‘Best manager ever.’
On what would have been Brian Clough’s 90th birthday, we take a look at the historic career he had at Derby County.
Arguably Derby’s greatest ever manager, Clough joined the club alongside Peter Taylor in 1967 and enjoyed a successful six years before departing in 1973.
Clough’s first season did not tear up any trees and in fact saw them finish one place lower, 18th, than the season before.
However, it did see the arrival of players Roy McFarland, John O’Hare and Alan Hinton who made an impressive 1,154 appearances between them.
In the 1971/72 season, Derby completed a historic season where Clough led them to their first ever league title and qualification for the European Cup.
Many historic nights were to be had in Europe, including a convincing 3-0 win in the second round against European giants Benfica led by Eusebio.
Derby’s campaign would come to a close against Italian side Juventus in a 3-1 defeat on aggregate where Clough labelled the opposition as ‘cheating bastards’ due to his beliefs of them bribing their officials.
Clough was loved by Derby fans and many posted to socials to express their wishes to him.
Facebook: Margaret Cheetham: “There’ll never be another Cloughie. He was simply the best.”
Facebook: Pat Carlin: “Will always be the greatest of all time in my eyes, thank you for the memories Brian.
