Brian Clough had some harsh words for Stuart Pearce when he was first called up by England, the Nottingham Forest legend has recalled.
It was Clough who brought Pearce to the City Ground back in 1985, with the former defender going on to make more than 500 appearances in the Garibaldi.
He made his debut for his country just two years after joining the Reds and racked up 78 caps in total.
And Pearce says his then-Forest manager was typically outspoken when he got the news.
“My first England call-up, I was four years out of being an electrician and picked to play for England,” the 57-year-old said in the ‘A Pint with Eamonn (Holmes) & the Gaffers’ podcast.
“A young apprentice came to the dressing room and said, ‘the manager wants to see you’ - this was the day after I’d been selected.
“I walked in his office, and bearing in mind I was captain, he said: ‘I see you’re in the England squad, do you think you’re good enough?’.
“I said, ‘I'm not sure’, so he says, ‘I don’t, get out!’.
“That was the first conversation we had after my first England call-up but you know what, looking back now, it was for me, people like him and (Bill) Shankly and (Alex) Ferguson great psychologists in the game.
“Because he knew me, he was delivering a couple of messages – firstly, keep your feet on the floor and secondly, I honestly believe that he thought I wasn’t good enough.”
Pearce says Clough’s approach helped ease him into the England set-up.
“For me, a nervous player that was worried about meeting up with Bryan Robson and thinking, ‘am I good enough to play against the likes of Brazil?’, all of my nerves diminished then.
“By the time I got up and thanked him for his kind words and go out the door, all of that diminished and I had someone to prove wrong!
“I look back now, I was too thick at the time to realise it but when you see all the messages that were delivered there.”
