August the 13th, 1974, I have been 9 years old for two who weeks and Brian Clough leaves Leeds United after 6 weeks and 2 days. The legend of Clough’s 44 days had begun.
My age is incidental to the facts but was crucial to my understanding of the events at the time. It was the most explosive event in football for decades and I didn’t notice it at all. It’s not that I wasn’t aware of Football, sport was a constant on our telly (so my mum keeps telling me) and I had enough footballing nouse to have already settled on the team that would generally make my life a misery for the next thirty-five years. Having rejected overtures from Bolton (the team that had most family connections for me), Man Utd (my dad’s team) and Liverpool (everyone else’s team), I was, for nine, generally up on football.
I did know who Brian Clough was (the funny one on the telly) and I probably knew who Don Revie was (the grumpy one on the telly I imagine). I’m vaguely aware of Billy Bremner and Kevin Keegan having that fight during the charity shield, though I wonder if I was really aware at the time...many years later I was witnessing (well you tube-ing) the Chinese national team and QPR’s first going at it hammer and tongs and frankly I think was more of an age to enjoy it.
I can say with some confidence that I was aware of that ‘infamous’ Leeds team. One of the more esoteric objects amongst my football paraphernalia was a flick book of Alan ‘sniffer’ Clark’s 1972 FA Cup final winning goal. To this day I know not why I had it or where it is now.
Like many, my view of ‘dirty Leeds’ is coloured by subsequent events and our insatiable need to keep harking back to golden ages of various hues. Our opinion of all the protagonists is based on what happened after Leeds. Even the man who took over from Clough, Jimmy Armfield went on to become an FA ‘kingmaker’ and is now arguably our finest radio summariser…let me leave a little space here so our esteemed editor can ‘argue’ that one.
(“Well Alan, what ‘appened there was, Giggs ‘as got the ball...on the left...put it over...and there’s Ronaldo with the header...” – I see you chose the word ‘summariser’...well yes, ‘Our Jim’ does summarise...but is he not meant to analyse? Ed, rising to the bait)
Both men coveted the England job, when Revie left Leeds to take up the position in 1974 you can’t help but think that the only good reason for Clough to take over at Elland Road was to destroy what Revie had built. Opinions are divided on David Peace’s Damned United, but the almost Shakespearian plot and intrigue rings no false notes. Clough despised Revie and Revie had the job he ultimately believed his.
Clough also believed himself possessed of management skills beyond all who had come before him and to do anything with the England team that Revie inherited would have been the ultimate proof. Like many who would come after Revie, he found going from a team he’d crafted in his own image to a disparate bunch of jobbing pro’s and ‘individuals’ that made up that England team too difficult. Disillusioned and desperate, he found the lure of Arabian gold too tempting and he jumped ship.
Revie’s fate was sealed, this one act defined a man like no other and he will never be forgiven.
For Clough, the 44 days proved to be a catalyst. Re-united with Peter Taylor he took revenge on English football by taking a team going nowhere to the pinnacle of European football…twice. You can argue that he stayed there too long and that his self-destructive nature dented his legacy, but to all intents and purposes Clough’s reputation, warts and all, is unsullied. Even those who didn’t like the man would begrudgingly admit he was the best manager England never had.
There’s a recent trend amongst historians and novelists to play the ‘what if’ game or counter-factual books. Mark Lawson, the BBC arts correspondent, wrote a very good novel called Idlewild. Based on the idea that John F Kennedy didn’t get shot in Dallas and Marylin Monroe didn’t succumb to drugs (or the CIA) the same year. Kennedy became a reviled figure because of Vietnam (JFK, JFK, how many kids did you kill today) and Monroe despite being recognised as a talented character actress, faded from view, as her looks and figure were lost.
