The Teesside Project

When Brian Clough grew up at 11 Valley Road in Middlesbrough, there were eight children at home and not much money coming in. His dad Joseph worked long hours at a sweet factory near Ayresome Park, while his mum Sally ran the house, fed eight children and cleaned eight pairs of shoes every night. Clough never remembered any of it as hardship. “Anything I have achieved in life has been rooted in my upbringing.” “Some might have thought No. 11 Valley Road, Middlesbrough, the end of the terrace, was just another council house, but to me it was heaven.” They slept three to a bed, his dad grew rhubarb and sprouts in the garden, and Clough remembered his mum being there every day when his father left for work. “If anyone should be grateful for their upbringing, for their mam and dad, I’m that person.” “I was the kid who came from a little part of paradise.” Even after he became one of the most famous managers in the country, won two European Cups with Nottingham Forest and lived a very different life, Clough never really separated himself from where he had come from. “Everything I have done, everything I’ve achieved, everything that I can think of that has directed and affected my life, apart from the drink, stemmed from my childhood.” “Maybe it was the constant sight of Mam, with eight children to look after, working from morning until night, working harder than you or I have ever worked.” That side of Clough came through particularly strongly during the miners’ strike in 1984 and 1985. It was happening right on Nottingham Forest’s doorstep, with Nottinghamshire becoming one of the most divided areas in the country as some miners continued working while others joined the strike. Clough made his position clear. “All right-minded working-class fans should contribute towards the miners’ fund.” He was seen on picket lines during the dispute and refused to distance himself from the families who were going without wages while it continued. By that stage Clough had money, trophies and a profile far beyond anything his parents could ever have imagined when he was growing up in Middlesbrough. But when he spoke about the things that had shaped him, he kept going back to the same house, the same parents and the same childhood. “I adored it in all its aspects.” “If anyone should be grateful for their upbringing, for their mam and dad, I’m that person.” “I was the kid who came from a little part of paradise.” #football