THE mountain of eulogies dedicated to Brian Clough’s coaching prowess and his abilities for myth- and mirth-making that followed his death only served to remind us that Scottish players were central to aiding his climb to football’s summit.
Across more than two decades managing in the English top flight, the self-proclaimed messianic manager worked with no fewer than 32 players born north of the Border. But only one man was with him when he began his ascent at the foothills of Hartlepoo
l and enjoyed the astonishing peaks of European Cup successes with Notts Forest in 1979 and ’80.
Montrose-born John McGovern, who captained Forest to these notable triumphs, is the only player to have worked at four clubs under the idiosyncratic iconoclast. The cerebral midfielder followed his managerial mentor from Hartlepool to Derby County, where he helped him to lift the second and first division titles. He then joined up at Leeds United, where Clough lasted but 44 days, ahead of the significant stint with him at Forest.
"I could have been with him at five clubs, but I turned him down when he took over at Brighton after leaving Derby under a cloud," says McGovern, who now works as a summariser on Forest games for BBC Radio Nottingham. "When I told him I preferred to stay where I was, he slammed the phone down on me."
But Old Big Head could not slam the door permanently on McGovern, enticing the player from Leeds to Nottingham seven months after he had been appointed Forest manager in 1975. And by the time the provincial team were sweeping all before them on the Continent, McGovern had no shortage of Scots for company in the dressing-room: John Robertson, Archie Gemmill, Kenny Burns and John O’Hare were influential figures in the most medal-laden squad in the club’s history.
They will come together again at the City Ground this afternoon as the club’s European Cup heroes take their bows before a sell-out crowd for the visit of West Ham United, to mark Clough’s passing.
According to McGovern, his former team-mates will not ruminate on why such a strong Scottish presence bolstered the side constructed by the guiding light in his career.
"Archie, Kenny, the two Johns and I were players who gave maximum effort whenever we took to a football field," McGovern says. "We possessed the grit and determination that were qualities which tended to be features of Scottish players. Although I left Montrose as a seven-year-old, I had very strong ties with my homeland, and as a footballer probably developed in a similar way to my countrymen.
"Brian not only appreciated this commitment, but demanded it. I don’t think he would actively go seeking Scottish players because of their natural characteristics, though. He would play players from China, Mongolia or wherever if he thought they could do a job for him.
"At that time there were just so many good Scottish players that most teams would have a few in their ranks. It might seem odd that so many ended up at Forest, but Brian ensured that was so in bringing in Archie from Derby, John O’Hare from Sunderland and Kenny Burns from Birmingham City. Our Scottishness, our strength of character, might have helped us prosper at Forest.
"John O’Hare and I were never favourites with the fans. John was the nicest man that I ever met, but when the going got tough, he and I would get stuck in. Brian knew that, and because of that he would remain behind us 100%, even when things weren’t going well for us."
McGovern reveals that Clough’s much under-rated assistant, Peter Taylor, delved into the characters of would-
be signings or up-and- coming performers to assess their suitability for teams managed by the pairing.
"Together, Peter and Brian were unbeatable, the perfect partnership. Individually, the light of brilliance did not shine from them quite so dazzlingly. Brian’s great trick was making the game simple for players, and supplying them with the confidence and self-belief he possessed to a Muhammad Ali degree.
"But he needed players who had the talent to carry out his instruction, and it can sometimes be forgotten just how good the players at Forest were in his time.
"We are sometimes presented as a rag-tag and bob-tail bunch, but that is nonsense. John Robertson was a genius, Peter Shilton was the best goalkeeper in the business, Kenny Burns was voted England’s player of the year, and Archie Gemmill, Martin O’Neill and Tony Woodcock were all international regulars."
Of the Scots who formed the Forest five, McGovern is the only one not to have represented his country at full senior level: he gained two under-23 caps.
"I didn’t even make it into a single senior squad," he laments, blaming competition from such as Billy Bremner, Graeme Souness, Asa Hartford, Don Masson and Gemmill himself.
Thus, almost as remarkable as there once being a time when a man called Clough twice led Nottingham Forest to club football’s ultimate prize, is the fact that this was an era during which Scotland felt they could do without the club skipper - one who was fundamental to delivering such startling successes.
