BornOnShorehamStreet
Well-Known Member
IIRC we had a poster who started following us when Nigel Clough was our manager. His handle was Close as a Blade I think.
His story was that he followed the team that Nigel Clough was managing because as a young lad, he'd been taken in by Brian Clough after the posters parents left him behind to go somewhere.
He told us all that he lived in the Clough household for years and a good, interesting life.
I spotted this story on Facebook and it rang bells.
"When Craig Bromfield first met Brian Clough in 1984, he was outside a hotel in Sunderland asking strangers for money.
Craig was 11 years old.
His brother Aaron was 12.
They had gone down to the Seaburn Hotel because Nottingham Forest were staying there before a game against Newcastle, and with Bonfire Night coming up, the two of them were trying to get a few quid together.
The day before, Kenny Swain had given them £5 and told them to come back in the morning for autographs.
So they did.
That was when Brian Clough saw them.
Two young lads standing outside in the cold, no coats on, looking like they had not had much of anything.
Clough asked if they had eaten.
They had not.
So he took them inside and fed them.
Then he gave them tickets for the match.
Craig and Aaron started seeing him whenever Forest were back in the north east.
Then Clough invited them down to Nottingham.
The boys were suddenly around the Forest players, on the team bus, at the training ground, and inside a world they had only ever seen from the outside.
“We suddenly had bicycles and sports gear, experiencing things others weren’t.”
Clough just seemed to like them.
Aaron made him laugh.
Craig followed him around.
And before long, they were not just two lads Clough had helped once outside a hotel.
They were part of his life.
Then when Craig was 16, his parents decided they were moving to London.
They were not planning to take him.
So Clough stepped in again.
Craig moved in with the Clough family.
He lived in their house, went on dog walks with Brian, had breakfast with him, sat in the car with him, and went into work with him.
Craig later said: "Pretty much for three years I was in his car driving to work with him.”
He worked in Simon Clough’s shops.
He helped in the Forest dressing room.
He made drinks.
Tidied things away.
Then, somehow, the kid who had once been begging for money outside a hotel was sitting in the dugout while Nottingham Forest won League Cups.
Craig later tried to explain how that felt.
“Imagine what it’s like for someone to come from where I came from and suddenly be in the dressing room at Wembley on Cup final day.”
“I felt like a little king.”
But the football was only part of it.
The real thing was that, for the first time, Craig felt wanted.
Clough had seen two boys who looked like they needed help, and instead of just giving them a few pounds and forgetting about them, he brought them into his family.
Craig later said:
“If I had not met Brian Clough, my life would have been over before it had even begun.”
And years later, when he was asked why Clough did it, Craig did not make it complicated.
“He loved the underdog.”"
Anybody remember him?
His story was that he followed the team that Nigel Clough was managing because as a young lad, he'd been taken in by Brian Clough after the posters parents left him behind to go somewhere.
He told us all that he lived in the Clough household for years and a good, interesting life.
I spotted this story on Facebook and it rang bells.
"When Craig Bromfield first met Brian Clough in 1984, he was outside a hotel in Sunderland asking strangers for money.
Craig was 11 years old.
His brother Aaron was 12.
They had gone down to the Seaburn Hotel because Nottingham Forest were staying there before a game against Newcastle, and with Bonfire Night coming up, the two of them were trying to get a few quid together.
The day before, Kenny Swain had given them £5 and told them to come back in the morning for autographs.
So they did.
That was when Brian Clough saw them.
Two young lads standing outside in the cold, no coats on, looking like they had not had much of anything.
Clough asked if they had eaten.
They had not.
So he took them inside and fed them.
Then he gave them tickets for the match.
Craig and Aaron started seeing him whenever Forest were back in the north east.
Then Clough invited them down to Nottingham.
The boys were suddenly around the Forest players, on the team bus, at the training ground, and inside a world they had only ever seen from the outside.
“We suddenly had bicycles and sports gear, experiencing things others weren’t.”
Clough just seemed to like them.
Aaron made him laugh.
Craig followed him around.
And before long, they were not just two lads Clough had helped once outside a hotel.
They were part of his life.
Then when Craig was 16, his parents decided they were moving to London.
They were not planning to take him.
So Clough stepped in again.
Craig moved in with the Clough family.
He lived in their house, went on dog walks with Brian, had breakfast with him, sat in the car with him, and went into work with him.
Craig later said: "Pretty much for three years I was in his car driving to work with him.”
He worked in Simon Clough’s shops.
He helped in the Forest dressing room.
He made drinks.
Tidied things away.
Then, somehow, the kid who had once been begging for money outside a hotel was sitting in the dugout while Nottingham Forest won League Cups.
Craig later tried to explain how that felt.
“Imagine what it’s like for someone to come from where I came from and suddenly be in the dressing room at Wembley on Cup final day.”
“I felt like a little king.”
But the football was only part of it.
The real thing was that, for the first time, Craig felt wanted.
Clough had seen two boys who looked like they needed help, and instead of just giving them a few pounds and forgetting about them, he brought them into his family.
Craig later said:
“If I had not met Brian Clough, my life would have been over before it had even begun.”
And years later, when he was asked why Clough did it, Craig did not make it complicated.
“He loved the underdog.”"
Anybody remember him?
