On 1st March 2005 Cloughies Restaurant was officially opened by Brian Clough’s wife, Barbara Clough. It is a unique restaurant based in Ilkeston which sits between Derby and Nottingham, 2 clubs that Brian Clough famously managed.
Cloughies restaurant is based in Ilkeston Derbyshire, and is dedicated to Brian Clough OBE, a unique and remarkable football legend.
About Brian Clough
(Source: Wikipedia)
Brian Howard Clough, OBE (21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was a successful footballer and subsequently football manager, most notable for his success with Derby County and Nottingham Forest.
Table of Contents
- Childhood
- Playing career
- Management career
- Retirement
- Death
- Start Photo Slideshow
Childhood
Born at number 11 Valley Road, Grove Hill, Middlesbrough, Brian Clough was the son of a local sweet factory worker, and the fifth of eight children. When talking of his childhood he said he "adored it in all its aspects. If anyone should be grateful for their upbringing, for their mum and dad, I’m that person. I was the kid who came from a little part of paradise”. On his upbringing in Middlesbrough, Clough claimed that it was not the nicest place in the world, “But to me it was heaven”. “Everything I have done, everything I’ve achieved, everything that I can think of that has directed and affected my life – apart from the drink – stemmed from my childhood. Maybe it was the constant sight of mam, with eight children to look after, working from morning till night, working harder than you or I have ever worked”.
Playing career
Clough appeared for Billingham Synthonia, before his national service. Following this, he became a prolific striker for his home town club Middlesbrough scoring 204 goals in 222 starts for Boro. He then signed for Sunderland and scored 63 goals in only 74 games. Unfortunately for Clough on 26 December 1962, he injured his knee during a match against Bury after colliding with the goalkeeper. It turned out to be a cruciate ligament injury, which usually ended a player's career at that time. Clough returned two years later but could only manage three games before retiring. He played twice for England, against Wales on 17 October 1959 and Sweden on 28 October 1959, without scoring.
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Management career
Derby County
Clough then went on to manage Hartlepool United with Peter Taylor as his assistant manager, before they both joined Derby County as manager and assistant manager in 1967. At Derby, Clough and Taylor won promotion to the Football League First Division (then the highest echelon of English football) within two years. Clough was universally seen as a hard but fair manager, who insisted on clean play from his players and brooked no stupid questions with the press. He was famous for insisting on being called 'Mr Clough' and earned great respect from his peers for his ability to turn a game to his and his team's advantage.
During the 1971-72 season, Derby tussled with Liverpool and Leeds United for the title. Leading the table by one point having played their last match, Clough took his players on holiday to Spain, where they learned that both title rivals had failed to win their final matches, meaning that Derby became champions for the first time in their history.
The following season Derby reached the semi-finals of the European Cup, but were knocked out by Juventus 3-1 on aggregate in very controversial circumstances. It later emerged that the West German referee had received gifts from the Italian side before the match. Clough himself accused the Juventus team of being "cheating b******s" and then questioned the Italian nation's courage in the war. Clough's frequent outspoken comments against football's establishment (which had led to Derby being threatened with expulsion from the League) eventually led to him falling out with Rams chairman, Sam Longson, and the board of directors at the club. Clough and Taylor both left in 1973, to widespread uproar from Rams fans, who demanded the board resign and Clough be reinstated.
Brighton and Leeds United
Such was the loyalty to Clough that along with himself and Taylor, scouts and backroom staff completed the walk out, following the pair for their brief spell with Brighton & Hove Albion. He proved less successful on the South Coast than with his previous club, winning only 12 of his 32 games in charge of the Third Division side. Whereas eight months earlier Clough was managing a team playing Juventus in the European Cup and eighteen months earlier guided a club to their first ever league championship, he was now managing a club who, just after his appointment as manager, lost to Walton and Hersham 4-0 at home in an FA Cup replay and who lost 8-2 at home to Bristol Rovers, and eventually finished in 19th place.
