UnderdogMindset

From being fired to taking a Second Divison team to 2 European Cups

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Brian Clough
Posted: Jun 26, 2023
Fired Soccer Worst Odds

The football manager, Brian Clough, had already accomplished a rare feat when he took the team Derby County from being in the Second Division to winning the English League within five years. In 1974, he joined Leeds United but got fired within two months after angering the players and upper management. He would sign with Nottingham Forest after a few months halfway through the season; Nottingham Forest was a 13th-place team in the Second Division. They would finish 16th that season.

Brian Clough's assistant manager from his success with Derby County, Peter Taylor, would join him two years later. More success would quickly follow. Nottingham Forest would get promoted to the primary division at the end of the 1976-77 season. They would win the First Division title the next season and the European Cup, now known as the Champions League, the year after. Then, they would repeat and win the European Cup again.

Quotes

You win something once and people say it is all down to luck, You win it twice and it shuts the buggers up.

Brian Clough

You'll never achieve anything there,

Dave Mackay

Related Media

I Believe in Miracles

A documentary about how Brian Clough and his success with the Nottingham Forest team

I Believe In Miracles: The Remarkable Story of Brian Clough’s European Cup-winning Team

A story about how Brian Clough took a 13th place team in the Second Division to back-to-back European Cups

References

  • When Nottingham Forest retained the European Cup 40 years ago

    Winning the 1979 European Cup was hardly a fluke. Defeating Liverpool and Cologne on their way to the final in Munich, Nottingham Forest could not be accused of having things easy. Admittedly, Malmo were not the most testing of opponents in the final. But a year on, Forest’s opponents in the final at the Bernabéu could not be dismissed so lightly.

  • Nottingham Forest 1978-1980

    What happened over the following five years is nothing short of a miracle and, to put the story into perspective, just try to imagine Preston North End, currently 13th in the Championship, winning promotion next May, then the Premier League at the first attempt, back-to-back Champions Leagues, a couple of EFL Cups and creating a record for going unbeaten in the top division – 42 matches in Forest’s case – that would last a quarter of a century.

  • Brian Clough and the miracle of Nottingham Forest

    Brian Clough, out of work since being sacked by Leeds United on 12 Sept 1974, replaces Allan Brown as Nottingham Forest manager with the side 13th in the old Second Division.

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