I Believe in Miracles

Brian Clough.  Iconoclast, genius, mischief maker, football manager.  I first remember Brian as Derby County manager at the end of the 1960s when together with Peter Taylor, he set the football world alight with an exciting youthful team who gained promotion from the second division.   Clough's most important early signing was the wonderful Dave Mackay who played as sweeper and captained his younger teammates to the First Division title in 1972.

The club reached the semi-finals of the European Cup in 1973, but amidst much controversy they lost out to Juventus.  Like most football fans, I was astonished when Clough and Taylor left Derby later that year and went south to Brighton.  Even more amazing was the news in 1974 that Brian was replacing Don Revie as Leeds United manager.  Clough had lambasted the club and Revie for cheating their way to success, so it came as little surprise when he and Leeds parted ways after just forty-four days.  Tellingly, Peter Taylor had remained on the south coast when Brian went north.

In January 1975, Clough became the manager of Nottingham Forest who were then a mid-table second division club.  Eighteen months later, the dynamic duo were reunited when Peter Taylor came to the City Ground and things really did begin to move.  Forest were promoted to Division One in 1977 and then took the top flight by storm and became League Champions the next year.

The European Cup now came back into Clough's life, and after beating the holders Liverpool in the first round, Forest kept on going and reached the final following a tight two legged semi-final against Cologne.  Malmo awaited in Munich.  The final was a tense affair, settled by a headed goal from Trevor Francis who was making his European debut following his million pound transfer from Birmingham City earlier in the season.  The 1979-1980 season saw Forest retain the trophy against Hamburg in Madrid.

That was the peak of Clough and Taylor’s career together.  Peter left Forest to retire in May 1982, only to come back to manage Derby County seven months later.  Brian and he sadly fell out the following year over a player’s transfer and never spoke to each other again.  Meanwhile, Forest continued as one of the top First Division teams throughout the 1980s, but never again approached the peaks of the late 1970s.  By the early 1990s, Brian was struggling with alcoholism and Forest were relegated from the Premier League in 1993 and Brian Clough retired from football management.

Peter Taylor had died in 1990 and Brian Clough cried when he heard the news, and attended his old friend’s funeral.  Brian finally underwent a liver transplant in 2003, but died the next year from stomach cancer.  So ended the life of a true footballing great, and although far from perfect, Brian Clough really did help so many of us believe in miracles.

Everybody Dance 😊

Chic have been one of the greatest groups around for the past forty years.  Nile Rodgers has been leading the band since they were formed and what fantastic music he has made.

I first recall hearing Chic in 1977 when Dance, Dance, Dance was a hit. It was followed by a succession of great singles such as Everybody Dance, Le Freak, I Want Your Love and the era defining Good Times in 1979.  I had the pleasure of seeing Chic live in the Autumn of 1979 at the Liverpool Empire and they were absolutely fantastic.  Along with The Beatles in Llandudno in Summer 1963, this remains my favourite of all concerts.

Nile had Bernard Edwards on bass and Tony Thompson on drums on stage with him that night as well as many other contributors to what had become known as the Chic Organisation.  The string section of the group made their disco/funk/ pop sound even more unique and people were dancing in the aisles all evening long.

Fast forward a few months and Rapper's Delight by The Sugarhill Gang was all over the airwaves.  At the time (like Nile Rodgers apparently) I did not appreciate the song.  In fact, Rodgers and Edwards threatened legal action over copyright but settled when they became credited as co-writers.  Again, similar to Nile, over the years the song has grown and grown on me and it is now one of my (and his) favourite songs and of course was instrumental in introducing hip hop to the public at large.

The 1980s saw Nile as one of the decade's top producers with artists as diverse as David Bowie, Duran Duran and Madonna.  By the time the 1990s was with us, I had lost touch with the popular music scene to some extent, but remember the shock when reading that Bernard Edwards had died of pneumonia following a concert in Japan in 1996.

This century has seen Nile touring with Chic, including two magnificent performances at Glastonbury over recent years.  He has also survived prostrate cancer and contributed to Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories album.  Nile Rodgers is one of my all time musical heroes and here is the song inspired by Nile and Bernard being refused entry into Studio 54 on New Year’s Eve 1977:

Remembering John Wetton

I have only recently become aware about the sad passing of John Wetton earlier this year on 31st January. 

He was a great singer, songwriter and bass guitarist with a number of bands including Family, UK and Asia.  However, I first became aware of John when he joined King Crimson in 1972 and contributed to their fine LPs Lark's Tongue In Aspic, Starless and Bible Black, Red and U.S.A.  This was for me the best line up of Crimson due in no small part to the rhythm section of John and Bill Bruford.  Stand out songs from this era include Easy Money, Exiles, Book of Saturday, The Night Watch, Fallen Angel and the incomparable Starless.

As previously mentioned, John was involved with other bands and musicians until he lost his fight against cancer.  Thank you so much for all the wonderful music that meant (and means) so much to me John.

