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There has never been such an outrageous manager as Brian Clough - nor one capable of such startling success at small-town clubs like Nottingham Forest and Derby County.

Frank Clark, who won the championship and European Cup under Cloughie at Forest, admits he'd never have dared try to emulate his old boss when he himself became a top-flight manager.

And it's hardly surprising, given Clough's penchant for going against all the rules.

This was a man, Clark told me, who stopped Forest's coach on the M62 motorway en route to Liverpool for a European Cup tie that very night to get a crate of beer out of the boot so his players could have a drink.

The same man who, the night before a showpiece Wembley appearance in the League Cup final, locked the players in a hotel room and insisted they downed champagne and ate sandwiches.

Hardly out of the book of soccer management, forcing liquor upon athletes, but Clark insists it was typical of Cloughie.

"When we won the European Cup in 1979 our big victory was over Liverpool who were the holders," recalled Frank. "We drew them in the very first round and were expected to get stuffed.

"I didn't play in the first leg at our place which we won 2-0, but I was back for the return. We travelled on the day of the match - unthinkable - and on the way up the M62 Cloughie instructed the driver to pull over so that he could get out a crate of beer for the players!

"That was too much for me. I was meticulous in my pre-match preparation and couldn't get my head round swigging a beer before facing Liverpool's great names.

"They targeted me in the match - I ended up with a few bruises from my old mate Jimmy Case - but we drew 0-0 so the beer did no damage, did it?

"It was typical Cloughie. Before we played Southampton in our second League Cup final he locked us in a room and insisted we got champagne down our necks. It seemed crazy but it was his way of releasing tension. He was a great believer that if your mind was right so were you.

"But I didn't dare do it when I was manager. He was a one-off and nobody really knew him - certainly not the players. Not even John McGovern, who he took all over with him. He didn't like players to get too close.

"Brian could be rude, arrogant and uncouth one moment and charm the birds out of the trees the next. He was an amazing man - but a wonderful manager."

Clough recommended to the Forest board that Clark should succeed him as boss, which he did - a thankless task given the legacy left behind.

"Brian actually helped me by keeping a low profile," said Frank. "Of course, there were photographs of him all over the place depicting his successes, which were a reminder of what I was up against, but I was on a lot of them so I wasn't going to take them down, was I?

"In any case, I'm a great believer in history, in recognising the past. What was the trouble was that Forest fans had got used to success under Cloughie and continued to expect it, even though we weren't a big club. They thought it would go on for ever.

"They expected me to take Forest back up in my first season, which I did. Then we finished third behind Blackburn Rovers and Manchester United in my first term in the top flight, which these days would have put us in the Champions League.

"Instead, we went into the UEFA Cup and reached the quarter-finals, playing Bayern Munich. But when we finished ninth in the Premier League the fans and media thought we'd had a bad season!

"Following a legend is a thankless task. Whoever eventually takes over from Alex Ferguson at Manchester United will find that out."