Championship Betting: Just like the old days for Derby County with a Clough in the manager's office

Championship / Ralph Ellis / 07 January 2009 / Leave a Comment

Ralph Ellis on an appointment that will give all Derby fans a nice, warm glow for these chilly times.

The greats, they say, need one name. Pele, Moore, Charlton. When it comes to managers Ramsey, Shankly, Ferguson, Clough. Except from now on you might need to use both names when you talk about Clough. Especially if you are talking about Derby County.

Brian, Old Big Ed, was the man who put the club on the map in countless nights in the mud of the old Baseball Ground. In my mind's eye I can still see black and white images of Kevin Hector, Colin Todd or Archie Gemmill, battling their way through a pitch that nowadays would be called off for a Sunday park game. Clough (that's Brian) and his sidekick Peter Taylor got promotion then won the title there to make their names before going on to do the same just up the road at Nottingham Forest - where for good measure they won the European Cup twice.

But now, hey, listen young man - because Nigel, the boy who was always referred to as "our number nine" when he played for his dad at Forest, is the new manager at Derby. He'll be at tonight's Carling Cup semi-final with Manchester United, although he doesn't start work officially until tomorrow. And just as Brian did all those years ago he has walked in when the club is at a real low point.

Nobody can say he's earned the job only on his name. Clough junior has done his apprenticeship with ten years as boss of Burton Albion and he leaves them 13 points clear at the top of the Blue Square Premier League. But he's always shied away from the limelight there and nobody knows too much about what makes him tick.

So credit to the Mail's Neil Moxley this morning for talking to Darren Wassall, who played for six years under Clough senior at Forest and then spent five more at Burton with Nigel as his boss.

"They both command exceptional loyalty and there are players, me included, who would run through brick walls for both of them," he says.

"Nigel may have a lower profile but his standards are just as high. If players aren't performing he will deal with it.

"There will be no secrets and it was like that with his dad. If anything needs saying, he will say it face-to-face. He won't take players to one side for a quiet word, everything is said within the group. That's similar to his dad. If things were not going to plan Brian would get on the backs of the senior players because in his eyes the buck stopped with them. I can see that with Nigel too."

Given that Derby have a decent set of players who massively failed to perform under Paul Jewell it will be interesting to see what Nigel can draw from them. Derby are as long as [28.0] to win promotion - not impossible as they are only 12 points off the play-off zone.

And it's tempting too to lay Manchester United at [1.47] for tonight's Carling Cup semi-final first leg because United will field a young side while Clough junior will inevitably have an impact, even if he's only sat in the stands.

The best bet, though, is to lay Burton as winners of the Blue Square Premier at [2.1]. Their 13 point lead can very quickly disappear without the calm influence of Nigel at the helm.

Five things you might not know about Nigel Clough...

Born in 1966, his middle name is Howard.

He is Nottingham Forest's second highest goalscorer of all time with 131.

His last Football League appearance as a player was for Sheffield Wednesday - against Derby.

The postponement of last night's home match with Torquay meant he missed the chance to go out of management by setting a Blue Square Premier record of 12 consecutive wins.

He faced Manchester United at home twice as Burton manager - once in a friendly to open Burton's new ground and once in an FA Cup tie - and didn't lose either of them.