The Royal Centre was the venue for ‘Brian Clough’s Way’ last night, which was a nostalgic evening spent in the company of 5 of the clubs’ greatest ever players and hosted by Pat Murphy. It was an evening filled with Cloughie anecdotes and some very fond memories of the Great Man.
Any doubts I had about how entertaining an evening reminiscing about the good ‘ole days could be, were quickly dispelled. The event was hosted by broadcaster, commentator, sports journalist and personal friend of Sir Brian, Pat Murphy. He did a good job in keeping the banter flowing and also keeping in check a few of the old legs/lags on stage.
Garry Birtles, Kenny Burns, Larry LLoyd, Tony Woodcock and John McGovern were on stage to recount some of their memories and achievements whilst working with ‘Old Big Head.’ Birtles and McGovern were no strangers to an audience familiar with them through their media work, but seeing the others for the first time in a good few years was a bit of a surprise. A quite literally larger than life Larry Lloyd, admitted that whilst being no friend of Cloughie’s, he had the utmost respect for him as a manager and thought he was better than both Shankley and Fergusson. Tony Woodcock, who is now Germany’s equivalent of Andy Gray, but looking more like a hippy, recalled how he was scared to death of his former gaffer, but loved him all the same.
Special mention goes to Colin Tarrant, the man who portrayed Cloughie in the stage play ‘Spirit of the Man,’ for pulling it off once again. This was a difficult role for him to perform, but he did the Great Man proud with an uncanny resemblence and admirable performance. Probably the biggest cheer of the night went to a special appearance from John Robertson. He was the player they each singled out as the greatest player, any of them had ever played with. It’s often said, you shouldn’t dwell on the past, but it felt bloody good to visit it again last night in the company of some of the true greats.
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