Memory Lane Podcast

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Second part of the Clough episode out now. Forget about being crap last night and enjoy us being crap 12 years ago instead

I have listened to 2 of these and am halfway through this one. They are excellent.

I want to say something about Kieran Wallace, which is also something about Clough.

After his name came up and you commented on the absurdity of his selection I thought "I wonder if Wallace is still playing?" which caused me to look at his playing career. The results are revealing. League games only:

2014-15: Ilkeston, tier 7, 17 games
2014-15: Sheffield United, League One, 4 games (Manager, Nigel Clough)
2014-15 Lincoln City, National League, 6 games (loan)
2015-16: Sheffield United, League One, 11 games (Manager, Nigel Adkins)
2016-17: Fleetwood Town, League One, no league appearances (loan)
2017-18, Matlock Town, tier 7, 30 games
2018-19 Burton Albion, League One, 22 games (Manager, Nigel Clough)
2019-20 Burton Albion, League One, 26 games (Manager, Nigel Clough)
2020-21 Burton Albion, League One, 12 games (Manager, Jake Buxton/Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink)
2021-22: York City, Conference North, 6 games (loan)
2021-22: Mansfield Town, League Two, 17 games (Manager, Nigel Clough)
2022-23: Mansfield Town, League Two, 30 games (Manager, Nigel Clough)
2023-24 Hartlepool United, National League, 21 games
2024-25: Tamworth, National League, 6 games (loan)
2024-25: Peterborough Sports, National League North (loan)

And no one will be surprised to hear that in 122 EFL appearances Wallace managed 2 goals, par for the course for a Clough midfielder.

Wallace was released by Hartlepool at the end of 2024-5.

It is very clear from the above record that nobody in EFL football thinks that Kieran Wallace was worth a place in an EFL team except for Nigel Clough. He got the odd game for us after Clough had left, and the same at Burton. Then he dropped him into Non league, from where Clough rescued him twice.

Brian Clough was like this too in his early days: the John McGoverns of this world followed him around in the 1970s. But he did it with good players. Time and again people end up at Nigel Clough clubs who have played for him before, and who he seems to overrate. Remember him trying to sign a crippled Shaun Barker for us? There players are not only overrated, they are overpaid and frequently injury prone. Of course, Clough's dismissal came when he tried to foist yet more players on the club in the 2015 close season who were no better than what we had. Even then Conor Sammon was signed before he left.

He has his good points but there is so much self-destructive behaviour from a squad building perspective.
 
Enjoyed both eps but slightly put off by the negativity, for some reason I look back on the highs with incredible fondness and lows as funny anecdotes. Must be because it's close to the start of my football fandom and it being followed by Adkins. Can't believe we only got 5 more points than that season!

For me this was the peak of the "big physical United will kick us about" line being as wrong as it has ever been. Playing 4-5-1 with a team of soft, Scottish midgets and Baxter up front was hilarious. Scougall getting thrown about like a ragdoll, Porter plodding around and never winning a header, Brayford immediately becoming a club legend (rightly imo). Loved it and very fond of FLN still.

Would be forever grateful if someone remembers the Baxter chant that I heard at Gillingham away after his "incident".
 
Ronald Koeman, not Pochettino, was manager of Southampton when we beat them in the League Cup Quarter-final.
He was really bitter about the game afterwards.
Refused to shake Clough's hand, the post match interview was hilarious. 😂



And just to add a final bit, I'm with you Roy, absolutely loved the Morgs and Garner stuff!
 
Remember that 3-0 loss at Crewe very vividly as well. Hungover as fuck in a freezing cold student house, on a very grey and horrid day, staring league two in the face. A bit of excitement was injected into proceedings when I was one goal out of six perfect scores on super six with about ten mins to go. But there were a lot of late goals in the prem that day! Ended up nowhere near.
 
I have listened to 2 of these and am halfway through this one. They are excellent.

I want to say something about Kieran Wallace, which is also something about Clough.

