From bungs to bust

Old Big 'ead returns to Forest today as the club he inspired pay their respects

More than six years have slipped by since Brian Clough cashed in his chips as a football manager at Nottingham Forest. Now it seems his old employers have a seven-year itch, for today he will be back at the City Ground when the club will honour Clough by unveiling a bust of him in the main entrance to the ground, then renaming their Executive Stand the Brian Clough Stand.

On the face of it, there is no surprise in this. Clough specialised in managing clubs a rung or two below England's big-city top six and taking them far above their station, if not quite transforming them into giants of the game. Clough took Derby County from Second Division also-rans to League champions, but he trumped even that when he switched to nearby Forest.

Consider it ... Nottingham, with a population of just 284,000 to support two League clubs, were nowhere near the biggest club in the Midlands, never mind in England. Clough's two League titles were magnificent reward in themselves, but he made the quantum leap to European champions - twice. PSV Eindhoven managed it once, drawing on a smaller city population than Forest but they are one of Holland's biggest clubs from one of that nation's biggest cities and backed by a multi-national sponsor.

Later in his career, 64-year-old Clough's achievements were somewhat tarnished by waning powers and his involvement in the Teddy Sheringham 'bung' transfer investigation. Whatever he may or may not have done away from the dug-out, Clough's achievements in that two-year window of European domination from 1978-80 make today's ceremony utterly merited. But how did he do it?

Alan Hansen still remembers his bemusement when Clough, following him down the dressing-room tunnel for the half-time break in the 1978 Liverpool-Nottingham Forest European Cup tie at the City Ground, kept mischievously prodding his foot against the back of his leg. However, Clough's own players were subjected to this antagonistic streak far more than anyone else, which helps to explain why Forest prevailed over Liverpool in that first-round clash (when Liverpool were the holders) and went on to win the trophy for the next two years.

None of his 1979-80 Cup winning players is invited today, but for two of his key men, goalkeeper Peter Shilton and schemer John McGovern, it is a pity that the memories of what he achieved could not also be marked by the presence of his late assistant, Peter Taylor.

That, of course, would have been unrealistic, even if Taylor were still alive, because the two men fell out later in their careers. But as McGovern says, to understand why Clough was able to get so much out of his Forest team, it is necessary to appreciate how Taylor - the straight man in the double-act - complemented him.

Taylor was regarded as a better judge of the technical ability of players than Clough, while Clough had the stronger personality and a more potent motivational style. In the latter respect, Clough has not been the only manager to be aware of the advantages of players being het up, as reflected by the aggressive, abrasive management style of Sir Alex Ferguson. With Taylor beside him to help control his eccentricity, Clough was also a provocation-game master.

Shilton recalls his irritation with Clough before the 1980 European Cup final against Hamburg, when trying to get the manager to provide grass train ing facilities for him at Forest's base in Majorca. Shilton became so desperate he even tried to practise on a traffic island. When Clough was reminded of this some time later, he smiled. 'Oh, he told you what we did to him did he?' Clough was even happier about his team-talk for that game, when one player at the back of the room muttered: 'We all know what we have to do. Fucking shut up.'

'That's the state the lads were in after ten days in my company,' Clough once told me, proudly. 'We could have taken on two German teams that night, not just one.'

The fact that Clough treated every player the same meant that nobody was spared his penchant for put-downs. Shilton says that on the rare occasions he made a bad mistake, Clough would remark: 'Your moneybags must be wearing you down.'

McGovern, who also played for Clough previously at Hartlepool, Derby and Leeds, says: 'People thought I was his favourite, but I got more stick from him than anybody. I was a 15-year-old apprentice at Hartlepool when he came there, and the first thing he said to me was: "Stand up straight and get your hair cut - you look like a girl." Even at Forest, I went through the whole spectrum of being compared with his grandmother - you know, his grandmother could kick the ball harder than me, run faster than me, head the ball better than me. I nearly said to him once: "Who was it your grandmother used to play for?"

'The point was that there was almost an element of truth in his criticisms, and he knew that you would take it on board and try to prove him wrong. He wanted to get a reaction from you.'

Clough could be as supportive as he could be antagonistic, though, and the players could all trust him. One of Shilton's clearest memories of Forest's 1979 European Cup success was the semi-final first leg against Cologne at home, when the Germans made it 3-3 with a shot which went under his body. 'He could easily have said that it cost us the game, but he didn't. His whole attitude was: "Well, we can still go there and get a result".' Forest won 1-0.

As for Forest's triumph the following year, Shilton also remembers Clough's comments to him before the 1980 final against Hamburg. 'I can't believe it,' Clough told him. 'A reporter has just asked me whether I think Hamburg have the edge because they have Kevin Keegan and we have lost Trevor Francis [through injury]. I said to him: "We've got a better goalkeeper than them. We have the best goalkeeper in the world. Isn't that just as much of an advantage as Hamburg having Keegan?".'

During his pre-match team-talk, Clough said: 'You lads don't have to worry about Keegan - as soon as he comes into our box, Peter Shilton will knock his block off.' Shilton then produced one of the best goalkeeping displays in the competition's history.

'The main thing about Clough was that you never knew what to expect from him,' says McGovern. 'He believed in keeping you on your toes. The best way I can describe his style of management is to liken it to somebody driving a car with his foot flat down on the accelerator all the time, and expecting everybody else to do the same.'

Indeed, while Forest had immensely talented players - apart from Shilton, others who spring readily to mind are Kenny Burns and Francis - their greatest strengths were their intelligence, discipline and sense of unity. Of all the teams he faced in Europe with Liverpool, Hansen looks upon Forest as the one who were the best at denying the opposition space and clear scoring chances.

Not surprisingly, because of the dangers of familiarity breeding contempt, Clough did not get as close to his players as he might have wished.

'He kept all his players at arm's length,' McGovern says. Despite being the Forest player who had worked with him the most, the only time McGovern spent any time in Clough's company socially was when the player had retired and was living in Tenerife. Forest made a close-season trip there, and McGovern, in addition to joining the players for dinner, took Clough home with him - at Clough's request - to watch a John Wayne movie.

Shilton, who arranged a meeting with Clough some time before joining Forest - to ask for his advice on his career - also went to see him a couple of months ago.

'He was in great form,' Shilton says. 'I only intended to visit for half an hour, but was there for three hours.' He adds: 'I don't think the side people saw of him as Forest manager was the real Brian Clough. To a great extent, it was an act. Deep down, he's a very loyal, caring and thoughtful person.'

That will no doubt come through when Clough, apparently happy in retirement,is being applauded by the City Ground faithful today. However, as indicated yesterday by his verbal pop at Bobby Robson for taking the Newcastle job at 66, nobody should bet against his annoying someone.