The Greatest Manager to Never Manage England, The Top One, Old Big ‘Ead. A lot of mythology surrounds Brian Clough, who alongside Bob Paisley and Herbert Chapman, is among the greatest manager that England has ever produced.

Whilst the other two found their way to the top of the global game through conventional means, there was nothing conventional whatsoever about Brian Clough.

His stellar playing career in front of goal promised so much yet delivered an incredibly small amount and was curtailed too early. Then he had to sink to the basement of the Football League to kickstart a managerial career that, after 28 years, would become renowned as legendary.

Abrasive, cocky, self-assured, Clough was never cut out for the so-called biggest jobs, like the national team that he so dangerously flirted with or at Leeds United, that enveloped him into a fiery reign that ultimately proved brief at 44 days.

Yet still ended a career at the very top of the English game, successful in bringing Derby County and Nottingham Forest from similar arenas to which he played in and took them to league titles and European Cups.

0:00 – Introduction
1:20 – Clough
8:45 – Derby
21:50 – Leeds and Brighton
28:20 – Nottingham Forest
42:10 – Legacy

Voice: ElevenLabs
Words: Jake Doyle
Edit: Jake Doyle

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