Clough left less than a year after his appointment to become manager of Leeds United following Don Revie's departure to become manager of England, though this time Taylor didn't join him. Such a move was surprising, given Clough's previous outspoken criticism of Revie and his team's playing style. Shortly after his appointment Clough famously told the Leeds players that they should throw all their medals in the bin, since they'd won them unfairly. He lasted in the job only 44 days before he was sacked after upsetting many of Leeds's star players, notably Johnny Giles, Norman Hunter and Billy Bremner. He has the unenviable record of being Leeds United's least successful permanent manager winning only 1 match. His pay-off was estimated at £98,000.
Nottingham Forest
In January 1975, Clough made a quick return to management with Nottingham Forest, who at the time were a Second Division side. A year later he was joined by his old assistant Taylor. They transformed the club's fortunes and the first success at the club came in Clough's second full season (1976-77) when they won promotion to the First Division. In their first season after promotion they won the League Cup, beating Liverpool F.C. 1-0 in a replay at Old Trafford, and were crowned champions of the First Division, finishing seven points clear of nearest challengers Liverpool.
This made Clough the first manager since Herbert Chapman to win the English Championship with two different clubs. During the 1978-79 season, Clough signed the 24-year-old Birmingham City F.C. striker Trevor Francis - Britain's first £1million footballer (although Clough insisted that the fee was actually £999,999). Forest retained the League Cup, but finished as runners-up to Liverpool in the league. The season was rounded off with victory in the European Cup final, thanks to a 1-0 victory over Malmö FF. A year later, Clough guided Forest to a second successive European Cup after victory over Kevin Keegan's Hamburg and a third successive League Cup final, though this time they were defeated by Wolverhampton Wanderers.
It was not until 1988-89 that Clough and Forest would enjoy another major trophy success, this time over Luton Town F.C. in the League Cup again. For a time, Forest were on course for a treble that season, but ultimately had to settle for 3rd place in the league and a defeat in the FA Cup semi-finals. Clough had to manage the team from the stands in the latter half of the season as he was serving a touchline ban after hitting a supporter who had invaded the pitch. [1] A year later, Clough guided Forest to another League Cup victory with a 1-0 over Oldham Athletic. In 1991 Forest reached their first FA Cup final under Brian Clough but lost 2-1 to Tottenham Hotspur. They reached the League Cup final again in 1992, but lost 1-0 to Manchester United.
The 1992-93 season was Clough's 18th with Forest - and his last. They were one of the 22 clubs in the new Premier League, but the sale of key players like Teddy Sheringham and Des Walker, combined with the manager's increasingly uncontrolled alcoholism, saw the club's fortunes take a sharp decline and they were bottom virtually all season. Just before a 2-0 defeat against Sheffield United F.C. confirmed the club's relegation after 16 years in the top flight, Clough announced his retirement as manager.
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Retirement
Clough retired as manager of Nottingham Forest F.C. in May 1993 to be succeeded by then Leyton Orient manager, and European Cup-winning Forest player under Clough, Frank Clark. He spent the majority of his retirement living in Quarndon in Derbyshire before moving to Derby itself.
Much of his retirement was spent concentrating on his fight against alcoholism which had plagued him since the 1970s. He considered applying for the job as manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. on the resignation of Graham Taylor in October 1995, perhaps thinking that he could take the struggling club (then just above the relegation zone in the new First Division) to the same heights to which he took Nottingham Forest. But nothing came of it and Clough's managerial career was over. Nottingham Forest honoured him by renaming the City Ground's largest stand, the Executive Stand, the Brian Clough Stand. Clough was made an Inaugural Inductee of the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002 in recognition of his impact as manager.
In the early 1990s, Clough was implicated in the "bungs" scandal in English football involving then Tottenham Hotspur manager Terry Venables and chairman Alan Sugar and particularly the transfer of Teddy Sheringham from Forest to Spurs. Clough was alleged to have been receiving illegal payments during transfer negotiations and making illegal payments to players[1]. Owing to Clough's declining health when the case was put together, he was never formally charged by the FA.
