dgraywatson

During the 1960's and 1970's there was paranoia in the USA regarding nuclear power. Nuclear power first came to prominence was the plutonium and uranium bombs dropped on Japan in 1945. In Hiroshima the bomb killed 40,000 people instantaneously and another 30,000 days weeks and months after the attacks, the city was destroyed and radiation was an issue for decades to come. So it's hardly surprising that the green movement would be hostile to nuclear power as a source of energy whose misuse could lead to devastating consequences. An explosion, or a meltdown of the nuclear reactor could lead to a radioactive leak that would be devastating to the surrounding environment.

The China Syndrome taps in to this paranoia, and on viewing this today, you'd have to wonder why the Nuclear industry didn't sue the studio who made this film as a gross ,misrepresentation of the nuclear industry. The reason they didn't was because only a few days after the film was released there was an accident at the nuclear power plant on Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania. The result was a ruptured steam pipe and a small amount of radiation was released into the air. To this day it was the worst accident at a nuclear power plant, although it has to be said that nobody died and any radiation that got into the air was no threat to life . Nevertheless, it was a massive publicity boost for the film and only reinforced the anti nuclear campaigns many countries. The naysayers over nuclear power have always argued that there only has to be one major disaster, and eventually it will happen, but or the time being nuclear power has an impressive safety record. The USA has 50 nuclear power plants, France 18, UK 5, Switzerland 3 and Germany zero.

So it's all a mixed bag, some countries going all in, others like Germany and the UK with huge populations with very little nuclear power. Many people think that the anti-nuclear lobby was spearheaded by Green Peace or lobbyists like the Sera Club, in fact it was heavily financed and supported by the fossil fuel industry who saw nuclear power as a threat to their monopoly. The film itself is a thriller, with an impressive cast with the likes of veteran actor Jack Lemon, the smart looking and articulate Jane Fonda and a young Michael Douglas all supported by an assortment of character actors.

After a fairly successful football career, Brain Clough retired at the relatively young age of 30 and then made the leap into coaching. Three years earlier he'd suffered a serious knee injury during a match which is an all to common occurrence in the game. Although he recovered, the knee was never the same and consequently he only managed to play for the first team in a hand full of matches over the following two years. With football in the blood, coaching seemed like an obvious decision, however it's not a transition that is easy. There is a laundry list of former players who achieve success and honors in the game, that find that they are not suited to that role. That certainly wasn't the case for Brian Clough, who found himself at the right place at the right time and by 1968 at the tender age of 33 was appointed manager of second division Derby County. It has to be noted that his assistant Peter Taylor was another former player who he'd built up a good relationship, turned out to be good at spotting talent and scouting players.

Within four years Clough would take the struggling and underachieving Derby County to become the winners of the first division league title, and as champions participated in the 1972/73 European Cup getting to the semi final. This was quite an achievement, at 37 years of age he was now firmly established as a marquee manager in English football with the likes of Bertie Mee, Bill Nicholson, Matt Busby, Don Revie, Joe Mercer and Bill Shankly. Most of these managers were from the old school and consequently were quite reserved (with the exception of the flamboyant Malcolm Allison), compared to the charismatic Brian Clough . He was never shy in front of the camera and was quite comfortable voicing an opinion or highlighting the short comings of other teams. He was a frequent guest on tv as a football pundit and wrote columns for the newspapers and got a name for himself as outspoken and arrogant, but others found him entertaining and inciteful.

Despite this success, behind the scenes at Derby things weren't very good between Clough and the chairman who resented spending a lot of money on the transfer market and was particularly incensed with the manager signing players without his permission. The chairman who also was from the old school just wanted to go through the motions and run the club on a shoestring , but the younger and more ambitious manager wanted success. Money was now a big part of the game and Clough knew that you had to move fast to get he right players when they were available. Transfer fees were only going to get higher, and sometimes you had to pay the money and other times you could pick up a player for value. This led to a showdown, he and Peter Taylor tried to instigate a coup' by resigning in the hope that backlash from the loyal fans would force the board to reinstate them and then oust the chairman. This didn't happen and the Derby County board backed the chairman, accepted both their resignations and appointed a new manager. Clough and Taylor were out.

