Is there anyone in the history of English football who has told brighter stories about them than Brian Clough?
The former legendary coach of Derby, Nottingham Forest and Leeds United, who died in 2004, is said to have celebrated his 85th birthday on Saturday.
This is why talkSPORT.com has scanned our archives to discover some of Cloughie’s tales that best highlight his unconventional, but absolutely brilliant management style.
You may have forgotten some, some come to mind every time you think of it, but they’re all absolutely hilarious.
A unique character and definitely missed. Thanks for the memories, Cloughie.
His man management was famous, but he could be brutal
pundit talkSPORT and former England defender Stuart Pearce has played under Clough for eight seasons at Forest, seven as captain, so knows all about his wonderful ways.
But it could also be brutal, as Dave Currie, the new signatory, discovered shortly after arriving at City Ground.
“I’m going to tell you a great story,” said Psycho, talkSPORT host Jim White, on Thursday.
“We signed a guy named Dave Currie of Barnsley for £ 650,000 a summer and we were about three weeks before the season.
“Now Dave has only been at the club for three weeks and we went to Derby in a friendly match.
“We were seated on the baseball field, and when Cloughie was in the locker room, no one said a word, so all the players were seated about ten minutes before going out to play.
“And he looked at Dave Currie in the locker room, looked him straight in the eye and said,” Have you ever found a home for Dave? “
“Dave said,” No, not yet boss. “
“” Don’t bother, son, “said Cloughie.
“After three weeks at the club, he decided” he’s not for me “.
“Cloughie was wonderful like that, to be fair.”
When Clough was beaten by Leeds at the signing of Gary McAllister
We all know that Clough and Leeds were not exactly a match made in heaven…
So it seems that the boss was rather annoyed when one of the transfer targets during his second spell in charge of Forest chose to join the White people instead.
“It was bad timing,” Gary McAllister told Four Four Two magazine in 2016 about his decision to move to Elland Road.
“Looking back, I would have loved to play under Clough in his pump, but I had options and I felt Leeds was better suited.
“Brian was not impressed when I said I was going to Leeds.”
He certainly was not. Read it FULL STORY HERE!
Clough “terrified” Vinnie Jones … then smashes his ghetto blaster
Few feared Hollywood footballer Hardman Jones, but he was apparently shaking in his boots after an angry encounter with Cloughie.
Goalkeeper Mark Crossley was in the locker room as everything unfolded as Forest faced the crazy Wimbledon gang …
“We played Wimbledon at home, I remember, and it was the first team to come up with a ghetto blaster.
“Vinnie walked with him on her f ****** shoulder, like, and you can see it [Clough] think “what is this shit?”
“He got arrested and went‘ Hilly, Hilly ’to Alan Hill. “Do you want to knock on the door of their f ***** locker room and ask them to turn down this f ****** music?”
“So Alan Hill comes down and knocks on the door and Vinnie Jones opens the door, the Wimbledon captain, and he stands there in a pair of leaves. Like f ****** groaning at Alan Hill like.
“And Alan Hill is gone” listen Vinnie, would you mind turning the music down? Our gaffer doesn’t like it. “So Vinnie went” yeah, yeah, no problem. “
“So he refuses and Alan Hill goes back to the locker room. Of course, what’s going on? They do it even more f *****.
“It happens again, so the third time it [Clough] gets up and f ****** walks down the hall, knocks on the door.
“He opens the door, Vinnie, he [Clough] walks around their locker room – and this is 10 to three by the way – takes the ghetto blaster, breaks it and says “Now play your f ****** Wimbledon music”. We f ****** beat 4-1, like.
“When I went to play for Wales and met Vinnie, Vinnie told me this story, you see.
“Even Crazy Gang didn’t say anything to him!”
Read this story FULL HERE
Cloughie’s Broken Iron Ultimatum
“I always felt he didn’t particularly like me, but he accepted me” – Stuart Pearce
Clough was a management genius, but his human management skills were… unorthodox.
Who else but Cloughie could keep a star player’s feet on the ground using a broken iron?
Watch the video below for the full story…
Although it is not on talkSPORT, we could not finish this “best songs” piece without publishing this video of its classic live broadcast with sworn enemy Don Revie.
Fans of the Damned United movie will love this. Put the kettle on, make a cup of tea and enjoy…