A Saturday In Nottingham 2 : Cloughie claps the troops
A complete contrast to the image before this 'A Saturday In Nottingham 1 : Protest'
Same day, less than half a mile apart and less than 90 minutes from the previous image, we have a group of 'Territorial Army soldiers' marching through the city - Members of 73 Engineer Regiment - recognising the freedom of the city they received last summer.
The statue at the end of the row of soldiers is Brian Clough OBE, the "finest England Football manager England never had". Cloughie was a brilliant football manager an enigma of a man, but his teams played football the way it should be.
Fab shot Phil - I love the way you've got the different troops back to back and Cloughie in just the right place. An amazing manager but he could have done a better job with Justin Fashanu don't you think? I can't imagine he believed in sports psychology but a bit of support at the right time could have made a huge difference.
@judithg Judith, you are right, he did not manage Justin very well. He managed in an era when football was not pc.
Some might argue it is still not pc, especially towards gay footballers, No gay Premier League footballer dares to 'come out'.
Bolton Wanderers have always been quite a progressive club when it comes to diversity and respect. Big Sam was a leading advocate of bringing the club forward in that field.
Anyway, you were right about Cloughie, maybe we all view his achievements on the field through rose tinted glasses and forget that he was an enigma of a man and maybe a bit of a dictator. His teams always had respect for the rules of the game, the referee and played great footie !
@phil_howcroft Oh yeah - I'm sure he had a lot of good points and Justin didn't always help himself. And a lot of tough managers like Ferguson have probably helped keep the players on the straight and narrow but they also forget that a lot of them are just young lads and need a bit of looking after too. Did you see that documentary by Justin's niece about gay footballers (the lack thereof) - it was fascinating and depressing with just a couple of rays of hope in the form of players willing to say that it wouldn't be an issue.
This is great, Phil! You really got the best position there and I like to think that Cloughie would have been so supportive had he been there for real :) Also glad to see it stopped raining for a while!
I must have missed this shot over last w/e! Fabulous spot for Cloughie to be in , he always was in the right place & a great charismatic football manager. They don't make um like that now though I think Ian Holloway comes close !!! By the way good luck to BW playing Stoke ... hope you manage to stay up !
Some might argue it is still not pc, especially towards gay footballers, No gay Premier League footballer dares to 'come out'.
Bolton Wanderers have always been quite a progressive club when it comes to diversity and respect. Big Sam was a leading advocate of bringing the club forward in that field.
Anyway, you were right about Cloughie, maybe we all view his achievements on the field through rose tinted glasses and forget that he was an enigma of a man and maybe a bit of a dictator. His teams always had respect for the rules of the game, the referee and played great footie !