Nigel Clough Appreciation Society

[Steve Mackan]

He got Murphy to play out of his skin.

More by luck than judgement. If I recall, he was about to go to Motherwell but came on as a sub in a cup match against Grimsby and absolutely destroyed em. After that Clough obviously saw that he was a good player.

 

[CarlMcBlade]

Clough was certainly no "world beater" but he doesn't deserve the vitriol from some on here.

 

[McGrath]

I simply can't comprehend the abuse Clough gets. Or for that matter some of the over inflated fake news drivel spouted.

It amazes me how Neil Collins gets slagged off left right and centre on any other thread but on a Nigel Clough people suddenly become mystified as to why he wasn't in the team and it's all the managers fault.

So Clough ballsed up the second season with his signings. But he also took us to two cup semis and saved us from Division 4 hell (and to the resident keyboard experts... no any other manager wouldn't have done that).

I think people should park their hate and save it for the 90 minutes in the next derby.

 

[nowtfancy]

Loving the madkins apologists!

 

[nowtfancy]

Any other ex manager had a sultans of ping song about them?!

 

[Yewsman]

The other way to look at Clough is this. He saved us from relegation and got us the two Cup runs. No one really expected him to be sacked after losing in the play offs but he obviously said or did something which induced the Board to sack him (probably being arrogant!). Had he not got him self sacked we would not have had Adkins for a season and when Adkins got sacked we were able to appoint CW.
I don’t think CW was ready for the job when Clough was appointed nor when he was sacked but when Adkins was sacked it was a case of right man, right time for CW having just had his 2 year spell with Northampton.
So thanks Nigel for getting us CW appointed!

 

[sheffielder]

I'd just like to thank Nigel for failing miserably and then Nigel Adkins. If it wasn't for their ineptitude we wouldn't be sat here with Chris Wilder today.

Nothing further to add

 

[DifferentClass]

My mum has a crush on him

 

[Barney]

With the funds we either spent or received over his tenure, to end up 30 points off the top in league one with as many players making up an incredibly bloated squad was quite something. Wilder came in and did everything I and others were calling out for during both Clough and Adkins' tenures. And surprise surprise we win the league with 100 points.

 

[Pinchy]

Tends to get overlooked in the list of managers.
We played some brilliant football under Spackman.
A man of principles in that when players were sold without his agreement he went.
If I recall we sold Deane and a player with an overseas name Jan Argflorcroft or something similar.
UTB

We’ve had all this before. He was clueless. I repeat this instructive fact - he never spent a full season at any one of his three clubs and nobody ever wanted him after that. He achieved precisely nothing.

He was Charles Green’s puppet. Nobody ever asked for his ‘approval’ about anything because he had no authority. Green scouted and signed Borbokis and Dellas - Spackman had never heard of them, let alone seen them. He had nothing to do with re-signing Deano either. An awful, spineless manager in name only. One of the biggest Bladey myths in existence, is Nigel, and that’s quite a feat.

 

[northsomersetblade]

Clough couldn't keep his ego out of things, if he had been able to control himself he might have been OK.

I was glad when he left and I would not want to see him back. Other than that, GLTTL. Except on Friday

 

[DifferentClass]

Clough couldn't keep his ego out of things, if he had been able to control himself he might have been OK.

I was glad when he left and I would not want to see him back. Other than that, GLTTL. Except on Friday

That's one thing he inherited from his dad...

 

[SwissBlade]

Wilder had a lot of positives to say about him in today’s interview, footballing wise saying in his view he was championship manager of the season last year for the job he’s done at Burton. He also said that personally he was a fantastic guy who always had time for him when he was at Alfreton. That’ll do for me, I like the bloke and remember the cup runs and some great days but I also remember seeing him watching the U18s numerous times up at Shirecliffe and taking an active role in their development.

I always liked Clough, he took no shit from the Media and was concerned not with being a nice bloke, but doing everything in his power to improve the on-field side of things.

I still like Clough and it was great to see Burton stay up last season. Personally i'd like them to stay up this season, but hope we get a decent result at Burton tomorrow.

 

[bladesmanluke]

I remember Nigel saying how well he’d done go finish 5th with no centre backs all season. That’s true, it is impressive, but it was his own fault for falling out with the ones we had and not replacing them. He had ample opportunity to do so.

