Being managed by your dad is one thing, but when your dad is Brian Clough and you’re walking into a dressing room featuring European Cup winners it’s something else altogether.
“Interesting” was the word Mansfield Town boss Nigel Clough used to describe the experience when talking exclusively to UCFB.
He said: “I’ve thought about it more in recent years than previously. Everybody says to me ‘it must have been difficult’, but it was also difficult for him. A few years earlier he was winning European Cups at Forest. There were still a few players around from that time – Ian Bowyer, John Robertson and Gary Birtles – so it must have been very difficult for him to introduce his son into that dressing room and into a team that had been so successful.”
In an 18-year spell at the City Ground, Clough senior famously led Forest to back-to-back European Cup successes in 1979 and 1980. Nigel signed his first professional contract at the club in 1986 and went on to score over 100 goals for the club, before joining Liverpool in 1993.
Describing his feelings going into that dressing room, he explained: “You have to prove yourself to the other players that you can help them on a Saturday and get three points. After that I don’t really think they care who you are if you have a winning mentality and you’re in a winning team. If you can help the team, then they’ll accept you.”
