Cloughie was box office

Published date12 July 2021
Date12 July 2021
Publication titleBirmingham Mail (England)
His personality was huge with bombastic, outspoken and controversial views that endeared him to the public.

When he received the OBE, he said it stood for Old Big 'Ead. When he made one of his regular appearances on TV, he would silence a crowded room because the anticipation was he would say something outrageous.

Derby County's greatest post-war achievements had begun by winning the FA Cup in 1946.

Then a long gap until my first season when Clough, assisted by Peter Taylor, won the old Football League title in the 1971-72 season.

They were cheated by the referee out of the European Cup semi-final in Turin against Juventus. He deliberately booked two Derby players, who were then suspended for the vital second leg.

I was on the team plane home and recall Cloughie pouring the media drinks still desperately angry at the manner in which he was conned.

Then he was tricked again later that 1973 year into resigning. The new manager was former captain Dave Mackay, who also took Derby to the Football League title in 1975.

One happy memory for me was

taking my dad to a European tie at the Baseball Ground where I was doing the interviews.

After the Derby win, I introduced Cloughie to my father Jack. Brian swept my dad into the Derby dressing room where he met all the players. Thirty minutes later, they re-joined me.

Cloughie did the interview, but not before telling me that he much preferred my dad to me! My 5ft 7in dad suddenly felt 6ft 2!

It was Clough who provided me with my greatest memories when he became manager of Nottingham Forest, with back-to-back European Cup-winning finals after winning

the league title following promotion the previous season.

He really promoted my career. I recall, for instance, a League Cup win over Watford, whose chairman was Elton John.

The Thames Television sports producer demanded I interview Clough and Elton together, knowing that Cloughie would never agree to any chairman being with him.

Brian, however, realised I was being set up and reluctantly agreed to it. Elton was clearly in awe of Cloughie in those days.

When Trevor Francis signed for Forest, Cloughie gave us exclusive television pictures at ATV and then

» Coventry had not achieved much since the pioneering days of Jimmy Hill until his former players John Sillett and George Curtis co-managed the club to their greatest triumph, winning the FA Cup 3-2 against Tottenham Hotspur in 1987 on a

memorable day at Wembley.

It was a super match and I enjoyed every moment of presenting their triumphant homecoming on ITV.

sent his new record transfer signing off to make us all tea!

But he could give me a hard time too. Once I turned up at Forest to introduce Star Soccer knowing I had lost my voice. The first person I bumped into was the manager.

"Morning," he said and after my croaked reply, I explained that I had lost my voice. He just said "There will be two million television viewers in the Midlands absolutely thrilled with that news" and walked off!

'Old Big 'Ead' did not always come out on top, however. When he was at Derby in the old Baseball Ground, he had the manager's office next to the boardroom with a very long corridor down to the dressing room at the other end of the ground.

One day he was in his office with only the apprentices in the ground cleaning the boots after training.

Cloughie rang a phone line to the dressing room. "Hello, do you know who this is?" he demanded.

The apprentice who answered said: "Yes, Mr Clough."

"Good lad," said Clough. "Now I want you to bring me a pot of tea and some biscuits."

The reply came back: "Mr Clough, do you know who this is?"

"No," came the answer. The lad said: "Well, **** off then!" Cloughie raced down the corridor, but by the time he reached the dressing room, all the apprentices had scarpered.

IT was a decade that saw Aston Villa rise up from the lowest point in their history and pave the way for their greatest triumph.

Villa may have started the decade in the third tier...

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