Episode 21: Peter Taylor - With Clough

In Episode 21, Al and Johnny review With Clough by Peter Taylor, the book that is believed to have created the rift between the two men that ultimately led to them parting ways and not talking for seven years before Taylor's death in 1990.

 

The pair had played together at Middlesborough. When they met, Taylor was a jobbing sub keeper and Clough was being overlooked by a team that found his ego largely outweighed his ability on the field. In Taylor, Clough found a champion, who canvassed for him to play and helped nurture a talent that was eventually realized on the field.

 

But much more famously, Clough and Taylor became the most successful management duo in the history of English football, winning the Football League with lowly Derby and then with Nottingham Forest, where they also managed to win the European Cup twice.

 

But the magic of their footballing romance was equaled in intensity by the acrimony of their falling out. It is such a remarkable story that we take it up here for the second time, having just done Clough’s autobiography in our previous episode.