Brian Clough, who died recently aged 69, was described as the best football manager England never had. Clough compiled a brilliant record through the 1970s, but was too opinionated and unpredictable to be offered the top job in England soccer.
Instead he remained irreverent, inspired, moody, unorthodox and supremely confident in his own ability – he nicknamed himself Old Bighead.
Clough usually operated in harness with Peter Taylor, until they had a falling out in the 1980s. But Clough was invariably the centre of attention. He excelled in an era when the manager ruled totally. These days there is far more player power.
There were clouds over the Clough reputation – he eventually conceded that he had a drinking problem, and had a liver transplant in 2002. In addition, there were whispers about under-the-table payments to him when transfer deals were done or when his team played exhibition matches.
But there was no denying his stature. He was a manager who belongs up there with Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley and Alex Ferguson.
Clough was famous for his one-liners. Here are a few:
On the importance of passing to feet: “If God had wanted us to play football in the clouds, he’d have put grass up there.”
On the number of French players at Arsenal: “I bet their dressing room will smell of garlic rather than liniment over the next few months.”
On how he rated himself: “I wouldn’t say I was the best manager in the business. But I was in the top one.”
On dealing with a player who dis-agrees: “We talk about it for 20 minutes and then we decide I was right.”
On women’s football: “I like my women to be feminine, not sliding into tackles and covered in mud.”
He was a mixture of conservative and progressive. In 1979, he made Trevor Francis Britain’s first £1 million footballer when he paid that amount to buy him off Birmingham.
On the other hand, when Nottingham Forest were to play Malmo in the 1979 European Cup final, his team arrived at the ground desperately late because he had insisted that Garry Birtles return to the hotel to shave while the team waited.
John McGovern, his long-time captain, recalled how Clough could always keep a player’s feet on the ground, even when complimenting him. “In one match I came up against [England player] Alan Ball in midfield, and did pretty well,” said McGovern. “Afterwards Cloughie said to me: ‘You’ve done a good job on him, kept him out of the game. He’s a good player and you’re not.’”
Clough was a good striker. He joined Middlesborough when he was only 17 and scored 204 goals for the club in 222 games. In 1959, he won two England caps. In 1961, he signed for Sunderland and netted 63 goals in just 74 appearances before a knee injury ended his career when he was 26.
He turned to management and in 1965, aged 29, became the youngest manager in the Football League with fourth division Hartlepool United.
He became Derby County manager in 1967 and two years later they won the second division title. In 1972, they won division one. The following year, Clough guided them to the semi-finals of the -European Cup.
But in October 1973, Clough and Taylor resigned after a dispute with the Derby directors. There followed short, unsuccessful stints at Brighton and Leeds, before they joined Nottingham Forest in 1975.
Under Clough, Forest were promoted to the first division in 1977, won the League Cup in 1978, and were crowned Division One champions at the end of that season. Clough was named Manager of the Year.
In 1979, clean-shaven Forest won the European Cup, beating Malmo 1-0 in the final. The following year they retained the Cup, beating Hamburg 1-0 in Madrid.
Clough stayed too long at Forest – 18 years. When he finished in 1993, Forest had just been relegated from the top division. He was involved in various scrapes down the years, including being fined and banned from the touchline for bringing the game into disrepute.
But he won two European Cups, two league titles, four League Cups, one European Super Cup and one old second division title. To have achieved all that with two teams now far removed from the premier division was extraordinary. With Clough the good times were so good that the indiscretions and losses are quickly overlooked.
—
Craig McMillan has been dropped from the New Zealand cricket team for the Bangladesh tour, replaced by Hamish Marshall. I’ve no quibble with McMillan being axed – he hasn’t scored enough runs to justify test selection. But for Marshall?
Much as I admire Marshall’s attitude, temperament and fielding, the person who deserves selection is Matthew Sinclair. On the day news came through of Marshall’s promotion, Sinclair scored 268 for New Zealand A v South Africa A at Bloemfontein.
