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| Bill Day in The Mail on Sunday, Sunday 31st October 1999 |
| 'Passion play for Clough family' |
| Burton Albion
0 Rochdale 0 Try telling the Clough family that the oldest competition in the world doesn't matter any more. Nigel Clough and father Brian went trailblazing in tandem yesterday down the long and winding road to Wembley. And they did it with enough passion and commitment to shame the reluctant Alex Ferguson and his Premiership cronies at Old Trafford. Brian insisted on sponsoring the cup-tie, with 'The Clough Family' given star billing on the match programme cover. Meanwhile, Nigel dictated the pace for his Dr. Martens League outfit, Burton Albion, leaving Third Division visitors Rochdale with few opportunities to exploit their higher fitness level. |
| Watching the game from the second row of the directors' box, Brian, dressed immaculately in navy mackintosh and starched white collar, was animated in his support of the team his son manages, while finding time to pull 'cutchy, cutchy' noises at the grandchildren sitting nearby. |
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| When the collection
bucket was passed through the stand, Clough senior was one of the first to
toss in coinage, and later he expressed admiration over the non-league team's
acheivement in forcing a replay at Spotland on Tuesday week with a 0-0
draw. "Burton did very well to hold a league side. Now they're going to Rochdale and I think they can win the replay. The Chairman has asked me if I'll attend. Do you know, I've enjoyed it so much today I think I will." Asked whether Nigel or not (sic) had the makings of a league manager, Brian replied: "I don't know. I don't talk to him a lot about these things. I didn't talk to him much in his playing days at Forest. But the FA Cup is a great competition, isn't it?" Nigel claimed afterwards that his team had under-acheived, playing with less conviction than they had in constructing a sequence of only two defeats in 18 matches: "I can't fault the effort but I am disappointed that we didn't play as well as we have done in the league this season," he said, "Rochdale are delighted with this result. They could be in for a shock in the replay because we can play better, and we can win up there." It was clear to see why Nigel, much slower than in his Forest days but with the same tactical awareness and eye for a defence-splitting pass, has been given so much credit for transforming his non-league outfit in just over a year. They denied Rochdale so much space that two shot-shy attacks never looked likely to break the deadlock. The two Cloughs last tasted Wembley defeat in the 1991 'Gascoigne Final'. Yesterday, you could have been mistaken for believing they had won the famous old trophy. |
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