Yahoo News The Nottingham Forest legend Brian Clough didn't like because he was too clever
Last week, the former top footballer and manager Martin O’Neill gave an erudite, cutting and witty speech to a packed luncheon at Karl Ward’s usual sell-out sports luncheon at Birmingham’s Grand Hotel.
I know it was that good because I was sitting alongside him doing the interview. My career included many shows covering O’Neill as both as player and as a manager. He was outstanding at both.
He was the Aston Villa manager from 2006-2010 taking them to two Wembley trips – losing in the Football League Cup final and FA Cup semi-final in 2010, plus three sixth-placed finishes in the League.
READ MORE: Nottingham Forest set for Premier League reunion after manager development
READ MORE: Writing on the wall for Nottingham Forest favourite as Jorge Mendes’ World Cup winner linked
Indeed, Villa have only finished higher four times in the Premier League – 1993 (second), 1996 (fourth) 1997 (fifth) and the season that has just finished when Villa were again fourth in the table.
O’Neill admitted that he regrets the way he resigned at Villa just before the start of a new season.
The owner Randy Lerner was selling James Milner to Manchester City and agreed to Martin signing another midfielder, Scott Parker, but the next day Lerner reversed the decision to sign Parker.
A similar scenario had happened 15 years earlier when O’Neill quit Norwich after the chairman Robert Chase would not let him sign the striker Dean Windass.
Now Martin says the manager should accept whoever owns the club and employs the manager/head coach should be able to make those decisions.
There is no doubt that playing under the charismatic Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest– O’Neill’s main club where he spent 10 years – had an effect on him as a player and manager. But he says that Clough could be quite brutal on him and never praised him.
Clough did not like Martin, although we disagree on the reasons why. He thinks it was because he stood up to him. I am sure from my interviews that Clough thought O’Neill was too clever. When he played for Distillery in his native Northern Ireland, Martin was studying as a law student.
He gave it up to play football in England but has always been fascinated by the subject particularly by the James Hanratty case where he was convicted and hanged for the A6 murder in 1962.
When I used to interview Clough, he used to talk about ‘John’ (McGovern), ‘Archie’ (Gemmill), ‘our Nigel’ (Clough) – but ‘by the way OUR No.7 (O’Neill) may not be as CLEVER as he thinks he is!’
I reminded Martin about a story when he asked Clough at one point why he kept playing him in the second team, to which Clough explained that he was too good for the third team! He corrected me by blaming Ken Burns for telling the story. I remain unconvinced.
O’Neill, however, did recall how he asked to play in a different position to which Clough told him: “Martin you can have a choice of shirts – you either play in your usual position at No.7 or you can have the No.12 shirt (worn by the substitute!).
Another incredible story of the Brian Clough-Peter Taylor reign was the night before the League Cup final against Southampton in 1979 when the Forest players were made to drink large quantities of Champagne and orange juice. Not surprisingly, they were terrible in the first half at Wembley and trailed 1-0. Clough went potty at half-time and in the second half Forest won the match 3-2.
O’Neill never really got over the disappointment of being substitute in the 1979 European Cup final when he had just recovered from injury.
His place went to the new one million pound footballer Trevor Francis to make his European debut and scored the only goal versus Malmo.
But the following year in the European Cup final, O’Neill played in Forest’s 1-0 win over Hamburg. Francis was recovering from an Achilles tendon operation.
O’Neill won the old First Division title, then those two European Cups, two League Cups and the Charity Shield.
Martin also captained Northern Ireland in the 1982 Spain World Cup and when they beat the hosts 1-0 in a group match in Valencia, only to discover that the Irish FA had booked a plane beforehand to take them home the next day because they thought they would not win and reach the next stage!
Earlier, in 1973, he wanted to swap shirts with the great Eusebio only to discover that Bryan Hamilton had done that. So O’Neill successfully asked for his shorts leaving Eusebio wearing just his jockstrap... and he wore them every year on the beach!
Martin was a successful manager most of the time. Promotions at Wycombe, promotion at Leicester City and two Football League Cups and one losing final.
At Celtic from 2000-2005, he won seven trophies as manager – the most successful at the club since Jock Stein. Three Scottish Premier Leagues, three Scottish FA Cups and one Scottish League Cup final. They were UEFA Cup final runners-up as well.
He left the job to look after his wife Geraldine, who was suffering from cancer but thank goodness has since made a full recovery.
He had five decent years as the Republic of Ireland boss, qualifying for the 2016 Euros beating the reigning world champs Germany on the way.
After his next job at Sunderland, he returned to the City Ground but that did not work out as he would have hoped. Seven months in the latter with only 19 matches left him very disappointed at the way he was treated.
At 72 years of age, I do not know if he will be back. Irrespective of that, Martin O’Neill is a very good TV pundit, an exceptional public speaker and I hope he considers me a friend. I am full of admiration for the man.