Clough's relationship with Peter Taylor, his assistant at Derby, Brighton and Forest, was damaged permanently in 1983 over the transfer of John Robertson. The two fell out when Taylor, who had retired in 1982 but then become manager of Derby, signed the Forest winger without telling Clough beforehand. The rift had not been repaired by the time Taylor died in October 1990, but Clough and his family attended Taylor's funeral. When the assistant coach at Forest telephoned Clough to inform him of Taylor's death, he didn't say anything and put the phone down. He allegedly cried heavily after this and his bad feeling over the unreconciled rift increased Clough's already heavy drinking. Clough dedicated his
autobiography in 1994 to Taylor and when given the freedom of Nottingham also paid tribute to him, as he did in 1999 when a bust was unveiled of Clough at the City Ground.
In January 2003, the 67-year-old Clough underwent a liver transplant; 30 years of heavy drinking had taken its toll and doctors said that Clough would have died within two weeks without a transplant, as it was severely damaged and cancer had been found within it. The transplant gave Clough a new lease of life for the next 20 months.
Clough's reputation for never sitting on the fence and ever-strong views on all manner of football issues translated into an entertaining and sometimes controversial column which he wrote for Four Four Two magazine up until his death.
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Death and legacy
Clough died of stomach cancer on September 20, 2004, in Derby City Hospital, at the age of 69.
Such was his popularity, fans of Derby County and Nottingham Forest, usually the fiercest of rivals, mourned together following his passing. A memorial service was held at Derby's Pride Park Stadium on 21 October 2004 which was attended by over 14,000 people. It was originally to be held at Derby Cathedral, but had to be moved due to demand for tickets
Clough was often seen as the English public's pick for manager of England, but he was never given the job by the Football Association.
In September 1989, British punk band the Toy Dolls, released the album Wakey Wakey, featuring a song entitled "Cloughy is a Bootboy!", which describes an altercation between a fan and the resulting court case.
Clough was reportedly being considered for a knighthood for his services to football when he died. He already had an OBE and joked that it stood for "Old Big 'Ead". Clough was a committed socialist, often appearing on miners' picket lines and being a sponsor of the Anti Nazi League.
His son, Nigel Clough, currently manages Burton Albion F.C. In June 2005 the Nottingham Playhouse premiered a play called Old Big 'Ead in The Spirit of the Man, by the Nottingham-born playwright Stephen Lowe, in which Brian Clough "takes to the stage.. quite literally!", portrayed by actor Colin Tarrant. In August 2005 the stretch of the A52 linking Nottingham and Derby was renamed Brian Clough Way. His widow Barbara expressed her gratitude to Nottingham City Council, saying: "Brian would have been amazed but genuinely appreciative."
In 2000, composer Robert Steadman wrote a song called Brian Clough's CV as part of his Nottingham Songbook which was premiered in the Millennium Dome. The acclaimed writer David Peace's 2006 novel "The Damned Utd." is a fictionalised account of Clough's 44 days as manager of Leeds United, written from the perspective of Clough himself. Since the opening of the Nottingham Express Transit system, tram #215 has been named Brian Clough.
After a long process of money-raising, the town of Middlesbrough commissioned a statue of Clough, that was due to be unveiled on his birthday, March 21, 2007 on what would have been Cloughie's 72nd birthday, but delays with the design process meant it was put back to May 16th 2007. The statue took two years of fundraising, which collected £65,000. Although there was a movement to erect a statue in Grove Hill, his birthplace, the site chosen was Albert Park, Middlesbrough through which he usually walked on his way from home to Ayresome Park, the old stadium.
In April 2007, Derby County announced that a square in their new Pride Plaza revedelopment will be named after Brian Clough, in honour of his achievements at the club, in which there will also be a statue of Clough. Derby County and Nottingham Forest will compete for the inaugural Brian Clough Trophy at Pride Park Stadium on Tuesday 31 July 2007. In future, any league, cup or friendly game played between Derby and Forest will automatically become a Brian Clough Trophy game. Proceeds from the game will go to charities in the East Midlands.
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