As some of you probably know I am a Forest fan. I became one someone later in life (i.e AFTER the big cups!!!) as in my teens and beyond Tamworth FC was my team but as they also became my 'work' (bizarre I know) I missed having a league team to follow as a distraction. However, I found that my devotion to Cloughie meant Forest were always the team I looked out for first. So, for about 25 years or so it is the City Ground boys who I follow and I try to see them as and when I can (which isn't very often now).
So this week has been a bit of a rollercoater for we Forest fans. A week when one of my greatest heroes (Nigel Clough), the son of my gretatest non-Strangler hero (Brian Clough) has just become manager of the one club Forest fans hate more than anyone else - Derby.
Forest fans are pretty confused today I can tell you. Most people like me love him and want him to do well (but not his team if that can work!) but many see this as the ultimate betrayal as the two clubs hate each other so much. It is like seeing one of your best mates with his hand up your girlfriend’s top (something that happened once to me with both Nig and Gaz at a party with a gal called Louise!!!)
The thing is though where Derby is concerned the Clough family see it as ‘unfinished business’. Clough Snr had his biggest success down the A52 from the old Baseball Ground but he never lost his love for Derby or indeed his anger at himself for walking out on them (which will be detailed in the soon to be released film The Damned United which looks a brilliant adapation of any amazing book).
Everyone remembers Forest’s two European Cups but it is often forgotten just what an amazing side Cloughie built at Derby – we all rememeber those vintage Star Soccer days – and Clough maintained to his dying day that he could have made Derby the biggest club in the country if he had stayed. That may sound ridiculous – but how ridiculous was it to take a club the size of Forest to two European Cups? The fella was a genius
As a result Clough both loved and hated Derby – in Pearce’s autobiography he said it was made very clear on pain of torture that whatever happened you did not lose to them – and so I think the Derby story was ingrained in Nigel from an early age and the family knew they hadn’t quite finished with this particular club..
In saying that though I wonder if Nigel Clough knows what is coming. He has never looked comfortable in front of the camera and now the media pressure will increase 100 times on him. He could get away with it at Burton to a certain extent but now every time his team wins or loses the national press will be comparing his results to Brian’s era. That is quite a burden – but I hope knows what he is doing..
As for leaving Burton, well no-one can deny he hasn’t done a good, solid, honest job there and he may well think this is exactly the right time to leave as he has put them in a fantastic position to get promoted. And let’s face it how many managers stay somewhere for ten years and get to leave on top at the time of their choosing? His loyalty cannot be questioned. And it also means I can go back to hating Burton again as every self-respecting Tamworth fans should.
So Forest have appointed Derby’s old manager (which I am pleased about) and Derby have appointed a former Forest legend who is the son of the two club’s greatest ever managerial hero. And now they meet in the FA Cup.
Football? Don’t you just love it…
As a result Clough both loved and hated Derby – in Pearce’s autobiography he said it was made very clear on pain of torture that whatever happened you did not lose to them – and so I think the Derby story was ingrained in Nigel from an early age and the family knew they hadn’t quite finished with this particular club..
In saying that though I wonder if Nigel Clough knows what is coming. He has never looked comfortable in front of the camera and now the media pressure will increase 100 times on him. He could get away with it at Burton to a certain extent but now every time his team wins or loses the national press will be comparing his results to Brian’s era. That is quite a burden – but I hope knows what he is doing..
As for leaving Burton, well no-one can deny he hasn’t done a good, solid, honest job there and he may well think this is exactly the right time to leave as he has put them in a fantastic position to get promoted. And let’s face it how many managers stay somewhere for ten years and get to leave on top at the time of their choosing? His loyalty cannot be questioned. And it also means I can go back to hating Burton again as every self-respecting Tamworth fans should.
So Forest have appointed Derby’s old manager (which I am pleased about) and Derby have appointed a former Forest legend who is the son of the two club’s greatest ever managerial hero. And now they meet in the FA Cup.
Football? Don’t you just love it…