What if Clough had succeeded at Leeds, what if he’d persuaded those obstinate Revie players to play for him. Would he have been so bloody-minded as to stop Bremner and Giles terrorising midfields up and down the country? Success is a great anaesthetic, you’ll put up with a lot when you are picking up points and while he still would have brought the likes of John McGovern with him it still would have been built on Revie foundations. Would their fearsome reputation be transferred to Clough?
He might well have won European Cups and I expect he may well have succeeded Revie at England. But would he have had the burning sense of injustice that powered his Forest team?
Heaven knows where Forest would be, probably where they are now, but without the trophy cabinet.
As for Revie, it’s hard to see a counterfactual argument for him. In hindsight you’d like to think he’d not take to Saudi money, but in those days no one was well paid in football and everyone would find a payday difficult to ignore. You couldn’t see how anyone could’ve made that particular England team play. Still living off 1966 with an ever-decreasing pool of talent (I know you will start reeling off names like Currie, Worthington, Bowles and Marsh, but even today managers would struggle to get them to play together), it’s no surprise that it took us a decade to join in with international football properly.
Could he have stuck with Leeds, rebuild as Ferguson does today? Could he have done a Bobby Robson and belie general incompetence by stumbling through a major tournament and almost win it by accident?
What is beyond doubt is that two men from Middlesbrough turned middle of the road clubs into Footballing giants. To pose a question about the best English manager without mentioning Bob Paisley is asking for trouble, though you could suggest that neither inherited the foundations Paisley had. We should cherish any opportunity to celebrate their achievements.
As the film of the Damned Utd hits the silver screen we are reminded again of the bubble perms, tight shorts and dank grimness of Seventies football. I hope it’s not completely cliché-ridden; I’d like to think that the darkness that is the heart of the novel would be left in. The ‘Carry on Cloughie’ trailer I’ve seen is a worry*, but for fans of Derby, Leeds and Forest any opportunity to show their appreciation to the men who defined them is welcome. Football needed a damn good book and now it needs a damn good film. Fingers crossed.
*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYzsswqPk6s
COMPETITION!!!
With the Damned United film out on March 27th, Clough & Revie will be back in the spotlight big time. What better time for award winning ‘Provided You Don’t Kiss Me’ author Duncan Hamilton to release his ‘Wit & Wisdom of Brian Clough’ tome…or for Guardian journo Rob Bagchi and Paul Rogerson’s acclaimed analysis of Revie’s Leeds, ‘The Unforgiven’, to be reissued? We’ve teamed up with Waterstone’s to offer a copy of each book, along with a goalfood t shirt of your choice*, to the first reader to answer this question:
- Who played in goal for Leeds in the 1972 Centenary Cup Final v Arsenal?
Click here to enter, putting ‘Cloughie comp’ in the subject box
(*subject to availability)
Clough Vs. Revie: The Great Debate at Waterstone’s
As David Peace’s controversial take on Brian Clough’s infamous 44 days at Leeds, The Damned United, hits the big screen, Waterstone’s offers you the ultimate home and away fixture. An opportunity to join in the great debate, just who was the greatest English manager, Brian Clough or Don Revie?
Duncan Hamilton, author of Provided You Don’t Kiss Me: 20 years with Brian Clough will be in the Clough corner and will be liberally scattering many Cloughisms from his new book Old’ Big ‘Ead- the Wit and Wisdom of Brian Clough. Representing Don Revie is Guardian columnist Rob Bagchi whose The Unforgiven - the Story of Don Revie’s Leeds Utd is re-released this month.
Both authors will get a chance to play to a home crowd as they’ll be appearing at Waterstone’s in Nottingham on the 2nd of April and Waterstone’s Leeds on the 16th
A must for fans of Forest, Leeds and Football, Duncan and Rob will reveal the real men behind Peace's novel and we’re sure they’ll have an opinion on whether the actors Michael Sheen and Colm Meaney have successfully managed to capture and portray two of the biggest characters ever to emerge from English football management.
Tickets £3 (redeemable against a purchase of either book)
