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Quotes on Cloughie "And all that type of thing"... Extracted from The Life of Brian When I scored my hundredth hundred at Headingley, against the Australians in 1977, I rang him up that night and found out from Barbara that he was sitting in his chair by the fire and that he had called up Nottingham Forest that afternoon to say he wouldn't be in for a meeting, because he was going to watch his mate make a bit of history. Geoff Boycott He wanted everyone smart and well presented and he had a couple of goes at me because of my weight. I worked really hard to improve and Brian put me in a specially designed plastic suit to help sweat off the pounds. I remember once he fined Cliff Wright, a friend of his from his Middlesbrough days, for calling him "Brian". He said it was now "boss" or "Mr Clough". Anyway, Peter Taylor made sure Cliff was reimbursed. Ken Simpkins, former Hartlepools Utd keeper under Clough When I walked into his office to sign there were cans of beer all over the desk. It was towards the end of the season and he told me he didn't want me to play with the rabble there, but to report a couple of months later to Heathrow for the club's end-of-season tour in Spain. When I went over to him at the airport he didn't even say hello. The first thing he said to his record signing was "where is your tie?" Ian Mellor, a Clough signing at Brighton. Reg Matthews, an England international goalkeeper we had signed from Chelsea in 1961, was sat nearest the door and, on his way out, Brian turned to him and said: "By the way, Reg, I reckon you're probably the only top player I've got here, and I've heard you like the fags. Well, you can have a smoke any time you like, including half-time". Gordon Guthrie, physio at Derby under Clough Brian's best quality was being able to keep your feet on the ground. I remember one match where I had marked Alan Ball - who had just helped England win the World Cup - out of the game. Brian said to me: "Well done lad, you didn't let him have a kick. He is a very good player and you are not". I could have been with him at five clubs but I turned him down when he took over at Brighton after leaving Derby under a cloud. When I told him I preferred to stay where I was, he slammed the phone down on me. John McGovern The classic story was the one about Tony Woodcock. He had decided to grow a beard, but the gaffer pulled him to one side. Brian asked: "What's that on your face?" Tony replied that he was growing a beard. Brian asked why, and Tony replied: "I want to be different". Quick as a flash, Brian retorted: "Son, if you want to be different, try scoring a hat-trick on Saturday". John Robertson We played squash regularly and they were quite competitive affairs. One afternoon, the legendary cricketer, Colin Milburn, was watching Clough and I from the spectators' gallery. During a rally, I heard something fall from above onto the court - and when we stopped playing Cloughie checked it out and asked me to pick it up. It was Colin Milburn's glass eye! I refused! It's the first, and last, time I defied him - and he had to pick it up himself! Chris Woods The first thing he did was to tell me how dead-beat and tired he felt after running up and down the pitch during the tough training session that had just finished. "You bloody liar," I said, "there isn't a bead of sweat on you and the bottom of your boots are perfectly clean!" He just turned round to me and said: "You c***!" "Takes one to know one," I replied, and with that he agreed, invited me to sit down and from then on I don't think there was ever a cross word between us. John Vinicombe, former chief sports reporter, Brighton Argus |
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