage Clough, at his seductive best, sweet-talking West Hamâs skipper into wanting a transfer to Derby, then turning up at Upton Park demanding to see Ron Greenwood and pulling up a seat as if he owned the place. Greenwood was too diplomatic to protest as Clough left the room to get a drink. He did not come back for 20 minutes. âIâve been looking around the place,â he cheerfully announced on his return. âIsnât it lovely?â That was one of the occasions Clough did not get his way and, many years later, he gave Moore a package. Inside was a tablecloth made of Nottingham lace and a handwritten note: âIt was a tragedy we could never get together.â The mind also goes back to a night in Miami before the World Cup and a leaving do for Mike Ingham, the BBCâs chief football correspondent. Ingham went through all the usual thank you messages but the story he lingered on went back to 1979, of how his father had knocked on Cloughâs door in Quarndon one Sunday morning to inform him that his son was moving from the local radio station to London. Clough used to be fiercely protective of anyone getting past his front gate but recognised the paternal instincts, invited him in and recorded a taped message in a This is Your Life-style cassette. It included a promise that he would always help this young commentator in his new role and Ingham recalled how he put it to the test eight years later after Forest had won at Arsenal in the FA Cup. This time it was Ingham knocking nervously at the dressing-room door. Clough had already turned down Match of the Day and every other request. âI waited a few moments and then a finger snaked around the door to usher me in. He hadnât forgotten.â With Clough, everyone who has encountered him tends to have a story and, if they are told accurately, it is almost always with him disarming whoever else was involved, whether it be with charm or one of those devastating one-liners. Sir Alex Ferguson once described him as âthe rudest man in footballâ (admittedly, a bit like Billy Connolly complaining that someone swears too much). The Manchester United manager once tried the same trick as Clough with West Ham and turned up at the City Ground trying to sign Stuart Pearce. Clough drew the curtains, put his feet on the desk and sent a message that he was watching the cricket. It is just a pity his memory seems to have been tarnished by the acceleration in his drinking. Nobody could deny either that his reputation never fully recovered from Alan Sugarâs accusation, in a court affidavit, about brown envelopes at service stations. Clough did invite Sugar to say it without the benefit of privilege but the former Tottenham chairman waited until his 2010 autobiography and the suspicion stuck to Clough in the way fog clings to the river Trent. Perhaps that is why the campaign for him to be knighted posthumously never really got anywhere. But if football managers should ever qualify for knighthoods, the same applies to Clough as it does Bob Paisley: neither should have been overlooked if Fergusonâs could be rushed through after his first European Cup. Would he have succeeded in modern-day football? I asked that question to Ian Edwards, the Forest correspondent back in the day on the Nottingham Evening Post, and he was adamant Brian would have found a way. One thing for certain is that it would have a been a lot of fun finding out, in this era of super agents and far too many Sam Longson-types. Clough, one imagines, would also have had plenty to say about the England team, what has gone wrong and what needs to be put right. But then again, he always did.
As far as I am aware Redknapp never won 2 European Cups with an unfancied club outside of the so called elite of the division in those days. EDIT: I almost forgot, I would like to add that he took Derby County, another unfancied club outside or the so called elite of the division in those days to European Cup Semi-Finals.
He'd probably slur something unintelligible, and then vomit on his lap. Which in an instant would be more valuable than anything Roy Hodgson has said. Budum, tish! I thank you.
Probably, but by that stage he was washed up and ill which doesn't detract from his overall record in football, which was phenomenal.
I don't see what is wrong with saying Brian Clough was an alcoholic and towards the end of his life it was very visible . A great manager no doubt but not the same without Peter Taylor
Great read, thanks Chazz, with or without Taylor he was the GREATEST. Would have loved to see him in his heyday in face-to-face discussion with Mourinho of 5 years ago (he's mellowed beyond recognition now).
Did he ever put a team out that actually beat Hull City. Besides the Derby team that beat us at the Baseball Ground in the League Cup, 3-1 ?
didnt he try to buy Waggy about 69/70 time after he put a couple by his Derby team? Edit Apparently he want to do a straight swop for Kevin Hector and suggested to Waggy he go on strike to force the move through. But we wouldnt sell.
He did try to buy Waggy but he was not for sale. Clough also said at a public meeting in Hull with Wagstaff in the audience that if he had of signed for him he would have played for England. I agree with that. Kevin Hector was Hull born but never played for his home town club, which was a tragedy. Another two Hull lads who went onto score loads of goals during that era for other clubs were Gerry Ingram and Bob Hatton. Both of them never played for City. Another one that got away in the 60's probably because we had such a free scoring forward line and productive conveyor belt of youngsters coming through was Kevin Keegan playing for Scunthorpe. Surely we must have had him watched when every club in the country were watching him?
