Brian Clough was truly one of a kind.
There was never a name because it is so synonymous with football in England.
Not surprisingly, brilliant stories have been told about the former boss of Nottingham Forest – “the greatest manager England has ever had” – over the years.
Legendary manager Brian Clough never mince words
And former Forest skipper Stuart Pearce recalled another of these famous tales on talkSPORT on Saturday – the day Clough would have turned 85 if he hadn’t died tragically, at just 69 in 2004.
It was the late 1980s and Forest entertained Arsenal in a league clash at the City Ground.
Jennings turned to retrieve the ball from the back of the Trent End before being struck by a DART launched by a Forest fan.
The dart ended up in the arm of Jennings, who played unassisted, but it wasn’t the most incredible thing that came out of the entire episode – with Pearce detailing the best songs below.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Psycho said, “I ran into Pat Jennings last year and we started talking and he said, ‘You worked for Brian Clough, right? “
“And I said,” Yes, I did it for eight years. “
“He added:” It must have been interesting? “, And I laughed and I agree with him.
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Arsenal legend Pat Jennings got a dart thrown by a Nottingham Forest fan
“He then said he would tell me a fantastic story about Cloughy.
“He was playing at City Ground [for Arsenal] in the back of the 80s. The ball went behind the goal and he went to get it, and someone threw a Trent tip dart that caught his arm halfway up.
“He pulled out the dart and put it behind the goal and didn’t do much.
“At halftime, he went to say to Don Howe,” someone threw this at me “, then he went to put an antiseptic on it and cleaned it.
“After the game, Howe went to Cloughy and said,” Your supporters are absolute animals! Look what they did to my goalkeeper.
Stuart Pearce shares the brilliant story of Brian Clough of his days in Nottingham Forest
“They thought it was the end but a letter arrived.
“Pat went into his pocket and took out the letter when I was talking to him and told me to read it.
“It read:” Dear Pat, I have absolutely no sympathy. Whenever you come to the City Ground, you stop everything that comes in your direction. It’s no surprise to me that you stopped the dart on this occasion, lots of love. Brian “.
“I absolutely laughed at my head.
“I thought it was typical of Cloughy, and also typical of a player of that era who had been hit by a dart and had just started the game.”
You wouldn’t see that in modern football, that’s for sure!
