Brian Clough: The Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything?

Nottingham Forest’s rise under Brian Clough from 1977 to 1980 remains one of the greatest miracles in football history. In just three years, Nottingham Forest 1977–1980 Brian Clough transformed a newly promoted side into English champions, League Cup winners, and back-to-back European Cup holders. Anchored by the legendary Clough–Taylor partnership, powered by signings like Peter Shilton, Kenny Burns and Trevor Francis, and defined by a record 42-game unbeaten run, Forest rewrote the limits of what an underdog could achieve. This era didn’t just shape a club — it changed European football forever.

In March and April 1978, Douglas Adams’ classic The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy first aired on radio. I know kids, but trust me, back in the day radio was a thing.

This of course revealed the answer to the ultimate question; of life, the universe and everything. Forty-two.

But just as super-computer Deep Thought set about building the Earth as the experiment to discover the ultimate question to the ultimate answer, so English football was undergoing its own ground-breaking quest to which the answer was 42.

Trevor Francis signed in February and, after having to wait three months to make his European debut, made a mic-drop introduction by getting on the end of a John Robertson cross

At the point The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy aired, Nottingham Forest were almost halfway through their own historic 42. Over more than a year from 26 November 1977 through to 9 December 1978, Nottingham Forest remained unbeaten in the League for a record 42 games. They won 21 games, drew 21 and lost none. In the process they won the Division 1 title for the first and only time in their history.

What makes this remarkable is that Forest achieved this having only been promoted the previous season - and having only crept up at that after securing an unconvincing last-gasp third place finish.

And what makes this even more remarkable is that Brian Clough had done it all before with another unfancied East Midlands club seven years earlier.

Having taken Derby County from Second Division obscurity to the First Division title in his fourth season, he did the same with Forest – only without taking two years to acclimatise in the top-flight.

Not that the similarities stopped there.

Clough had got the Derby band back together at Forest. Trainer Jimmy Gordon, Clough’s assistant during his ill-fated spell at Leeds, was first to join when Clough took the Forest job in January 1975. He was followed by the talismanic Peter Taylor – his long-term assistant manager who had probably wisely stayed at Brighton rather than follow Clough to Elland Road – in the summer of 1976.

Clough also immediately signed John McGovern and John O’Hare for a third time, both having played for him at Derby and Leeds. They were later joined by Archie Gemmill, and later still, Colin Todd.

And just as Derby’s title-winning run began by winning the pre-season Texaco Cup tournament, so Clough kicked off his Forest golden era by becoming the second of six winners of the short-lived Anglo-Scottish cup in 1977.

That same season Forest won promotion to return to the top-flight after a five-year absence. Alongside his Derby recruits, Clough already had Ian Bowyer in place, a new star in right back Viv Anderson, and revived the fortunes of John Robertson, Martin O’Neill and Tony Woodcock.

Brian Clough, oddly not in a trademark green jumper, deciding that air conditioning vent is the best backdrop for his Panini Football 81 picture

But along with Gemmill, it was the signings of Peter Shilton and Kenny Burns which proved the final part of the jigsaw.

Burns arrived in the summer of 1977 only after Taylor had carried out his own private detective work to satisfy himself a wild man reputation was manageable and was promptly converted from striker back to centre-half. The move was so wildly successful it not only earned Burns the Football Writer’s Player of the Year award, but saw him capped by Scotland as a defender having previously been called up as a centre forward.

Clough broke the record transfer fee for a keeper to sign Shilton, a signing that was to more than payback as Forest conceded just 18 goals in 37 games that season – enough to earn Shilton the PFA Player’s Player of the Year award.

Ironically though a cup-tied Shilton played no part in Forest’s first trophy that year. Chris Woods played seven games in Forest’s run to the League Cup final – keeping vital clean sheets against Liverpool in the final and the replay. Bizarrely, these seven games were the only games Woods played for Forest.

Forest lost just three times all season and finished a comfortable seven points ahead of second-placed Liverpool. It meant Clough joined an elite club of managers to win the league with two different teams (Tom Watson, Herbert Chapman and Kenny Dalglish if you are wondering).

Liverpool eventually ended Forest’s unbeaten run after 42 games in December 1978, though not before Forest had taken the record from Don Revie’s Leeds United – an irony unlikely to have been lost on Clough. Liverpool too ended Forest’s defence of their title as, despite again losing only three games all season, Forest finished second.

But by then Forest had themselves already shattered Liverpool’s hopes of a third consecutive European Cup by dumping them out in the first round – a game in which an unheralded Gary Birtles scored in just his third Forest start.

Gary Birtles with some exquisite facial hair, but who on earth was Raimando Ponte?

Forest went on to retain the League Cup, but it was in Europe where Clough was to outdo his Derby achievements. European unknowns Forest beat Malmo – the only time a Swedish club has made the final - in an underwhelming final settled by the first million pound player Trevor Francis. The England striker had signed in February and, after having to wait three months to make his European debut, made a mic-drop introduction by getting on the end of a John Robertson cross.

The following year Forest were denied a third successive League Cup win by an Andy Gray winner for Wolves, but doubled up on the European Cup in beating Hamburg thanks to John Robertson’s winner. It marked the fourth in a six- year run of English European Cup winners and made for an incredible five trophies in three seasons for Forest – or six including the European Super Cup.

Just as super-computer Deep Thought set about building the Earth as the experiment to discover the ultimate question to the ultimate answer, so English football was undergoing its own ground-breaking quest to which the answer was 42

Crucially, unlike his time at Derby, Clough was settled. Still a high-level personality, he scaled back the television appearances which had been one of the wedges at Derby. Gone too were the running battles with chairman which had so dominated his previous jobs.

And while once the band had been disbanded – particularly an acrimonious split with Taylor that was never to be repaired – Forest never hit the same heights again, Clough remained until his departure when Forest were relegated in 1993.

By that time Clough’s Forest had picked up 11 major trophies – if two Full Members’ Cup count – and 13 if an Anglo-Scottish Cup and a Football League Centenary Tournament are thrown into the mix (given Clough did not event attend the final of the latter – counting it is probably a bit of a stretch). That compares with just two FA Cup wins and some lower-league titles over the previous 79 years.

So what is the answer to the ultimate question, of life, the universe and everything. Maybe it is 42. Or maybe it’s just Brian Clough.

How We Ranked Them

We have five categories of greatness from our five-star All-Time Greats category at the top to our one-star Blinkered Greats category at the bottom. No debate on this one, we ranked them.

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*****

ALL TIME GREATS

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Listen To The Podcast

For our 100th episode, we picked one team to go back and cover again – mostly because the first time we covered Forest we did it in about 20 minutes in our early days of trying to cover three team in an episode. This time we recruited Phil Craig to add a different perspective.

Further Listening

Before Forest, there was Derby County. Phil Craig joined us for this one too, as we dived into Clough’s first East Midlands miracle.

Clough’s fourth and last League Cup win with Forest was won by a single Nigel Jemson goal against Oldham Athletic in 1990. While Jemson made his name in the top-flight scoring 22 goals in almost 100 games for Forest and then Sheffield Wednesday, his most prolific spell came with 27 goals in 68 games across two seasons for Oxford between 1996 and 98 (we’ll ignore the 18 appearances with no goals two years later).