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Brian
Clough really is one of football's great characters. He had a career in the
game spanning 41 years in total. He has been loved by the Forest faithful for
the 18 years he was with us and is still fondly remembered some six years after
his retirement. The media also loved him, whether it was for comments like calling
the Polish goalkeeper a clown or for cuffing fans round the head. They just
couldn't get enough of him.
I
personally have no recollection of Brian Clough the player. The day his playing
career ended, 26 December 1962, I was exactly 3 years and 10 months old.
My
first real recollection of the man came 10 years later, in 1972, it was not
one of like, it was one of dislike. Nothing to do with the fact that he was
manager at Derby County, simply the fact that he was trying to sign my favourite
Forest player of the time - Ian Storey-Moore. Being a naive 13 year old who
didn't pay much attention to the news, I didn't realize that Storey-Moore
was already on his way to Manchester United when Clough and Taylor tried to
hi-jack the transfer. They even got to the point of unveiling Storey-Moore
at the Baseball Ground to a packed audience. At that point the shit really
hit the fan, Matt Busby was not a man to be messed around with, not even by
Clough and Taylor. Once the mess was sorted out Storey-Moore went to old Trafford,
leaving behind a disillusioned 13 year old, and a very embarrassed Clough
and Taylor.
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The
next time I was to come across Clough was in the January of 1975, things were
about to change at the City Ground, and boy, do I mean change.
A
41 year career is difficult to summarize in a few paragraphs, so I'm not even
going to try. Instead I'm going to break it into two sections. The first part
is this page, which will be a summary of Clough's achievements, the
second part is, Clough memories a short
pictorial representation of his career.
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Playing
Career: |
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21
Mar 1935 |
born
in Middlesbrough, the fifth of eight children |
Nov
1951 |
signs
as an amateur for Middlesbrough |
May
1952 |
signs
as a professional for Middlesbrough |
17
Sep 1955 |
debut
for Middlesbrough, V Barnsley at Ayresome Park |
08
Oct 1955 |
his
first ever league goal, V Leicester City at Ayresome Park |
06
Feb 1957 |
his
only England 'B' cap against Scotland |
26
Feb 1957 |
first
of 3 England under 23 Caps V Scotland |
30
Oct 1957 |
scores
five goals for an FA XI V The Army |
23
Sep 1959 |
scores
all five goals for the Football League V Irish League |
17
Oct 1959 |
first
of only two full England caps against Wales |
28
Oct 1959 |
second
and final England cap against Sweden |
July
1961 |
signs
for Sunderland for a fee of £42,000 |
26
Dec 1962 |
receives
the injury that will end his playing career |
1963
- 1964 |
did
not play at all during this season |
1964
- 1965 |
attempts
to comeback, only manages 3 appearances |
05
Sep 1964 |
his
last ever league goal, V Leeds United at Roker Park |
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His
career record as a player is phenomenal. He made a total of 222 appearances
for Middlesbrough, scoring 204 goals. He then made a total of 74 appearances
for Sunderland, scoring 63 goals.
He
also made nine representative appearances, including England, England 'B',
England Under 23, Football League and an FA XI, scoring 13 goals.
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Management
Career: |
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Oct
1965 |
becomes youngest league manager (30) joining Hartlepool United |
1965-66 |
finishes 18th in Division 4 |
1966-67 |
finishes 8th in Division 4 |
May
1967 |
leaves Hartlepool United |
June
1967 |
takes charge at Derby County |
1967-68 |
finishes 18th in Division 2 |
1968-69 |
Derby win promotion to Division 1 after finishing 1st in Division 2 |
1969-70 |
Derby finish 4th in their first season in the top flight |
1970-71 |
Derby finish 9th, win the Watney Cup |
1971-72 |
Derby win Division 1 title and the Texaco Cup |
1972-73 |
Derby finish 7th and reach the European Cup semi-finals |
Oct
1973 |
Clough walks out on Derby after a long running dispute with Sam Longson |
Nov
1973 |
Joins Brighton and Hove Albion finishes 19th in Division 3 |
Jul
1974 |
Leaves Brighton |
Jul
1974 |
Joins Leeds United for the infamous 44 days |
Sep
1974 |
44 days after Joining Leeds he is sacked |
Jan
1975 |
Clough arrives at The City Ground |
1974-75 |
Forest finish 7th in the Division 2 |
1975-76 |
finish 8th in the Division 2 |
1976-77 |
finish 3rd in Division 2, they gain promotion and win the Anglo-Scottish
Cup |
1977-78 |
wins Division 1 at first try, also wins The League Cup |
1978-79 |
finish 2nd in Division 1, win European Cup and League Cup |
1979-80 |
finish
5th in Division 1, win European Cup, European Super Cup and are losing
finalists in World Club Championship and League Cup |
1980-81 |
finish 7th in Division 1, European Super Cup finalists, World Club Championship
finalists |
1981-82 |
finish 12th in Division 1 |
1982-83 |
finish 5th in Division 1 |
1983-84 |
finish 3rd in Division 1, UEFA Cup semi-finalists |
1984-85 |
finish 9th in Division 1 |
1985-86 |
finish 8th in Division 1 |
1986-87 |
finish 8th in Division 1 |
1987-88 |
finish 3rd in Division 1, win the Mercantile Credit Trophy |
1988-89 |
finish 3rd in Division 1, win League Cup and Simod Cup |
1989-90 |
finish 9th in Division 1, win League Cup |
1990-91 |
finish
8th in Division 1, FA Cup finalists |
1991-92 |
finish 8th in Division 1, win the Zenith Data Systems Cup, League Cup
finalists |
1992-93 |
finish 22nd in the Premier League. Brian Clough retires |
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Brian
Clough also took Forest to the record unbeaten run for any League Club, when,
between November 1977 and December 1978 they went 42 matches unbeaten. The
equivalent of a whole season!
For
those who want to fill in any of the gaps in these pages I thoroughly recommend
the following reading material:
Clough The Autobiography.
Paperback by Corgi Books.
ISBN 0-552-14003-1
His Way - The Brian Clough
Story
Author, Patrick Murphy. Paperback
by Pan Books Ltd. ISBN 0-330-33687-8
The Official History Of Nottingham
Forest
Author, Philip Soar. Published
by The Polar Print Group Ltd. ISBN 1-899538-08-9
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