This would signal a turbulent couple of years for Brain Clough as he and his assistant only got offered a position at third division Brighton. In a way, not only had he worn out his welcome with Derby County but apparently with the first division too. This was the second time Clough and Taylor had tried to oust the chairman and it may have given the other clubs the jitters about hiring Clough and Taylor. The word might have been out in the very conservatively run English league that he was difficult to deal with, and in the end not worth the trouble.

However, right out of the blue Leeds United who had lost their long time manager to the England national team offered him the managers job. This seemed like a strange move, because in the past he had been very critical of Leeds united who he felt played a cynical and dirty style of football to achieve their success. Although he took up the position, (Peter Taylor stayed with Brighton) the well established players took his comments personally and resented him being the manager. After one win out of six matches, the players took their case to the clubs board and the 39 year old Brian Clough was sacked after 44 days. A few months later he became manager of Nottingham Forrest who were circling the drain near the bottom of the second division. Within months he persuaded Peter Taylor to leave Brighton and join him at Nottingham Forrest. The experience with Derby county and the short lived tenure at Leeds would come in useful going forward with Nottingham Forrest. Clough learned that you couldn't have an antagonistic relationship with the chairman, the board and the players all at the same time. Although there was no room for sentimentality in the business of football, a forceful and pushy personality would only carry you so far, you had to build up some relationship with the people around you. He never experienced the same issues with the chairman and the Nottingham board as had at Derby and Leeds. Forrest earned promotion to the first division in the 1975/76 season, won the Anglo-Scottish cup in 1977 and followed that up winning the first division championship in the 1977/78 season. The next season they lost out to their main rivals Liverpool and had to settle for the runners up position, but won their first European Cup. During this time they won back to back League cups, the European Super Cup in 1979. The following year they retained the European Cup with the satisfaction of beating domestic rivals Liverpool in the first round. All in all quite a selection of silverware.

After Peter Taylor left Nottingham Forrest, Brian Clough didn't have the same success, he continued keep Forrest competitive always finishing the season in the upper tier of the first division. There was a renaissance in the late 1980's with two Members Cups and two League Cups, but missed out winning the FA Cup in the 1990/92 season finishing runners up - the only trophy Brian Clough never won as manager.

The last question is why did the England leagues most successful manager not become the national team coach?? The unfortunate aspect to this was timing, because after the abrupt departure of Don Revie, Ron Greenwood was appointed temporary coach, but after a string of reasonable results, was given the job on a full time basis at the end of 1977. Clough had just got Nottingham Forrest promoted to the first division and the fact that the previous years had been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for him, the Football Association probably decided on a safe pair of hands and plumped for Greenwood. The perfect time for Clough to have been given the job would have been in 1980 after he'd won his second European cup, but the FA decided to keep Greenwood on until the 1982 World Cup. Another opportunity would have been after the 1982 World Cup when Ron Greenwood stepped down, but again he was passed over in favor of Bobby Robson. However, its quite likely that the Football Association wouldn't have wanted to have had to deal with Brian Cloughs ego and unconventional style of management. If things had gone wrong, the press would have had a field day exaggerating scandals on the England football team to sell papers and then hanging it around Cloughs neck. Another concern is that some of the England players who had success and honors at their clubs might have found Cloughs comments and style of management not to their liking . England missed out going to the 1984 Euro finals and so after just two years there were calls for Robson to resign or be sacked.t This may have been an other opportunity for Clough, but the FA stuck to their guns and kept the manager. In the 1986 World Cup, England the victim of one of the most blatant and cynical cheats ever seen, when the officials awarded a goal to Argentina that had clearly been punched in by a hand. England lost 2-1 and exited in the quarter final and this bad luck and aroused sympathy for Bobby Robson. England's earlier struggles in that tournament was overlooked and he was given a contract extension. This meant that Brian Cloughs window had completely closed. The medias favorite choice was passed by for the last time which in hindsight was probably a mistake - rolling the dice with the prickly and obtuse Brian Clough would probably have been worth it.

