In the past that was impossible yet Brian Clough’s initiation at Hartlepool did him no lasting harm and his son says

In the past that was impossible yet Brian Clough’s initiation at Hartlepool did him no lasting harm, and his son says he willingly took the gamble to go to Burton, where his father’s partner, Peter Taylor, also began his coaching career. I know that my first step as a manager will probably determine my whole career. I thought that only those players who recognised that fact would become the successful managers of the future. He explained: “My feeling was that people didn’t realise what a big step it was going from player to manager. It was one that David Platt, the former Arsenal and England player, chose to avoid when last summer he gave up the struggle for a first-team place and decided it was time to think about his long-term future. That is the big gamble for any young manager setting out at or near the bottom.

“I’m very aware that if it goes wrong at Burton there may not be a future”. WHEN Nigel Clough recently took over as manager of the Dr Martens League club Burton Albion he fended off endless questions about comparisons with his father, Brian, then remarked that the real question he had to answer was whether he had made the right decision to start his future in management in non-League football. But there is no doubt which of them has the better long-term view.. But good judges say this is the poorest German side for 40 years and there is not even a Breitner or a Brehme in sight, let alone a Beckenbauer.

In the Parkstadion, Rijkaard stayed quietly in the dug-out, a good 20 yards from the action; Ribbeck sat hunched in a plastic seat at the side of the pitch. Defeat by Croatia supposedly banished the old order, yet five of the starting line-up in Gelsenkirchen were thirtysomethings.One comic passage of play which included a clearance against his own man by Matthaus, a fearful miskick and then a dreadful backpass by Andy Moller brought howls of derision from the Dutch and an embarrassed silence from the small bank of German fans. There could be no more apt metaphor for the present parlous state of the German team. It was fitting that the match should be staged as a farewell to the Parkstadion, which is to be replaced by a new all-seater stadium with a retractable roof as part of the bid for the 2006 World Cup, and that the road leading to the stadium should be lined with ageing power stations. While forever remembered and, in some quarters, revered for spitting at Rudi Voller during their second- round match at the 1990 World Cup, Rijkaard was never a disciple of the “football as war” school of thought.If Rijkaard has a little fine- tuning to perform on his Dutch sports car, Ribbeck faces a complete overhaul of the German diesel.