Nigel Clough Appreciation Society

[Tunstall Fred]

Overall, his time here was a mixed bag, but I generally like Clough. Certainly the best Nigel we've had as manager.

I disagree,Nigel Spackman was better

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Don't totally disagree with your example of Coutts, although there were times under both Adkins and Clough when he simply looked like he didn't care which is down to attitude as well as being played in the right way.

However we'll have to agree to disagree about players and this professional attitude. Players have such massive egos and they know they can force a manager out through their performances if they want to (for whatever reason) and i really believe that it's happened on several occasions around the country.

Clough and Adkins played Coutts in largely the same way. They both tried him on the right and in the middle in a 3. Coutts played his best pre-Wilder football under Adkins during the month of December when he was playing on the right and could see the Man U game on the horizon. Towards the end of the season, I think several players had decided they wanted Adkins out and Coutts was one of the main culprits for playing like a twat because he didn’t like the manager. He’d shown what he could do throughout December but couldn’t be arsed. Wilder had identified that and stuck him straight on the transfer list when he arrived. Perhaps that was a moment of epiphany for Coutts. He maybe knew it was now or never in terms of saving a career that was going down the toilet.


Adkins didn’t have the room for maneouvre to bring his own squad in and I think the squad knew that and that he was powerless to change the dressing room culture. Wilder came in with half the squad out of contract, he was going to bring in his own men and the remaining players had to either adapt or fuck off.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

O'Grady was bang average, as can be seen from where he is plying his trade now, yet we fixated on him so long that summer that we ignored and missed out on other targets and panic bought the aforementioned YouTube hero Higdon.

To put the tin hat on it we did it again in January, finally got him on a months loan only to see him recalled almost immediately.. utter madness.

I disagree that he was bang average. Thought he was a very good player for League 1. On the decline now admittedly but think he’d have been a great asset had we got him permanently.


I also don’t think that pursuing one player precludes you from signing another. We managed to sign McNulty, JCR, Butler, Alcock, McEveley, Done, Freeman, Coutts, Brayford, Adams, Wallace, Wallace again, Basham etc. throughout the time we were trying to land COG. I don’t think there was anything wrong at all in trying to sign COG. It’s just that too many of those we did sign were rubbish. Had we got the preferred targets (COG, Coady, Brayford) in the summer and kept Maguire, we’d have probably gone up.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Nobody mentioning the elephant in the room then?

Adkins, Robson and Blackwell, all did more damage overall to the club than Nigel Clough... I didn’t like clough, but come on, that first season and the cup runs don’t put him in the dogshit bracket...

We were going down to the fourth weren’t we.....

Clough gave us good times but in terms of lasting damage. Clough left us with the likes of:-


Higdon

McNulty

Alcock

JCR

Flynn (new deal under Clough)

Scougall

Done

Coutts (still not fit when Clough left)

James Wallace

Kieron Wallace

Brayford (fucked by this point and on big wages)

Done

And one last parting shot was a new deal for calamity Jay.

Plus the rumors that Sammon was his doing too.

And probably a few more that I can’t recall.



That lot seriously limits the ability of the incoming manager to deal. The squad was imbalanced. 3 right backs, lack of natural centre halves, high earners who were not fit (Coutts and Brayford). Some players who were OK but not really what we needed (Scougall, Done etc.). No decent leader of the line. No decent keeper. In contrast Adkins left us stuck with:-


Woolford

Hammond

Sharp


Wilder was able to bin off the first two pretty quickly and Sharp has been an absolutely super signing. I’d say the situation left after Adkins’ departure in terms of what a new manage could work with was infinitely better than the one Clough left behind.

 

[N20 Blade]

Without adding fuel to this what kind of reception for Brayford? If I could I would shake him by the hand and thank him for some great memories during his first spell.

