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- Five Years Ago Today: The "China Brawl"
- On This Day in Football: February 7.

Let's face it, the most realistic way we have of seeing out this weekend without another defeat is if the weather forecast comes in at the more severe end of the prediction and we get the game snowed off. Rarely have I been able to muster up less optimism for a trip down Brian Clough Way despite a largely awful time of it contesting matches at Pride Park [.

Reports are reaching us that Nottingham Forest Head Coach (Driver) has landed himself in deep water. It seems that Steve Cotterill sought to emulate the late, great Brian Clough by driving the team coach to the FA Cup 3rd Round Replay at Leicester last week [...]

My dear beloved Forest, what on earth has happened to us? We used to have such great times and were so happy together and now we just seem to be drifting apart. Your flowing moves used to excite me to the point of distraction, and the climax to those moves was often unbelievable. Your passion and commitment used to warm me on a cold Saturday afternoon when we spent time together, but now your caresses have become cold and uncaring.

My dear beloved Forest, what on earth has happened to us? We used to have such great times and were so happy together and now we just seem to be drifting apart. Your flowing moves used to excite me to the point of distraction, and the climax to those moves was often unbelievable. Your passion and commitment used to warm me on a cold Saturday afternoon when we spent time together, but now your caresses have become cold and uncaring.

Ep.21 Swan-upmanship by Off The Post on Mixcloud Much like Thierry Henry and Paul Scholes (and Jason Euell), the OTP Podcast is back in its rightful place – that place being, of course, one of ignorance, bias and second hand stats. This week the Pod are full of praise for Swansea's dismantling of Arsenal, Alex [.

BBC Sport Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger unhappy after loss to Fulham.

Over the past year or so, football experts have taken a shot at trying to troubleshoot Arsenal's predisposition to losing games which they had already had won. Many comments focused on the squad's lack of defensive strength but I have a different take on the problem

It's not the defenders that cause Arsenal's fragility, it's the attitude of the manager who almost never holds his players accountable for their mistakes, blames everyone else around him when they lose, and so consequently, his players have no fear.

We haven't done one of these for a while but here are some interesting links.

Jonathan Wilson on Villas-Boas.

"Rome wasn't built in a day," Brian Clough once said. "But then I wasn't on that particular job." It's a great line, but the truth is that the majority of managers need time.

Oliver Sparrow and Eric Beard had the pleasure of spending an hour with esteemed author and journalist Jonathan Wilson on the AFR Podcast. Jonathan writes for The Guardian, The Independent, Sports Illustrated, World Soccer, and FourFourTwo. He is also the editor of a quarterly publication called The Blizzard, which is filled with content from some of the biggest names in football journalism.

Oliver Sparrow and Eric Beard had the pleasure of spending an hour with esteemed author and journalist Jonathan Wilson on the AFR Podcast. Jonathan writes for The Guardian, The Independent, Sports Illustrated, World Soccer, and FourFourTwo. He is also the editor of a quarterly publication called The Blizzard, which is filled with content from some of the biggest names in football journalism.

Another from the Seat Pitch archives (well, the box in the loft), Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest team from 1986. Courtesy of Panini stickers [...] Read the original post on Seat Pitch

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Jonathan Wilson's biography about legendary football manager Brian Clough manages to combine the two best attributes by which a book should be judged: how it teaches things you never knew, and how spellbinding it was. Brian Clough: Nobody Ever Says...
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Unearthed from the Seat Pitch archives (well, found in a box in the loft), Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest team from 1985. Courtesy of Panini stickers [...] Read the original post on Seat Pitch

After over 12 months out of the game, Martin O'Neill has returned to Premier League management after signing a three year contract with Sunderland, the team he supported as boy.

For many and certainly for Sunderland fans, it is the perfect appointment, O'Neill has long since been recognised as one of the great football managers of recent times and has always improved the standing of any club he has been in charge of.

Records must have broken this year as a plethora of Forest books hit the shelves – the postman serving the LTLF offices is currently taking three months off with a crippled spine from carrying all the review copies that have dropped through our letterbox in the last few months. But aside from giving postal workers back problems, what purpose are all these books serving?

By Greg Evans

You could've had staked your life savings on Brian Clough being absolutely fuming with the Notts County defence come 5 o'clock last Saturday evening, were Old Big 'Ead still with us of course.

