The wit and wisdom of Brian Clough
Updated on 18 March 2009
As the film of The Damned United premieres in London, we offer a selection of Ol' Big 'Ead's most notable quotations.
Clough on football
"If God had wanted us to play football in the clouds, he'd have put grass up there."
"Players lose you games, not tactics. There's so much crap talked about tactics by people who barely know how to win at dominoes."
Clough on footballers
"The ugliest player I ever signed was Kenny Burns."
"Take your hands out of your pockets." (advice to Trevor Francis)
"Stand up straight, get your shoulders back and get your hair cut." (advice to John McGovern)
"I only ever hit Roy (Keane) the once. He got up, so I couldn't have hit him very hard."
"For all his horses, knighthoods and championships, he hasn't got two of what I've got. And I don't mean balls!" (Nottingham Forest won successive European Cups, in 1979 and 1980)
"That (David) Seaman is a handsome young man but he spends too much time looking in his mirror rather than at the ball. You can't keep goal with hair like that."
Clough on England
"I'm sure the England selectors thought if they took me on and gave me the job, I'd want to run the show. They were shrewd, because that's exactly what I would have done."
"At last England have appointed a manager who speaks English better than the players." (on the appointment of Sven-Goran Eriksson)
"If he'd been English or Swedish, he'd have walked the England job." (on the FA's failure to appoint Martin O'Neill England manager)
Clough on Clough
"I wouldn't say I was the best manager in the business. But I was in the top one."
"On occasions I have been big-headed. I think most people are when they get in the limelight. I call myself Big Head just to remind myself not to be."
"We talk about it for 20 minutes and then we decide I was right." (on dealing with a player who disagrees)
"Don't send me flowers when I'm dead. If you like me, send them while I'm alive."
All quotations take from www.brianclough.com.
