Brian Clough (photo posted later in the article) is one of the most productive football players and outstanding coaches in England. His achievements in the previously mediocre provincial clubs “Derby” and “Forest” are considered the greatest in the history of football.
Brian Clough: biography
Brian Howard Clough was born in Middlesbrough, England, on March 21, 1935. He was the sixth of nine children born to a friendly family of football fans. Sport from an early age became the main goal of Brian. Although teachers claimed that he was a bright boy, the school did not captivate him as much as football. Quitting his studies at 15, he became a center forward in the small local team “Billingham Sintonia”, which in 1953 he had to leave for the compulsory two-year service in the Royal Air Force.
Upon his return, Brian Clough began playing as a striker in his native Middlesbrough football club and became a fan favorite, having scored 197 goals in 213 games over the 6 years of playing on the team. Then he moved to the northeast, in Sunderland FC, where in 61 matches for Black Cats his score was replenished with 54 more goals. Claf's productive playing career was interrupted by a knee injury sustained in a collision with an opponent's goalkeeper in late 1962. In 1964, he tried to return to football, but after playing only a few matches, he was forced to leave the game.
From soccer players to coaches
Klaf was not even 30 years old when he had to give up his career as a football player. But he was able to quickly retrain into football coaches, which ultimately became famous. When Brian led the Hartlepool United 4th Division team in 1965, he became the youngest manager of the Football League. Clough brought the same level of ambition, obsession, and self-control that he displayed on the field as a player. The club did not stay long at the club, but it was there that he first teamed up with his assistant Peter Taylor, who would become an invaluable partner throughout his career.
Success at Derby County
In 1967, Clough and Taylor left Hartlepool to take over the leadership of the second division club in Derby. Here he honed his coaching skills. Here he experienced success and storms of controversy over his relationship with board members, players and fans. When he first appeared at the club, he quickly put everything in its place, allowing many to leave, inviting new talents and even firing two employees who giggled after losing the team.
His methods caused a stir, but soon proved to be effective. In 1968, Brian Clough led Derby to victory in the Second Division, which made it possible for the club to return to the highest echelon of English football after a 10-year break. In 1972, when he led the team for the third season, in a dramatic competition when rivals Liverpool and Leeds lost on the last day of the season, Derby County won the league. The title was the first in the long history of the club, playing since the end of the 19th century. The following year, the team reached the semifinals of the European Cup, but lost to the Italian Juventus. Klaf's fame grew, and he gained a reputation as a daring, frank and fearless coach, which at the same time repelled and inspired fans, players and club staff.
In the end, amid continuing tensions and a conflict with Derby's board of directors, Clough and Taylor resigned in 1973. Fans protested, players threatened with a strike, but this did not lead to anything.
Having become famous, coaches moved to Brighton and Hove Albion. But Clough became disillusioned with the club, mired in the depths of the Third Division, and committed the most controversial and memorable act of his career.
“Damned United”
In July 1974, Clough (baptized by the Cloughy tabloids) left Brighton for Leeds United, the First Division team left without a coach after the legendary Don Revi led the England national team. Brian’s decision to go to Leeds was made against the will of his longtime assistant Peter Taylor, and he did not follow him. In the past, Clough has been extremely critical of the direct power style of play that Don Revi practiced in Leeds. The style was extremely successful, but the new coach considered him unsportsmanlike. During his first meeting with the players, Clough said the club could throw their medals in the bin because they were not won fairly. After 44 days of constant clashes with players and managers, as well as a single win after six games, he resigned and left the team with good compensation. Filmed decades later about Klaf’s presence in Leeds, it’s been called “Cursed United.”
To the pinnacle of nottingham forest
After a disastrous month and a half in Leeds in the middle of the 1974-75 season, Clough was already coaching Nottingham Forest, a team that languished in the lower half of the Second Division. Like Derby, Brian Clough (coach) was able to revolutionize the club, raising it to incredible heights. He followed a tried-and-true plan for success, recruiting proven players in the past, betting on young talents and inviting Peter Taylor as his assistant. Clough preferred a style of play based on keeping the ball on the field, with an emphasis on dribbling and short passes. He once said that if God would have liked to play football in the clouds, the grass would grow there.
Under his leadership, Nottingham Forest acquired an incredible amount of awards: victory in the Second Division in 1977, the championship in the First Division in 1978, four Football League Cups and the European Cup. Clough remained at the club for 18 years and retired in 1993 as perhaps the most beloved manager in the history of the Nottingham Forest club.
Brian’s humor and charisma were evident in Forest, where he put an end to boring performances that were poorly perceived by the public in the past. In 2002, the club named in his honor the largest stand of the City Ground stadium. In the same year, Brian Clough was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame. Towards the end of his life, he was known as a rebel, a natural phenomenon, a phenomenal leader and a game legend.
Brian Clough: personal life
For political reasons, Klaf was a socialist, often appeared at miners' pickets, donated large sums to unions and was chairman of the Anti-Nazi League.
On April 4, 1959, he married Barbara Glasgow. They had three children - Simon (1964), Nigel (1966) and Elizabeth (1967). Nigel subsequently followed in his father's footsteps, played on his team and became a coach at Derby County.
Klaf had problems with alcohol, which affected his liver. In 2003, he underwent surgery for her transplant. Brian Clough died of stomach cancer on September 20, 2004.