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By Tim Crane He always called me David. I liked that. It was Brian Clough's way of immediately awarding dignity to his players. The first brick in the house of confidence he built around a player. He had his own ideas on how he wanted his teams to play and, in turn, those ideas brought phenomenal success. It was his idea to make me a sweeper, which was a big departure from the midfield role I had always performed at Hearts and Spurs and for a man with tired legs it was most welcome. It was also a masterstroke, because it put three years on my career. The man saw things that remained invisible to others. My initial meeting with him was at White Hart Lane after a Spurs training session at Cheshunt. We sat on the grass in the corner of the stadium, the area where the players used to run out, and I listened about a Derby team I had hardly heard of from a man I barely knew. The meeting lasted no longer than 20 minutes and I'll always remember what he said: "David, if you come to Derby County we will win the second division." He fired promises and predictions at me like a machine gun. Such was the confidence and determination of the man, I bought into it 100 per cent. Looking back, there were so many bold decisions that could have gone wrong. He could have been criticised for playing me out of position, for instance, and the stories about cases of drinks on the team bus before crucial games could have given the press a field day. There would have been a push to annihilate instead of knight him! That was the fine line you walked with Cloughie. He was unorthodox and that often upsets a lot of people. Brian found it easy to upset people. But his contribution has made many more people very happy, he has left behind so many great memories. He treated me like a God. I always had Monday off while the other players were in for training. He put me up in the Midland Hotel, next to Derby station, because I was still living in London at the time and he wanted me to enjoy some time with my family. He knew the power and benefit of a loving family more than anything. He often told players that: "David Mackay decides what we do in training." He couldn't have put me any higher and the respect I had for him was tremendous. And don't forget, he was a younger man than me. His partnership with Peter Taylor was a glorious one. As I have said before, Peter found the players and Brian set them on fire. Like all good partnerships, whether marital, business or otherwise, they knew each other back to front, could anticipate the other's thoughts and, most importantly, they gave each other space to breathe. It was because of their closeness that they fell out so dramatically. I am convinced that if Peter had not died so prematurely they would have healed their wounds and become muckers again in retirement. Brian Clough was a genius, a one-off. There will never be another Cloughie! |
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