Brian Clough interview.

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Clough and Taylor had so many skills. It was a great era and despite City’s problems I revere that Clough, Taylor and their Forest team. Don't tell me Derby supporting son....

As you and your son will both know, revering Clough is the one thing Derby and Forest agree about. Of course, Derby fans don't revere that Forest team (maybe some, very, very secretly, in their heart of hearts, do?) But Clough and Taylor? Heroes at Derby County. But it's always amazed me that Mackay managed to get them a second title in those years. I think he learnt a lot from those two, both in the dressing room and out on the training field.

When you think what Clough and Taylor did with Derby, it was nothing short of miraculous. In a way, it can be argued that it was more impressive than Forest, even. Derby's not a very big town, by any stretch, and its glory days as a club were way in the distant past when Clough and Taylor rocked up. Forest, it can be argued, still had claims to being quite a big club in the seventies.

You can lament it or not, but it's a big money game now (we're part of that, obviously, as are United, Liverpool, Arsenal and anyone else who aspires to even qualify for the CL, never mind win a domestic trophy) and that will not happen again. Nor will Burnley ever again be champions of the top tier. Nor will Ipswich be a handy team often near the top of the First Division in the seventies. Yes, people can cite Leicester, but it's the exception that proves the rule.

 

[Vienna_70]

I also think signing Gary Birtles for a pittance from Long Eaton Utd, a half decent local team , was a master stoke, and they pitched this Unkown raw striker into the European cup 1st round match against Liverpool, the then European champions .

Birtles ran Liverpool ragged in the late 70s tie , giving the experienced England international Phil Thompson in partc the run around, helped by the equally ,fast , fdirect, Tony Woodcock.
Forest 2 Liverpool 0.

I believe Taylor was the talent spotter.

 

[dennishasdoneit]

I believe Taylor was the talent spotter.

Agreed. Esp for new raw talent.
Two other signings which were incredibly important back then were the industrious Archie Gemmil and John McGovern, who at Forest would basically sit in front of the back four as a shield intercept passes or robustly tackle before laying the ball of with a simple 5 yard pass,on the ground, to the nearest team mate. Intresting to see footage of a younger McGovern at Cloughs Derby County, he is still strong in the tackle but appeared in more advance posistions where his attrional style of play was used in a slightly different way,breaking up attacks early. Gemmil used to run all day and could also bite into a tackle,then surge forward bringing the ball at great speed,often on the counter attack. Two great signings for forest.

 

[Vienna_70]

Agreed. Esp for new raw talent.
Two other signings which were incredibly important back then were the industrious Archie Gemmil and John McGovern, who at Forest would basically sit in front of the back four as a shield intercept passes or robustly tackle before laying the ball of with a simple 5 yard pass,on the ground, to the nearest team mate. Intresting to see footage of a younger McGovern at Cloughs Derby County, he is still strong in the tackle but appeared in more advance posistions where his attrional style of play was used in a slightly different way,breaking up attacks early. Gemmil used to run all day and could also bite into a tackle,then surge forward bringing the ball at great speed,often on the counter attack. Two great signings for forest.

just after I posted about their Forest team being built with a bunch of rejects, I remembered McGovern, but if forgotten Gemmill.

Clough also took John O'Hare from Derby to Forest (I just read that in Wikipedia).

 

[stan bowles]

Have you read Clough's autobiography?

He describes how he and Taylor persuaded Dave Mackay to join Derby from Spurs.

Something else that hasn’t been mentioned yet in this thread is that they built the Forest side with a bunch of rejects, like Larry Lloyd, Kenny Burns, our Ian Bowyer and Robertson.

He signed Colin Barrett (from us) and Frank Clark - two unlikely left backs for a European Cup and First Division Championship winning team.

 

[Johnny Mars Bar]

This was all way way before my time but I have a disliking for Clough purely based on the fact him and Don Revie didn’t get on, and Revie played for City.

FOC blues, am I wide of the mark?

Admittedly even this knowledge has come from reading and watching the Damned United. Which I thoroughly enjoyed.

 

[Really_here]

This was all way way before my time but I have a disliking for Clough purely based on the fact him and Don Revie didn’t get on, and Revie played for City.

FOC blues, am I wide of the mark?

Admittedly even this knowledge has come from reading and watching the Damned United. Which I thoroughly enjoyed.

You might like this

 

[Zabbasbeard]

As you and your son will both know, revering Clough is the one thing Derby and Forest agree about. Of course, Derby fans don't revere that Forest team (maybe some, very, very secretly, in their heart of hearts, do?) But Clough and Taylor? Heroes at Derby County. But it's always amazed me that Mackay managed to get them a second title in those years. I think he learnt a lot from those two, both in the dressing room and out on the training field.

When you think what Clough and Taylor did with Derby, it was nothing short of miraculous. In a way, it can be argued that it was more impressive than Forest, even. Derby's not a very big town, by any stretch, and its glory days as a club were way in the distant past when Clough and Taylor rocked up. Forest, it can be argued, still had claims to being quite a big club in the seventies.

You can lament it or not, but it's a big money game now (we're part of that, obviously, as are United, Liverpool, Arsenal and anyone else who aspires to even qualify for the CL, never mind win a domestic trophy) and that will not happen again. Nor will Burnley ever again be champions of the top tier. Nor will Ipswich be a handy team often near the top of the First Division in the seventies. Yes, people can cite Leicester, but it's the exception that proves the rule.

Derby isn't the biggest city but the locals tend to follow them rather than the easy choices.
I'll never lament Ipswich failing at being at the top!

 

[Zabbasbeard]

This was all way way before my time but I have a disliking for Clough purely based on the fact him and Don Revie didn’t get on, and Revie played for City.

FOC blues, am I wide of the mark?

Admittedly even this knowledge has come from reading and watching the Damned United. Which I thoroughly enjoyed.

There's no wrong or right and you're entitled to feel how you like. There are certain less attractive aspects of Cloughies character but I'd say he has more redeeming features.

The Damned United is rather biased against Clough, I have to say, though Leeds don't come out of it that well either. I wouldn't base opinions on that mate. Sheen does very well as Clough but there was only one Brian Clough.

I recommend, like others, that you watch other videos and especially the excellent film I Believe in Miracles which is about Forest's triumphs. He was a flawed but. much loved character. I loved him without disliking Revie myself. Leeds weren't the only dirty team in the 60s and 70s!

 

[Vienna_70]

This was all way way before my time but I have a disliking for Clough purely based on the fact him and Don Revie didn’t get on, and Revie played for City.

FOC blues, am I wide of the mark?

Admittedly even this knowledge has come from reading and watching the Damned United. Which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Revie was a great servant to Manchester City in the great side of the 1950s.

In fact, the tactics that the manager, Les McDowell, copied from the Hungarians, were named after him; the Revie plan, in which Revie played as a deep-lying centre-forward.

However, as manager of dirty Leeds, his outlook and tactics left a lot to be desired.

They were the dirtiest, most unsportsmanlike bunch of shithouses you would ever want to watch. Even the rags have never been that bad. They used sly, horrible methods of hurting opponents, like stepping on Achilles tendons deliberately, but they were never reluctant to use out-and-out thuggery, even right in front of the referee.

Billy Bremner was their captain, and even to this day, I hate him more than any other non-rag. He was a nasty, horrible little fucker on the pitch.

And the worst of it was, they didn’t need to use those tactics, as they were great footballers.

In contrast, Clough's teams always tried to play football the correct way, and it was well known that he didn’t put up with any sort of cheating or bad behaviour from his players.

Clough will always come out ahead of Revie in my opinion.