Both Brian and Nigel Clough are Nottingham Forest legends in their own right, but Nigel’s career path was nearly very different.
Nigel played predominantly as a forward at the City Ground, scoring an impressive 131 goals for Forest to become the club’s second-highest goalscorer of all time.
Earning his place in Forest history without the connection to his father it certainly helped fans adhere to Nigel that his father was already an icon to them after the consecutive European Cups in 1979 and 1980.
Clough never focused on the opposition at Forest and instead chose to fixate on the positives of his own side, which would’ve been a perfect environment for his promising son to enter in 1984.
Football is no different to any other industry, though, and the manager’s son being in the dressing room could’ve caused concerns within the Forest squad about favouritism, leading to a difficult conversation between the Clough family about his future at the club.
Photo by Mark Leech/Getty Images
Photo by Mark Leech/Getty Images
Brian Clough suggested that Nigel should ‘look elsewhere’ during Nottingham Forest stint
Clough helped Roy Keane settle in at Forest, but it was always going to be difficult to support Nigel as it could’ve hurt his standing at the Forest training ground should he be deemed to be receiving special treatment.
This potential problem was so great for the late Reds boss that he actually suggested to his son that leaving the club could be the best option, as Nigel revealed to Forest’s official media.
He said: “It was probably more difficult for him [Brian Clough]. He actually encouraged me at one stage to look elsewhere and sort of said it might be easier if you go somewhere else from both of our points of view.
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“I did go and meet Arthur Cox actually, in the early days about going to Derby ironically, but having been a supporter since 1975 when he arrived and being around the place, there was nowhere else I wanted to play.”
As a fan of the club, Nigel clearly didn’t want to leave Forest, so to even consider a move to fierce rivals Derby County showed just how seriously the Clough family took the potential issues with father and son working together.
Nigel evidently stayed at the City Ground, though, and went on to recount an amusing story of how his first team debut under his father came about on Boxing Day 1984.
Brian Clough didn’t tell Nigel when he was to make his Nottingham Forest debut
With his debut coming on Boxing Day against Ipswich Town, one would expect that talk of this monumentous occasion for Nigel may have arisen at the Christmas dinner table, but Brian Clough kept the news quiet.
On if his debut was discussed, Nigel said: “Not at all. We always had Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve because dad was always working Christmas Day, and that was right from when we were small.
“I didn’t know until when the team went up at half past one or whatever it did. I remember it was Trevor Christie whose place I took, so when the team went up, he came over and said all the best and good luck, which was nice of him.
“He was a great believer in the less you knew, the less time you had to think about it. If you’re thinking about it the night before, you won’t sleep, and all you’ll be doing is worrying. The less thinking time you’ve got, the better, so you can just get out there and play the game.”
Now 58, Nigel has actually managed more games than his father, including guiding Mansfield Town to League Two promotion in 2024, showing that the early lessons that he was taught by Clough while he was a player have led to both a fruitful playing and managing career.