After his name came up and you commented on the absurdity of his selection I thought "I wonder if Wallace is still playing?" which caused me to look at his playing career. The results are revealing. League games only:

2014-15: Ilkeston, tier 7, 17 games
2014-15: Sheffield United, League One, 4 games (Manager, Nigel Clough)
2014-15 Lincoln City, National League, 6 games (loan)
2015-16: Sheffield United, League One, 11 games (Manager, Nigel Adkins)
2016-17: Fleetwood Town, League One, no league appearances (loan)
2017-18, Matlock Town, tier 7, 30 games
2018-19 Burton Albion, League One, 22 games (Manager, Nigel Clough)
2019-20 Burton Albion, League One, 26 games (Manager, Nigel Clough)
2020-21 Burton Albion, League One, 12 games (Manager, Jake Buxton/Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink)
2021-22: York City, Conference North, 6 games (loan)
2021-22: Mansfield Town, League Two, 17 games (Manager, Nigel Clough)
2022-23: Mansfield Town, League Two, 30 games (Manager, Nigel Clough)
2023-24 Hartlepool United, National League, 21 games
2024-25: Tamworth, National League, 6 games (loan)
2024-25: Peterborough Sports, National League North (loan)

And no one will be surprised to hear that in 122 EFL appearances Wallace managed 2 goals, par for the course for a Clough midfielder.

Wallace was released by Hartlepool at the end of 2024-5.

It is very clear from the above record that nobody in EFL football thinks that Kieran Wallace was worth a place in an EFL team except for Nigel Clough. He got the odd game for us after Clough had left, and the same at Burton. Then he dropped him into Non league, from where Clough rescued him twice.

Brian Clough was like this too in his early days: the John McGoverns of this world followed him around in the 1970s. But he did it with good players. Time and again people end up at Nigel Clough clubs who have played for him before, and who he seems to overrate. Remember him trying to sign a crippled Shaun Barker for us? There players are not only overrated, they are overpaid and frequently injury prone. Of course, Clough's dismissal came when he tried to foist yet more players on the club in the 2015 close season who were no better than what we had. Even then Conor Sammon was signed before he left.

He has his good points but there is so much self-destructive behaviour from a squad building perspective.


I find it strange that Clough kept rescuing Wallace because my overriding memory of Wallace at BDTBL (aside from taking the worst set piece in history), was him inexplicably vanishing from the squad.

During the very worst period of Clough’s rigid, stodgy league football, Wallace made a couple of appearances at full back in which he showed more energy and movement than any other bugger on the pitch. Only to disappear pretty much entirely until he left the club.

I just assumed he was another victim of Clough’s capricious weirdness.
 
I have listened to 2 of these and am halfway through this one. They are excellent.

I want to say something about Kieran Wallace, which is also something about Clough.

After his name came up and you commented on the absurdity of his selection I thought "I wonder if Wallace is still playing?" which caused me to look at his playing career. The results are revealing. League games only:

2014-15: Ilkeston, tier 7, 17 games
2014-15: Sheffield United, League One, 4 games (Manager, Nigel Clough)
2014-15 Lincoln City, National League, 6 games (loan)
2015-16: Sheffield United, League One, 11 games (Manager, Nigel Adkins)
2016-17: Fleetwood Town, League One, no league appearances (loan)
2017-18, Matlock Town, tier 7, 30 games
2018-19 Burton Albion, League One, 22 games (Manager, Nigel Clough)
2019-20 Burton Albion, League One, 26 games (Manager, Nigel Clough)
2020-21 Burton Albion, League One, 12 games (Manager, Jake Buxton/Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink)
2021-22: York City, Conference North, 6 games (loan)
2021-22: Mansfield Town, League Two, 17 games (Manager, Nigel Clough)
2022-23: Mansfield Town, League Two, 30 games (Manager, Nigel Clough)
2023-24 Hartlepool United, National League, 21 games
2024-25: Tamworth, National League, 6 games (loan)
2024-25: Peterborough Sports, National League North (loan)

And no one will be surprised to hear that in 122 EFL appearances Wallace managed 2 goals, par for the course for a Clough midfielder.

Wallace was released by Hartlepool at the end of 2024-5.

It is very clear from the above record that nobody in EFL football thinks that Kieran Wallace was worth a place in an EFL team except for Nigel Clough. He got the odd game for us after Clough had left, and the same at Burton. Then he dropped him into Non league, from where Clough rescued him twice.

