"God better give me his favourite armchair"
Farewell to a Legend
The headlines in national and local newspapers were dominated by the news that Brian Clough had passed away on 20th September, 2004.
The front page of The Sun declared 'Bye Bye Big 'Ead', while the opening paragraph on the back page read: "Brian Clough's death brought the football world to a juddering halt." The report continued: "The profound loss of the best manager never to boss England stopped the great and the good in their tracks."
The Daily Star's Brian Woolnough, who has also since sadly passed away, wrote: "If there is a football team up there in heaven, they are lucky. Trophies are on the way." The chief sports writer of The Times, Simon Barnes, described Cloughie as the man who single-handedly created the cult of the football manager.
The front page of the Daily Mirror used one of Brian's famous quotes as its headline - the quote originally unearthed several years previously by this website and salvaged for posterity from a regional TV interview. It would have been lost forever without publication on this site and is now used widely to sum-up Cloughie's genius and outspoken nature:
"I wouldn't say I was the best manager in the business, but I was in the top one."
In an article headlined 'Clough, A Man of the People,' The Mirror's chief sports writer, Oliver Holt, praised Brian's man-management skills and said: "...it was his ability to inspire players, for getting the best out of players that others considered ordinary, that was the hallmark of Clough's genius."
The Daily Mail's Jeff Farmer paid tribute and wrote: "Brian was a genius not only at the game he rampaged through like a tornado - and for which he motivated men to play like demons surpassing all understanding of themselves - but at cushioning the most abrasive of his tirades with a rough but engaging charm."
The headline on the front page of the Nottingham Evening Post read poignantly: 'Goodnight Young Man'; while the Derby Telegraph's front page said: 'RIP Brian. You were the best thing ever to happen to Derby.'
Here's a selection of other newspaper coverage in September 2004...
A special charity event is being held to mark 20 years since Cloughie left us with incredible memories...