Nigel Clough

Nigel Howard Clough (born 19 March 1966) is an English professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Mansfield Town.

Nigel was subsequently raised in Allestree, Derby, after his father became the manager of Derby County in 1967.

Clough's father had moved on to manage Nottingham Forest in 1975 and as a young prospect Nigel signed apprentice forms with the club in 1982.

Clough joined Nottingham Forest as an apprentice on leaving school in 1982.

He made his professional debut for the club in 1984 and remained a regular first team member for the next decade until he signed for Liverpool in 1993, also going on to make his England debut in 1989 and was part of the squad at UEFA Euro 1992.

He left after two seasons to sign for non-league Heanor Town, but was back at the City Ground on a professional contract in December 1984.

He became a regular player in the 1985–86 season, being Forest's top scorer with 15 goals in the First Division to help them finish eighth in the league, a position they repeated the following season when he found the net 14 times in the First Division.

In April 1988, he was the subject of a £1.5 million bid from Italian side Pisa, but the bid was turned down and Clough remained at Forest, who finished third that season and the season after.

They were also FA Cup semi-finalists in 1988 and 1989 and runners-up in 1991.

Clough's playing career is most notable for his time as a player at Nottingham Forest, where he played over 400 times in league, cup and European matches in two separate spells, he scored 131 goals throughout his Forest career making him the second highest scorer in the club's history and won the Football League Cup in both 1989 and 1990.

He remained among Forest's top goalscorers for a further five seasons, helping them win the League Cup in 1989 and 1990 and the Full Members' Cup in 1989.

Playing predominantly as a forward, but later in his career used as a midfielder, Clough was capped by England 14 times in the early 1990s.

Clough was born in Sunderland, the son of Brian Clough who had been one of the most promising strikers in the English game until injury ended his career.

Clough also contributed to Forest winning the last Full Members Cup in 1992.

They also reached another League Cup final that season, but lost to Manchester United.

Clough was Forest's top scorer in 1992–93 with ten goals in the new Premier League, but Forest were relegated, following which his father Brian retired after 18 years as manager.

Towards the end of the season, he was used as a centre-back on several occasions.

Clough was widely expected to leave Forest in order to continue playing Premier League football, and was sold to Liverpool that summer for £2.25million.

At the time, he was one of the most expensive players ever to be signed by Liverpool, who had finished a disappointing sixth in the new Premier League having been the dominant English club side of the last 20 years of the old First Division.

Nottingham Forest experienced a downturn in their performances culminating in the relegation of the club from the Premier League, and the retirement of his father as manager in 1993.

He subsequently signed for Liverpool before moving onto Manchester City.

Clough scored twice on his debut for Liverpool against Sheffield Wednesday on 14 August 1993.

He had found the net four times for the Reds by the end of August 1993, but by Christmas had found himself struggling for a first team place after the emergence of 18-year-old Robbie Fowler alongside Ian Rush in the Liverpool attack.

Liverpool were also enduring another disappointing season in the league, which led to the resignation of Graeme Souness as manager at the end of January 1994 and the appointment of coach Roy Evans as his successor.

Clough did manage to find the net three more times that season, his final two goals coming on 4 January 1994 when he scored twice against Manchester United at Anfield, when Liverpool came from three goals down to draw 3–3.

However, the continuing effectiveness of Fowler and Rush in attack meant that Clough made only a handful of appearances for the Reds in 1994–95, and was not in their League Cup winning side.

He finally left Anfield in January 1996.

He signed for Premier League relegation battlers Manchester City for £1.5million.

Clough played in all of Manchester City's remaining 15 league appearances after his arrival at Maine Road, scoring twice, but could not stave off relegation and shortly afterwards he lost his place in the team due to injury.

He returned to Nottingham Forest on loan in December 1996, when Stuart Pearce became manager on an interim basis after the departure of Frank Clark.

He scored once against Leicester City in 13 league games before returning to Manchester City.

He did not play for the club again.

He made another Premier League comeback in the 1997–98 season when he was loaned to struggling Sheffield Wednesday.

His only league game for the South Yorkshire club was a 5–2 home defeat by Derby County (he also played in a League Cup tie against Grimsby Town).

Following loan moves to Sheffield Wednesday and a brief return to Forest, Clough moved into non-league football at the age of 32 when he became player manager with Southern Football League Premier Division side Burton Albion in 1998.

Over the next decade, during half of which he continued to play a regular role on the field, Clough took Burton up from the seventh tier of the English football league system to the brink of promotion to League Two.

Halfway through the 2008–09 season he followed in his father's footsteps by joining Derby County as manager but was dismissed in September 2013.

He was appointed as manager of Sheffield United a month later, guiding them out of the relegation zone and taking the club to FA Cup and League Cup semi-finals.

He was dismissed in May 2015 and returned to Burton in December, leading them to promotion to the Championship for the first time in the club's history in May 2016 and the League Cup semi-final in January 2019.

He stepped down in May 2020, and returned to work in November at Mansfield Town.