The Clough Dynasty

This is for football fans – sorry girls!

It’s not always nice to hear of someone losing their job but just occasionally, something happens which means your pleasure at the new appointment overcomes your displeasure at the removal of the previous incumbent. And so it was with Derby County’s appointment of Nigel Clough last week.

Derby were founded in 1884 and were one of the original twelve teams who formed the Football League in 1888. Known as the ‘Rams’, because a Derby regiment had a ram as a mascot, the team had a particularly unspectacular history of achievement until Brian Clough (Nigel’s father) and his loyal assistant, Peter Taylor, took over the management of the club in May 1967.  From being a member of the lower echelons of Division Two, Clough and Taylor took Derby into the First Division as champions two years later and by signing a number of workmanlike, rather than spectacular players, they managed to finish 4^th in the First Division in 1970. The following year, they ran neck and neck with Liverpool and Leeds for the title and, leading by a single point, their season ended……but both of their rivals had a game left. Whilst on holiday, Clough, Taylor and the Derby players learnt that neither of their rivals had won and so Derby were champions of the top division for the first time in their history.

Representing England in the European Cup the following season, Derby were eventually knocked out in the semi-finals in very controversial circumstances, to a Juventus team who had plied the German referee with gifts before the game. Clough, as was his style, called the Italian team ‘cheating bastards’ and made references to Italy’s role in the 2^nd World War.

Now I am no great fan of Brian Clough the man. I reckon however, that as a football manager, he was 30 years ahead of his time. Controversial, egotistical, overbearing and downright rude, the era of Brian Clough was as interesting as today’s verbal tussles between Sir Alex Ferguson and his managerial adversaries. However, after a glorious managerial career (he took a similarly underperforming Nottingham Forrest side from Division Two to two European Cups within four years), Clough retired in 1992. Plagued by alcoholism and forever tainted by the allegations that he took secret payments for ‘helping transfers along’, Clough died in 2004.

When at Nottingham Forrest, Clough signed his son, Nigel. A talented centre forward, Clough junior was Forrest’s top scorer and was roundly admired as an intelligent, thoughtful player. After several honours and fourteen caps for his country, Clough’s career declined almost in parallel with his father’s. He was transferred to Liverpool and then Manchester City but never recaptured the form which led him to be called ‘my number 9’ by his father when at Forrest.

In 1998, Nigel Clough took on the managerial post at Burton Albion, a team in a league so far removed from the Derbys and Nottingham Forrests of this world, that not many people had heard of their league, let alone the team! After ten years of unqualified success and several promotions for Burton, Clough left them last week to take over the reigns at …… Derby County. He left Burton in the highest position in their history and the Derby fans welcomed him with open arms, hoping just a little bit of his father’s magic has rubbed off on the still young Nigel.

Widely liked and apparently an all-round nice guy, Nigel has his work cut out. Let’s hope the board of Derby have made a long-term appointment and give him the time to recreate his father’s enormous success with that famous old club.