The Magpies travelled up to Yorkshire that morning knowing they had the opportunity to well and truly piss on Huddersfield's bonfire a club on the brink of breaking a very prestigious English Football League record.

Former Liverpool striker Stan Collymore has controversially claimed that Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is a superior manager to Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley.
Collymore, who also claims that Man United wanted to sign him in 1994, argued:
"Through the years there have been plenty of top bosses; Jock Stein, Brian Clough, Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley have all written their names into history books, but Fergie is on a different level altogether".

Praise continues to come in for Sir Alex Ferguson, and Mark Lawrenson writes of why we will never get a manager of his kind again.
Sir Alex Ferguson is a one-off and we will never get a manager of his kind again.
Ferguson has built six different and successful Manchester United teams.

Fergie's the greatest manager... but would you go for a pint with him?

Here's a sneak preview of how I'll look on Strictly Come Dancing's Halloween special this Saturday. People have been saying for years that I'm nothing but hair and teeth and this proves they're right!

Interesting stuff in the Mail. Well not interesting in any real sense, diverting perhaps. Anyway, football managers polled as to who they'd like to have dinner with:

Harry Redknapp Muhammad Ali, Vincent O'Brien, Bobby Moore
Paul Ince – Wife, John F Kennedy, Tiger Woods
Paul Lambert Elvis Presley, George Bush, George Best
Roberto Di Matteo Julius Caesar, Claudia Schiffer, Robert De Niro
Sam Allardyce Nelson Mandela, Muhammad Ali, Sir Alex Ferguson
Sven Goran Eriksson Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul, Barack Obama
Chris Coleman John F Kennedy, Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix
Tony Adams Jesus, Sir Alf Ramsey, Scarlett Johansson
Simon Grayson Geoffrey Boycott, Bono, Don Revie
Roberto Mancini Paolo Mantovani, The Pope, Sheikh Mansour
Rafa Benitez Julius Caesar, Al Pacino, Napoleon
David Moyes Mother, Tommy Burns, Kylie Minogue
Gustavo Poyet Fernando Morena, Michael Jordan, Wife
Neil Warnock – Queen, Barbara Streisand, Brian Clough
Steve McClaren Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama, Sir Alex Ferguson
Alex McLeish - Robert Di Niro, John Lennon, Muhammad Ali
Alan Pardew Muhammad Ali, Barrack Obama, Spike Milligan
Peter Reid Elvis Presley, Jesus Christ, Angelina Jolie
Chris Hughton Martin Luther King, Muhammad Ali, Bill Shankly
Gianfranco Zola Father, wife, Diego Maradona

Shame no Roy, Jol or SAF.

By Alan Duffy

The ultimate football anorak (or sheepskin coat), iconic commentator John Motson has now been with the Beeb for 40 years, quite an achievement.

In a world before Sky Sports, self-important celebrity pundits, the overuse of ironic puns and Clive Tyldesley, Motson was football television's Mr Big, the A-list commentator who shared football's iconic moments with the nation.

By Chris Wright

On behalf of Yahoo and the League Manager's Association, a 20-strong phalanx of managers have been quizzed over their ideal dinner dates.

All the usual suspects were present, with Elvis, De Niro, Pacino et al all rearing their ugly heads though it was floaty/stingy boxer Muhammad Ali who picked up the most nods, with five managers (Redknapp, Allardyce, McLeish, Pardew and Hughton) plumping for the pugilist.

Has Wenger stayed too long? These five bosses did...

All eyes are on Arsenal's Arsene Wenger after Saturday's 4-3 defeat at Blackburn was followed by a vote of confidence from Gunners chief executive Ivan Gazidis. The Frenchman has transformed his side and, arguably, English football too.

If you've watched or read The Damned United, you'll know that the 1974 Charity Shield between Leeds United and Liverpool plays a pivotal role. It was a real life drama featuring remarkable characters Bill Shankly and Brian Clough. And on ...
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By Chris Wright

Ten more wonderful vintage photos picked at random from the Pies' archives...

England captain Bobby Moore shows off a particularly dapper shirt from his new line of stylish fashion products, 1972

Chelsea's Dick Spence and Len Goulden play head tennis during training at Stamford Bridge, 1947

Sheffield Wednesday forward Derek Dooley (and his wife) travels home from Preston Royal Infirmary in an ambulance after having his leg amputated following a gangrene infection to the broken leg he suffered against Preston North End, 1953

West Ham footballers play leapfrog during a training session on the beach at Southend, 1951

The bare feet of Nigeria's Justin Onwudiwe.