Brian Clough was like this too in his early days: the John McGoverns of this world followed him around in the 1970s. But he did it with good players. Time and again people end up at Nigel Clough clubs who have played for him before, and who he seems to overrate. Remember him trying to sign a crippled Shaun Barker for us? There players are not only overrated, they are overpaid and frequently injury prone. Of course, Clough's dismissal came when he tried to foist yet more players on the club in the 2015 close season who were no better than what we had. Even then Conor Sammon was signed before he left.

He has his good points but there is so much self-destructive behaviour from a squad building perspective.
Have a very vague memrie of a hilarious free kick by Kieron Wallace v Swindon. Very vague because I was sat with Silverfox sharing a flask of his own brewed Moonshine...
 
I have listened to 2 of these and am halfway through this one. They are excellent.

I want to say something about Kieran Wallace, which is also something about Clough.

After his name came up and you commented on the absurdity of his selection I thought "I wonder if Wallace is still playing?" which caused me to look at his playing career. The results are revealing. League games only:

2014-15: Ilkeston, tier 7, 17 games
2014-15: Sheffield United, League One, 4 games (Manager, Nigel Clough)
2014-15 Lincoln City, National League, 6 games (loan)
2015-16: Sheffield United, League One, 11 games (Manager, Nigel Adkins)
2016-17: Fleetwood Town, League One, no league appearances (loan)
2017-18, Matlock Town, tier 7, 30 games
2018-19 Burton Albion, League One, 22 games (Manager, Nigel Clough)
2019-20 Burton Albion, League One, 26 games (Manager, Nigel Clough)
2020-21 Burton Albion, League One, 12 games (Manager, Jake Buxton/Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink)
2021-22: York City, Conference North, 6 games (loan)
2021-22: Mansfield Town, League Two, 17 games (Manager, Nigel Clough)
2022-23: Mansfield Town, League Two, 30 games (Manager, Nigel Clough)
2023-24 Hartlepool United, National League, 21 games
2024-25: Tamworth, National League, 6 games (loan)
2024-25: Peterborough Sports, National League North (loan)

And no one will be surprised to hear that in 122 EFL appearances Wallace managed 2 goals, par for the course for a Clough midfielder.

Wallace was released by Hartlepool at the end of 2024-5.

It is very clear from the above record that nobody in EFL football thinks that Kieran Wallace was worth a place in an EFL team except for Nigel Clough. He got the odd game for us after Clough had left, and the same at Burton. Then he dropped him into Non league, from where Clough rescued him twice.

Brian Clough was like this too in his early days: the John McGoverns of this world followed him around in the 1970s. But he did it with good players. Time and again people end up at Nigel Clough clubs who have played for him before, and who he seems to overrate. Remember him trying to sign a crippled Shaun Barker for us? There players are not only overrated, they are overpaid and frequently injury prone. Of course, Clough's dismissal came when he tried to foist yet more players on the club in the 2015 close season who were no better than what we had. Even then Conor Sammon was signed before he left.

He has his good points but there is so much self-destructive behaviour from a squad building perspective.

Totally forgot to mention that about Sammon. He gave McEverley a new deal and signed Sammon. Adkins was a terrible fit for us, but he was given a poor hand
 
Enjoyed both eps but slightly put off by the negativity, for some reason I look back on the highs with incredible fondness and lows as funny anecdotes. Must be because it's close to the start of my football fandom and it being followed by Adkins. Can't believe we only got 5 more points than that season!
Think I’d forgotten till listening to these just how much of a contrast there was between that initial season and the one that followed. 2014/15 was frankly all over the place – so many odd decisions as early as the season opener.

That FA Cup run in 13/14 was special without a doubt, and the Forest and Charlton games were great atmospheres. It was a 7 point gap up to 6th in the end, and it’s a shame on reflection that Clough’s team didn’t settle into a winning rhythm a bit earlier, as by the end of the season I feel our style of play, form, and the experience of the one-off games in the cup, would have served us well in the playoffs that year.

Really enjoyed both eps, though disagreed on one point – Coady, though poor till Clough arrived, was I thought one of the key parts of what worked well when the team was up to speed. Played the vast majority of the games and was a key cog I thought, and one of the pieces we didn’t properly replace. I got the impression we’d asked about signing him permanently but couldn’t afford it.
 
