forgotten. Brian Clough 
Brian Clough chi era costui. Credo pochi oggi si ricordino delle gesta di uno dei migliori allenatori degli anni '70. Un Mourinho dell'epoca, capace di miracoli con squadre del calibro di Derby County e Nottingham Forrest. Se sulla parte del Derby e del Leeds la memoria è tenuta viva da un libro (il Maledetto United e dal film girato successivamente) l'impresa compiuta col Nottingham (squadra che oggi gioca in serie C) ha forse un sapore più particolare. Ho trovato il racconto su un sito (
lacrime di borghetti ) e lo riporto di pari passo.
Olympiastadion di Monaco di Baviera, 30 maggio 1979. Si gioca la finale della Coppa dei Campioni. Il Nottingham Forest Brian Clough, Cinderella of the competition, the pair faces the Malmoe-Cervin Kinnvall attack. The stands are full of British flags. The anticipation is great. Throughout the first time the Reds try to make the game, to push. One careless left Robertson hit the post, strangling the joy in my throat to a city. The holding Malmoe, making futile any British offensive. Clough, his face pensive and hair disheveled, mumbling to the edge of the field. He began the second half. A flash. Robertson pointed to by the Swedish defense jumping on the left wing, arrives on the bottom half and throws in a soft cross. The central Malmoe are bypassed, pounced on the ball Trevor Francis, No. 7 jersey. And a goal that triggers a deafening scream. The small town of Midland is on the roof of Eastern Europe. Brian Clough has done a miracle. Before the breath in sixteenths against Liverpool, defending champions. Then the Grasshopper and triumphs against AEK. Finally, the company in Cologne. After the game with Malmoe, the Garibaldi - it is said that the shirt is red in honor of the Italian leader - tear the trophy from the hands of Kenny Dalglish, writing a page of sublime football. The adventure began a couple of years ago. After just 44 days from the assignment, Brian Clough, Derby County fan of the hated, was sacked by Leeds United and called from Nottingham Forest, then in the Second Division. In February, there's John
Robertson and Martin O'Neill, the team was re-founded and rejuvenated. Among others, the following years are also hired Peter Shilton, Larry Lloyd and Kenny Burns. A couple of years of settlement and, in 1977, comes the promotion.
not enough. The dream has just begun. The newly-promoted Nottingham started well in the First Division. Only Everton, Manchester City and Liverpool keep pace. At the end of the season the ranking is clear: Nottingham Forest, 64, Liverpool 57, Everton 55. Most wins, fewer losses and better defense. The Reds are champions of England. Unexpected triumph, leading the team to qualify for the Champions League the following year, he also adds a Football League Cup win against Liverpool. The following season the First Division is not as sweet. The 21 goals by Kenny Dalglish and Liverpool are too many graduates sample. The Nottingham Forest close second to -8 from the summit. The dream of Monaco of Bavaria does not leave, however, room for disappointment. Liverpool still in season 1979/80. According to Manchester United. The Nottingham Forest finish fifth behind Ipswich Town and Arsenal. Southampton's top scorer Phil Boyer. In Champions League, however, the defending champions well with the Reds clash with the double Osters Ravelli of the sixteenth. Romanians in the second round anything can dell'Arges Pitesti, they receive 4 goals. A frightening and Dynamo Berlin, the Quarter. The Germans have won the Stasi at the City Ground and only a great test of the young Clough on the banks of the Spree gives access to the semi-final against Ajax. The first leg is at home. The strong Nottingham side. Ajax is crushed in its area, unprotected on the outside. Corner kick at the near post, Robertson head and puts out almost time defense and goalkeeper. Francis pounced on the rebound and bags. The City Ground is very hot, the Lancers seem out of step. A half shooting comes a doubling of Robertson, on a penalty kick. In return, the Amsterdam Arena, Ajax 1 to 0 is not sufficient. The Nottingham Forest is in the final against Hamburg, who in the meantime wiped out Real Madrid. And at the Bernabeu the Reds have the opportunity to confirm samples. Clough will rely on the usual. Shilton in goal. Lloyd Anderson to lead the defense and to push on the wing. The medians are McGovern and Francis. In front, John Robertson. The Germans, having knocked out Real so easily, leaving favorites. The quiet Clough, on the bench wearing a tracksuit from Adidas anthology does not care about predictions. He knows that they count for little in football, unlike the tired Robertson shot midway through the first time that the port ahead of Garibaldi. The rest is a matter of Peter Shilton, true bulwark that day.
Nottingham Forest, who until three years before rotting in the Second Division, is the new champion. The play of the team is dynamic and visionary Clough, haunt us. The tale is full of his happy ending. Pleased, but still an ending. Because from that night on, nothing was as before. Some of the FA Cup final win and a Uefa Cup semi-final defeat to Anderlecht. Until April 1989. A Hillsborough stadium, Sheffield Wednesday, is scheduled for the FA Cup semi-final between Forest and Liverpool. In Sheffield thousands of fans flock to watch the game. Many arrive late. The attack on the Leppings Lane, the curve is intended to Liverpool fans, is unmanageable by the police, in those years in the grip dell'ossesione hooligans. The chaos increases every second and takes form the largest British sports tragedy. That afternoon, Hillsborough, killed 96 people. More than 700 were injured. And 'the fog of the eighties and a damn game. That afternoon was necessary to "Taylor Report" and a radical change in English football.
That afternoon also marked the beginning of the decline of the Reds. In subsequent years only a few nesting in mid-table, relegation in 1993 and the abandonment of Brian Clough. Under the leadership of his successor, Frank Clark, the Forest dates back over two years now and is back in the Uefa Cup. Then relegated again and a new lift on the bench with Dave Bassett. The tremendous swing does not stop: still a number of promotion and relegation in the following years - between the various coaches, including David Platt - until, in 2005, the Forest relegated after 54 years in the Football League One, becoming the first club to having won the European Cup star of a demotion to the third division of their country. Today at the helm of the Reds is Billy Davies. In front, the Welshman Robert Earnshaw. City Ground on the sidelines of the rooms still strong scream "Forest till I die / I'm Forest till I die." The dream is always the same: to beat Derby County. Or perhaps something more. The statue of Brian Clough, outside the City Ground, has his arms to heaven. Smiled.
