Old big ed

[RickySlade]

Evening all,

I'm coming to the end of reading 'The Damned United', which has set me off scouring the net for old Cloughie interviews/documentaries, etc.  What a charismatic fella.  I only really remember his later years at Forest, which it is fair to say don't really do the man justice - the FA cup semi final against Spurs aside maybe!

Anyway, the reason for my post is that I am sure that somewhere along the line, I have read that back in his heyday, Brian Clough was very positive about the Villa?  Is this true?  I'm hoping there's someone out there that knows a bit more about any comments he made re the Villa.  At the time when Clough was at Derby and then Leeds briefly, I was under the impression Villa were languising in the second/third divisions?
Would we still have been on the mans radar?

[nuninho]

1982 European Cup Final - at the final whistle Clough - "We've done it"

[RickySlade]

nuninho; I've never heard that before - that's an ace little snippet.  Was Cloughie on commentary at the time? 

[nuninho]

Yep.  Along with the great Brian Moore.  Worth a listen to if you can get hold of a copy of the game.  If I remember he was very complimentary on the night.

[pauliewalnuts]

1982 European Cup Final - at the final whistle Clough - "We've done it"

Wasn't it "We've done 'em"?

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

My first real awareness of Cloughie was bringing Derby to Villa Park towards the end of 68/69 for a 2nd division game. Derby were going for promotion and there were 49,000 there. Derby were on the up with Cloughie then and would eventually win division one. Meanwhile the Villa, while reorganised as a club, were having to rebuild and claw their way back from division 3.

Over the years Villa re-established themselves at the top table and you sometimes wondered if Cloughie might ever come to Villa. I think he had a healthy respect for Doug, in Cloughies terms that probably meant he could have put up being in the same room as him for 6 minutes instead of the 5 he would manage with most other football club directors.
Did Doug, or for that matter Bendall or Dugdale, ever consider tempting him to Villa Park ? I dont know.

I think he liked the Villa, after all most of his managerial career was spent in the Midlands. Fantastic man, fantastic manager, but I think if he had ever come to us and particularly with Doug there we may have finished up with a film based around us instead of Leeds. THE DAMNED VILLA.   

[bertlambshank]

Yep.  Along with the great Brian Moore.  Worth a listen to if you can get hold of a copy of the game.  If I remember he was very complimentary on the night.

The way he was giving Tony Barton advice before the game was fantastic.Tony was like a little kid.

[Deano's Mullet]

If you want a decent book about Clough try "Providing You Dont Kiss Me" which is the best non-Villa football book i've ever read.

[The Left Side]

I don't know whether Clough would have put up with Ellis for too long, it would have been an almighty clash of ego's but life would have been interesting with them both around B6.

[cdbearsfan]

1982 European Cup Final - at the final whistle Clough - "We've done it"

Wasn't it "We've done 'em"?

Yes. "We've done 'em, we've done 'em". It's at about 7 minutes 30 when the final whistle goes.

[adrenachrome]

He often used to mention the amazing disciplinary record of our League Championship winning team of 80/81 when discussing how the game should be played.

[RickySlade]

I get nervous watching those highlights and I know the bloody final score!  Awesome scenes of the Villa crowd at the full time whistle.  I had never realised previously Clough was on commentary for the final.

[PeterWithesShin]

I always got the impression that he held Aston Villa in high regard.

Whenever I watch the final I always have a chuckle about how we moan about the bias of commentators to the Mancs etc as Cloughie may as well have been sitting in a Villa shirt while he was commentating he wanted us to win so much.

[Nastylee]

Got to be on of the most one sided finals ever.

[KevinGage]

Talk was whilst at Hartlepool before the Derby gig, he was offered the Villa job (or the directors were split on it, I forget which).

Cloughie being Cloughie he would have wanted total control though and perhaps a smaller club was easier to manipulate.