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Nottingham Post
Nottingham Post
Sport
Chris Watson

Brian Clough quiz: How well do you know the Nottingham Forest legend?

Nottingham Forest legend Brian Clough would have been 85 today.

He was the most famous manager the Reds have ever had and his partnership with Peter Taylor saw the team win two consecutive European Cups in 1979 and 1980.

Cloughie had unconventional motivational skills for his players, often encouraging them to have a drink the night before a game to help them relax.

He was controversial and charismatic off the pitch too.

He baffled and frustrated TV and radio interviewers throughout his career, all to our delight. He left Forest in 1993 and has been dubbed the "greatest manager England never had".

The story of his short spell in charge of Leeds United for 44 days in 1974 was recalled in a successful but controversial novel by David Pearce called The Damned United. The story was made into a film starring Michael Sheen as Clough.

Try our quiz to find out if you can spot the Clough-isms.

Here are a few more of Cloughie's most memorable quotes...

On how he rated himself: "I wouldn't say I was the best manager in the business, but I was in the top one."

On the importance of passing to feet: "If God had wanted us to play football in the clouds, he'd have put grass up there."

Explaining his nickname Old Big 'Ead: "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."

On Martin O'Neill: "If he'd been English or Swedish, he'd have walked the England job."

On dealing with Roy Keane: "I only ever hit Roy the once. He got up so I couldn't have hit him very hard."

On not getting the England manager's job: "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."

On too many managers getting the sack: "If a chairman sacks the manager he initially appointed, he should go as well."

On then England goalkeeper David Seaman: "That 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."

On how he would like to be remembered: "I want no epitaphs of profound history and all that type of thing. I contributed - I would hope they would say that, and I would hope somebody liked me."

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