It is a sad day for football and one cannot underestimate what this man achieved in football. To win a league championship with a small provincial team like Derby and then do the same twice with Nottingham Forest is remarkable enough.
To win four league cups is more than most other managers ever achieve, but to win two back to back European Cups is unrivalled and to do that with Nottingham Forest is absolutely miraculous. Don't forget this is the equivalent to todays Champions (sic) League and is the biggest prize in club football in the world!
It was sad to him end on a relegation note but unquestionably his drinking had taken its toll and the sharp mind had been blunted considerably (if not the sharp tongue!) Those last images of him in 1993 before his enforced retirement with his bloated face and blotched, spotty, wretched complexion, a giveaway sign of the soon to be irretrievably poisoned liver, were sad indeed. But his liver transplant last year and his total subsequent abstinence from the sauce had transformed him. In recent interviews he had looked hale and hearty, almost fresh faced, with the sharp tongue still there but complemented by a warmer, more engaging person...a man who knew he was lucky to be alive and was happy in his dotage to play the part of retired ex-legendary manager and current Dad and Grandad. His stories are legendary, both from his friends but also from himself.
My favourite Cloughie quote? That would be this....
"I'm not the best manager there is, but I'm definitely in the Top One".
It is a huge tribute to the man that he was known even to those who never watched football or even like the game. He was a personality, an eccentric and a deeply principled man (a real socialist through and through), and a man who never let the riches and fame change him. His favourite meal was always quoted as Fish and Chips in the paper. Football, and I would argue the country as a whole, is a little less colourful for the loss of one of it's greatest men. RIP, Cloughie. Later, GrocerJack
3 comments:
It's all a bit sombre over this side of the East Midlands too, a very sad day for football.
My favourite Clough story was from my mate who went to watch Forest one day v's Manyu when Mansfield were away, he had his Stags top on. Cloughie came up to him and shook his hand and said:
"nice shirt young man, why aren't you watching the Stags today"
"they are away at Exeter Mr Clough"
"no excuse young man, you follow the team you really support no matter what,dont come to see this drivell again when you can go and watch the stags". he said.
And he was serious.
I've stuck a few more Cloughie quotes on www.midfieldgeneral.blogspot.com
I am not, and never have been a football fan, but I knew who Brian Clough was, and would always listen to him on TV or radio.
The main things I have heard said on Talk Sport, and Five Live, have been comments that he was the best manager England never had, and I'm sure he would have had something to say about that.
He also had an incredible football career, let alone the management side.
Althoug it does show the hypocrisy of football. Some of the Cloughie quotes doing the rounds are as xenophobic/racist as the ones that got Big Ron the sack.
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