Legendary Clough loses cancer battle

Former Nottingham Forest FC manager Brian Clough, who won the European Champion Clubs' Cup in 1979 and 1980, has died from stomach cancer at the age of 69.

Domestic success
Clough passed away at Derby City hospital. He had been ill for some time and had needed a liver transplant in 2003. He was one of the most respected coaches in English football and retired in 1993 after a hugely successful career that saw him win the English title on two occasions, with Derby County FC in 1971/72 and with Forest in 1977/78, and the English League Cup four times.

Career highlights
Forest's first European Cup triumph came on 30 May 1979 when they beat Malmö FF 1-0 in Munich, thanks to a Trevor Francis goal. The same scoreline was good enough the following year when, on 28 May 1980, John Robertson gave the English side victory against Hamburger SV in Madrid.

Roxburgh tribute
UEFA technical director Andy Roxburgh, currently at the UEFA national-team coaches' conference in Stockholm, paid tribute to Clough. "It is a very sad loss for British football," Roxburgh said. "Brian Clough is one of the great managers, and one of my favourites. He was someone who understood football and produced successful teams."

'Dared to be different'
He added: "When you think what he did with a team like Nottingham Forest, it is almost impossible to imagine. People talk about characters, but the anecdotes about Brian Clough are legendary. He was a very interesting man in terms of management because he dared to be different. When people talk about developing coaches, the first thing is to be yourself - Brian Clough was one of the greatest examples of that."

'Major shock'