‘Stand up straight, get your shoulders back and get your hair cut…’
There has probably never been a football manager whose life and career have been examined as thoroughly as Brian Howard Clough. There are numerous documentaries and books, a feature film, and the man himself published two autobiographies. I’ve devoured them all, of course. And so, from a rare position of confidence, I can say that Jonathan Wilson’s exhaustive biography Nobody Ever Says Thank You is by far the most essential document of Brian Clough that is out there…
Charting Clough’s early life on the streets of Middlesborough, through to his prolific playing career and early retirement due to injury, to huge success at Derby and Nottingham Forest (punctuated by unhappy spells at Leeds and Brighton), Nobody Ever Says Thank You is the most successful attempt yet to take a holistic view on Clough’s extraordinary life.
The key to the book’s success is Wilson’s ability to demystify Clough. To separate the man from the legend. Some of the stories here have been told a thousand times before, mainly the stuff involving Clough’s acrimonious split from Derby, his disastrous 44 days at Leeds and his subsequent double European Cup success with Forest, but Wilson attaches equal weight to Clough’s time at ‘Hartlepools’ (as Clough always referred to them), and his later years at Forest. In many ways, what Clough achieved at Forest after his fallout with Peter Taylor is just as impressive as his array of trophies and medals. The fact that Clough was able to consistently secure a place in the top four of the First Division despite being financially hamstrung by the building of a new stand at the City Ground is astonishing – as is his ability to keep winning trophies, albeit in the shape of domestic cup competitions.
Wilson, himself from the North East, paints a convincing picture of Clough as a mess of contradictions. Arrogant, yes, but it was an arrogance rooted in insecurity dating back to Clough’s failure to pass the eleven-plus exam whilst still a child. Kind and generous one minute, cruel and scathing the next, Clough’s unpredictability was legendary, and his behaviour only became more erratic when he succumbed to alcohol towards the end of his career. This relative downfall is part of what makes Clough’s story so compelling. It is heartbreaking that Forest were relegated in Clough’s final game at the City Ground, and it is a testament to his legacy that both sets of fans (Sheffield United were the opponents that day) sang his name at the final whistle.
Clough’s sheer longevity is also difficult to comprehend in the modern game. How can the same man who became the fastest footballer to reach 250 league goals in 1963 also be the same man who managed Derby County to the title in 1972, Forest to their second European Cup in 1980 and then to their fourth and final League Cup in 1990? Clough played alongside Jimmy Greaves and was also in the dugout for the Hillsborough disaster. He watched from that same position as a young striker called Mark Robins saved Alex Ferguson from the sack as Manchester United manager in an FA Cup Third Round tie in 1990. Many people know that Teddy Sheringham scored the first-ever televised Premier League goal, but who was on the touchline cheering him on? Brian Howard Clough.
Nobody Ever Says Thank You is a touching tribute to a true sporting icon, but it’s also an honest and often incredibly tragic portrayal of a man who, away from the ballast and bluster of professional sports, was just that, a man – with all the flaws, insecurities and contradictions that comes with that.
Rest in peace, Cloughie.