THE STAR-SPOTTER WHO GOT A KISS FROM CLOUGH
He’s the talent spotter extraordinaire who set some of the Scottish game’s brightest stars on their way ... but Bobby Jenks insists his biggest kicks in football involved a kiss from Cloughie and taking money off Sir Alex!
TALENT-SPOTTER extraordinaire Bobby Jenks has a CV that is the envy of football scouts up and down the country. The Lanarkshire legend has been unearthing outstanding talent for clubs the length and breadth of Britain for the past 40 years.
He has worked for the likes of Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United, Motherwell, Heart of Midlothian, Hamilton Academical and Dunfermline Athletic, as well as spending 15 years with the SFA.
Even the Queen herself was impressed enough to invite him and his wife, Moira, to a tea party at Holyrood Palace in recognition of work undertaken in the community.
This highly-respected figure also has a trophy cabinet filled with various awards for his services to the game and his outstanding work in player recruitment.
Not surprising, really, when you consider he was responsible for the emergence of Brian McClair, the late Phil O’Donnell, James McFadden, Lee McCulloch, Dougie Arnott and Lee Erwin in a 22-year association with Motherwell.
He also indentified the talents of Steven Fletcher and Shaun Hutchinson, among many others, in addition to persuading Villa that John McGinn would turn a very tidy profit for the Midlands club when he was eventually sold on.
Not even Jenks could have imagined, surely, that the former St Mirren and Hibernian star is now being touted for sale at anywhere up to £75million.
But he isn’t holding his breath in anticipation of receiving a bumper bonus cheque for recommending that McGinn was the one Scottish player Villa should definitely go for.
For Jenks has never been in the football business just for the money. He has also enjoyed the rewards of working for some of the biggest names in the game. And none was bigger than ‘Old Bighead’ himself, the late Brian Clough (right).
The pair formed a close bond after Cloughie appointed Jenks as his man on the ground north of the border.
It proved to be a productive and lucrative partnership for Nottingham Forest and one that led to Jenks receiving several pecks on the cheek from his boss — and taking £40 off Sir Alex Ferguson.
Jenks recalled: ‘I had done the report on Celtic for Mr Clough prior to the teams meeting in the UEFA Cup in 1983 and, minutes before kick-off at the City Ground, the dressing-room door burst open and in he walked.
‘All he said to his players was: “Gentlemen, do not tackle their midfield. I want to see what they can do” and marched straight out.
‘Although Celtic pummeled them on a frozen pitch, they couldn’t score and afterwards the manager congratulated his players on a brilliant performance.
‘Before I left, I went to Mr Clough’s office to say cheerio and when I walked in, I heard a voice say: “Your match report was s **** ”.
‘When I looked to see who the voice belonged to, I saw a smiling Sir Alex and Archie
Knox sitting behind the door. Mr Clough clearly didn’t agree with that playful assessment. Instead, he grabbed me, told me my report had been wonderful and then kissed me on the cheek!
‘I also told Sir Alex that Forest would win at Celtic Park and that I was more than happy to have a wee bet with him. Sir Alex agreed to a £40 wager and I duly won my bet when Forest prevailed, 2-1 in the return leg.
‘But he clearly has a long memory, for when I wrote to him in 1997 to enquire if he had any vacancies, he added a P.S. to his reply stating: “It is not everyone who takes £40 from me!!!”.’
Not only did Cloughie put one over on Celtic counterpart Davie Hay on the pitch, he also ran up an expensive bar tab and left his rival to pay it.
After learning that Hay owned a bar in Paisley, Cloughie instructed the coach driver ferrying the squad from Glasgow Airport to make an unscheduled stop en route to their hotel.
Mine host wasn’t present when an array of international stars trooped into the bar to the amazement of the regulars and the pub manager was instructed to put up a round of drinks — and that his boss would be picking up the tab.
Although repeatedly asked to ‘Call me Brian’, Jenks could never bring himself to do so.
‘I was brought up to believe that if you respected someone, you should always address them accordingly and I had the utmost respect for Mr Clough,’ he explained.
‘He was a lovely guy, courteous and friendly, and I always believed that the way he behaved at times was designed to give him an edge, which it did.
‘But he never had any privacy. There was always someone wanting his autograph and, nine times out of 10, no matter where, people insisted on buying him a drink.
‘That was his downfall, I think, and it was very unfortunate.’
It was a measure of their mutual trust that Cloughie even encouraged Jenks to get behind the wheel of his brand new top-of-the-range Mercedes when he and his chief scout, Alan Hill, headed north on a signing mission.
Jenks had recommended
Dundee full-back
Tosh
McKinlay to Forest and a meeting had been set up between Dens boss Knox and
Cloughie at Dunblane Hydro. But it didn’t lead to a successful outcome after the Forest gaffer refused to entertain McKinlay’s price tag.