When Clough managed in football, there wasn't the money in the game as there was in the later decades. That all changed in the early 1990's with tv rights being sold to Sky. Consequently a massive amount of money went into the game through subscriptions to watch the matches, and this created a big increase in advertising revenue. That meant teams like Manchester United, who were already a marquee team, (that had underperformed for a number of years), with all the money that came their way, were now free to flex their purse-strings and buy up all the talent available. This would explain why Alex Ferguson who had only lifted one trophy in seven years was able to take advantage of this and racked up a lot of silverware over the next 20 years. Brian Clough was the past master in squeezing the last ounce of ability out of a player, motivating those who even themselves thought they were past their best and was able to create sense of purpose in a spirited team environment. Getting the right players whose face would fit to work in a system was the most import aspect of the game. By contrast Fergusson picked up and created a team of all stars with big ego's who were motivated by a massive pay cheque, notoriety and a celebrity status. Clough hated prima donnas like that, to him if they got too big for their boots he'd cut them down to size, which is something that wouldn't fly today. Alex Ferguson didn't have the ability to do what Brain Clough did, but by the time his managerial career was over, the inflated egos of the super rich players took precedent and Brian Clough would.

The charismatic Brian Clough was younger than the more reserved and well known coaches such as Matt Busby, Bill Nicholson, Don Revie and Bill Shankly. By contrast Clough oozed with self confidence , had a swagger, was very smooth even though he was very conscious of his working class background. The other thing to note about Brian Clough was very comfortable dealing with the media and was often able to put them on the defensive with his blunt answers and was never afraid to voice an opinion. However, it wasn't his behavior or perceived arrogance that he was famous for, because throughout the 1970's he was the English league's most successful manager and this carried on through the 1980's until he finally retired in 1993.

After having his football career ending with a serious knee injury, Clough moved into coaching and it all clicked in 1968 when he was appointed manager of second division Derby County along with his assistant Peter Taylor. From 1968 to 1972 Derby County went from an mid table also ran's to the first division champions and eventually to the semifinal of the European cup in 1973. During this period he appeared regularly as a tv football pundit and wrote columns for newspapers. His outspoken criticism made him popular with some and naturally rubbed others up the wrong way. He was a favorite with the media and he often made the headlines with his unorthodox methods as a manager as well as his criticism of other teams and players. He repeatedly clashed with Derby County chairman as he signed players without his knowledge and never consulted with the clubs board about personnel changes. This all came to a head with Clough and Taylor both resigning with the hope of the board would align with them and oust the "stick in the mud" chairman. It backfired and Derby County accepted both their resignations. It was clear that despite success Clough abrasive style wasn't particularly liked by many of the people who ran the game in England and he'd worn out his welcome. After not being picked by another marquee team, he and Taylor found themselves managing third division Brighton. However, a few months later it was the events that followed that would expose the limits to Cloughs forceful personality and charismatic approach to football.

In 1974 Leeds united longtime manager Don Revie left and became the England national coach. The Leeds board decided to offer the open position to Brian Clough, (although Peter Taylor decided to stay with Brighton as he saw Leeds not being a good fit). Brian Clough had been particularly critical of Leeds united and their manager Don Revie for adopting a cynical and dirty approach to the game which he didn't approve of, nevertheless he couldn't pass up the chance to have a crack at Leeds with the intention of molding the players into the type of team he thought they could be. The Leeds players still loyal to Don Revie, resented Clough, so after one win out of six matches the senior players made their case to the Leeds board and consequently Clough was sacked after 44 days. After a brief return to Brighton, in 1975 he eventually took over at Nottingham Forrest who were a struggling second division team and was soon joined by Peter Taylor the following year. After going through a turbulent couple of years this would be the beginning of a turnaround in fortune for Clough as Nottingham Forrest were promoted to the first division at the end of the 1976/77 season.

From 1977 through to 1980, Brian Clough not only equaled what he'd done in with Derby County but surpassed it. Nottingham Forrest won the Division one championship, League cup twice, the Charity Shield and the European cup twice. After the departure of Peter Taylor in 1982 the team wasn't as successful but nevertheless Clough consistently put Forrest in the upper half of the Premier league and staged a renaissance in the late 1980's with back-to-back League Cup wins. Brian Clough was consistently England's most successful manager from the late 1960's to the late 1980's, although his biggest success was in the 1970's. The only tournament he never won was England's jewel in the crown of English football - nevertheless an impressive collection of silver ware.

