Hall on the Ball
Brian Clough and ‘the damned United’
what he said, and what respected people in he has got already, he’d have to live until he’s
the game said about him. Here are some of my 634 to spend that lot
favourite ‘Cloughisms’ …on Roy Keane, 1999
What he said… If I was in management now and had the money
to take the pick of any player, anywhere, if I could
Age does not count. It’s what you know about have the best at Arsenal, Leeds, Chelsea or Real
football that matters. I know I am better than Madrid, I’d take Keane
the 500 or so managers who have been sacked …on reiterating the importance of Roy Keane, 1999
since the war. If they had known anything about
the game they wouldn’t have lost their jobs. I couldn’t believe my big ears when Fergie said
‘Young man…you’re a clown’
…on taking his first managerial post, with he had not seen Keane’s tackle on Haaland and
Hartlepool, in 1965. that United’s secretary thought it was a sending
Remembered by modern supporters as one of
off? It was among the worst fouls I’d ever seen.
the great managers of his era, Brian Clough’s
Success? Tell me the date when my obituary …a bit more of Roy on ‘that’ tackle.
28 years in management brought him trophies
is going to appear and I’ll tell you whether I’ve
that some of today’s managers would die for.
been a success or not. If I get to 60 I shall have When he played for me at Nottingham Forest he
But his life wasn’t all champagne and cigars
done pretty well. was the slowest player in the squad – perhaps
because if it wasn’t for a knee ligament injury
…now manager of Brighton, 1973. due to all those nightclubs he kept telling me he
on Boxing Day 1962 we might never have seen
didn’t frequent.
Brian Howard Clough become a legendary
Outside family life there is nothing better than …on Teddy Sheringham after he was named
football manager. Tragedy struck Brian after
winning European Cups. Footballer of the Year, 2001
his playing career was cut short at the age of
…now manager of Nottingham Forest, 1980
29 but he resurrected himself as a manager at
When he scored…he had a better smile than
Hartlepool with his old teammate Peter Taylor
I want to be manager of Scotland Clark Gable. Beautiful teeth, arms wide, that’s
as his assistant. They formed a match winning
…looking for a change in 1985 how he celebrated. He wasn’t that big but he
formula and went on to manage Derby County
had a huge arse. It came down well below his
where they took them from a mediocre 2
nd

I can’t promise to give team talks in Welsh, but
knees, that’s where he got his strength from.
division team to winning the 1
st
division [now from now I’ll be taking my holidays in Porthcawl
…on Kenny Dalglish, 1995
the Premier League] and semi finalists in the and I’ve bought some Harry Secombe albums.
European Cup in five years. Clough clashed …on his hopes of becoming Wales’ manager
The only person certain of boarding the bus to
with the Board at Derby and he and Taylor had in 1988
Wembley for the Littlewoods Cup Final is Albert
a brief spell at Brighton. Before Brian had the
Kershore, and he’ll be driving it.
chance to let the Ambre Solar seep into his
I hope you were delighted as I was last week
…always keeping his players on their toes, 1990
hardened northern skin, he was back off up
when Nelson Mandela was freed from a South
to Leeds to take over from Don Revie in his ill
African jail. But what I hadn’t bargained for was
If it meant getting three points on Saturday
fated 44 day spell at Elland Road.
that his release was going to cut across the start
I would shoot my grandmother. Not nastily, I
of our Littlewoods Cup Final
would just hurt her.
…on life with Forest at the bottom of the
…Nottingham Forest programme column, 1990
Premier League, 1992.
They didn’t want an England manager who was
When Leeds sacked me, all my worries about
prepared to say all the Italians are cheating
pensions and bringing up three kids were gone,
bastards. They failed to understand that I
and I became a better manager
would have curbed my language and revelled
…on his £90,000 ‘golden handshake’ from
in the relief from the day-to-day grind of club
Leeds 16 years earlier, 1990.
management.
…on what could have been, 1995
What they said about him…
There was talk of a testimonial match, of a stand He is a kind of Rolls Royce communist
being named after me, but there was nothing, …Malcolm Allison, rival manager 1973
not even a toilet. They could of have had a Brian
Clough Bog.
He’s worse than the rain in Manchester. At least
‘Day one of forty-four’ …on the alleged lack of recognition for his 17 God stops that occasionally.
years’ service to Nottingham Forest, 1997. Two
….Bill Shankly, Liverpool legend, 1979
This episode in his life was captured in the
years’ later Forest named a stand after him.
film The Damned United. I have read the book On a Saturday he’d walk in the dressing room
by David Peace and now I’ll go and see the
Being thick isn’t an infliction if you’re a footballer
at twenty to three, put a football down and say
movie in a few weeks’ time. I’ve seen a couple
as your brains need to be in your feet. Beckham
“Right, this is your best friend, this is what we
of clips of Michael Sheen imitating Clough
works hard, he’s brave and he’s a superb
play with”
and he carries the role off well. The book is
crosser. He treats a ball like he does his wife
…Darren Wassall, Derby and former Forest
‘fiction based on fact’ and portrays Clough as a
–lovingly, with caresses.
player, 1993
paranoid alcoholic which the Clough family have
…on Beckham, 2000
distanced themselves from. It seems that those I played under Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley, and
who knew Clough, his drink problem, which led Clough is a better manager than either of them.
to alcoholism, came much later in his life. After
He’s not joining Pisa for the simple and most
As a manager there’s no limit to my respect for
Brian left Leeds he linked up with Taylor again
important reason that his mother decided that
him, but as a man he’s not my cup of tea. I once
where they took 2
nd
division Nottingham Forest
days ago.
told him I’d never be caught standing at a bar
to back to back European Cups and led them
…after speculation that his son, Nigel, was Italy-
having a drink with him. He said the feeling was
to an unbeaten record of 42 league games
bound, 1988.
mutual. Larry Lloyd, former Liverpool and Forest
between November 1997and December 1978. defender, 1991
Clough and Taylor fell out in 1982 but Brian
Young Keane shouldn’t screw up his privileged
stayed at the City Ground until 1993. He died in
position at Old Trafford for the sake of a few
Like all the great dictators, from de Gaulle to
September 2004, becoming a victim of stomach extra thousand quid he might make abroad. It’s Thatcher, he stayed on a little too long.
cancer. Apart from his managerial success, tempting – 60 grand a week after tax, and a four Gazzetta Dello Sport, Italian newspaper, after
much-loved Cloughie will be remembered for – year contract. But I reckon that on top of what Clough’s retirement, 1993
8 9
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