Think I’d forgotten till listening to these just how much of a contrast there was between that initial season and the one that followed. 2014/15 was frankly all over the place – so many odd decisions as early as the season opener.

That FA Cup run in 13/14 was special without a doubt, and the Forest and Charlton games were great atmospheres. It was a 7 point gap up to 6th in the end, and it’s a shame on reflection that Clough’s team didn’t settle into a winning rhythm a bit earlier, as by the end of the season I feel our style of play, form, and the experience of the one-off games in the cup, would have served us well in the playoffs that year.

Really enjoyed both eps, though disagreed on one point – Coady, though poor till Clough arrived, was I thought one of the key parts of what worked well when the team was up to speed. Played the vast majority of the games and was a key cog I thought, and one of the pieces we didn’t properly replace. I got the impression we’d asked about signing him permanently but couldn’t afford it.
Certainly remember how often Cloughy took on the fans in that second season, he was constantly at war with us. I remember one away game after weeks of fans demanding we play two up top, we did so and lost. Clough seemed genuinely happy about it in the post match presser, almost coming out and saying "there you go, that's on you lot". 😭 I think Keiran Wallace played as a 10 as well...

I remember Coady fondly and was desperate to sign him, found it incredible how he came to us for his first loan and was immediately bossing everyone about. More obvious captain material than Peck at a young age. Found it very strange to judge him as a player since, bizarrely he's back playing as a CM again for Charlton!
 
Just listening to the 1st part.

Feels like I was in a coma for much of Clough’s time with us (bar the cup runs) Struggle to remember many of the games and even a fair few of the players. Dont know if its an age thing, or what was going on in my life at the time or how bad we were but just seems like a blur.

There was a real feel good factor round the club after that Charlton game that carried on til the summer, as Roy mentions, and it seemed like we were finally turning things around.

Some uninspired signings and lacklustre displays soon put paid to that.
 
Really enjoyed these. I had completely forgotten about Chris O'Grady playing for us.
Just seen that its Cloughs 60th birthday today.
 
Adkins was a terrible fit for us, but he was given a poor hand

And with his other, non-poor hand, he shot himself in one foot with Woolford, and the other with Hammond, and tried to tell us how well it was all going.

Sorry, but I immensely disliked his positivity regarldless of what happened on the pitch. When Burton, Shrewsbury et al, record their first ever wins at the Lane and the twat twat in charge mutters on about 'endeavour', you know he has to go.
 
And with his other, non-poor hand, he shot himself in one foot with Woolford, and the other with Hammond, and tried to tell us how well it was all going.

Sorry, but I immensely disliked his positivity regarldless of what happened on the pitch. When Burton, Shrewsbury et al, record their first ever wins at the Lane and the twat twat in charge mutters on about 'endeavour', you know he has to go.
Adkin's demeanour deffo made his lack of success noisier though. As I mention in the 2nd part of the Clough podcast - there was no meaningful PPG difference between Adkins and Clough for their full season's in charge. One considered less of a failure thanks to the play-off cut-off being ridiculously low.

Not in any way an Adkin's apologist, but I would argue that the managerial appointments between Warnock and Wilder (including Wilson) were extremely poor - and he was just a part of that.
 



Adkin's demeanour deffo made his lack of success noisier though. As I mention in the 2nd part of the Clough podcast - there was no meaningful PPG difference between Adkins and Clough for their full season's in charge. One considered less of a failure thanks to the play-off cut-off being ridiculously low.

Not in any way an Adkin's apologist, but I would argue that the managerial appointments between Warnock and Wilder (including Wilson) were extremely poor - and he was just a part of that.
I would pick you up on one thing you (I think) said in the second half of the pod: you said that Clough was a poor appointment when he got the job.

I disagree with that. He was a poor appointment for a team that wanted to be promoted, but that was not the situation he was confronted with or hired to deal with. We had one win in the league, had not won for 12 games or thereabouts, we had signed a number of really poor players, and if Weir had stayed in charge we would have been in a relegation battle all season and, knowing us, likely dropped into League Two.

