The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 253 The Tomb of the Famous Commander

The lively Premier League is a stage and paradise for upstarts, but it is also the graveyard of old-school coaches and former giants.

--Inscription

The first season of the Premier League ended. The exciting league pushed Ferguson to the peak of the honor of the best coach, but also caused some famous coaches to suffer career Waterloo. Among them, Nottingham Forest was relegated and the legendary coach Brian Clough resigned. This news shocked the entire European football world.

Brian Clough was born in Middlesbrough in 1935. He loved cricket when he was young, but he failed to become a professional cricket player. Clough went to a technical school because he had no interest in school. After dropping out, he worked in a chemical company. Clough discovered his interest in football at this time and devoted himself to football matches.

Clough later served in the British Royal Air Force, and after retiring, he returned to football. This time he joined Middlesbrough and became a professional player. Clough was smart, strong, had a strong sense of scrambling, and was very fast. He soon became an excellent center forward in the team and a guarantee for the team to score goals and win. Clough scored 222 goals in 204 league games for Middlesbrough, and scored more than 4 goals for four consecutive seasons. Clough later transferred from Middlesbrough to Sunderland, but was forced to retire at the age of 40 due to a torn cruciate ligament. But even so, Clough is a legend in the history of Middlesbrough and Sunderland. In his 29 years at the Stadium of Light and the Riverside Stadium, he made 10 appearances and scored 274 goals, averaging 251 goals per game. His efficiency ranks first among all forwards in the history of the English Football Top League who have played more than 0 games, and no one in the world can match him.

After Clough retired, he coached Hartlepool United in 1965 and became the youngest head coach in the history of the British Isles. Hartlepool United is a team in the fourth-tier league. In the past six years, it ranked in the bottom two five times and retained its league qualification by re-voting. The team suffered heavy losses, often failed to pay salaries, and its operations fell into crisis many times. After taking office, Clough quickly cleaned up the veterans, promoted young players, and formed a brand new team. In order to solve the funding problem, Clough took the initiative to give speeches in nearby pubs, mobilizing fans to actively go to the stadium to watch the game and donate money and materials. In order to save money, Clough even took a bus driver's license and personally served as the team driver. After Clough's efforts, Hartlepool United's performance improved rapidly. Although Clough was invited to coach the English League Two team Derby County in 6 and left Hartlepool United, Hartlepool United continued to move forward and successfully upgraded a year later. Fans unanimously believed that Clough was the one who made the greatest contribution to Hartlepool United's promotion.

Before Clough coached Derby County, the team had been in the Second Division for 10 years and had no hope of promotion. Clough made drastic reforms, strict management, and iron-fisted cleaning of the old main players. He directly fired 7 veterans and rebuilt a new team. Clough vigorously promoted youth training, actively trained, and took various measures to arouse the enthusiasm and competitiveness of the players, creating a team with both combat effectiveness and resilience. It took Clough two seasons to lead Derby County to win the Second Division championship and enter the First Division in one fell swoop.

Clough continued to work hard and polish the team, which made this new team in English Football League One undergo a complete transformation. In the 1971-72 season, Derby County beat Liverpool, Leeds and other established teams to win the top league championship.

It only took Clough five years to go from starting in the Second Division to winning the top First Division championship!

In the 1972-73 season, Clough led Derby County to the semi-finals of the European Cup, but was eliminated by Juventus with a total score of 1-3. Clough believed that the game was unfair and that the referee was bribed by Juventus, which ultimately led to Derby County's loss. When facing Italian reporters, Clough said bluntly: "I don't want to comment on cheating bastards, they are all rubbish." Clough was even unwilling to talk to Italian reporters, and talked to British reporters about how "cowardly" Italy was in World War II and how bad it was.

Clough's accusation of unfairness of the game was not groundless. During the game, Derby County players were immediately penalized for any major movement; as long as Derby County's momentum increased, the referee immediately interrupted them with various penalties; as long as the players from both sides confronted each other, the referee would definitely give the Italians the advantage... How could this not make Clough furious?

In July 1974, Clough became the manager of the old champion Leeds United. Clough was outspoken. When he was at Derby County, he criticized the former Leeds manager Donway for his dirty style. After taking over Leeds, Clough said to the meritorious players left by Donway: "You can throw all your previous medals into the trash can, because they were not won through fair competition."

Clough completely angered the Leeds players, who subsequently played poorly in the game, winning only one of the six games and ranking fourth from the bottom. The Leeds United management had no choice but to fire Clough, just 6 days after he took office!

Clough left in style, saying: "I have never seen such a short-sighted management team. They thought that the players were ruining the team's reputation and they wanted to sack the coach to settle the conflict. I would rather not lead such a team to avoid tarnishing my reputation."

In January 1975, Clough became the head coach of Nottingham Forest. When Clough took over, Forest was ranked 1th in English League Two and was just getting by. Clough made drastic moves as soon as he came. He completely cleaned up the old players in the team, was determined to train new players, strengthened tactical training, strictly enforced tactical discipline, and stimulated the team's desire to win, thus cultivating a brave Forest team.

In Clough's second full season as coach, the 1976-77 season, Nottingham Forest won the English League Two championship and was promoted to the English League One. In the following 1977-1978 season, Clough led Forest to win the English League One championship as a newly promoted team. The soaring Forest team even beat the second-placed Liverpool by 7 points. What's even more incredible is that Clough also won the English League Cup, a true double champion.

