Stuart Pearce shares brilliant Brian Clough story about how brutal the Nottingham Forest boss could be
Pearce joined talkSPORT on Thursday to pay tribute to Clough on the 14th anniversary of his former manager’s death
Stuart Pearce has shared a brilliant story about how legendary coach Brian Clough could be absolutely brutal with his players.
The former England and Nottingham Forest star joined talkSPORT on Thursday to pay tribute to Clough on the 14th anniversary of his former manager’s death.
Forest legend Pearce, who has played and managed at the club, was brought to the City Ground by Clough in 1985.
He played for eight seasons under European Cup-winning boss, seven as his captain, and went on to make over 500 appearances for the Tricky Trees.
Pearce remembers his spell under Clough as ‘a fantastic period’ of his career but revealed he felt he was never really liked by his gaffer, despite never falling out with him.
Some players were not so fortunate, however, as he explained in this hilariously brutal tale...
“I’ll tell you a great story," he told talkSPORT host Jim White on Thursday.
“We signed a fella called Dave Currie from Barnsley for £650,000 one summer and we were about three weeks into the pre-season.
“Now, Dave had only been at the club for three weeks and we went to play at Derby in a friendly.
“We were sat in the Baseball Ground, and when Cloughie was in the dressing room no one said a word, so all of the players were sat around about ten minutes before we were going out to play.
“And he looked across the dressing room to Dave Currie, stared him straight in the eyes and said: ‘Have you found yourself a house yet Dave?’
“Dave said: ‘No, not yet boss’.
“’Don’t bother, son,’ Cloughie went.
“After three weeks at the club, he’d decided ‘he ain’t for me’.
“Cloughie was wonderful like that, to be fair.”
Pearce also spoke of his pride to play under Clough for eight years at Nottingham Forest – and seven of those as his captain.
However, he revealed to talkSPORT he always had the impression he wasn’t the gaffer’s favourite player at the club…
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The former defender added: “I was really fortunate. He signed me when I was a 23-year-old from Coventry, I spent eight seasons with him and seven of those as his captain – they were fantastic times.
“But I always had the impression he never really liked me.
“I wasn’t his ideal type of player. He liked silky footballers, whereas I just bludgeoned myself through life as a left back.
“I think at the end he probably respected what I did for the team, but in the main I wasn’t his ideal type of footballer I don’t think.
“I never fell out with him, but I was always in fear of him in many ways because of everything he was.”
Listen back to Stuart Pearce’s tribute to Brian Clough IN FULL above