Cloughie : No Nottingham 365 could be complete without him
This is a statue of Brian Clough (probably the best football manager the country has ever seen.
He stands in the centre of Nottingham proudly looking down towards 'slab square'.
He was manager of Nottingham Forest Football Club from Jan 1975 to May 1993 and took them to unprecedented success. His greatest achievement was winning the European Cup (twice).
I'm not a Forest fan, but you have to admire a man who brought so much success to a relatively small football club and touched the hearts of thousands of Nottingham people. His teams played fair, his teams played great football and his players were kept in order on the pitch by showing great respect to referees.
I came to Nottingham in 1978 when Cloughie was making Forest the greatest team in England. It was an exciting time to live in Nottingham.
He was renowned for his football wisdom and quotes...here's some of them....
--"If God had wanted us to play football in the clouds, he'd have put grass up there." On the importance of passing to feet.
-- "I'm sure the England selectors thought if they took me on and gave me the job, I'd want to run the show. They were shrewd, because that's exactly what I would have done." On not getting the England manager's job.
"I wouldn't say I was the best manager in the business. But I was in the top one." Looking back at his success.
"We talk about it for twenty minutes and then we decide I was right." On dealing with a player who disagrees.
This is a photo from my archive, the statue is hard to photograph because of it's location, but I like this angle because it shows him off best and is the most real looking
Great shot of the statue Phil - and a good post for my birthday date - I approve!!! :o) Funnily enough when I was young I supported Nott Forest....no idea why - and I didn't know who Cloughie was back then!
Excellent shot of this statue! You captured it with the light just right on the side of his face. I really like your bit of history about the man though! Thank you for sharing this! Interesting!
I suppose he was the 'Fergusson' of his day.