September 12, 1974

Not even 24 hours after being sacked by defending First Division champions Leeds United after just 44 days, Brian Clough appeared on Yorkshire Television’s Calendar program hosted by Austin Mitchell, the title appropriately being Goodbye Mr Clough…

Unbeknownst to Clough, the other guest on that show was fellow Teesider Don Revie, the incumbent England manager, the man who Clough succeeded at Leeds and a manager whom Clough had been extremely critical of due his team’s style of play (Dirty Leeds), to the point that Clough suggested on television that Leeds be relegated for their disciplinary record, and upon taking the job is said to have told his Leeds squad (On his first day in charge) to throw their winners’ medals in the bin, as they were all won by cheating.

It is one of the great sporting interviews – The producer managing to get both gentlemen to appear on 2 hours’ notice, making them sit side by side, to which Clough and Revie don’t even bother hiding the fact they absolutely loathe each other, then Clough nails Revie on most points, but Revie gets him on not meeting the staff and players (Who already hated Clough) after he was appointed manager, given his prior comments about Revie’s Leeds teams.

Also, for those of you who love Northern accents, it is compelling.

That interview inspired author David Peace to write The Damned United, a somewhat inaccurate book that detailed Clough’s 44 days in the Leeds job, which was adapted into a film and later a stage play.

As history shows, Leeds did recover and reach the European Cup Final that season, which they lost 2-0 to Bayern Munich in a match marred by poor refereeing and hooliganism, Revie’s England tenure finished as an abject failure, failing to qualify for Euro 1976 and the 1978 World Cup and going to the Middle East a disgrace…

While Clough was appointed manager at Nottingham Forest in January 1975, reunited with Peter Taylor, and went on to take a provincial Second Division club to become champions of the First Division and twice champions of Europe.

There’s also two quotes late in the interview from Clough, pretty much back-to-back, that became prophetic.

The first:

“I wanted to win it (The European Cup), I wanted to do something you hadn’t done.”

Clough did something Revie hadn’t done…

And then he did it again.

The second, straight off the back of that quote, is in regard to wanting to win the First Division better than Revie’s 1973-74 team, which lost just 4 matches out of 42:

BC: “Most of the players said to me what can you that the boss (Revie) hadn’t done, and I said I want to win the league, but I want to win it better, now there is no other reply to that question, because you had won the league.”

DR: “Yeah, but there’s no way you can win it better.”

BC: “Why not?”

DR: “No no no, we’d only lost four matches.”

BC: “Well, I can only lose three! That’s the only hope I’ve got?”

In 1977-78, Clough’s Forest team won the league, losing only 3 matches out of 42.