Jenks took up the story: ‘They called ahead to say what time they’d be arriving at my home and I asked them what they fancied for lunch. ‘They replied that a big fry up would be great as they’d had no breakfast and Moira produced the works, including slices of fruit pudding. ‘When they had finished their meal, the only thing left on their plates was the fruit pudding.
‘At that point, Mr Clough asked to have a word with Moira and when she appeared he looked at the fruit pudding and said: “Moira, we normally have that with custard”.
‘Mr Clough then threw me the car keys and instructed me to do the driving as he was exhausted after the drive from Nottingham.
‘I remember it was a brand new motor, yellow in colour, and an automatic, which was a problem because I’d never driven one.
‘Looking back, I think we bounced all the way out of Cleland on to the motorway.
‘Next thing, I got a tap on the shoulder and a voice said: “Excuse me, Bob, but you’re doing 140mph. Would you mind slowing down, please?”
‘Once we arrived, I made the introductions and Alan and I left Archie and Mr Clough to talk in private.
‘Our plan was to go for a walk, but we hadn’t made it past the front door when I received another tap on the shoulder: “Right, lads, let’s go”. It looked like six or seven months work had just gone down the pan and once we were back in the car I asked Mr Clough: “What happened, boss?”
‘“Well,” he said. “I asked Mr Knox what he wanted for his full-back and he replied £325,000. So I said: Mr Knox, just keep your full-back. Goodbye”.’
On another occasion, Cloughie demonstrated his generous nature when he paid for the annual Jenks family holiday.
‘We were having a bottle of beer prior to Mr Clough catching a flight from Glasgow when he asked me
Mr Clough was a lovely guy. I always had the utmost respect for him
what my holiday plans were,’ said Jenks.
‘I told him I’d booked a lodge at Silloth in the north east of England for a week at a cost of £150, which was quite a lot of money back then, but as a father of four daughters holidays were never cheap affairs.
‘Mr Clough mentioned that there was an excellent chip shop in Silloth famous for its fish suppers.
‘When his flight was called, I was given a customary kiss on the cheek and he also handed me two bits of folded paper, which I put in my back pocket.
‘Later, when I checked, £150 was wrapped in the first piece of paper and a tenner in the second… for the fish suppers, he explained.’
Jenks also witnessed at close quarters Clough’s unique manmanagement skills and talents as a psychologist.
He recalled: ‘We were on our way to London for a match when
Mr Clough instructed his assistant, Ronnie Fenton, to tell one of the young players sitting at the back of the coach that he would be making his debut the next day.
‘When Ronnie returned, he said that the youngster had turned white and started shaking when he was given the news.
‘An hour or so later, he again turned to Ronnie and announced that he’d changed his mind about the lad playing and told Ronnie to go and tell him.
‘When Ronnie reported back, he said that the colour returned to
youngster’s cheeks when he was given the second piece of news and he had visibly relaxed.
‘“Brilliant,” said Mr Clough. “He’ll play tomorrow after having a great night’s sleep!”.’
Jenks’ most recent post was at Villa, where he served as the club’s Scottish representative within their scouting team. It was he who first brought McGinn to the attention of the Midlands club, filing multiple reports on the midfielder in the belief that his combative qualities were exactly what the club needed to haul themselves out of the English Championship.
The departure of manager
Steve Bruce and a change of ownership at the club led to Jenks being relieved of his duties, but there is no doubt his legwork paved the way for the eventual transfer of the new fans’ favourite, who signed from Hibs for £2.75m in 2018. McGinn’s performances for club and country have led to talk of a major transfer to one of England’s top-six clubs, with Jenks insisting he wouldn’t be surprised to see his old friend Sir Alex recommending a move to Old Trafford.
‘He was a box-to-box player who could win the ball, fire it up to the striker and support him,’ said Jenks. ‘I felt he could add goals to his game and was dangerous around the edge of the box. He’s showing that now.
‘Villa needed someone like him. They didn’t have any player quite like him.
‘He has a great engine and attitude. He wants to win the ball back and does it so well.
‘What I do know is that Sir Alex Ferguson is wondering why Manchester United let a talented Scottish boy slip through.
‘He’ll be keeping a close eye on him, that’s for sure, and if he continues the way he is, you can bet he’ll be telling his pals at United, too.’
With such a clear eye for talent, it seems ridiculous, even in these Covid-19 troubled times, that no one has given Bobby Jenks a call offering him a job.
Why someone with such an impressive CV is currently unemployed is almost as great a mystery as the man who led a previously unheralded club to successive European Cup triumphs very much against the odds.
‘HE MUST HAVE A LONG MEMORY BECAUSE HE REMINDED ME OF THE FOREST BET WHEN I WROTE TO HIM IN 1997!’
Archie wanted £325,000 for Tosh. Clough said: ‘Mr Knox, just keep your full-back. Goodbye’