Nigel Clough

At 58 years old, Nigel Clough has this physical status:

Nigel Howard Clough (born 19 March 1966) is an English professional football manager and former player who is also the boss of Burton Albion's League One team.

Clough started his career as a forward but was also capped by England 14 times in the early 1990s. Clough, born in Sunderland and raised in Allestree, Derby, is best remembered for his time as a player at Nottingham Forest, where he played over 400 times in league, cup, and European matches, mainly under his father Brian Clough's managership. Clough scored 131 goals in his career, making him the second highest scorer in the team's history. He played with Liverpool, Manchester City, and Sheffield Wednesday before he went into non-league football at the age of 32, when he was appointed as the Premier Division's player manager with Burton Albion in 1998.

Clough took Burton up from the seventh tier of the English football league system to the brink of promotion to League Two over the next decade, during half of which he continued to play on the track.

He left halfway through the 2008-2009 season to follow in his father's footsteps and take over at Derby County, where he spent four years before moving to September 2013.

He continued to resurrect Sheffield United's season, moving them out of the relegation zone and into FA Cup and League Cup semi-finals. In December 2015, Clough returned to Burton Albion for a second stint as boss.

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Playing career

On the day after leaving school in 1982, Clough joined Nottingham Forest as an apprentice. He left after two seasons to join non-league Heanor Town, but the City Ground was back in 1984 on a professional basis. He made the league's best scorer with 15 goals in the First Division to help the Foresters finish eighth in the league for the fifth time this season, when he found the net 14 times in the First Division.

He was the subject of a £1.5 million bid from Italy's Pisa in April 1988, but the bid was turned down and Clough stayed at Forest, who finished third that season and the season after. He was one of Forest's top goalscorers for a second five seasons, helping them win the League Cup in 1989 and 1990 as well as the Full Members' Cup in 1989. They were also FA Cup semi-finalists in 1988 and 1989, as well as runners-up in 1991. In 1992, Clough played a key role in Forest winning the first Full Members Cup. They also reached another League Cup final this season, but lost to Manchester United. Clough was Forest's best scorer in 1992–93 with ten goals in the new Premier League, but Forest was relegated, after his father Brian retired after 18 years as boss. He was used as a center-back on several occasions towards the end of the season.

Clough was widely expected to leave Forest in order to continue playing Premier League football, and he was sold to Liverpool in the summer for £2.25 million. He was one of the most expensive players to be signed by Liverpool, who had finished sixth in the new Premier League, and had been the most consistent English club side of the last 20 years of the old First Division at the time.

Clough scored twice on his debut for Liverpool against Sheffield on August 14, 1993. By the time the Reds' founding of 18-year-old Robbie Fowler alongside Ian Rush in the Liverpool attack, he had been in the net four times by August 1993, but by Christmas, he was looking for his first team job. Liverpool also had another bad season in the league, with Graeme Souness' departure as manager in January 1994 and the appointment of coach Roy Evans as his successor.

Clough came from three goals down to draw 3–3 on three more times this season, with his last two goals against Manchester United at Anfield on January 4, 1994. However, Clough made only a handful of appearances for the Reds in 1994–95, when they were not in their League Cup winning team, owing to the Continuity of Fowler and Rush in attack. In January 1996, he left Anfield for the final time.

He has been drafted for Manchester City, one of the Premier League relegation wars. Clough made his debut in all of Manchester City's remaining 15 league appearances since his time as a youth, scoring twice, but he was unable to prevent relegation and abruptly withdrew injury.

After Frank Clark's departure, he returned to Nottingham Forest on loan in December 1996, when Stuart Pearce became boss on an interim basis. In 13 league games before returning to Manchester City, he scored once against Leicester City. He did not play for the club again.

He made his second appearance in the Premier League in 1997-98 season as he was loaned to struggling Sheffield Wednesday. Derby County lost 5–2 home to Derby County in his first league game (he also played in a League Cup tie against Grimsby Town). Clough was given a free transfer and his senior football career was over at the age of 32 when he was relegated to Division Two at the 1997–98 season.

Clough made his senior international debut against Chile on May 23, 1989, after playing 15 times for England's under-21 team from 1986 to 1988, scoring three goals. On June 19, 1993, he made his last international appearance of his career against Germany. He had been capped 14 times by England at senior level but didn't place, but failed to score.

Managerial career

He transitioned into leadership as he accepted the role of player-manager at Burton Albion in the Southern Football League Premier Division in October 1998.

Clough had already been officially licensed as a player, which may have explains his apparent inability to progress into League management (his father screamed at the premature end of his own playing career). Nevertheless, Clough had not played regularly for Burton since the 2005–06 season, although he did participate in the team's 6–3 victory over Sutton Coldfield Town in the Birmingham Senior Cup on October 27, 2008. Burton's last senior appearance came against Droylsden on February 12, his first appearance of the season.

Burton United held Manchester United to a 0–0 draw in the third round of the FA Cup in January 2006. Ole Gunnar Solskjr and Louis Saha, as second-half replacements, were included in the United team's roster, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney as second-half replacements. "The newspapers were buzzing after the match, but the gaffer wasn't interested in that." It was fantastic and gave us a breath of fresh air, but at the same time, the gaffer kept us grounded." Burton were defeated 5–0 in a replay at Old Trafford, but the taxpayer received a reported £600,000.000 in the process.

After winning 11 straight games in the division and leading Burton to 13 points ahead of the table, Clough won the Conference Premier Manager of the Month for December 2008.

