Brian Clough: football player, coach, legend

Brian Clough (photo placed later in the article) - one of the most productive football players and outstanding coaches in England. His achievements in the previously mediocre provincial clubs "Derby" and "Forest" are considered the greatest in the history of football.

Brian Clough: Biography

Brian Howard Clough was born in Middlesbrough, England, on March 21, 1935. He was the sixth of nine children born in a friendly family of football fans. Sport from an early age became Brian's main goal. Although the teachers claimed that he was a bright boy, the school did not entice him like football. After dropping out of school at 15, he became the center forward in a small local team called Billingham Sintonia, which he had to leave in 1953 for a compulsory two-year service in the Royal Air Force.

On his return, Brian Clough began to play an attacker in his native Middlesbrough football club and became a fan favorite, having scored 197 goals in 213 games in 6 years of the game. Then he moved to the north-east, in FC Sunderland, where in the 61 match for the "Black Cats" his account was replenished with 54 more goals. Claf's effective playing career was interrupted by a knee injury caused by a collision with the opponent's goalkeeper in late 1962. In 1964, he tried to return to football, but having played only a few matches, he had to leave the game.

From football players to coaches

Clough was not even 30 years old when he had to give up the career of a football player. But he managed to quickly retrain into football coaches, which eventually became famous. When in 1965 Bryan became the head of the 4th division of Hartlepool United, he became the youngest manager of the Football League. Clough brought the same level of ambition, obsession and self-control that he displayed on the field as a player. In the club, the coach did not stay long, but it was there that he first teamed up with his assistant Peter Taylor, who will become an invaluable partner throughout his career.

Success in Derby County

In 1967, Clough and Taylor left Hartlepool to assume the leadership of the second division club in Derby County. Here he perfected his coaching skills. Here he experienced success and storms of controversy over his relations with board members, players and fans. When he first appeared in the club, he quickly put everything in its place, allowing many to leave, inviting new talents and even firing two employees who chuckled after losing the team.

His methods caused a stir, but soon proved to be effective. In 1968, Brian Clough led the Derby to victory in the Second Division, which enabled the club to return to the highest echelon of English football after a 10-year hiatus. In 1972, when he led the team for the third season, in the dramatic competition, when the opponents of Liverpool and Leeds lost on the last day of the season, Derby County won the League. The title was the first in the long history of the club, played since the end of the 19th century. The following year, the team reached the semi-finals of the European Champions Cup, but lost to the Italian "Juventus". Klaff's popularity was growing, and he gained a reputation as an impudent, frank and fearless coach, which simultaneously repelled and inspired the fans, players and club staff.

Eventually, against the backdrop of continued tension and conflict with the Derby board of directors, in 1973 Clough and Taylor resigned. The fans protested, the players threatened to strike, but this did not lead to anything.

Became famous, the coaches moved to Brighton and Hove Albion. But Clough was disappointed in the club, mired in the depths of the Third Division, and made the most controversial and memorable act in his career.

"Damned United"

In July 1974, Clough (baptized by the Clafi tabloids) left Brighton for Leeds United, the team of the First Division, left without a coach after the legendary Don Revie led the England national team. Brian's decision to go to Leeds was taken against the will of his long-time assistant Peter Taylor, who did not follow him. In the past, Clough was extremely critical of the direct power-based style of the game that Don Revi practiced in Leeds. The style was extremely successful, but the new coach considered him unsporting. During the first meeting with the players Clough said that the club can throw their medals in the trash, because they were not won fairly. After 44 days of constant clashes with players and managers, and also the only win after six games, he resigned and left the team with a good compensation. The film, made decades later about the stay of Cliff in Leeds, was called "Damned United".

To the top of the glory with Nottingham Forest

After a disastrous month and a half in Leeds in the middle of the 1974-75 season, Clough already coached the Nottingham Forest, the team that languished in the lower half of the Second Division. As in Derby, Brian Clough (coach) was able to revolutionize the club, raising it to incredible heights. He followed the tried and tested success plan, gaining proven players in the past, betting on young talent and inviting Peter Taylor to help him. Clough preferred a style of play based on holding the ball on the field, with an emphasis on dribbling and short transfers. Once he said that if it was God's will to play football in the clouds, the grass would grow there.

Under his leadership, Nottingham Forest got an incredible number of awards: the victory in the Second Division in 1977, the championship in the First Division in 1978, the four Cups of the Football League and the European Cup. Clough stayed at the club for 18 years and retired in 1993 as perhaps the most beloved manager in the history of the Nottingham Forest club.

The humor and charisma of Brian brightly manifested in the "Forest", where he ended the boring performances, poorly perceived by the public in the past. In 2002, the club named in its honor the largest rostrum of the stadium "City Ground". In the same year, Brian Clough was introduced to the English Football Hall of Fame. By the end of his life, he had become a rebel, a phenomenon of nature, a phenomenal leader and the legend of the game.

Brian Clough: personal life

On political convictions, Clough was a socialist, often appeared on miners' pickets, donated large sums to trade unions and was chairman of the Antinational League.

On April 4, 1959, he married Barbara Glasgow. They had three children - Simon (1964), Nigel (1966) and Elizabeth (1967). Nigel subsequently followed in the footsteps of his father, played in his team and became a coach in the "Derby County".

Clough had problems with alcohol, which affected his liver. In 2003, he underwent an operation to transplant her. Brian Clough died of stomach cancer on September 20, 2004.