I am thankful for the cup runs and saving us from relegation to league 2, but he ultimately failed to reach his main objective, despite massive financial backing that Chris Wilder can’t even dream of in the division above and he’s got us to second in the championship.

 

[west_yorks_blade]

it's been said before.. His failure to play with any centre backs for an entire season, despite buying one and having one already, not because anyone was injured, but because he just fell out with them, was unforgivable.

Surely this clinches the debate.
No matter what people say in his defence, you can’t get past this point without concluding that his hubris was hugely damaging, bizarre and as Valley Blade says, unforgivable.

 

[metalblade]

I simply can't comprehend the abuse Clough gets. Or for that matter some of the over inflated fake news drivel spouted.

It amazes me how Neil Collins gets slagged off left right and centre on any other thread but on a Nigel Clough people suddenly become mystified as to why he wasn't in the team and it's all the managers fault.

So Clough ballsed up the second season with his signings. But he also took us to two cup semis and saved us from Division 4 hell (and to the resident keyboard experts... no any other manager wouldn't have done that).

I think people should park their hate and save it for the 90 minutes in the next derby.

Quite simple really, Collins was the only fit centre back at the club as poor as he was he was a better option than playing a right back in that position. To put his personal vendetta in front of the interests of the club was criminal, he needed sacking just for the team he put out for the play off semi final.

 

[Scooter_mcgavin]

If you're going to ignore fit and available, suitable players for your own personal reasons, then you better make sure the club doesn't suffer for it. He didn't seem to understand that. It all came to a head at Swindon, and how anybody can be positive about him after that is beyond me.

I actually felt for Alcock that day. He's not even a decent full back, but to expect him....at 5'8 max to be a centre half is plain ridiculous.

 

[McGrath]

Quite simple really, Collins was the only fit centre back at the club as poor as he was he was a better option than playing a right back in that position. To put his personal vendetta in front of the interests of the club was criminal, he needed sacking just for the team he put out for the play off semi final.

How do you know it was a personal vendetta?

They are strong words, how do you know it wasn't Collins causing issues... you might recall that eventually Adkins bombed Collins out as well

 

[I should coco]

Under Nigel Spackman we looked odds on to go up automatically,then someone had the very bright idea,to sell Brian Deane and Jan Aage on the same day,

I think it was precisely becasue McDonald and his Texas cronies feared that we wouldn't go up automatically that they chose to offload.

Not once, even in the worst moments of Adkins tenure did I wish we'd had Clough back.

I'm really struggling to believe that.
Burton at home?
Shrewsbury at home?
Scunny at home?

You want your bumps feeling Tyler Durden !

 

[Scooter_mcgavin]

How do you know it was a personal vendetta?

They are strong words, how do you know it wasn't Collins causing issues... you might recall that eventually Adkins bombed Collins out as well

On one hand we have a professional player that still openly speaks highly of the Blades - despite his many critics.

On the other we have two of the worst managers in living memory.

 

[I should coco]

On one hand we have a professional player that still openly speaks highly of the Blades - despite his many critics.

On the other hand we have a bloke writing a blog who wants as many fans of his old teams to 'follow' him as possible. Has he done the 'Cuddly Leeds' one yet?

On the other we have two of the worst managers in living memory.

On the other hand, one took over from an even worse one and saved us from the relegation battle we were speeding toward.

Can't defend NA though. A charlatan of the highest order relying on geese, endeavour and management-speak mumbo jumbo.

 

[McGrath]

On one hand we have a professional player that still openly speaks highly of the Blades - despite his many critics.

On the other we have two of the worst managers in living memory.

Seriously a manager that got to two cup semis, the play offs and rescued us from the bottom of League One is worse than the following managers:

Brian Robson
Adrian Heath
David Weir
Mickey Adams

That's just simply absurd

 

[Scooter_mcgavin]

Seriously a manager that got to two cup semis, the play offs and rescued us from the bottom of League One is worse than the following managers:

Brian Robson
Adrian Heath
David Weir
Mickey Adams

That's just simply absurd

I just have an irrational hatred for Clough. Yes, the first season was superb, but what followed was an utter car crash of a season. He admitted he needed just 2 or 3 quality signings to add to his squad after his first season.