This is the same Sinclair who is the only New Zealander to have scored two test double centuries. And the same player who has a first-class batting average of 47, including 11 centuries. In test cricket, Sinclair’s batting average is 38.5.
He was dropped from the test team in January 2002 and has received just one chance since. He was recalled for the test against South Africa at the Basin Reserve last summer, and scored 74 and 21.
While in the test wilderness, Sinclair has scored consistently heavily in domestic cricket and he has been the best batsman in the New Zealand A team.
Fair’s fair. He deserves a chance. It seems to be a case of “Out of sight, out of mind”.
—
A team of experts has picked a best England cricket XI, drawn from postwar players. Twenty-five media personalities and former players chose the team, named in the October issue of Wisden Cricketer. Those selected, with the number of votes received, were: Len Hutton (25), Graham Gooch (13), Peter May (24), Denis Compton (23), Ken Barrington (17), Ian Botham (24), Alan Knott (20), Fred Trueman (22), Jim Laker (20), Alec Bedser (11) and Derek Underwood (9).
Among those who missed were Geoff Boycott (9), Ted Dexter (8), Brian Statham (8), Johnny Wardle (8), John Snow (6), Frank Tyson (5) and Colin Cowdrey (4). I’m amazed that two of the panel did not vote for Compton and surprised that Godfrey Evans gained just four votes.
No current player made it. Andrew Flintoff garnered just one vote. Give him another two years and he might be rivalling Botham for the all-rounder’s spot.
Hutton gained 14 votes as captain.
SO MUCH FOR RANKINGS
Europe's crushing 18-9 win over the United States in golf’s Ryder Cup emphasised how inflated are the Americans’ rankings. The temptation is to place the US PGA tour way ahead of the European tour and therefore to elevate the stature of the leading American players.
The rankings have been a source of controversy since they began in 1986. There are accusations of a US bias and IMG, who issue the rankings, have been accused of manipulating them to favour their clients.
The US team that lined up for this year’s Ryder Cup at Detroit had four players in the top 10 and eight in the top 20 – Woods (2), Mickelson (4), Love (6), Cink (10), Furyk (11), Campbell (14), Perry (16) and DiMarco (17). Europe had just one in the top 10 and four in the top 20 – Harrington (8), Garcia (12), Clarke (15) and Jimenez (20). Yet Europe blitzed the Americans.
It has often been so in the Ryder Cup. Since 1987– the first Ryder Cup after rankings began – the US has won only three of nine contests.
In 1997, Europe had three players in the top 20 – Montgomerie (6), Faldo (15) and Parnevik (19). The US had 10 – Woods (2), Lehman (3), Mickelson (7), O’Meara (9), Love (10), Leonard (11), Hoch (12), Couples (13), Faxon (16) and Furyk (20). That didn’t stop the Europeans winning 14-13.
It was the same in 2002 when the American lineup was led by Woods (1), Mickelson (2), Toms (6), Love (7), Furyk (10) and Duval (12). Against them, the Europeans offered Garcia (5), Harrington (9), Montgomerie (17) and Clarke (19), but still won 15-12.
Some of the Americans looked uncomfortable at Detroit in a team situation. Woods won two of five matches and Phil Mickelson one of four. Woods and Mickelson, never the best of mates, looked uneasy when paired on the first day, and afterwards never really settled down.
The Europeans, by contrast, came together well as a team. Sergio Garcia and Padraig Harrington were brilliant and even the perpetually grumpy Colin Montgomerie finally found something to smile about in the US. Monty made the European team only as a captain’s choice after a poor season, but was terrific, justifying Bernhard Langer’s faith in him.
When the next Ryder Cup is held, in Ireland, golf fans will doubtless cock an eye at the world rankings and install the Americans as favourites again. They shouldn’t. The Europeans gel better and are at least as talented.