Brian Clough
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Brian Clough, OBE (March 21, 1935–September 20 2004) was a talented footballer and subsequently an incredibly successful football manager, most notable for his success with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is regarded by many as being one of, if the not the greatest manager in the history of football.
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Playing career
Clough was a prolific striker for his home town Middlesbrough and for Sunderland, scoring a staggering 251 goals in 274 games. Unfortunately for Clough on December 26th 1962 he injured his knee during a match against Bury after colliding with the goalkeeper. It turned out to be a cruciate ligament injury, which usually ended a player's career at that time. Clough returned two years later but could only manage three games before retiring. He played twice for England in 1960 against Sweden and Wales, without scoring.
Management career
Clough then went on to manage Hartlepools United (now Hartlepool United) with Peter Taylor as his assistant manager, before they both joined Derby County as manager and assistant manager in 1967. At Derby, Clough and Taylor won promotion to the Football League First Division (then the highest echelon of English football) and then won the Championship with Derby in the 1971-72 season.
Clough's outspoken comments against football's establishment (which led to Derby being threatened with expulsion from the League) led to him falling out with the board of directors at Derby, and Clough and Taylor left the club. Together they spent a brief period at Brighton and Hove Albion before Clough on his own took over as manager of Leeds United when Don Revie was appointed manager of England. Clough was manager of Leeds for only 44 days before he was fired after upsetting many of Leeds's star players.
In January 1975, Clough made a quick return to management with Nottingham Forest who were an ungainly Second Division side. He transformed the club's fortunes and his first success at the club came in his second full season (1976-77) when they won promotion to the First Division. In their first season after promotion they were crowned champions of the First Division. And during the 1978-79 season, Clough signed the 24-year-old Birmingham City striker Trevor Francis - Britain's first £1million footballer. The season was rounded off with victory in the European Cup. A year later, Clough guided Forest to a second successive European Cup. It was not until 1989 that Clough and Forest would enjoy another major trophy success, this time over Luton Town in the League Cup. A year later, Clough guided Forest to another League Cup victory, this time over Oldham Athletic. In 1991 Forest reached their first F.A Cup final under Brian Clough, but lost 2-1 to Tottenham Hotspur. They reached the League Cup final again in 1992, but lost 1-0 to Manchester United.
The 1992-93 season was Nottingham Forest's 18th season under Brian Clough - and the club's last. They were one of the 22 clubs in the new Premier League, but the sale of key players like Teddy Sheringham and Des Walker saw the club's fortunes take a sharp decline and they were bottom virtually all season. Just before a 2-1 defeat against Sheffield United confirmed the club's relegation after 16 years in the top flight, Clough announced his retirement as manager.
Retirement
Clough retired as manager of Nottingham Forest in May 1993 to be succeeded by the Leyton Orient manager Frank Clark. He spent the majority of his retirement living in Quarndon, Derbyshire before moving to Derby itself.
Much of his retirement was spent concentrating on his fight against alcoholism which had plagued him since the 1970s. He considered applying for the job as manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers on the resignation of Graham Taylor in October 1995, perhaps thinking that he could take the struggling club (then just above the relegation zone in the new First Division) to the same heights he took Nottingham Forest to. But nothing came of it and Clough's managerial career was over. Nottingham Forest honoured him by renaming the City Ground's Executive Stand the Brian Clough Stand.
In January 2003, the 67-year-old Clough underwent a liver transplant, 30 years of heavy drinking had taken its toll and doctors said that Clough would have died within two weeks without a transplant. The transplant gave Brian Clough a new lease of life for the next 20 months.
Death and legacy
Clough died of stomach cancer on 20 September, 2004 at the age of 69.
Such was his popularity that fans of Derby County and Nottingham Forest, usually the fiercest of rivals, mourned together following his passing. A memorial service was held at Derby's Pride Park Stadium on October 21, 2004 which was attended by over 14,000 people. It was originally to be held at Derby Cathedral, but had to be moved due to demand for tickets.
Many consider that taking two relatively small and unfashionable clubs to such heights ranks as one of the great -- if not the greatest -- managerial achievements in the history of English football.
During these years Clough was the English public's pick for manager of England, but he was never given the job by the Football Association, presumably because FA officials were nervous about his outspoken nature and habit of causing controversy. To this day Clough is widely regarded as the best manager never to have had the England job.
Clough's assistant manager at Derby and Brighton, Peter Taylor, fell out with him in 1982 and returned to Derby County as manager where he remained until retiring from football in 1984. During Taylor's spell as manager of Derby, the rift between him and Clough deepened when he signed Nottingham Forest winger John Robertson without first telling Clough. The rift had not been repaired by the time Taylor died, but Clough and his family still attended Taylor's funeral.
Clough was reportedly being considered for a knighthood for his services to soccer when he died. He already had an OBE and joked that it stood for "Old Big 'Ead".
His son, Nigel Clough, currently manages Burton Albion F.C..
In June 2005 the Nottingham Playhouse premiered a play called 'Old Big 'Ead in The Spirit of the Man: Brian Clough Takes to the Stage.. Quite Literally!' in which Clough was portrayed by actor Colin Tarrant.
Quotations
"I certainly wouldn't say I'm the best manager in the league, but I'm in the top one."
"Get in there - that's what I pay you for!" - to Derby County players at a training session.
"You got all those medals by cheating" - to the Leeds United players on his first day as manager.
"If a chairman sacks a manager that he initially appointed, then he should go as well."
"John Robertson was an very unattractive young man, if one day, I felt a bit off colour, I would sit next to him. I was bloody Errol Flynn compared to him."
"If God had intended for us to play football in the clouds he would have put grass up there" - referring to the long ball game.
"If a player had said to Bill Shankly 'I've got to speak to my agent', Bill would have hit him. And I would have held him while he hit him."
"It was like a morgue in the dressing room after the game, and it's still like a morgue now. If that's what defeat feels like, we don't want to go through it again - oh, it's rotten" - interview with ITV after defeat for Forest in the 1980 League Cup final.
"Derby County were here a long time before Robert Maxwell" - on agreeing with a protest by Derby fans against Maxwell's ownership of the club.
"They thought I was going to change it lock, stock and barrel. They were shrewd because thats exactly what I would have done" - on why he was rejected by the FA for the England job.
"I'd ask him how he thinks it should be done, have a chat about it for twenty minutes and then decide I was right" - on dealing with players disagreeing with his methods.
"Don't send me flowers when I'm dead, send them to me now if you like me."
"I want no epitaphs of profound history or all that kind of thing. I contributed, I hope they would say that and I hope that somebody liked me."
External links
- BBC Obituary (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/1576977.stm)
- BBC quotations by Clough (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/3674210.stm)
- Nottingham Forests double European Cup win (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/3758495.stm)
- Brian Clough timeline (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/3674294.stm)da:Brian Clough