Football: A Tribute to Brian Clough

It always amazes me how an entire stadium full of of at least 40,000 - 60,000 people can go completely silent for an entire minute. This happened a lot in the past weekend, as the EPL mourned the death of a legend - Brian Clough, who passed away last week.

I'm not gonna go into the details of who Brian Clough was (after all, he ONLY won two SUCCESSIVE European Cups), so if you wanna know who is was, check out his fact file here, and read a tribute to him here.

As for this blog, here is a collection of quotes from the man that I got from a colleague of mine:

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"Manchester United in Brazil? I hope they all get bloody diarrhoea" - on Manchester United opting-out of the FA Cup to play in the World Club Championship.

"I can't even spell spaghetti never mind talk Italian. How could I tell an Italian to get the ball - he might grab mine" - on the influx of foreign players.

"I bet their dressing room will smell of garlic rather than liniment over the next few months" - on the number of French players at Arsenal.

"I wouldn't say I was the best manager in the business. But I was in the top one" - looking back on his managerial career.

On Eric Cantona's infamous kung fu kick at a fan: "I'd have cut his balls off."

"If he'd been English or Swedish, he'd have walked the England job" - on Martin O'Neill.

"I only ever hit Roy the once. He got up so I couldn't have hit him very hard" - on dealing with Roy Keane.

"Walk on water? I know most people out there will be saying that instead of walking on it, I should have taken more of it with my drinks. They are absolutely right" - a typically candid reflection on his drink problem.

"Players lose you games, not tactics. There's so much crap talked about tactics by people who barely know how to win at dominoes" England's exit from Euro 2000, explained the Cloughie way.

"We talk about it for twenty minutes and then we decide I was right" - on dealing with a player who disagrees.

"I'm sure the England selectors thought if they took me on and gave me the job, I'd want to run the show. They were shrewd, because that's exactly what I would have done" - on not getting the England manager's job.

Guessing who nominated him for a knighthood: "I thought it was my next door neighbour, because I think she felt that if I got something like that, I'd have to move."

"For all his horses, knighthoods and championships, he hasn't got two of what I've got. And I don't mean balls!" - Referring to Sir Alex Ferguson's failure to win two successive European Cups.

Brian wasn't a fan of the women's game: "I like my women to be feminine, not sliding into tackles and covered in mud."

After a life-saving operation, Clough gets sentimental: "Don't send me flowers when I'm dead. If you like me, send them while I'm alive."

"I want no epitaphs of profound history and all that type of thing. I contributed - I would hope they would say that, and I would hope somebody liked me" - on how he would like to be remembered.