Clough loved Derby most

[Jimbo Ram]

Having some banter, has anyone got the quote and source where Cloughie made this crystal ?

[Comrade 86]

“I wish I'd never left,” he said, of a decision he took 30 years earlier. “It was the best job I ever had… Some of my heart, wherever I have wandered, was in Derby.”

[Guest]

In June 2004, three months before he died, I spent two hours with Brian Clough in a bistro in West Bradford. I had played cricket with him in Derby in the early 70s. He was with his grandson, Stephen, who is Simon's son and he was 16 at the time. Stephen is a Derby fan and all he wanted to hear from me was what it was like in Derby when his grandad was the manager. We talked Derby all the time. Cloughie said it was the worst decision of his life to leave and if they had stayed, no one would have heard of Liverpool in the 70s because Derby would have been Champions of Europe eight times. He even apologised to Stephen for winning the European Cup with Forest.

 

[Jimbo Ram]

11 minutes ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

“I wish I'd never left,” he said, of a decision he took 30 years earlier. “It was the best job I ever had… Some of my heart, wherever I have wandered, was in Derby.”

Thanks ?

[RoyMac5]

Edited January 22, 2023 by RoyMac5

[SKRam]

We’ll never know what might have been…..would he have bought Francis Lee? Probably not and I’d have remained a Man City fan…. ?‍♂️

[Jimbo Ram]

10 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

That will do nicely ?

[Guest]

33 minutes ago, Brailsford Ram said:

West Bradford

That should be West Bridgford

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

1 hour ago, Jimbo Ram said:

Having some banter, has anyone got the quote and source where Cloughie made this crystal ?

Even better he stated in an interview he did with Archie Gemmill for the Telegraph in about 2003, that he could never live in Nottingham as the whole place is full of spivs.  Hilarious.

[Guest]

Remember going on the way to the “coffee cup” game, and he was interviewed on Radio Derby.  He said at that point that Derby was his favourite and wanted them to win…

[Gerry Daly]

Course he did

 

[JJs dms]

Remember an interview with Pat Murphy on 5live prior to a Derby Forest game were when pushed who he wanted to win replied "you never forget your first love"

[uttoxram75]

1 hour ago, Brailsford Ram said:

That should be West Bridgford

I thought you meant West Brailsford ?

[Guest]

Duncan Hamilton, an award winning sports writer, who knew Clough for 16 years while he was Forest manager and Hamilton was a sports writer and sports editor at the Nottingham Evening Post, wrote the Clough biography 'Provided You Don't Kiss Me.' I have all of the Clough biographies and I find this one the most intimate and honest. It is really warts 'n all. Hamilton wrote this extract from a piece in 2009, shortly after Nigel Clough's appointment as Derby manager:

'More poignant is what happened at Derby, where the new manager – the 15th since Old Big ‘Ead – was Nigel Clough. Son at last followed father.

'Having spent an enormous slice of my life with his old man – I followed Forest for the Nottingham Evening Post – I know he would have been ecstatic about the appointment. Clough was conscious of the need to share his affection equally between Derby and Forest. Although he won more, and stayed longer, at Forest, it nonetheless always struck me that he regarded his experiences at Derby as more uniquely personal and intimate to him, which was probably a contributory factor in his refusal to go back there in 1977 and again in 1983 when his former partner Peter Taylor tried to tempt him. I think he knew that it would be impossible to re-create what he’d once had.

'Confirmation came shortly before his death. “I wish I’d never left,” he said, of a decision he took 30 years earlier. “It was the best job I ever had… Some of my heart, wherever I have wandered, was in Derby.”

'Clough’s heart is still there. But if you ask me to whom Brian Clough really belongs, I’d say unhesitatingly: to football, and the people who cherish it.'

The feature was originally published in the March 2009 issue of FourFourTwo.

I told you Hamilton, who had no connection with Derby County and owes us nothing, was honest.

Edited January 22, 2023 by Brailsford Ram

[Guest]

4 hours ago, SKRam said:

We’ll never know what might have been…..would he have bought Francis Lee? Probably not and I’d have remained a Man City fan…. ?‍♂️

He was a big fan of Francis Lee going to Derby. I have a VHS recorded from ITV in the 1980s about Derby beating Slovan Bratislava 3-0 in the European Cup at Derby in 1975. Lee scored twice. Clough was the pundit reviewing the past game and said that Lee was a magnificent signing who brought to Derby what Dave Mackay the player had brought when Clough signed him. Clough said that he and Taylor were in agreement that if they had stayed at Derby they would have sought to bring in Frannie Lee, Bruce Rioch and Charlie George. So maybe you were always nailed on to become a Derby fan.

Edited January 22, 2023 by Brailsford Ram

[uttoxram75]

11 minutes ago, Brailsford Ram said:

He was a big fan of Francis Lee going to Derby. I have a VHS recorded from ITV in the 1980s about Derby beating Slovan Bratislava 3-0 in the European Cup at Derby in 1975. Lee scored twice. Clough was the pundit reviewing the past game and said that Lee was a magnificent signing who brought to Derby what Dave Mackay the player had brought when Clough signed him. Clough said that he and Taylor were in agreement that if they had stayed at Derby they would have sought to bring in Frannie Lee, Bruce Rioch and Charlie George. So maybe you were always nailed on to become a Derby fan.

Clough knew the value of bringing in big players. He tried to sign Bobby Moore and Jimmy Greaves but the thing was that he knew he had the basis of a top team.

He put together Nish, McFarland and Todd, basically Englands back line so he would not have baulked at signing Frannie Lee or Charlie George, he was confident in his ability to manage the big names.

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, uttoxram75 said:

Clough knew the value of bringing in big players. He tried to sign Bobby Moore and Jimmy Greaves but the thing was that he knew he had the basis of a top team.

He put together Nish, McFarland and Todd, basically Englands back line so he would not have baulked at signing Frannie Lee or Charlie George, he was confident in his ability to manage the big names.

He also said he wanted to rescue George Best from his decline in the Frank O'Farrell era at United. He said he'd love to put five apprentices in George's Jaguar with him to show George how starry-eyed young footballers were about him and to rekindle in George the joys of winning trophies again. He thought George would love it. But I guess our nightlife wasn't glitzy enough to turn George's head to that one.

[SKRam]

51 minutes ago, Brailsford Ram said:

He was a big fan of Francis Lee going to Derby. I have a VHS recorded from ITV in the 1980s about Derby beating Slovan Bratislava 3-0 in the European Cup at Derby in 1975. Lee scored twice. Clough was the pundit reviewing the past game and said that Lee was a magnificent signing who brought to Derby what Dave Mackay the player had brought when Clough signed him. Clough said that he and Taylor were in agreement that if they had stayed at Derby they would have sought to bring in Frannie Lee, Bruce Rioch and Charlie George. So maybe you were always nailed on to become a Derby fan.

Wow that I never did know. You don’t know how good that makes me feel @Brailsford Ramthank you ?

[uttoxram75]

2 minutes ago, SKRam said:

Wow that I never did know. You don’t know how good that makes me feel @Brailsford Ramthank you ?

You were meant to be a Ram. ???

 

[SKRam]

2 minutes ago, uttoxram75 said:

You were meant to be a Ram. ???

 

I’m an Aries so it really was written in the stars