Hello Blades fans, Derby fan here (in peace, etc etc). Just thought I’d add my tupence on Cloughie – hope I’ve put this in the right place on the forum!
The first thing to say is that he, like any other manager, divided opinion. There were those who believed Clough was performing some sort of minor miracle by steering the club towards mid-table stability, whilst others have been slightly more sceptical of some of his footballing decisions. Some simply never got over the fact we pinched non-League Nigel from non-League football. Almost everyone agreed the board had got it wrong though – either by appointing Clough in the first place, or by not giving him sufficient funds to work with.
I guess the first thing you’ll be wanting to know, is what kind of football does he play? His footballing philosophy is essentially to keep the ball on the ground doing the work, and to press hard to get it back if it’s lost. Which is great – when it works. Too often we were caught out by a lack of a plan B from Clough, and he almost never made a substation before the 70th minute. We also saw outrageous levels of negativity when holding on to a lead, especially away from home. A master tactician he most certainly is not.
So what about transfers? He was a lot more hit than miss, which was pretty impressive given where we got our players from. I’m all for scouting the lower leagues and Scotland, but that was as far as his scouting network ever went, which I’m sure made the job much more difficult than it needed to be. But there’s a hell of a lot of positivity to mention in this field. You’ve got players like Brayford, Bryson, Buxton, Russell and Moxey who he’s brought into the Championship for under a million pounds (some of those names even came in for peanuts). When he’s paid seven figure sums it’s also gone well, with the possible exception of Sammon, who’s yet to really make his price tag seem worth it.
We did miss out on a lot of targets though. He point blank refused to have a Director of Football, and his brother Simon was our head scout. The way we went about our transfers felt a bit…amateurish. If you don’t ask, you don’t get – but with Clough’s management team, we asked and too often we didn’t get, and it really held us back. It’s one of the things the board were allegedly growing tired of. Immediately, Steve McLaren has come in and managed to spend some available cash on fairly decent loan signings. Clough was also very frugal with money and it’s said that he didn’t spend some of his available cash as he wanted a small-close knit squad of 20 players.
So what of his coaching and man-management? In some regards, his coaching was excellent. He’s turned over half a dozen Academy players into serious first-team Championship material – although in the case of Will Hughes, I’m not sure he can really take much credit other than for keeping his feet on the ground. You could argue though that he’s been burned out by playing too much football. He also turned Jake Buxton (a name you’ve been linked with both on here and on Derby forums) from a centre back that Macclesfield didn’t want to keep into a solid, consistent Championship defender.
For Clough supporters, this was the kind of thing they often cited in his favour…it was one of the few parts of his tenure that resembled the work of his father. On the other hand, several players didn’t develop as you might expect, such as Frank Fielding who if anything went backwards after we signed him. But then again, if you pay peanuts, you’re going to get the occasional monkey.
Players always played for him and you could never accuse them of not trying, which could be very depressing when we were outclassed by poor opposition. But I have to say, from the point of view of a fan, he wasn’t really an inspiring leader. He never really got animated during the match and his post-match interviewed very rarely contained a sentence of interest. By the end, the passion had been lost by the fans – Pride Park was a dull place to watch a game of football at, and away attendances were very low.
The reason why I’ve written so much is that we’re all in a very reflective mood at Derby. A lot of people have found it difficult to come to terms with the fact Clough never got to see out what he started – but it was just taking way, way too long, and deep down I always had doubts whether he really could take us much further. If I was to sum up his reign in one word, it would be “dull”. At first, it was what we needed after being announced as the worst team in 125 years of football as we needed the steady the ship, but the reality is that his name kept him in the job.
Which makes me think – is this really what Sheffield United needs? You need someone with passion to make this promotion happen, and happen now. Not in five years. Right now. Your fans have high expectations and you’ve got money. It’s not exactly the perfect job description for the man who’s only ever worked under an atmosphere of patience, on a limited budget, with very low expectations.
This is a bad move for both parties in my eyes. But if he is your new man, I’d be happy to be proved wrong. Because although he could be a bit stubborn and often cut off his nose to spite his face, he is a principled man who understands what the fans want and won’t accept anything less than 100 per cent from his players.
Good luck for the season in any instance - I've never been to Bramall Lane, and I'd like to make the trip soon...