The newly promoted team won the championship directly, and the only thing comparable to the Bundesliga's "Kaiserslautern myth" was the "Forest Miracle" achieved by Clough. Clough stunned the British football world and all Nottingham fans were ecstatic.

不仅如此，克劳夫的森林队在1977年11月26日至1978年12月9日还打出了联赛42场不败，打破伯恩利在20年代的35场纪录。森林队的这个记录一直到了2004年才被阿森纳49场不败打破。

Clough's magic goes far beyond this. In the 1978-1979 season, Clough led Nottingham Forest to go abroad and compete in the European Cup. They first eliminated Liverpool, who won the previous two European Cups, 2-0 in the first round, and then defeated AEK Athens 7-2 to successfully enter the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, they eliminated Grasshoppers Zurich 5-2, and in the semifinals, they crushed Cologne 4-3 and rushed all the way to the final. In the Champions League final, Forest launched a massive attack against Malmö, overwhelming the opponent. After a fierce battle between the two sides, Forest beat their opponent 1-0 and successfully won the Champions League.

Clough reached the pinnacle in Europe's top competition, and the European Cup championship showed that he had won the highest honor of a European club.

Not only that, Forest also defended the English League Cup title.

In the 1979-1980 season, Nottingham Forest not only won the European Super Cup, but also won the Champions League and reached the final. In the Champions League final, Forest played against Hamburg. Clough continued his magic, commanding Forest to use his strong body and fierce fighting to make Hamburg, which had Kevin Keegan, the European Footballer of the Year, lose his armor and become embarrassed. In the end, Forest defeated the opponent 1-0 and successfully defended the title.

Clough's fame reached its zenith when he won the European Cup for the second time.

Winning the Champions League title in a row made all the players of Nottingham Forest complacent and lost the motivation to keep going. Clough was gradually abandoned by the fiercely competitive era because of his complacency. He no longer had any more pursuits, let alone actively updating his knowledge and embracing tactical trends. In Clough's football kingdom, the construction of the team gradually stagnated, and the Forest team gradually faded out of the ranks of the top teams.

After entering the 90s, Nottingham Forest has been on the decline. Although the team has no shortage of excellent players, such as Pearce, Sheringham, Bence, Walker, etc., and there are also new rising stars such as Roy Keane. Last season, Forest occasionally showed its ferocity. Clough led the team to the eighth place in the league, reached the League Cup final, and won the English FA Members Cup (Full Members Cup, held from 1986 to 1992, also known as the Seymour Cup and the Summit Information Cup due to different sponsors) - although this is far less influential than the League Cup and the FA Cup, it is still a championship trophy.

After the start of the new Premier League season, Nottingham Forest began to face a crisis. Clough's alcoholism led to multiple alcohol poisonings, and his mental state was no longer suitable for coaching the team. Excellent players Shelingham and Des Walker left the team one after another, and the team captain Pearce's conflict with Clough worsened, and he missed many games due to heart disease (Pearce later said that his heart disease was not caused by the game, but by the quarrel with Clough).

Nottingham Forest won the first game against Liverpool, and Shelingham scored the farewell goal for the team. But this good start did not bring any effect, and the Forest team then fell into a slump of losing consecutive games. It was not until Christmas that the Forest team won the second victory. Although the Forest team defeated two giants (Liverpool and Leeds United), the team was already in crisis.

Clough, who was deeply addicted to alcohol, was the biggest crisis for the team. In order to save his father's reputation, his son Nigel Clough repeatedly persuaded his father to resign as head coach early, but it was completely ineffective. Clough was mentally confused for a time and completely lost his normal thinking. The Forest team could only rely on Keane and Clough Jr. to support them. Roy Keane loved Clough very much. He was willing to give his all for his mentor and was also the best player of Nottingham Forest this season. As a B2B midfielder, he was even worth two players. When there was a crisis in the defense, he could even appear in the position of central defender, but only Keane was not enough.

Brian Clough wrote in his memoir Walking On Water: "Roy Keane was my greatest comfort in that bleak season. He shone like a beacon, always encouraging the whole team to move forward. The confidence of the young players dropped, Scott Meagher encountered a goal drought, and my son Nigel Clough was also confused... Only Roy Keane kept fighting tenaciously and always led the team forward."

Nottingham Forest was like a homeless man without clothes in the cold winter, and the results were getting worse and worse. Even though Roy Keane played incredible data, fans even said he was the best midfielder in England. In the last stage of the season, Keane even played as a striker and broke through Arsenal's door, but he could only watch Nottingham Forest relegated.

Brian Clough resigned voluntarily, ending his 18-year coaching career at Forest.

After Nottingham Forest was relegated, the new head coach Clark lived up to expectations and led the team back to the top league as the runner-up of the First Division the following year. In the following season, Forest was refreshing and achieved a remarkable result of third place in the Premier League... Although these have nothing to do with Clough, the glory that Clough created for the team before has always been the foundation of Forest.

Clough is the first famous coach buried in the Premier League. This English football legend played for Middlesbrough for the first time at the age of 20, led Nottingham Forest to win the European Cup for two consecutive years at the age of 45, and later led the team to relegation... His life was full of ups and downs and contradictions. He was very arrogant but also very proactive, high-profile but very generous, very charitable but very dictatorial. He created miracles but also destroyed miracles; he won respect but was criticized; he was full of fighting spirit but was defeated by alcohol; he achieved unparalleled glory, but also led the team to the abyss... In any case, he has always been the most respected legendary coach of Forest and one of the famous coaches who created a new peak in English football.

On the morning of September 2004, 9, Clough died of stomach cancer, and the famous coach left the world.