Fan Letters: Brian Clough — the best manager Sunderland never had?

Photo by NCJ/NCJ Archive/Mirrorpix via Getty Images

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Dear Roker Report,

I’m too young to have appreciated Brian Clough’s playing exploits first hand, but I did a lot of research for writing my book about the relationship between himself and Peter Taylor.

Alan Brown truly was an enormous shot in the arm for Brian — both as a player and a person.

The situation at Middlesbrough was untenable for him in many ways by the end of the 1960/1961 season.

Dressing room isolation had swiftly evolved from his growing unpopularity as captain, and when the rumours of match betting among

the Middlesbrough squad surfaced, it really was the last straw for the most effective post-war striker the game had ever seen.

To see the Sunderland manager at Southampton docks waiting for him after his summer cruise with Barbara was enough of a spur to ‘jump ship’ on the spot, and it speaks volumes for the welcome and set up at Roker Park as Cloughie continued his rich vein of form in the red and white of Middlesbrough’s arch-rivals.

“The best time of my life” was Brian’s reflective description of his career at Sunderland.

All the more understandable, therefore, was his barely-concealed subsequent bitterness at such an illustrious career being cut short in its prime.

Sorry for the lengthy message but it’s fascinating stuff, hey?

Rich Thornton

Photo by NCJ Archive/NCJ Archive/Mirrorpix via Getty Images

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Dear Roker Report,

I met Brian in the late seventies. He was driving out of John Street’s back lane and he stopped and we had a chat.

He were looking for a manager at the time and I jumped to the wrong conclusion — sadly he said no and we shook hands, then he was gone.

I was gutted and still am. He should’ve been our manager.

Ian Stephenson

Ed’s Note [Phil]: Hi, Rich and Ian. Thank you for your letters and for sharing your memories of Cloughie!

The fact that he never landed the managerial job at Roker Park remains one of the great ‘What ifs?’ in Sunderland’s history, and one can only imagine how differently things might’ve panned out had he been appointed by Sunderland instead of taking the Nottingham Forest job.

Given what he achieved during eighteen years at the City Ground, who’s to say that he couldn’t have made a similar impact at Roker Park, possibly taking the Lads to places that nobody could ever have dreamed of?

Sadly, we’ll never know, but it’s always nice to reflect on it regardless.

Photo by Mirrorpix via Getty Images

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