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| Sport First, Sunday 1st November 1998 |
| 'Nigel determined to mould his own Clough style |
| South Kesteven District Council Stadium. Not a name to conjure with in a career that has taken in the world's greatest stadia, but it'll always be special to Nigel Clough. On a miserable Tuesday night, 570 brave souls were on hand to witness his first victory as a manager. It was a good one too; a 3-0 away win for his Burton Albion team against Grantham Town in the First Round of the FA Trophy. |
| Given
his playing record and lineage - he accepts with good-humoured resignation
that the day when he is no longer automatically referred to as "son of Brian"
may never dawn - at 32, young Nigel could have stepped on to the managerial
ladder at a higher level. But with the basic good sense and also perhaps the perverse nature that so characterised his old man, he has chosen to try his hand in the Dr. Martens League. "Actually that's the Dr. Martens League Premier Division ", he points out with a grin. Prior to yesterday's FA Cup tie at Morpeth, his managerial record was two games and no goals conceded. Easy peasy this management business. Another smile. |
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| "It is if you've got players
who put in as much effort and commitment as mine did tonight. We went back
to a flat back-four and it was better, it gave us more width. Hopefully it
made us more solid at the back as well." So a new manager can make an
immediate impact? "If you change the system and the tactics, then clearly
the team will play in a different way. But I'm not coming in to experiment
with complicated ideas. "When I was playing at Liverpool, the message they drummed into some of the best players in the land was 'keep it simple'. So I'm going to try and apply the same principles I learned at Forest and Anfield and wherever. Good habits, do the right thing, work hard, and the results will follow." One hundred miles up the A1, another former international is also taking his first steps into management. Does Clough envy David O'Leary? "Absolutely not. David has been coaching at Arsenal and Leeds for years and he has been second fiddle to George Graham. I wouldn't have thought he'd have fancied the job without those years of experience, and basically that's what me and Gary (Crosby his new assistant manager) are doing here, getting experience. "It's very much the beginning of the learning process. David seems to know which players he wants to bring in; even if I wanted to make five or six changes, which I don't, I don't know where I'd get the players from anyway! So he's a lot further down the road. By starting at this level, I should have the time to get to know how to manage. I have no coaching badges; hopefully we will have the time to study for those and take them towards the end of the season. If we need them, that is." Is he implying experience is more important than qualifications? "Not at all; I'm saying that both can be effective. If you spend years as a player working with top coaches then you're bound to learn something about their methods, and how to apply them. Equally if you haven't played at the very top level, of course you can still be a successful coach - look at Arsene Wenger. "It's wrong to say 'X hasn't played international football so what does he know about it' and not give that person a chance. The bottom line will always be the results, and if you're producing them your background is beside the point." Given that Dad has refrained from burdening his son with advice - other than to take the job - this is a point that Nigel Clough will probably find himself repeating frequently. And for the record, he will not be wearing an old green sweatshirt when he does so. |
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