World Cup 1978

Argentina, Summer 1978. The World Cup had come to South America for the first time in sixteen years.  England had again failed to qualify following the Don Revie years, despite rallying under Ron Greenwood and Scotland were again the sole British representatives this time due to a highly contentious win against Wales at Anfield in Liverpool.

Favourites for the competition included the host nation, Brazil, West Germany, Italy and The Netherlands.  There were fears before the tournament of possible threats to players and the great Johan Cruyff refused to take part apparently due to a plot to harm his family if he did play.

Although therefore diminished, the runners up from four years previously again played some of the best football of the competition, especially in the second group stages.  However, we are getting ahead of ourselves, so let us start from the beginning.  The tournament kicked off on 1st June when the defending champions West Germany met Poland in a 0-0 draw in Buenos Aires.  The Germans looked solid, but many of their stars from 1974 were gone (including Frank Beckenbauer and Gerd Muller) and the team lacked flair in many key areas.

The first group stages established Italy as a strong and skillful side and Brazil emerged as a much less physical team than the one who had muscled their way in West Germany four years before, showing more finesse this time.  At this point, the name of the Welsh referee Clive Thomas comes into our tale.  Brazil were playing Sweden in the first game of Group C and the score was 1-1 with 90 minutes  almost up when they gained a corner.  Nelinho was forced to re-spot the ball by the linesman before bending a right footed kick right onto Zico's head who powered it into the net.  Brazilian celebrations were short lived, however, as Mr Thomas dramatically disallowed the "goal" stating that he had blown the full time whistle before Zico had met the ball.  This result had repercussions later on in the group when Brazil finished as runners up to Austria on goal difference, so progressing to the same second round group as Argentina and a certain Peruvian team...

Peru had "shocked" Scotland in Group D with a 3-1 victory, but those of us who remembered how well they had played in Mexico in 1970 with their star player Teofillo Cubillas still present were not quite so surprised.  The Netherlands ended Ally MacLeod's side's hopes in that Group's final game by losing only 2-3 so the Dutch ended up progressing into the second round.

In Group One, The Netherlands just pipped Italy to the top, courtesy of some truly spectacular goals from Arie Haan and Johnny Rep in particular.  Group Two featured Argentina, Brazil, Poland and Peru.  With one game left, Argentina needed to beat Peru by at least four clear goals.  Peru had acquitted themselves in the first round rather well but had lost to Poland and Brazil in this group.  However, a 6-0 victory to Argentina raised suspicions that certain pressure had been placed on the Peruvians to allow the home nation passage to the final which years later appeared to be confirmed.  The Peru goalkeeper Quiroga (nicknamed "El Loco") had indeed shone in the first few games with frequent excursions to the half way line, but he seemed particularly below par in this notorious game.

And so, on 25th June, Argentina and The Netherlands met in Buenos Aires.  It was an ill tempered affair with Mario Kempes putting the South Americans ahead just before half time and Dirk Nanninga equalising with 8 minutes remaining.  With literally seconds left, Rob Rensenbrink hit the post and with that, Dutch hopes were dashed.  Kempes and Bertoni confirmed Argentina as champions in extra time and the South Americans became World Cup winners for the first time.  For The Netherlands, the golden age of the Seventies had come to an end, but as we shall see, a decade later they would end up as European champions with another great team.

The Good Old Days??? In a land of Brexit

And so it came to this on 23rd June, 2016.  A slim majority of the British population who bothered to vote, voted to leave the European Union.  At first I could not quite believe it.  Forty years of progress seemed to count for nothing.  The great European success of co-operation and optimism had been dashed by the wishes of small minded/hyper ambitious men like Nigel Farage, Michael Gove and Boris Johnson.

The dream of a Europe dedicated to peace and progress had been forgotten due to fear and  frustration brought on by the austerity policies of firstly the Conservative/Liberal coalition of 2010 - 2015 and then even more harshly, the Tory government of 2015 onward.  Many people outside the big metropolitan cities had understandably had enough of hard times and blamed foreigners for their circumstances rather than those in charge closer to home.

It has become apparent in the months since the vote that nostalgia for the days of the British Empire was/is also a huge factor in the referendum result.  There now seems to be a feeling amongst certain sections of the media, public and parliament that the UK will go back to the era before the Second World War when Britain "ruled the waves" and not need those "nasty" Europeans who apparently have held us back over the past 25 years or so!

The vituperative hatred displayed towards the EU by certain British newspapers has verged on (and crossed over into) hysteria for years and undoubtedly influenced the voting intentions of a sizeable number of people.  Don't get me wrong; the EU has many faults and is certainly in need of radical reforms.  For example, the plight of Greece and young people in such countries as Spain, Italy and a number of others is terrible...Surely though, the UK should remain inside influencing the organisation.  The Euro should be abolished for a start and a much more intelligent and restricted freedom of movement policy that allowed certain areas and careers the current situation but clamped down on movement to and from poorer regions would help.

However, if the UK persists in trying to go "back" to the future, then Scotland and Northern Ireland will surely eventually leave the Union and England and Wales face the danger of becoming a low tax, low wage economy that will take decades to recover.