‘An Evening with Clough’ continued – Part 1
07/10/05 | by Rich Fisher

In Issue 2 of the LTLF Fanzine, we brought you an exclusive report from last month's 'Evening with Nigel Clough' event at Nottingham's Cabaret nightclub. As promised, we continue our round-up with even more highlights, to be continued over the coming days...

What do you think made your dad so successful as a football manager?

Well I think he would’ve succeeded at whatever he did. As it was, football wasn’t even his first love – cricket was. And if you’ve ever heard a Yorkshireman talk about cricket, you’ll know that they can’t half bore the arse off you! You should’ve seen my dad and Geoff Boycott in a room together, talking about cricket all day! But my dad started out his working life at ICI, and if he hadn’t made it as a footballer I think he’d have ended up as head of ICI by the time he was 35. He would’ve got people organised… he would’ve made people want to work for him.

Presumably you heard a lot of Frank Sinatra in the Clough household when you were growing up?

Yes. I actually got to see him in concert a few times, fortunately enough. I think my dad did meet him once, which he was pretty chuffed about, what with him being one of his heroes. I can explode one of the myths though about my dad and the song ‘My Way’. Contrary to what everyone thinks, he absolutely bloody hated that song! But he did love Frank Sinatra and his music.

Do you remember much about Forest’s success in the late 70s and early 80s?

Well we went to the first European Cup final – we just went for the day and watched the game. I remember walking through the Olympic Park in Munich with all the supporters to the ground, and I was nervous as hell like everyone else. But it was total jubilation in the end. The European Cups were certainly an immense source of pride to my dad – even on the day he was dying, he was saying ‘At least Alex Ferguson never won two! But he got as much pleasure from the league championships he won – both at Derby and Forest… because they were all about being the best over 42 games.

When did you first become aware that there might be a career for you as a professional footballer?

Not until I was about 18 or 19, which is quite late. But I didn’t take the usual route into becoming a footballer, as I stayed on a school rather than doing the apprenticeship. This was mainly because my dad was obsessed with education. If there was someone else who he thought could play at 15 he’d encourage them to come and sign and leave school. But he didn’t with us – he went the other way and said ‘You’ve got to stay on at school and do your exams and your O Levels and you’re a Levels’ and all that rubbish. We used to point out to him – occasionally! – that he didn’t have any O Levels or A Levels himself… but he’d just respond by getting a couple of his medals and going “There’s my O Levels… there’s my A Levels.” In terms of education though, he was hugely proud when he got his degree, because he never did hardly a day’s school in his life and yet he ended up with a bloody honorary degree! They give them away for anything these days!

As you started to become known as a player at Forest, was there any sniping over the fact that you were the manager’s son?

Not really. I know people were aware of it. But when I started at Forest there were a lot of senior pros around – John Robertson was back at the club for his second spell, Garry Birtles and Ian Bowyer had also come back, and Paul Hart was around too. And experienced pros like that soon suss out whether you’re up to it – and if you’re no good, no matter who you are, you’ll be out on your arse. But they accepted me from the start, so I like to think that proved I was in the team on merit and not because I was the manager’s son.

Was it strange playing in the same team as some of the same names who had won European Cups?

They certainly gave me a lot of good advice. I do remember one time though during my early days when I heard John Robertson shouting at one of young lads outside the dressing room – because he’d caught them in the weight room! He was giving them a bollocking, going ‘Get out of there, that’ll do you no good. I haven’t been in there in 20 years!’

Did the Forest players feel any pressure at that time to live up to the European success from a few years before?

Well we were obviously well aware of the success, but I don’t think anyone ever really thought we were going to win European Cups again. Those sorts of successes are beyond the realms of fantasy almost. These days, there are probably only six teams in Europe that’d stand a realistic chance of winning the European Cup- never mind a little team that had only been promoted a couple of seasons before. So in the 80s and 90s, we just wanted to have relative success at our level. We did the best we could, and for a few years we were pretty successful and played some good football. It seems a long time ago, but we were battling it out with the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal… and we were more than holding our own. They were special times. I must say though, I’ve got a bit of a bone to pick with a lot of Forest fans about that era. Back when we were finishing in the top six every year and getting the shit kicked out of us by the likes of Tony Adams and lovely guys like him, the crowds we were getting averaged about 18,000. Yet over the last few years, when you have seen some shit, there’s been 25,000 people there! Where has everyone come from? I know football’s had a little bit of a boom – but surely not that much?!