The most often asked question with Brian Cloughs managerial career was how England's most successful manager not became the manager of the England football team.

The fact that Clough had a forceful and obtuse personality might have not been the type of person that the Football Association wanted to deal with as he would have had no problem publicly criticizing the people in the front office that ran the England national team

. One of the advantages a national team coach has is that you don't have to worry about transfer fees and negotiating contracts and you can pick anybody as long as they are eligible to play for England. The downside is that you only have between and 8-12 matches a year, so there is little margin for error. Injuries to the top players through their club commitments can result in the inability to get a settled squad. This was compounded by the fact that by 1980, Arsenal, Manchester United, Nottingham Forrest, Liverpool, Ipswich town and Spurs six of best teams in the Premier league had too many star players that were unable to be selected for the national team because they weren't English.

The other issue with Clough is that some players took to him and others didn't, and as far as Clough was concerned if your face didn't fit you were in the reserves or even out. Clough liked to be called "boss" and the top senior players who had honors with other clubs might have resented his style and their fragile egos might have been unable to deal with Cloughs approach to motivating a team. Also, Brian Cloughs major success was when he had Peter Taylor as his assistant, who was a better scout than Clough. It's unclear if Taylor would have been part of the set up, because by 1982 their relationship had soured for the last time and both went their separate ways. As it was, England decided on a safe pair of hands and in 1977 went for the decent but uncharismatic Ron Greenwood who brought England back from the International wilderness. After his departure, Bobby Robson was picked and although he missed out on the 1984 Euro tournament on a single goal difference, England did qualify for the next three international tournaments with a semi-final appearance in the 1990 world cup. Robson's replacement was another establishment choice in Graham Taylor, but he had a rather torrent time as manager and after failing to qualify for the world cup finals in 1994 was unceremoniously dismissed.

The UK sports media and the press in particular have a particular habit of building somebody up and then tearing them to pieces. Brian Clough was their choice for England manager but they would have had a field day ripping Clough apart if the results had gone south. Sir Alf Ramsey who managed the 1966 England world cup winning team found that any good will he had with the media took a powder by 1973 when England failed to qualify for the 1974 finals. His replacement, Don Revie was the victim of consistent negative coverage which resulted in his family being abused by members of the public. Revie resigned in 1977 after securing a deal to coach the United Arab Emirates and was swiftly banned by the England football authorities, charging Revie with bringing he game into disrepute. This was eventually overturned by the courts, but signaled to any new manager that they had to tow the line, or else. Ron Greenwood was given the same treatment by the press but was spared the execution as England qualified for the two international tournaments during his tenure. By this time, criticism and insults by the English press towards the England manager was now just routine and Robson was exposed to the same type of ridicule and calls from him to be fired after any set back. It's hard to imagine Brian Clough being the type of person that the media would be easy on, and would more likely have a bulls eye on his back as soon as he was appointed England manager in the results oriented sport. The perfect window for Clough to have been England manager would have been from 1980 to about 1982 after winning back to back European cups.

When Clough managed in football, there wasn't the money in the game as there is now, that all changed in the early 1990's with tv rights being sold to Sky, consequently a massive amount of money went into the game through subscriptions to watch the matchesas well as a massve amount of advertising revenue. That meant teams like Manchester United which were already a marquee team who had underperformed for a number of years, or hadn't punched their weight with the extra revenue were now free to flex their purse-strings and buy up all the talent available. It was a turnaround in fortune, and would explain why Alex Ferguson who was appointed the manager in 1986 and only won one trophy in seven years, but after sky bought the tv rights in 1992 it was off to the races with the silver ware. Brian Clough was the past master in squeezing the last ounce of ability out of a player, and motivating players who even themselves thought they were past their best created a team environment that had spirit. Ferguson by contrast picked up and created a team of all stars with big ego's who were motivated by a massive pay cheque, notoriety and a celebrity status. Clough hated prima donnas like that, to him if they got too big for their boots, he'd cut them down to size, which is something that wouldn't fly today. Alex Ferguson didn't have the ability to do what Brain Clough did, but by the time his managerial career was over, the inflated egos of the super-rich players took precedent, and Brian Clough wouldn't have been suited to Football management from then on. He was certainly a product of his time.