NTT20 Interview with Nigel Clough

[IlsonDerby]

https://www.podspot.co.uk/not-the-top-20-podcast/43991/ 

 

Really enjoyed this interview with Clough. 

Obviously there's a decent chunk of Derby talk on there but the whole thing is interesting. 

Anyway for anyone that isn't a follower of NTT20 I thought I'd share it. 

 

 

He gives the impression he was going along with both hinds tied behind his back and the goal posts forever being moved for him and his team whilst here. Really made me think about some of the good times under him. Some of the teams he put together which very nearly clicked (Bueno, Commons, Cywka etc). 

 

Think he was a prickly character but do think he got a bum deal out of being sacked regardless of how we shot up the division afterwards. He created that side. He bought our player of the last decade for 400k. Keogh in to replace Shackell like for like. Ward and Martin in on loan to permanent. Time to appreciate what he accomplished here. Turned up with us in free fall to league one with near 40 first team players, left with a wage bill half the size and a side ready to push for the play offs. Fair play. Just wished he'd had the bravery to take the shackles off the team once he'd assembled the pieces required. 

 

[Van der MoodHoover]

14 minutes ago, IlsonDerby said:

https://www.podspot.co.uk/not-the-top-20-podcast/43991/ 

 

Really enjoyed this interview with Clough. 

Obviously there's a decent chunk of Derby talk on there but the whole thing is interesting. 

Anyway for anyone that isn't a follower of NTT20 I thought I'd share it. 

 

 

He gives the impression he was going along with both hinds tied behind his back and the goal posts forever being moved for him and his team whilst here. Really made me think about some of the good times under him. Some of the teams he put together which very nearly clicked (Bueno, Commons, Cywka etc). 

 

Think he was a prickly character but do think he got a bum deal out of being sacked regardless of how we shot up the division afterwards. He created that side. He bought our player of the last decade for 400k. Keogh in to replace Shackell like for like. Ward and Martin in on loan to permanent. Time to appreciate what he accomplished here. Turned up with us in free fall to league one with near 40 first team players, left with a wage bill half the size and a side ready to push for the play offs. Fair play. Just wished he'd had the bravery to take the shackles off the team once he'd assembled the pieces required. 

 

3 of our best away performances that season 2-1 v Brighton, 3-0 v yeovil, 5-1 v millwall. 

They were all under clough at the start of the season. The bum luck was having to play all the top teams at home.

But I think that the team WAS clicking. The sacking was very unfair imo, as the good times were about to roll.

[Alph]

There were a few times he had a nice little thing going but he would always react to defeat by starting playing like the underdog. Really frustrating. He turned to the grafters over the prettier players which kind of makes sense but we kind of turned into gutsy losers at times

There were hints of enjoyable teams. Flair players not running the ball into corners or defending a 1-0 lead for half hour like we're away at Man City. 

It was a shame. Nice bloke and I like his principals. Just frustrating to see the teams that you think you want (grafters that care) lack quality throughout. 

Oh and his record of strikers is really poor. A couple of good ones, a couple of awful ones and the rest were just not up to scratch. 

[Mostyn6]

needed a brave assistant to inspire him. Was let down by being too "plucky" and "real".

[RadioactiveWaste]

One of my long running thoughts on our time with nigel was that given the circumstances, we could easily have hired and sacked six or more managers during that time without being any better with off.

Was really harsh when we sacked him, but his real good work had sorting out the PL hangover and preventing us going the way of Sunderland, Leeds, Leicester to league 1.

[Wolfie]

I just remember his negativity on the field, being sat armed crossed on his seat - offering nothing to the team when things weren't going well during matches and appalling man-management skills - freezing players out and openly criticising them after games. Petulant and moody.

Glad we got rid. Sheff Utd did better after he left & there's a reason he's been marooned at Burton ever since.

[BOB BIGGS]

I think we remember what we want to remember.

All in all, given the circumstances, I thought he did well. For sure, he had his faults but many players spoke very highly of him after he left [Hughes and Bryson spring to mind]. Perhaps he wasn't quite the monster that he was made out to be if you did as requested?

I didn't like the way he was dismissed but then again, I didn't like Sam Rush from Day 1.

Turning quickly to 2020, I do like Philip Cocu and hope he gets long enough to take us forward. We'll never know whether NC would have. I suspect we would have improved but how far is another matter.

[cannable]

22 hours ago, Van der MoodHoover said:

3 of our best away performances that season 2-1 v Brighton, 3-0 v yeovil, 5-1 v millwall. 

They were all under clough at the start of the season. The bum luck was having to play all the top teams at home.

But I think that the team WAS clicking. The sacking was very unfair imo, as the good times were about to roll.