Clough was primarily brought in to save us from further relegation after the board got it terribly, terribly wrong. This is not to ignore his flaws. Just to point out he did what he had to do, and more, in 2013-4. I don't think anyone disagrees that he did a lousy job the season after.

Clough has only 2 FL promotions on his CV - but also only one relegation, with a completely overmatched and under resourced Burton side which he did really well to keep up the previous season (they are the only team to debut in the league since 1987 and get to the Championship and not go straight back down: Yeovil and Wycombe went down immediately). For all his flaws he is a safe pair of hands for a team in trouble.

I also think you are wrong about Wilson who was shafted by Ched Evans in his first season and McCabe in his second but that's been done to death on here.
 
I would pick you up on one thing you (I think) said in the second half of the pod: you said that Clough was a poor appointment when he got the job.

I disagree with that. He was a poor appointment for a team that wanted to be promoted, but that was not the situation he was confronted with or hired to deal with. We had one win in the league, had not won for 12 games or thereabouts, we had signed a number of really poor players, and if Weir had stayed in charge we would have been in a relegation battle all season and, knowing us, likely dropped into League Two.

Clough was primarily brought in to save us from further relegation after the board got it terribly, terribly wrong. This is not to ignore his flaws. Just to point out he did what he had to do, and more, in 2013-4. I don't think anyone disagrees that he did a lousy job the season after.

Clough has only 2 FL promotions on his CV - but also only one relegation, with a completely overmatched and under resourced Burton side which he did really well to keep up the previous season (they are the only team to debut in the league since 1987 and get to the Championship and not go straight back down: Yeovil and Wycombe went down immediately). For all his flaws he is a safe pair of hands for a team in trouble.

I also think you are wrong about Wilson who was shafted by Ched Evans in his first season and McCabe in his second but that's been done to death on here.
I guess there are parallels to this season where you look at the situation and the person replacing Weir/Selles has to be better than what came before or else it's relegation. So, yes, I would agree that his appointment was a success in avoiding relegation. But I think it's a terrible appointment as a manager for the medium term.

I don't think Wilson was a bad manager, nor Blackwell really. I think they were bad appointments for the squad we had (not as bad as others obviously).
 
I would pick you up on one thing you (I think) said in the second half of the pod: you said that Clough was a poor appointment when he got the job.

I disagree with that. He was a poor appointment for a team that wanted to be promoted, but that was not the situation he was confronted with or hired to deal with. We had one win in the league, had not won for 12 games or thereabouts, we had signed a number of really poor players, and if Weir had stayed in charge we would have been in a relegation battle all season and, knowing us, likely dropped into League Two.

Clough was primarily brought in to save us from further relegation after the board got it terribly, terribly wrong. This is not to ignore his flaws. Just to point out he did what he had to do, and more, in 2013-4. I don't think anyone disagrees that he did a lousy job the season after.

Clough has only 2 FL promotions on his CV - but also only one relegation, with a completely overmatched and under resourced Burton side which he did really well to keep up the previous season (they are the only team to debut in the league since 1987 and get to the Championship and not go straight back down: Yeovil and Wycombe went down immediately). For all his flaws he is a safe pair of hands for a team in trouble.

I also think you are wrong about Wilson who was shafted by Ched Evans in his first season and McCabe in his second but that's been done to death on here.

I'm very much with Revolution. As I said earlier in this thread, we were on the floor after Weir, and Clough very much achieved the task he was appointed for.
He kept us up. The FAC semi was very much the icing on the shit.

I don't get your obsession with PPG, in order to suggest that Adkins was unlucky, compared to Clough. Adkins was a very positive manager, which worked well for him at Scunthorpe and Soton. It didn't work at Hull and Reading, and most certainly at the Lane. Repeatedly telling us about 'unseen work', was just classic emperor-with-no-clothes-land.

In my view, Clough was the only half decent manager, between Warnock and Wilder and to be honest, much as I enjoyed the pod, I was a little saddened by your conclusion.
 
Really enjoying these so far, nice work. Just listened to the Clough one - I'd almost erased his insane team selections from my mind!

I'm still embarrassed by that Swindon playoff. Defended like a bunch of insult that's not even invented yet.