 

[Kentblade]

I disagree,Nigel Spackman was better

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

 

[BushBlade]

Clough gave us good times but in terms of lasting damage. Clough left us with the likes of:-


Higdon

McNulty

Alcock

JCR

Flynn (new deal under Clough)

Scougall

Done

Coutts (still not fit when Clough left)

James Wallace

Kieron Wallace

Brayford (fucked by this point and on big wages)

Done

And one last parting shot was a new deal for calamity Jay.

Plus the rumors that Sammon was his doing too.

And probably a few more that I can’t recall.



That lot seriously limits the ability of the incoming manager to deal. The squad was imbalanced. 3 right backs, lack of natural centre halves, high earners who were not fit (Coutts and Brayford). Some players who were OK but not really what we needed (Scougall, Done etc.). No decent leader of the line. No decent keeper. In contrast Adkins left us stuck with:-


Woolford

Hammond

Sharp


Wilder was able to bin off the first two pretty quickly and Sharp has been an absolutely super signing. I’d say the situation left after Adkins’ departure in terms of what a new manage could work with was infinitely better than the one Clough left behind.

After signing Woolford and Hammond I don't think the board trusted him to sign anyone else permanently. Adkins inherited a difficult situation but he did himself no favours.

 

[Tunstall Fred]

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

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,

 

[UnitedBlade]

Without adding fuel to this what kind of reception for Brayford? If I could I would shake him by the hand and thank him for some great memories during his first spell.

He’ll be sat in the stands, another long term hamstring injury.

 

[N20 Blade]

He’ll be sat in the stands, another long term hamstring injury.

Poor bloke, wishing a speedy recovery. Ironic as I remember seeing him in the stands at qpr in the United end when he was still a Cardiff player.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

After signing Woolford and Hammond I don't think the board trusted him to sign anyone else permanently. Adkins inherited a difficult situation but he did himself no favours.

Agreed those two were awful signings. But the fact remains that the situation he left for Wilder was a lot better than the one Clough left for Adkins.

 

[Slim Man]

Cheers for 2 year of dull as dishwater football, falling out with every player in sight, playing Craig Alcock and Jay McEveley at centre half and setting up as underdog no matter who we played.
The cup runs mask just how poor he was.

Don't like the bloke at all, the most negative manager in living memory. There'll be no well wishing from me, fuck him, at least as far as friday is concerned.

 

[Slim Man]

Agreed those two were awful signings. But the fact remains that the situation he left for Wilder was a lot better than the one Clough left for Adkins.

Clough left Adkins a right f**king mess, that for some reason is forgotten.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Clough left Adkins a right f**king mess, that for some reason is forgotten.

Agreed. Adkins had his faults and ultimately failed. But the job he inherited was a shit one.

 

[Sheffsteel]

I’m really on the fence regards Clough.

It’s as though he found the secret formula to staying in employment as a manager.
The secret is “really slow and steady progress”.

The number of times you see a manager instantly win promotion, like Kenny Jacket at Wolves and Cotteril at Bristol City.
Both did a fantastic job in their first season but both struggled in the Championship, so were quickly sacked.

I thought we played decent passing, keep possession football under Clough but it was like Calvahal at SW, not enough urgency or pace and too much sideways passing. We often seemed to control matches playing in 2nd gear. You could almost gaurantee it would be 0-0 at half time then we’d slowly increase the tempo in the 2nd half trying to get a 1-0 or 2-1.

We “nearly” looked a good team under Clough but just missing something. It similar to what’s happening down at S6, we were over cautious, over tactical starting matches in a slow/ safe tempo.

In the end he was really testing my patience because progress was so slow and I hated how he always used
to big up the opposition saying how tough Crewe or Colchester were.

Credit to him though during our great cup runs. When playing as an underdog he was really good at setting up a team to stifle the opposition and be hard to beat, that’s why he’s doing well at Burton.

 

[GrayBlade]

For the sake of balance.


Cuvelier is one of the worst midfielder’s we’ve ever had and Baxter, whilst talented, has proven himself to be a waster and a player that Wilder wouldn’t entertain.


