WI: Brian Clough is a successful Leeds United manager?

Just read a bio of the late Brian Clough, as well as the novel ''We are the Damned United''.

So this one isfor for all the football fans on the site. What if Brian Clough somehow had managed to become a successful Leeds manager?

Maybe he would do better if Peter Taylor had joined him at Leeds for a start...
 
Having Taylor would have certainly helped as he could have stopped Clough being so pig headed such as the infamous " you earned all your medals by cheating" speech when he first arrived. Certainly players like Johnny Giles and Norman Hunter said that if Clough had been more concilliatory and had given the playing squad a clean slate then they would have responded better to him. However even if he'd done that there was still the likelihood that Revie's team was now past it's best and Leeds were going to be in for a period of rebuilding, I think Clough himself said the reason why Reavie took the England job was that he couldn't face breaking up his team.

I think if Clough and Taylor had been in charge and if Leeds had signed Peter Shilton as Clough wanted then Leeds could have been serious challengers for the title that season but after that they may have fallen off the pace for a year or two as the team rebuilt. If that process went well then they could have been challenging Liverpool for the title regularly in the late 1970's, more trophies follow and it's unlikely Leeds would have been relegated during the 81/82 season.

Of course this means Nottingham Forest remain a provincial side and never have the great era they had under Clough, for me what he did there was the finest club management achievement in English football.
 
There are two major obstacles to Clough succeeding at Leeds, even if he does take Taylor with him:

1) His management style was the opposite of Revie's in many ways. Revie's teams were meticulously organised, with detailed dossiers on opponents and complex tactical setups. Clough was more of a motivator - he set his teams up to play short passing, attacking football with a strong spine, then let the opposition worry about them. He wouldn't make a specific tactical change to counter a team, and wouldn't do Revie's dossiers. This worked brilliantly for him everywhere but Leeds - at Leeds, they were so used to Revie's methods that they would go into games feeling underprepared, and ended up struggling because of that. They would adapt to Clough's methods given time, but he might not get that time.

2) Even with Taylor's help he would struggle to win over the players. He was the anti-Revie, had criticised Leeds for their dirty style and thuggish tactics, and wasn't popular with the squad even before his "chuck your medals in the bin" moment. Johnny Giles was Revie's preferred successor, and the squad wanted him as well, so this, combined with Clough's abrasive personality, would make it difficult for him to win them over (though a few wins would've helped). Taylor can help a lot with this, though, and make it easier than in OTL.

If Clough was successful with Leeds, then there would be a few repercussions. One would be that they would partially lose the "Dirty Leeds" tag that still makes them so disliked, another is that they would not decline in the way that they did. For Clough himself, success at Leeds would mean a better chance of getting his dream job with England - he'd come with less baggage than he did in OTL and that might persuade the FA Board to appoint him. Clough with the England team of the late 70s and 80s would be very interesting - a motivator who can get a side playing for him can often do well in major tournaments where you only need one good run of form. He may even win something.
 
However one major thing is missed when Clough singed for Leeds, the Leeds board thought they were getting Taylor too They wernt pleased that Clough had been economical with the truth on this point when he signed.

Also it should be said that much of the Leeds squad was getting on in years, and eveyone at the club knew (even if they didnt like the fact) that the squad would need to be re-built, and that Revie didnt really have the heart to do it.

With Taylor there Clough might get a coulpe of better results. which would buy him time to make changes.
 
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