Itsy-bitsy Bonatini Yellow Polkadot Bikini
Stuart Pearce
John McGovern was often disparaged as a journeyman, but man did he go on a journey with Brian Clough. He is sometimes described as a water-carrier, but somebody had to carry the water so that Clough could walk on it. Clough bought McGovern at three of his five clubs, inherited him at a fourth (Hartlepools) and tried to buy him for the other (Brighton). McGovern was Clough's idea of what a young man should be like: polite, neat-looking (although only after Clough ordered a terrified 15-year-old McGovern to get his flowing locks cut at their first meeting and, crucially, vice-free.
Clough became a father figure, albeit with a twist. "My dad died when I was 11," said McGovern, "and in some ways he was the only male person I could get advice from - although I didn't ask advice, it was kind of thrown at me." Clough made McGovern the youngest man to play in all four divisions at just 19, and he would captain Nottingham Forest to the title and two European Cups. Yet on the pitch, as he shambled around the centre of midfield, McGovern could look terribly awkward and cherubic; when he arrived for his first day at Derby on a pushbike, the great Dave Mackay said he thought McGovern was a "bold adolescent autograph-hunter". But Clough (or rather Peter Taylor, who persuaded an originally sceptical Clough) spotted that McGovern had something so few people in the English game now, never mind then, are aware of the importance of: moral courage, and in industrial quantities.
"He couldn't run and often looked ungainly," said Clough. "But he would always stand up straight, he always strived to get and to pass the ball, and he would do that whether the team was losing 3-0 on a filthy night at Walsall or winning 4-0 on a sunny afternoon at Wembley." McGovern became Clough's consigliere, the on-field manager who calmly dealt with trouble and kept his nerve when others were flagging. He was a playbreaker and a playmaker, the sort of unobtrusive type whose value has only become truly apparent in modern times. Scotland had some very good midfielders around that time, yet it is still a travesty that McGovern did not play even one game. And when he says "I would have walked to Scotland for a single cap", it is not just an inane platitude.
He wasn't helped by a farcical incident involving the Scotland manager Ally MacLeod in 1977-78. When Forest stuffed Manchester United 4-0 at Old Trafford in their Championship season, MacLeod announced excitably that all Forest's Scottish players would be in his squad for the following summer's World Cup. A photographer, sensing an opportunity for some coin, got the four - McGovern, John Robertson, Archie Gemmill and Kenny Burns - to dress up in kilts. When the squad was announced there was no McGovern; it transpired MacLeod had no idea he was Scottish. "Takes some believing, eh?" says McGovern. Then again, so does the story of the quiet lad who formed such a bond with Brian Clough. In the good times and bad, McGovern's was unbelievable tale.
...from History's Greatest Uncapped Playaz.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2010/sep/24/joy-of-six-uncapped-players
Clough became a father figure, albeit with a twist. "My dad died when I was 11," said McGovern, "and in some ways he was the only male person I could get advice from - although I didn't ask advice, it was kind of thrown at me." Clough made McGovern the youngest man to play in all four divisions at just 19, and he would captain Nottingham Forest to the title and two European Cups. Yet on the pitch, as he shambled around the centre of midfield, McGovern could look terribly awkward and cherubic; when he arrived for his first day at Derby on a pushbike, the great Dave Mackay said he thought McGovern was a "bold adolescent autograph-hunter". But Clough (or rather Peter Taylor, who persuaded an originally sceptical Clough) spotted that McGovern had something so few people in the English game now, never mind then, are aware of the importance of: moral courage, and in industrial quantities.
"He couldn't run and often looked ungainly," said Clough. "But he would always stand up straight, he always strived to get and to pass the ball, and he would do that whether the team was losing 3-0 on a filthy night at Walsall or winning 4-0 on a sunny afternoon at Wembley." McGovern became Clough's consigliere, the on-field manager who calmly dealt with trouble and kept his nerve when others were flagging. He was a playbreaker and a playmaker, the sort of unobtrusive type whose value has only become truly apparent in modern times. Scotland had some very good midfielders around that time, yet it is still a travesty that McGovern did not play even one game. And when he says "I would have walked to Scotland for a single cap", it is not just an inane platitude.
He wasn't helped by a farcical incident involving the Scotland manager Ally MacLeod in 1977-78. When Forest stuffed Manchester United 4-0 at Old Trafford in their Championship season, MacLeod announced excitably that all Forest's Scottish players would be in his squad for the following summer's World Cup. A photographer, sensing an opportunity for some coin, got the four - McGovern, John Robertson, Archie Gemmill and Kenny Burns - to dress up in kilts. When the squad was announced there was no McGovern; it transpired MacLeod had no idea he was Scottish. "Takes some believing, eh?" says McGovern. Then again, so does the story of the quiet lad who formed such a bond with Brian Clough. In the good times and bad, McGovern's was unbelievable tale.
...from History's Greatest Uncapped Playaz.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2010/sep/24/joy-of-six-uncapped-players