Beware, I suppose, expecting your heroes of yesteryear to still be giants today.
They often disappoint.
I used to think Ronnie Corbett was a comedy giant. Turns out he's a small man with an attitude problem.
Yet here I am in my thirties and I'm still in raptures about a guy I worshipped when I was eight and was thrilled by when I was 18.

By Chris Wright

This very day in 1913, one William Shankly was born in the Ayrshire mining village of Glenbuck making today his 98th birthday.

Happy Birthday Shanks...

Shankly at Preston North End, 1937

Shankly playing for Preston North End, 1946

Shankly, "the man who is taking Liverpool FC along the road to the First Division Title for the first time since 1947″, aged 50, 1964

Shankly stands in front of the empty terraces at Anfield during a Liverpool training session, 1965

Shankly poses with his 1965/66 trophy haul including the League Championship trophy and the FA Charity Shield, 1966

Shankly feels the stress of a new season set in as the Liverpool players and coaches gather for a team group picture, 1967

Shankly is unimpressed with the cutlery at the breakfast table, 1968

Shankly reacts to an erroneous news report in his office at Anfield, 1969

Shankly poses with a football during Liverpool's pre-season photocall, 1969

Shankly shows his new signing Kevin Keegan (nice tank top Keggy!

For all the talk of which player will be going where as the transfer window creaks to a close, there can be little question that, for all the attention lavished upon player transfers, it is the appointment of a new manager that can truly be the existence-changing moment in the entire history of a football club.

By Paul Wilkes, editor of LaLigaUK

The philosophy of a football club will determine the immediate goals and long-term vision of the club. Within England, this has often been dictated at most sides by the manager. However in recent times as a more continental approach has been inserted by some; others have remained old-fashioned.

It's a bit frustrating, ‘cause I can hear the cries and squeals from where I'm standing, but can't really see what's going on. Loads of people are going in and out of Market Square on a daily basis. Well, the weather's good, and there's water to splash around in [...]

Today, whilst at the Arboretum in Stafford, a fellow soldier asked me why I was a Forest fan. A fair question, given that my father is from Sussex and supports Chelsea and my mother is from Ashington, the birth place of the Charlton brothers and staunch ‘Toon' territory [...]

Today, whilst at the Arboretum in Stafford, a fellow soldier asked me why I was a Forest fan. A fair question, given that my father is from Sussex and supports Chelsea and my mother is from Ashington, the birth place of the Charlton brothers and staunch ‘Toon' territory [...]

Steve McClaren back in English football hoping to inspire Forest renaissance - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

It has been 1305 days since Steve McClaren stood sombrely alone clutching the handle of an umbrella on a rain-sodden night at Wembley as the England national team failed to qualify for the 2008 European Championships – beaten at home by Croatia.

Nickspinkboots' Note: Readers, please welcome Kiran Vr, a United fan who takes his football very seriously. He's the editor-in-chief of Inside Manchester United, a blog for all things United and more. This is his first guest post here, and if you critters behave yourselves then it won't be his last.

"Keane is the hottest prospect in football right now," Brian Clough said of Roy in his last season at Nottingham Forest. Jack Walker was trying to buy Blackburn success, something he would later go on to achieve, and Kenny Dalglish identified Keane as the man to take the club forward in 1993.

A new matador making his way to Aston Villa? Roberto Martinez - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Somewhat ironic that Aston Villa's Hollywood supporter Tom Hanks starred in a film called ‘The Da Vinci Code' where he made more luck at cracking that than he did at predicting the club's new manager.

Brian Clough dragged Derby County from the depths of the second tier to Championship success in the early seventies and gifted Nottingham Forest a similar fate later that same decade. Blackburn Rovers were not a byword for silverware when Kenny...
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One of the drag queens from Bosom Buddies has spoken out about the coaching situation in Aston Villa and has made a surprising endorsement. His suggestion? Brian Clough. Really.

Seventeen league titles, five European Cups, seven League Cups and fifteen Manager of the Year awards. Both adored by their fans, admired by their peers; and despised either end of the M62.

Sir Alex Ferguson and Bob Paisley OBE are undeniably the masters of their trade. Title after title has been mixed with majestic football and an unerring enjoyment of standing on the sidelines shouting at some of the worlds' most famous sportsmen.