When considering the money lost on his bad signings, as well as the cup runs, we should offset that against the money made on Che Adams and the money made on Jamie Murphy (not a Clough signing but most would have given him away for nowt before Clough got hold of him). He also signed players that are proving to be very good in the championship now under Wilder.


He wasn’t all bad. But he was a million miles from what Wilder has produced.


Worst recruitment ever? When compared to bargaining power? He did sign some shockers I’ll give you that but Robson signed the likes of Hendrie and Carney with a Premier League budget. Blackwell signed these guys:-


Johannes Ertl

Matthew Spring

Simon Walton

Jordan Stewart

Andy Taylor

James Harper

Ryan France

Marc Yeates

Darius Henderson

Nyron Nosworthy

Steve Simmonsen

Kyel Reid

Jonathan Fortune

Andrew Davies

Craig Beattie

John Joe O Toole

Mihkel Aksalu

Anthony Stokes

Daniel Bogdanovic



Now I know Clough’s list was bad. But can you say it was worse than the above? Given that when Blackwell came in, we still had a year of PL Parachute payments to come?

Wow, what a bag o’ shite!

 

[Tyler Durden]

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.

 

[HermitageBlade]

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.

 

[alcoblade]

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.

Agreed. However, Wilder’s job was at least made easier by the number of expiring contracts when he arrived. It goes without saying that, that aside, he’s doing a phenomenal job anyway.

Adkins did not have that luxury, and was stuck with Clough’s failures. Of course, whatever he did have control over, he did a poor job of controlling!

 

[Deleted member 875]

He was a fucking disaster. He left us marginally better than we was when he took over, despite having spent more than anyone in the Division over the same period of time.

His football was fucking awful, negative defensive crap. I can remember some terrible performances, home defeats to Fleetwood and a fucking awful Crewe side stand out, but his coup de grace was the shambles at Swindon where he picked Craig Alcock at centre half and refused to pick Neill Collins despite barely having a fit centre half on the book.

The squad of players he left us with was fucking awful. Adcock, Higdon, McGahey, McEveley, Harris, McNulty, amongst others. It was little wonder that Adkins struggled when left with that pile of shit on the wage bill.

It was clearly going wrong towards the end and yet Clough was the only person who was either too fucking thick or pig ignorant to see or understand why. His arrogance was shocking.

I was glad when the board binned him off. For me his legacy will be of shit football, played by shit footballers, and blowing a hell of a lot of money for little reward.

In fact, I can still remember having exactly the same conversation with LS26BLADE after the match. We was too slow, too negative, shit at set pieces, JCR couldn't cross, Adcock was wank, McEveley was shite, that went on for months and people used to slag us off as knockers but we wasn't far wrong.

 

[Steve Mackan]

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.

 

[Harry's Game]

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.

If I die in my sleep tonight I have asked our lass to put the above on my gravestone.

 

[Deleted member 875]

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.

That's incorrect. His results were only marginally better until he was allowed some money to spend in his first transfer window, and I very much doubt the likes of Ben Davies and John Bradford came in cheap, and he still failed to sign a striker.

I think the following season he did go out and buy strikers who were all shit. Higdon, McNulty, Runaround Done, and the loan fees for Steven Davies and Chris O'Grady wouldn't have been cheap either. Mind you they fired only fired the occasional bullet fired in my JCR

 

[Valleyblade]

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.

 

[McGrath]

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.

Actually, managing to get a club to the play-offs with no centre backs is actually quite an impressive achievement!

 

[Tyler Durden]

Actually, managing to get a club to the play-offs with no centre backs is actually quite an impressive achievement!

Until you get 7 goals put past you over 2 games.

 

[Valleyblade]

But imagine what he might have done had he not bought someone he then went on to fall out with, straight away.

We might have had a centre back and got promoted.

 

[Ricky]

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.

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.

 

[Harry's Game]

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.

Add in the tales of backroom staff who had been at the club years wanting to leave or not wanting to come into work cos of the toxic atmosphere tells you all you need to know.

 

[CarlMcBlade]

He got Murphy to play out of his skin.