Clough: Derby pain will drive me
CLOUGH: Blades’ new boss NIGEL CLOUGH says he will use the bitter blow of being sacked by Derby to drive him to success at Sheffi eld United.
Clough, 47, was named manager at Bramall Lane yesterday just under a month after being shown the door at Pride Park.
He was in charge of the Rams for four- and- a- half years and, after reducing the wage budget and working to stabilise the club, felt he was making good progress. Clough, who has signed a two- and- a- half- year contract at the League One club, said: “I was hurt about what happened at Derby. It was pretty shocking.
“We thought we were doing well with a team playing great football and making progress on the pitch.
“All the noises were quite positive about the job me and my staff had done then, all of a sudden, we were told it wasn’t good enough. I thought the best thing to do after being knocked down that way was to get straight back up again.
“I will use what happened to me at Derby as a motivation here.”
Clough was the Blades’ fi rst choice to replace David Weir, who they sacked a fortnight ago after just 13 games in charge. Coaches Andy Garner and Gary Crosby, who worked with Clough at Derby and previous club Burton, will join him at Bramall Lane.
The Blades are in the relegation zone after winning only two of their fi rst 12 league games and Clough’s fi rst game in charge will be against Crewe on Saturday.
He said: “The fi rst thing is to stabilise and pull us away from the bottom. Then I want to build a team that can challenge for promotion.
“The ultimate aim has to be to get this club back into the Premier League.”