In his autobiography, ‘Walking on Water’, Brian Clough recalls his feelings on the day he was interviewed for the vacant England manager’s job:  “When I sit at home, busy doing nothing at all, and think back again to that day I bowled into Lancaster Gate as if I already owned the place, I remain unshakeable in my belief that the whole interviewing process was a charade.”  This recollection provides an indication of Clough’s brash self-confidence and an insight into how a conservative FA had already earmarked ‘their man’, Ron Greenwood, for the top job.  Despite a strong shortlist consisting of such luminaries as Bobby Robson and Lawrie McMenemy alongside the lesser known Allen Wade and Charles Hughes, many football aficionados agreed that Clough was the best qualified for the job.  Moreover, most football fans in the East Midlands still regard Brian Clough as the greatest manager of modern times – his achievements unmatched in the British game when you consider that he was only able to flex relatively meagre financial muscles. 

Manchester United supporters and a brown-nosed media might wax lyrical about Alex Ferguson being the best thing since sliced bread, but Clough himself summed it up best when he said, “For all his horses, knighthoods and championships, he hasn’t got two of what I’ve got.  And I don’t mean balls.” 

Clough’s European pedigree was exemplary: two European Cups in consecutive seasons in 1979 and 1980 were the ultimate prizes for a man who also won the Super Cup in 1980 and who featured in the European Cup semi-final with Derby County in 1973.  Would Alex have matched those feats with the same team and resources?  As well as this fine record in Europe, Clough also captured the league title with both Derby and Forest and won four League Cups while in charge at the City Ground.  During his tenure as manager, Forest went on a run of 42 games unbeaten, only seven games less than Arsenal’s 49-game run which unsurprisingly drew hyperbolic headlines such as ‘Invincibles’ and ‘The Best Ever…’ from a sensationalist London press.  Clough was universally seen as a hard but fair manager, who insisted on clean play from his players and who suffered no fools when communicating with the media. 

Clough was a man of principle and high standards and was never afraid to offer his advice to player or pressman.  When Trevor Francis (pictured above) found himself with the honour of receving an award from the great man, Clough told him in no uncertain terms to “Take your hands out of your pockets!”  On England goalkeeper David Seaman, Clough observed, “That Seaman is a handsome young man but he spends too much time looking in his mirror rather than at the ball.  You can’t keep goal with hair like that.”  He was famous for insisting on being called ‘Mr Clough’ and earned great respect from his peers for his ability to turn a game to his and his team’s advantage. 

While his outspoken and humorous comments enthralled many fans across the country, there were times when his acerbic wit and sharp tongue got him into trouble. One such situation he later lived to regret. After being knocked out of the European Cup semi-final by Juventus as Derby County manager, Clough accused The Old Lady of being ‘cheating bastards’ and questioned the Italian nation’s courage in the war.  His argument with with the Derby board led to Clough walking out on the club, a move which would have Derby’s fans demanding the board’s resignation.  After a brief stint managing Third Division Brighton and Hove Albion, Clough was famously sacked after just 44 days by Leeds United after upsetting several star players.  Most poignant was the break-down of his relationship with one-time right hand man and close friend, Peter Taylor. Taylor had been Clough’s assistant at Hartlepool, Brighton Derby, and Forest, and had retired in 1982, only to then come out of retirement to manage Derby County.  Taylor arranged the transfer of Forest’s John Robertson without Clough’s consent, leading to an irreconcilable breakdown in the pair’s relationship.  The two men had not put aside their grievances when Taylor died in 1990.  Clough regretted his stubbornness and continued to drink excessively. 

Some people believe that Brian Clough was the greatest England manager never to have got the job.  I myself would tend to agree with this.  First and foremost, Clough was a good northerner who spoke his mind and called a spade a spade.  What you saw was what you got.  He was also fairly conventional in his approach to handling his squad; he demanded that players were ultra-professional off the field as well as on it and insisted that his players upheld on a clean image and were well-presented with neat haircuts and smart suits.  He also insisted on shirts being tucked inside their shorts and always played with their socks rolled up.  This cleancut appearance was also reflected in his teams’ behaviour on the pitch as he was adamant that his players should behave honourably and never argue with the referee.  His tactics and methods demonstrated a desire to play the game in the right way by keeping the ball on the ground and not resorting to Route One football which was employed by so many other teams in England at the time.  He was an inventive coach and used left wingers like John Robertson at Forest and Alan Hinton at Derby to particularly good effect.  Like Alf Ramsay at Ipswich, Clough moulded together a group of lesser-known players and turned them into a really effective crushing machine, where the onus was on collective responsibility and the team playing for each other rather than relying on Fancy Dans who were out for themselves.  Although Clough himself signed Teddy Sheringham, it is rumoured that Clough didn’t really care for him and thought he was another flash and cocky Londoner.  This feeling is perhaps typified in the way that Clough constantly referred to him as ‘Edward’.

When Clough speaks about the interviewing process being a charade it is because the FA were never in a million years going to appoint a man of Clough’s outpoken nature.  In Walking on Water he says: “They (the interviewing panel) could have saved us all a lot of time and bother because Greenwood seemed merely to be rubber-stamped.  They would have gone home and boasted to their golf-club cronies that they had appointed the nice Ron Greenwood, a first class diplomat as well as a fine coach, and they had given the bum’s rush to that objectionable braggart from Nottingham Forest.”   Whatever the reasons the power-men had when deciding not to make Clough manager, it surely was to England’s loss. 

Looking back on his success, his record stands alongside any of the top managers in the English game.  Clough himself says, “Who thought Derby County could be turned into League champions; that any manager could bounce back from getting the bullet after 44 days with a great club and go on to prove himself among the best managers of all time; that what was done at Derby could be repeated at Forest; that after winning one European Cup, we could retain it; that a brash, self-opinionated young footballer, cut down by injury in his prime, would go on to achieve more impressive fame as a brash, highly successful manager?”  To paraphrase a famous Clough quote, he may not have been the best manager in the business, but he certainly was the top one.