I met him when I was a kid my uncle had a trial for Forest A team which was on Saturday morning so as wed travelled to Nottingham from lancs we went to the city ground for the first team game. As we were collecting our tickets he swung round the corner in his merc and saw that I'd seen him and was telling my uncle. He came over and introduced himself and had a chat for a few minutes. A day I'll never forget.
I used to do a paper round for his brother... and one day when I came in to pick up a huge backpack of the 'Evening Post', I saw a blue S class Merc in the forecourt... and.... in I went, and there he was, sat by the post office till. It was like god himself had popped down for a tea.
Best one I heard was Martin O’Neill when he checked the team sheet he noticed he wasn’t in the first team, but was in the 2nd team. He said to Clough. “Boss, why am I in the 2nd team?” Clough said. “Because you’re too good for the 3rd team.”
Much as Clough was an extremely successful manager and definitely a one off, for me whenever I saw him being interviewed on TV or via tge stories told about he has always come across as a belligerent old drunk.
Wow, 19 in 1988 and earning 120 quid a week as a professional footballer. I was also 19 in 1988 and was earning about the same labouring on building sites in London. How times have changed...
Mark's nickname amongst us Forest fans was 'Big Norm' - due to his supposed resemblance to Norman Whiteside - the Manchester United legend. Note that I said 'supposed'......
Cloughie was a one off. Stories about him are legendary. Most of his players had nicknames. At the time some of the situations they found themselves in with Brian may have seemed 'strange' - but what wonderful memories they have of their time playing for him. R.I.P. Brian - never again will we se the like. They way he was was the reason he was never England manager. The FA wanted someone in charge whom they could control. They would never have been able to keep Brian on a leash. It was a disgrace that they never gave him the chance to show what he could have done with the England squad.
Best Manager England never had. I can only wonder if he'd been around in this era (probably being fined for being unique) Its strange how he stands tall in my childhood memories.
Fergie got the guy on a one month loan, but treated him like a permanent signing, bringing him around the grounds, introducing him to backroom and facilities staff. These little details seperate the exceptional from the normal.
Just come across this channel and glad i did. Im a notts fan but this is defo my era as i got into football around 1988. As i got older i kinda fell in love with Cloughie...i devour a lotof his stuff. Btw. Lawsy does a good Cloughie! The Aldridge story. Always thought Aldridge was a c u next tuesday for that. But i heard that tony adams got aldridge back for that as per his autobiography
I met platt in a bookies in Crewe jumping up and down with Blisset 12/1 winner with 2 quid on it, then later in a pub when he'd made big time and he was Arrogant big time,
Martin Fisher was right,I'm a Pompey fan and at Fratton Park Mark Crossley jumped up to catch the ball,a fellow Pompey fan behind me (in the Fratton End) shouted ,Crossley dropped it and Mc Loughlin scored. We went nuts. Clough 's FA Cup dream was over.
Explain this, Cough won the premier league with lowly Derby Counrt and Nottingham Forest, and won the European Champions League back to back with Forest, an amazing achievement. Old Purple Nose Ferguson wins one Champions League title with the biggest, richest team in the world, and its straight down to Buckingham Palace to be knighted. Cloughie got some poxy OBE or something.
