Everton’s first clash with Nottingham Forest for over two decades plus this week’s 30th anniversary commemorations of the Premier League kicking off bring back memories of a dramatic clash at Goodison Park from that season when time was finally running out for the visitors’ legendary manager Brian Clough. Regarded by many as the greatest English football boss of all-time – and surely one of the most entertaining with his indomitable character that made him a true one off – Clough steered not one but two provincial and previously unfashionable East Midlands outfits (Derby County and then Forest) to the first League Championships in their respective histories while adding a brace of European Cups and quartet of League Cups with the latter.
However, by the time of the Premier League’s inaugural campaign, the old magic that “Cloughie” had for so long possessed, was rapidly starting to wane. Forest lost their pacy England defender Des Walker to Serie A side Sampdoria on the eve of the 1992/93 season while striker Teddy Sheringham was sold to Tottenham Hotspur just a week after netting the winning goal at home to Liverpool in their opening match of the campaign.
The team started to slide, and with the pressures of the job and his hard-drinking etched upon their manager’s florid face, Forest sunk into the drop zone. Several years later, Clough would state: “If I had not been drinking I’m convinced they wouldn’t have been relegated, although I don’t believe that was the only reason.”