Glad the spontaneous applause got mentioned at the Hull cup semi - absolutely magic. Can't help but wonder if that's ever happened anywhere in world football. Also if there's ever been a better FA Cup semi (even though most punters watched Chelsea v Wigan or similar on the other channel).
 
Just listened to the latest pod on our sponsors. I honestly think you made what I thought would be quite a dull subject matter very interesting. Nice to hear from forum celebrity Deadbat too!
My dad used to be the painting and decorating contractor for Cantors for about 15 years. They were an old family run firm based in Sheffield with the main headquarters on Queens Road, opposite where the B&Q is. In the early 90's they bought a considerable number of shops from another furniture retailer, Queensway (remember them?), and at that point had over 100 outlets in the UK including many in Scotland. However they were bought out by another furniture retailer, Harvey's, in around 1997 and all the shops obviously became Harvey's. Harvey's themselves went into administration in 2020 and are now defunct.
 
A few observations from me.
I'd have had Jonas Wirmola as a centre half. He was brilliant against John Fashanu and Wimbledon in 1993, but only played 8 games for us.
I was at the game where Tebily made his debut. He was billed as a 'cultured' centre half but was absolutely terrible in that game and I remember being astounded that we got £1.2m for him.
John-Joe O'Toole scored the winning goal against Barnsley in 2009 and it was the Burnley play-off final he was unavailable for, not Huddersfield.
I'd have had Tommy Mooney as one of the strikers. Played 3 league games for us in 2003 but did score a goal in a 5th round FA Cup tie against Walsall in the triple assault season when we lost to Arsenal in the semi-final.

Loving these podcasts. Thanks for the hard work you all do in putting them together.
Can't work out whether Dave sounds more like David Mitchell or Richard Kayode.
 
I'd have had Tommy Mooney as one of the strikers. Played 3 league games for us in 2003 but did score a goal in a 5th round FA Cup tie against Walsall in the triple assault season when we lost to Arsenal in the semi-final.
Tommy Mooney is not forgettable simply by virtue of the fact that, in a season where Brownie scored several direct free kicks, we allowed him to take the free kick at the end of normal time at Anfield in the LC Semi.

A decision that still riles me to this day, 23 years later...
 
Tommy Mooney is not forgettable simply by virtue of the fact that, in a season where Brownie scored several direct free kicks, we allowed him to take the free kick at the end of normal time at Anfield in the LC Semi.

A decision that still riles me to this day, 23 years later...
Well I don't remember that 🤣
 
Tommy Mooney is not forgettable simply by virtue of the fact that, in a season where Brownie scored several direct free kicks, we allowed him to take the free kick at the end of normal time at Anfield in the LC Semi.

A decision that still riles me to this day, 23 years later...
Still pisses me off too, the captain should have told Mooney that Brown is a good free kick taker. I hate newcomers who decides he is the one who takes the free kicks
 
I'd already forgotten Ben Godfrey when you were throwing out names of potential soon-to-be-forgotten Blades from this season.

Some great suggestions in this episode. My personal nomination would be Adam Burley who I'm only posting because, after looking him up to confirm whether I'd imagined this, he did in fact score a goal for us in one of his very few appearances - a 2-2 draw with Swindon on the final day of 1999/2000. He's so forgotten that he doesn't even have a Wikipedia page.
 
I'd already forgotten Ben Godfrey when you were throwing out names of potential soon-to-be-forgotten Blades from this season.

Some great suggestions in this episode. My personal nomination would be Adam Burley who I'm only posting because, after looking him up to confirm whether I'd imagined this, he did in fact score a goal for us in one of his very few appearances - a 2-2 draw with Swindon on the final day of 1999/2000. He's so forgotten that he doesn't even have a Wikipedia page.

Adam Burley was a big mate of Curtis Woodhouse
 



David Irving, came on a month's loan in September 1975. Came on as sub twice before he was returned to Everton. He came on in the home game against Coventry and then the away game at West Ham the following week. As you can see below from 23 mins 50 seconds he comes on the pitch replacing our star player TC. TC didnt look happy as he walked straight to the tunnel. A few minutes later he collided with big Chris Guthrie which laid both players out, both then got up after treatment .

 
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