NORTH-EAST football legend Brian Clough had only two months to live before he underwent a successful liver transplant, his surgeon said last night.

The transplant team also found cancer in his diseased liver when they performed the major operation on the 67-year-old last week at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital.

But consultant Derek Manas told a news conference that the man affectionately known throughout football as Cloughie was making a good recovery.

Mr Manas said: "Things are going so well he could well be going home in a week."

Clough, who is being treated as an NHS patient, was in good spirits, the surgeon said, adding: "He is being his old self, teaching us all how to play golf and telling us what, and what not, to do."

Clough led Nottingham Forest to two European Cup triumphs during his career as a manager, which also saw him win the Division One title with Derby County.

As a player, he won two England caps and scored 251 goals in 274 games as a striker for Middlesbrough and Sunderland.

In the book Walking on Water, Clough, a father of three, revealed the damage heavy drinking had done to his health.

He told how he had sought help after his grandson, Stephen, pleaded with him: "You're not having a drink, Grandad, are you?"

Clough said: "Drink became more important to me than the anguish I was creating for those I loved most."

Last year, former Manchester United idol George Best received a liver transplant after years of heavy drinking.