Memories of Brian Clough’s genius live on

 
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By David V., 18 Sep 2009 The Crowd is a Roar Pro

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Five years ago on Sunday, football lost one of its greatest managers of all time when Brian Clough passed away. Few managers have made such a profound impact on the game and attained respect and reverence across generations of its fans.

Brian Clough was born and raised in Middlesbrough, and it was at his hometown club where he made his name as one of the most lethal centre-forwards in the country.

His strike-rate for Middlesbrough was phenomenal, and he was surrounded by players who also came through the club’s much lauded youth system.

He moved to Sunderland in 1961, a club who were trying to win promotion out of the Second Division following its first-ever relegation in 1958. Unfortunately, on Boxing Day 1962 in a League match with Bury, a collision with Bury’s goalkeeper left Clough with a cruciate ligament injury, effectively ending his career, although he did attempt a comeback after Sunderland won promotion from the Second Division in 1964.

Clough won just two full England caps. It really should have been more, and who knows what he could have done in a World Cup.

He began his career in management with Hartlepool United in 1965, and within two years, improved their position greatly and attracted attention of bigger clubs. So in 1967, he became manager of Derby County, where his legend was made.

In 1969, Derby won the Second Division Championship.

This was a mightily superb side for the day with players like Alan Hinton, Kevin Hector and Roy McFarland. The Rams kicked on in the First Division.

The addition of players like Archie Gemmill and Colin Todd made a good team even better, and Derby won their first League title in 1972, following a cliffhanger title race, and a European run followed.

Clough was always one to speak his mind, and the football public loved him for that.

Not so the powerbrokers in the game, and it was a dispute with the Derby board that led to his resignation the following year.

Less successful spells at Brighton and Leeds followed.

In 1975, Brian Clough was appointed manager of Nottingham Forest. Forest was then struggling somewhat in the Second Division, but Clough would work his genius there.

He was always one to get the best out of less talented players, while expecting players would concentrate on what they did best and focus on their strengths. Thankfully, this meant that skill players were not expected to run or work hard.

Players like John McGovern, Larry Lloyd, Martin O’Neill, John Robertson, Tony Woodcock, Viv Anderson and Frank Clark all played a part in getting Forest promoted in 1977.

The addition of Peter Shilton and Archie Gemmill simply made a good team even better, and they stunned everyone by comfortably winning their first and only League title in 1978.

As if that wasn’t enough, they would go on to win two European Cups in 1979 and 1980, thanks to the efforts of players like Garry Birtles and Trevor Francis.

This team was broken up by 1982 and large sums of money had been spent (not always well) on replacements.

However, the rebuilding of the side around young players like Peter Davenport, Cris Fairclough, Colin Walsh and Steve Hodge would see more top five finishes and another European run.

Then came the next wave, players like Nigel Clough, Des Walker, Stuart Pearce and Neill Webb, who brought yet more strong finishes.

League Cup wins in 1989 and 1990 were the last major trophies Clough and Forest would win.

The unearthing of talented players like Roy Keane and Ian Woan was yet another contribution to the game, and Forest reached the FA Cup Final in 1991.

It is worth noting that in the 1990/91 season, Forest hit 16 goals in just three games in succession – a 4-0 win over West Ham in the FA Cup semi-final was followed by 7-0 over Chelsea and 5-0 over Norwich.

During this period, Nottingham Forest won consistent critical acclaim for their sensational brand of passing, attacking football. It was Brian Clough who said those immortal words: “If God had wanted us to play football in the clouds, he’d have put grass up there”.

He was right, as always.

Sadly, his time as manager came to an end.

The sale of Teddy Sheringham and Des Walker in 1992 was a blow to the team. Forest would be relegated at the end of 1992-93 (the first season of the cynically rebranded Premier League), and Clough retired from football management.

His problem with alcoholism, sadly, had also caught up with him by this time.

Clough contributed a column to FourFourTwo magazine right up to his death in 2004.

Few managers made such a profound impact on football as Brian Clough, a man whose sheer genius as a manager electrified teams and spectators.

He took two clubs to heights they had never scaled before and never since. He believed in playing football the right way, and he got the best out of players.

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