Dead Reckoning
‘OF all of Brian Cloughs many bons mots listed in todays commemoration of the manager who died yesterday, one stands out.
| ”God better give me his favourite armchair” |
I want no epitaphs of profound history, said Old Big Ead in words now reproduced by the Guardian.
I contributed – I would hope they would say that, and I would hope somebody liked me.
But Brian fails to get his wish granted as the papers lament the man who, the Times says, single-handedly created the cult of the football manager.
Page after page front and back is given over to the man who took provincial Nottingham Forest from nowhere to the pinnacle of European football.
He does at least achieve his other ambition of being liked, as the Guardian asks various Nottingham locals to say how much they admired the man who put their city on the map.
The Independent sticks with the great mans quotes, producing the largest collections of Cloughisms.
So, before we turn to the other big sports news (Rio Ferdinands return to the pitch last night), lets hear a few of Cloughs words.
When Manchester United opted out of the FA Cup in favour of a Brazilian jolly a few seasons back, Clough offered the opinion: I hope they all get bloody diarrhoea.
And now, with that image in mind, we move to the back of the Sun and, below a large picture of Clough, we see that Manchester United have beaten Liverpool 2-1.
And although it was Uniteds other centre-back, Mikael Silvestre who scored a brace of goals to win United the game, the news is all about Ferdinand.
How much the Londoner had to do with Uniteds win is open to conjecture.
But, as the Independents Tim Rich puts it, Rio Ferdinands positioning for his eight-month suspension…was forever faultless.
But Ferdinands England colleague Michael Owens sense of timing is brought into question in the Sun.
In OWEN SPARKED REAL REVOLT, readers learn that Jose Camancho was forced out of his job as coach of Real Madrid when his decision to replace Raul with Owen met with universal disapproval.
Far from being an agent provocateur, as the headline suggests, Owens role in the affair is less than glorious.
For the player who has yet to score for Real, this is hardly an auspicious start to life at his new club.
Perhaps hell have more luck with his new manager, Mariano Garcia Remon.
Although how long he will last is open to much speculation.
Which is something the Sun is all too happy to engage in, suggesting that Sven Goran Eriksson is ready to take over.
And his first task will be to buy Patrick Vieira. Or so the Sun will say soon enough…’
Posted: 21st, September 2004 | In: Back pages Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