If he listened to himself he might still be here, what did he bring in...about 15?!

 

[Pollingtonblade]

At the end of the 1st cup run season he had the rug pulled from under him regards Coady, Maguire and Bradford 3 of our key players during the run in.

However he didn’t help himself by failure to address the centre half situation at all nor the goalscoring problem.

Wilder has shown with a similar budget what could have been done.

The cup runs were great but the football in his season we got to play offs was totally insipid- playing for a point against the likes of Crewe and Yeovil is unforgivable.

 

[McGrath]

I just have an irrational hatred for Clough. Yes, the first season was superb, but what followed was an utter car crash of a season. He admitted he needed just 2 or 3 quality signings to add to his squad after his first season.

If he listened to himself he might still be here, what did he bring in...about 15?!

I think your hatred is indeed irrational. Signings don't happen for a lot of reasons. As we should know from events running up to the transfer window closing in August, it's generally out of the clubs/managers hands.

Maybe you should listen to Chris Wilders last interview. He feels Clough is a very good manager, has a lot of respect for him and in fact feels he should have been Championship manager of the year last season... http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05n3ybl

 

[Scooter_mcgavin]

I think your hatred is indeed irrational. Signings don't happen for a lot of reasons. As we should know from events running up to the transfer window closing in August, it's generally out of the clubs/managers hands.

Maybe you should listen to Chris Wilders last interview. He feels Clough is a very good manager, has a lot of respect for him and in fact feels he should have been Championship manager of the year last season... http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05n3ybl

I think you're misreading me.

It wasn't the lack of signings, we signed too many and the majority all turned out to be useless.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Not once, even in the worst moments of Adkins tenure did I wish we'd had Clough back.
Had anybody but Wilder had come in, we'd still be reaping the consequences of what he sowed.
One of only two managers who I still very much dislike to this day.

I think many of those consequences ended in the summer of 2016 because we had so many out of contract (Flynn, JCR, Collins, Harris, McEveley, Howard, McGahey, Cuvelier, Baxter etc.) as well as the few Adkins had already moved on (Alcock, Higdon etc.) so there was room in the wage bill for a re-build. Fortunately, Wilder did a bloody fantastic job of that re-build.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

If anything's overlooked it's the fact that Nigel Clough performed best when he could barely make any signings. His second season was a joke.

A strong similarity with Blackwell. Did well with Robson’s squad but was shite at building his own.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

I simply can't comprehend the abuse Clough gets. Or for that matter some of the over inflated fake news drivel spouted.

It amazes me how Neil Collins gets slagged off left right and centre on any other thread but on a Nigel Clough people suddenly become mystified as to why he wasn't in the team and it's all the managers fault.

So Clough ballsed up the second season with his signings. But he also took us to two cup semis and saved us from Division 4 hell (and to the resident keyboard experts... no any other manager wouldn't have done that).

I think people should park their hate and save it for the 90 minutes in the next derby.

I think it’s possible to say that Collins wasn’t very good and was a position we should have been looking to improve upon whilst also acknowledging that he was a better option at CB than both Alcock and McEveley.

 

[cooperblade]

I simply can't comprehend the abuse Clough gets. Or for that matter some of the over inflated fake news drivel spouted.

It amazes me how Neil Collins gets slagged off left right and centre on any other thread but on a Nigel Clough people suddenly become mystified as to why he wasn't in the team and it's all the managers fault.

So Clough ballsed up the second season with his signings. But he also took us to two cup semis and saved us from Division 4 hell (and to the resident keyboard experts... no any other manager wouldn't have done that).

I think people should park their hate and save it for the 90 minutes in the next derby.

Completely agree. There's the Collins argument like you've said. In this thread he gets accused of having no scouting department AND of having had the biggest backroom of all time. He gets slaughtered for signing Brayford when the vast majority at the time were delighted.

The argument that Adkins had no chance to succeed because of the wage bill had been left with is laughable. I heard about one (thankfully unsigned) contract offer that had been made by Adkins before Wilder arrived and I would say it would've represented a far bigger waste of money than anything Clough did. And that's without mentioning Hammond.

I read some of the stuff that people post on here about ex-managers who did average / good / excellent jobs and it's clear that the idea of Once a Blade, Always a Blade doesn't apply to our old gaffers.