I think the issue was that 12/13 was his opportunity. We were smashing everybody up at home. We outplayed the entirety of the top six. Much like this season though our away form was the opposite. He intentionally left the hand-break on away because he didn’t think we were ready as a team. 

So come 13/14 when he thinks we’re ready we smash everybody away but because teams know how much of a threat we are at home they set up to nullify us and Clough couldn’t outthink other teams.

The diamond made us too narrow to break teams down. Eustace wasn’t an immediate starter until Jeff was injured, so teams had a free-run at our back-four. To top it off we were beyond diabolical at defending set-pieces.

His negativity cost him in 12/13. His poor coaching let him down in 13/14.

[MaltRam]

If I won a record Euromillions and bought out our Mel...I'd beg Nigel Clough to come back. Love him.

[Ghost of Clough]

59 minutes ago, Needlesh said:

If I won a record Euromillions and bought out our Mel...I'd beg Nigel Clough to come back. Love him.

After 2 years of ownership and no money left, what would you do?

[cannable]

Managers shouldn’t be categorised as good or bad. Managers should be categorised by the type of job they do. Nigel is a builder on a budget. You will constantly improve under him regardless of budget but the draw back is that it will get to the stage in which he will hold the team he’s built back. 

[RadioactiveWaste]

44 minutes ago, cannable said:

Managers shouldn’t be categorised as good or bad. Managers should be categorised by the type of job they do. Nigel is a builder on a budget. You will constantly improve under him regardless of budget but the draw back is that it will get to the stage in which he will hold the team he’s built back. 

Very good post.

You could clearly define a few "keep you up merchants", quite a lot of "heart and passhun" motivators, some "thinkers", some "coaches the players well", and of course in a little box in the corner the "Tony Pulis" box with a "return to stoke on trent" TNT label stuck on it, ready to go soon as that bottom 3 returns to the betawayyouruniversalcredit365

[Sith Happens]

Had his limitations but did a great job for us in very difficult circumstances.

The squad he left us with was better than we have today and cost a considerable amount less.

Still think we would have been promoted by now had he stayed in charge,

[Raich Carter]

Mate of a mate knows him and reckons he felt he was part of the furniture and was shocked by the sacking. Says he's a Derby fan, etc.

Think we all wanted him to do well but he was negative, some odd / negative tactics and slating players as he did was a bit odd. As someone else said, he's a particular type of manager for a particular club and did a great job for us for a while but perhaps didn't evolve as the club did.

Still, a shame it didn't really work out for him.

[Abu Derby]

Nigel was very good for us and his legacy remains. I thought he did a brilliant job and it’s a real shame that he wasn’t able to see it through. 

[Day]

I could barely manage to listen to his post match interviews which were only a couple minutes long, not sure I can handle a full on podcast with him. ?

Everything I have read since he left, sounds like he’s still bitter about the sacking which is understandable, most managers that have been given the boot will feel the same. 

McClaren showed what those players were capable and it didn’t take several years to get them playing either, night and day it was. 

It’s great sourcing and buying quality ingredients, but if you’re going to cook in a microwave, you’re not going to be a top chef.

[Sith Happens]

2 hours ago, David said:

I could barely manage to listen to his post match interviews which were only a couple minutes long, not sure I can handle a full on podcast with him. ?

Everything I have read since he left, sounds like he’s still bitter about the sacking which is understandable, most managers that have been given the boot will feel the same. 

McClaren showed what those players were capable and it didn’t take several years to get them playing either, night and day it was. 

It’s great sourcing and buying quality ingredients, but if you’re going to cook in a microwave, you’re not going to be a top chef.

Since then mind we have been out and bought fancy pants ingredients with nice flashy labels which cost much much more only to find those ingredients are mostly inferior to the bargain ones we used to buy. We have had better cooks in charge but trying to get a piece of frying steak to taste like wagyu beef is very difficult.

[MaltRam]

On 06/02/2020 at 19:32, Ghost of Clough said:

After 2 years of ownership and no money left, what would you do?

Well, it seems unlikely that the famously frugal Nigel Clough would bankrupt me to be honest, but in that case I'd sell. Obviously.

[NottsRam77]

He gave us buckenbauer .. enough said lol

the guys a legend 

joking aside I was gutted we got rid of him at the time and like some think with the freedom say clement had financially would have got us a lot higher and who knows 

but we will never know 

[NottsRam77]

19 hours ago, Paul71 said:

Since then mind we have been out and bought fancy pants ingredients with nice flashy labels which cost much much more only to find those ingredients are mostly inferior to the bargain ones we used to buy. We have had better cooks in charge but trying to get a piece of frying steak to taste like wagyu beef is very difficult.

Nailed it