The Life and Times of Brian Clough - Part One

THE MIDDLESBROUGH DAYS

Born in Valley Road, Middlesbrough, Clough made his professional debut for his hometown club in 1955 and went on to score 204 goals in just 222 games for the Teessiders.

He was the Second Division’s leading goalscorer for three successive seasons, but his Ayresome Park spell ultimately ended in acrimony as he fell out with team-mates and had a series of transfer requests turned down.

Mick McNeil (Middlesbrough left-back)

“We used to go along in the evenings after work and train under the stand, in the sweat box, the ‘soot box’ as we called it because it was full of dust.

“One evening, Cloughie was there, playing table-tennis with some first-team player. We were just young lads doing our training. We were doing step-ups. The box had a wooden base and it moved when you tried to do these things as quickly as you could.

“So the floor was bouncing. I heard this voice, ‘Hey Buster!’ The first words Cloughie ever spoke to me. ‘Hey, Buster – do you mind? We’re trying to play table-tennis’.

“Bobby (Appleby) and I said, under our breaths, ‘And we’re trying to train’. But we sat on the seat and watched him finish his game, then we carried on.”

Bryan Douglas (Blackburn winger, and Clough’s England team-mate) “He had strong opinions about Middlesbrough and the management. He used to put the fear up people. If you were a bit weak-willed, he could be a bit nasty off the field.

“He was just as aggressive playing cards as football. If you played the wrong card, he’d hit the roof.”

Billy Day (Middlesbrough forward)

“We played a very attacking style, with wingers that stayed forward and put the balls in for Clough and (Alan) Peacock. We just used to pick whoever was on the near post or whoever was on the far post – we had a choice. It was a system that was marvellous for scoring goals.

“I remember the first match of the 1958 season (when Middlesbrough beat Brighton 9-0) and the person I remember most is the then Brighton keeper Dave Hollins. I later played alongside him at Newcastle and would constantly remind him of the 9-0 humiliation.

“We were great that day. The goals were flying in and Cloughie was excellent in what was a superb all-round team performance.

“He was a brilliant striker of a moving ball. His timing was perfect. It was a miracle if he shot over the bar. He used to have his knee always at the right angle to the ground. If I’d thrown a hand grenade over, he’d have volleyed it.”

Brian Phillips (Middlesbrough centre-half)

“We’d be flogging our guts out for a 0-0 draw and Cloughie would be strolling around at the other end quite unconcerned. He did bugger all when the pressure was on. Then we’d have to read in the paper what a great game he had.”

THE SUNDERLAND DAYS

Clough’s time at Middlesbrough came to an end in July 1961 when he moved to North-East neighbours Sunderland in a controversial £45,000 deal.

He scored 63 goals in 74 appearances on Wearside, but his career effectively ended when he damaged his cruciate ligament in a collision with Bury goalkeeper Chris Harker on Boxing Day 1962.

Charlie Hurley (Sunderland centre-half)

“When we signed him, I thought we’d hit the jackpot. We had all the build up, but just missed out – we needed the goals a good goalscorer would score.

“When I played against Cloughie, I would say ‘Leave Cloughie to me’ and I’d track him. You might not see me an awful lot, but you wouldn’t see him either. I’d stick right by him for 90 minutes.

“I remember once after coming off after a game at Boro, he turned to me and said, ‘You know the best thing that’s happened to me today is full-time, so I can turn round and not see you right behind me’. That was a great compliment because he was the best goalscorer I ever played against.”

Stan Anderson (Sunderland captain)

“When Clough first arrived he had a chip on his shoulder. He’s been scoring all these goals but Middlesbrough weren’t going anywhere, just hanging around mid-table, so he was frustrated.

“He brought that with him, but it only lasted a couple of weeks. I could understand it. He would say, ‘Just give me the ball and I’ll stick it in the net for you’. That might have sounded like a bit of a boast, but it was true – he very rarely missed.”

Chris Harker (Bury goalkeeper, on Clough’s career-ending collision)

“Brian went in for the ball with all his might. There were no hard feelings. There was snow and ice on the pitch, it was 50-50, and Brian just went over the top of me.

“Whenever I watched him on TV after that, I used to think, ‘I’m the man who launched his career’. Normally, I’m not even named, I am simply the ‘Bury goalkeeper’, but what he did as a manager was amazing and I played a small part.”

Alan Brown (Sunderland manager)

“When a footballer’s getting over a bad injury, he’s mentally ill as well. It showed in Clough’s behaviour. He was under dreadful strain – frightened to death about what would become of him after football.”

Geoffrey Boycott (England and Yorkshire cricketer)

“I first met Brian when he was a centre-forward playing for Sunderland and I was a young cricketer for Yorkshire. In those days, we used to play a lot in Scarborough during the high summer.

“Cloughie would train in the morning with Sunderland and then travel down to Scarborough to watch the last two sessions of play. He would sit in the players’ area, watching avidly, and I was introduced to him there by Brian Close. He would become a lifelong friend.”

THE HARTLEPOOLS DAYS

With his playing career abruptly ended, Clough moved into management when he was appointed as the boss of Hartlepools United in October 1965.

He spent almost two years with Hartlepools, helping to stabilise a club that was constantly on the verge of demotion from the Football League and guiding them to eighth place in the Football League in the 1966-67 season.

Ken Simpkins (Hartlepools goalkeeper)

“We knew within a couple of weeks that he was going to be great. He couldn’t change much because we didn’t have a lot of money, but the way he talked and thought about the game, you could tell. He knew exactly what he wanted to do and he brought a new discipline.

“Geoff Twentyman (Clough’s predecessor) we all thought had been a bit quiet. There was one game I remember at Aldershot when we were 3-0 down at half-time and he just said, ‘Lads, we’re not good enough’. Cloughie would have been shouting at us before we’d got off the pitch.”

Mick Somers (Hartlepools winger, who was signed by Clough)

“I got on really well with Cloughie and enjoyed playing under him. But if you stepped out of line you’d be in trouble. Even as a young man of 33 or 34, he was a disciplinarian.

“At Hartlepool, I lived in digs with four other players and one of them was a lad who didn’t always toe the line and used to like a drink.

“But Cloughie knew everything that went on, and he came up with a great way of stopping this lad from going out the night before matches. He’d come round to our house and go, ‘Come with me, young man’, and he’d get him to spend the night babysitting for his children.”

John McGovern (Hartlepools midfielder, who followed Clough to Derby, Leeds and Nottingham Forest)

“After one of my early games at Hartlepools, he called me over and promised to tell me something I would be thankful for as long as I played football.

“He said as professionals reach the age of 30, they all lose a yard of pace, but I would never have that problem. Thanks for that – a backhanded compliment of sorts.

“I was 17, and I could hear him walking back in, laughing with Pete (Taylor). Cloughy used to smile. He wouldn’t laugh a lot, but he would smile at Pete because he was so funny. Cloughy would be sarcastic at best, Pete was genuinely funny.”

* Some source material has been taken from “Nobody Ever Says Thank You” by Jonathan Wilson