He was officially invited by Derby County, one of his father's former employers, to take over as their manager as a replacement for Paul Jewell on January 5th. Academy Head Coach David Lowe led Derby to victory over Manchester United 1–0 in the first leg of the League Cup semi-finals on January 8, the next day, ahead of his appointment. Clough's first victory in charge of the Rams came on January 31, 2009, when Derby defeated Coventry City 2–1. Clough's debut was a success, with a string of four consecutive victories. However, the Rams suffered from a string of injuries to key players, leading to a loss of form. The Championship was not confirmed until the penultimate game of the season against Charlton Athletic, which was a 1–0 win.

Clough's first full season as the player manager brought in nine players and then expanded to fourteen, as well as making significant loans. Despite this, the Rams suffered with injuries once more, with one team missing thirteen first team players at one point. Clough was able to start choosing a regular squad after key players returned from injury, and progress began to improve. Derby gained two points and four places over the previous season.

Clough was involved in many altercations throughout the season. In a pitch side altercation during Derby's 1–0 victory over local rivals Nottingham Forest, he was accused by complicity Billy Davies of kicking him in the knee. Clough denied the allegation, and though Davies lodged a formal complaint to the league, no one knew about the incident.

During Derby's 3–1 home loss to Ipswich Town on April 5, Clough was also in danger when he was sent to the stands. He was fined £1,000 and given a one-match suspension, which he played during Derby's last match of the season at home to Cardiff City. In their 2–1 victory over West Bromwich Albion reserves in their Central League Central Section clash, Clough also got some game time during the season, starting as a late replacement for the reserve team.

Derby lost 2–1 to Crawley Town in the FA Cup, putting the team in a big surprise. Clough's employment at the club has reportedly been put in jeopardy as he delivered an apology to the club's followers, many of whom expressed their displeasure with demands for his dismissal. Derby's Chief Executive Tom Glick answered a fan's displeasure by reiterating the club's support for Clough, saying: "Nigel is definitely our guy." "We've been really specific about it."

During Derby's post-November controversies, Clough came under fire for his regular mockery of individual players, which culminated in his dismissal of Tomasz Cywka after his mistake resulted in a 1-1 draw at Fratton Park. "He's an inexperienced and not very bright footballer," Clough said of Cywka, "he's an excellent player with no experience – until he learns the game." PFA Chief Gordon Taylor was compelled to condemn your team in public, but PFA Chief Gordon Clough was unable to condemn your team in such a manner in public." We'll sort it out, but otherwise it looks like we're in a difficult situation." In the end, no one was aware of the incident, but the outbursts, as well as Derby's poor results on the field, culminated in some demonstrations among supporters. Clough's players were booed at the end of a 3–1 home loss to Doncaster Rovers on March 1, 2011.

Clough's continued participation at the club culminated in Derby's best start to the season in 106 years as they opened the season with four victories out of four and earned a Championship Manager of the Month nomination.

Derby took second place and the automatic promotion spots for the first time in over a year after a 1–1 draw with Barnsley on September 28th. The findings came during talks over Clough's contract, which was due to come to an end at the end of the season, with Forest apparently involved in securing their former player's services. Despite these findings, Clough and his staff were unlikely to leave Derby, and Clough and his staff were reportedly discussing new employment opportunities, saying, "It's never been a question of whether we wanted to stay or not." "Our hearts are in here."

On October 17th, two days after losing by 1–1 draw with league leaders Southampton and keeping Derby in the play-off places, Clough agreed to a new three-year contract, keeping him through until summer 2015. Derby took just four points from their next five games and fell out of the playoff playoff positions after signing the contract. Derby had a 2–0 lead when Clough struck out at the officials, resulting in a £2,000 fine by Peterborough United.

Derby continued to be inconsistent throughout the remainder of the season. Derby finished 11th in the table by mid-April, 5 points off the play-offs with four games remaining. Derby's play-off hopes were shattered by two losses to Middlesbrough and Cardiff City in four days. Derby finished 12th in the league this season, with Clough satisfied with the team's results, predicting that a lack of firepower was the reason they fell short and that it would be a place to work on in the coming season.

The club also decided against naming a director of football, something that the club had been considering since May 2011. Clough retained full control of the club's player recruitment policy, and he was keen to add to his squad. Derby defeated Millwall 1–0, enabling Derby to finish the season in 10th place in their final match of the 2012–13 season.

Clough was fired after three defeats in eight days, the last of which was a 1–0 loss to Nottingham Forest, the table's 14th champion, after a rough start to the 2013-14 season. In over a decade, he had been the club's longest serving Derby manager.

Clough was appointed as Sheffield United's new manager on a two-and-a-half year contract on October 23, 2013. Sheffield United defeated Crewe Alexandra 3–1 at Bramall Lane, putting Clough's tenure off to a promising start. After an improved run of form in February 2014, Clough was named Manager of the Month for four matches, including four clean sheets.

Clough's side defeated Charlton Athletic 2–0 on March 9, 2014, securing their FA Cup semi-final match against Hull City at Wembley Stadium, moving to 11th position in the table. Clough was named FA Cup Manager of the Season by the League Managers Association in May 2014 in honor of United's appearance in the FA Cup semi-finals. After a 1–0 victory over Southampton at Bramall Lane, Clough helped the Blades advance to the semi-finals of the League Cup in the 2014–15 season. On May 25, 2015, Sheffield United parted company with Clough.

After Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink left the post to join Queens Park Rangers, Clough returned to Burton Albion for his second stint as boss in December 2015. For the first time in history, Clough led the club to a second-place finish at the end of the season, winning the club's promotion to the Championship. Clough played for two seasons before being relegated to League One in May 2018 after a 23rd place finish. Clough resigned as manager in May 2020 due to the club's financial difficulties as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Clough was appointed as the manager of Mansfield Town on Friday, November 6, 2020.

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