Brian Clough

[WBA1955]

How would he fare in the modern game? Would he be able to manage a big club?
Clough or Cluffy as he was sometimes known excelled at taking over small clubs like Derby and Forest and getting them to punch above their weight.
When he went to Leeds who were a big club then, (but aren't anymore, and are not likely to be again, not in our lifetimes anyway,) he failed.
Clough was used to getting his own way by bullying chairmen and players, and though it worked fine at clubs like Derby and Forest who were starved of success and had to grin and bear it, he couldn't do it at Leeds with their household names and runners up in most competition's record.
So, how would he have got on today at a club like Man City or Arsenal? This topic cropped up in a thread on our board, and it makes you wonder if he could have coped with the wages, players agents and tough chairmen of todays game, the managers are also a much higher quality breed today too.
I don't think a sight of him on the pitch clipping supporters round the earole would go down well in todays take offence at anything world.
Thoughts.

[trickydick]

How would he fare in the modern game? Would he be able to manage a big club?
Clough or Cluffy as he was sometimes known excelled at taking over small clubs like Derby and Forest and getting them to punch above their weight.
When he went to Leeds who were a big club then, (but aren't anymore, and are not likely to be again, not in our lifetimes anyway,) he failed.
Clough was used to getting his own way by bullying chairmen and players, and though it worked fine at clubs like Derby and Forest who were starved of success and had to grin and bear it, he couldn't do it at Leeds with their household names and runners up in most competition's record.
So, how would he have got on today at a club like Man City or Arsenal? This topic cropped up in a thread on our board, and it makes you wonder if he could have coped with the wages, players agents and tough chairmen of todays game, the managers are also a much higher quality breed today too.
I don't think a sight of him on the pitch clipping supporters round the earole would go down well in todays take offence at anything world.
Thoughts.

Very good post Wba.
To be honest i was not really around in his Derby days so really only know his Forest days a bit.
I got the Dammed Utd dvd which painted a picture of how football used to be and the Peter Taylor relationship and players revolt to Clough.
I know he was a player for Middlesbrough ,,I think correct me if i wrong.
To answer your question i think the days of old school english managers/coaches has gone.
It's all about money from foreign investors these days.
I prefer grass roots football really.
Well i must do supporting West Ham Ha Ha.

[davee59]

Hi WBA, good post and I agree that of his time Cloughie was the best manager in the league. It was a shame he was too outspoken to be given the England job.Unfortunately, he would not be allowed to get away with many of his unorthodox ways in the modern game. Today's footballers are too spoilt and would not last 2 minutes with Cloughie.

[chalkyncfc61]

Cloughy would never be allowed to manage a top club nowadays, he was to gobby and mega rich owners don't like that much,as for Forest they are back to being an average Championship club despite what their fans think,cant see them making the Premier League in the next five years at least

[frenchlion]

Many know about Clough, Derby and Forest but few seem to know what he did at Hartlepool. When his career was cut short by a knee injury he moved into management and his first job was at Hartlepool. From the creation of the old 4th division in 1958 until Cloughie arrived (67?) Hartlepool were always anchored at the bottom or near the bottom of the division and often had to apply for re-election to stay in the league. I think it was in his first or maybe second season that he took Hartlepool to the third division. The club was so hard up that he even took a coach drivers license to save money and drive the team to the away matches!! After that Derby snapped him up and as we say...the rest is history. In my humble opinion he was the greatest Manager that the game has seen. He was even given a standing ovation at the Den on one of his visits....and to earn that being from the away side..you must be special!!!
Would he have been just as good today? Unfortunately I don't think so. He would never have stood for the moronic mentality and hair styles of some of today's players and would probably have jacked it in..in disgust. The greatest manager never to have been given the England job.

[WBA1955]

What he was was a great motivator, and he was better when he was partnered by Peter Taylor. Taylor was the talent spotter, he got unknown players from the lower leagues and Clough turned them into household names.
He had an uncanny knack of making these players into supermen.
When he got Forest promoted in 1977, he was asked where he expected to finish in the old First Division. I expect to win it he answered, and he did.
The downfall of both Clough and Taylor was when they both fell out. Taylor couldn't motivate like Clough, and Clough couldn't talent spot like Taylor. He spent loads of cash at Forest after Taylor left but his star was fading.
But he couldn't motivate the stars he signed in his later years like the Mcgoverns, Hectors and O Hares that Taylor had spotted. So that begs the question, would he have been any good at United or Liverpool, would world class players accept his bullying ways?
It also makes you wonder if the England players would have as well.
He was one on his own Clough, you can't compare him with any other manager because there hasn't been one like him before or since.