Brian Clough RIP 20 years to the day

Great manager, never thought he was a particularly nice bloke to be honest - well certainly the way he spoke to people - it gets laughed away these days but that kind of character wouldn’t really get away with it these days.

That said he had many many good qualities as well, a genuine kindness at times - and there’s no doubting he was one of the best ever British managers, even if he wasn’t the same without Taylor

I once met him at an Oxford - Forest game through Neil Webb. He seemed to have a warm nature, which goes against stories that you hear.
Goes without saying that he should have had the England job.

Interviewer

Mr Clough...would you say you were the favourite for the England Manager's job..

Cloughie...I wouldn't say I was favourite...but i'm on a short list...of one

Copied from a Man City FB group I'm in.

On this - the 20th anniversary of the death of the legendary Brian Clough - I’m minded to recall an interaction between myself and the great man.
I was a school kid in 1978 when City were due to play Forest in the FA Cup 4th Round. I lived on the east coast and travelled on my own to Nottingham on a very cold, icy 🥶 and snowy Saturday.
As I stepped off the train onto the platform the tannoy announcement reverberated around Nottingham Station - Forest’s match against City had been called off due to the weather.
It was around 2pm - just an hour - before kick off. The match was to be rescheduled for the Tuesday night.
I was ‘gutted’, not only had the game been postponed, I knew I wouldn’t be able to make the re-arranged tie.
Back in those days - the days of no mobile phones and no social media - I resorted to writing to Mr Brian Clough, Manager, Nottingham Forest FC - to express my disappointment at the late notice of the postponement, plus the fact I couldn’t get to the City Ground on the Tuesday.
City lost 2-1.
About a week later I received a letter, signed by Cloughie, saying he was sorry the game had been called off and I’d missed the rearranged fixture.
Enclosed was a postal order to cover the cost of my ticket and fruitless train journey.
From that personal experience and perspective I always had Cloughie down as a top, top man, as well as one of the all-time greats and characters of football.

comment by Boris 'Inky’ Gibson (U5901)
posted 44 minutes ago
Copied from a Man City FB group I'm in.

On this - the 20th anniversary of the death of the legendary Brian Clough - I’m minded to recall an interaction between myself and the great man.
I was a school kid in 1978 when City were due to play Forest in the FA Cup 4th Round. I lived on the east coast and travelled on my own to Nottingham on a very cold, icy 🥶 and snowy Saturday.
As I stepped off the train onto the platform the tannoy announcement reverberated around Nottingham Station - Forest’s match against City had been called off due to the weather.
It was around 2pm - just an hour - before kick off. The match was to be rescheduled for the Tuesday night.
I was ‘gutted’, not only had the game been postponed, I knew I wouldn’t be able to make the re-arranged tie.
Back in those days - the days of no mobile phones and no social media - I resorted to writing to Mr Brian Clough, Manager, Nottingham Forest FC - to express my disappointment at the late notice of the postponement, plus the fact I couldn’t get to the City Ground on the Tuesday.
City lost 2-1.
About a week later I received a letter, signed by Cloughie, saying he was sorry the game had been called off and I’d missed the rearranged fixture.
Enclosed was a postal order to cover the cost of my ticket and fruitless train journey.
From that personal experience and perspective I always had Cloughie down as a top, top man, as well as one of the all-time greats and characters of football.
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That is a really nice storey about Cloughie and one that hasn't been aired before. He was a really kind man when dealing with those who were disadvantaged or needed a helping hand in life.

My exfather-in-law called him blind; he was a nasty man.

Like quite a few of the guys on here of a ‘certain age’, i too was fortunate enough to live through the glory days under the great BC.
Not sure we will ever see another manager quite like Mr Clough, he was certainly quite unique, but warts and all he was absolutely box office.
From his numerous quips, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day, but i wasn’t on that particular job’, to his thoughts of not getting the England job, he certainly made people sit up and take notice that he was around.
His philosophy was simple, play the ball on the grass, give the ball to the fat lad on the wing, and don’t antagonise the referees.
I feel privileged to have lived though both the best years of Forest and of the great Mr Brian Clough, and will be forever grateful for the memories.
I’m sure he would be pleased that Forest are back in the top league, and showing signs of competing with some of the better teams, but I’m not too sure he would be delighted with way the club has become a business, thus less association with the fans.
Despite what some people thought of Mr Clough, he always put the club and the fans first, i still remember him hauling a couple of our fans off the pitch following a cup tie against QPR, and even getting the fans to apologise to him for their indiscretions. He would probably be up before the FA had he done that these days.
Thank you Mr Clough, and RIP.