Nigel looks for payback
NIGEL CLOUGH says his Burton players are still stinging about the part Nottingham Forest played in their relegation from the Championship.
It means he definitely will not have to remind his players before tonight’s fourth round cup clash with his old club.
Forest’s limp finish against Bolton on the last day of the season helped condemn the Brewers to the drop from the Championship.
Burton, drawing 1-1 at Preston, were shattered when Forest surrendered a 2-1 lead in the last four minutes to lose 3-2 and help send Clough’s men down – with Burton also ending up losing to an injury-time Preston goal.
The former Forest star says recalling the pain of that fateful final day will be more than enough for his players.
“I won’t have to mention it before the game – the players know it whenever they see their wage slips at the end of every month,” said Clough.
“Our income as a club was slashed significantly, you’re talking about a 50 per cent cut in wages.
“That’s the reality. It’s written into their contacts – it’s a massive reduction. The players talk about it among themselves, we don’t have to mention it. We were four minutes away from staying up. We were safe with four minutes left. We’re still getting over it. It’s one of those things you don’t get over in a few months.
“It’s something that will be with us for the rest of our lives – to have it snatched away from us.
“Forest conceded two goals in those four minutes. Are we still frustrated with that? Yes. They won’t need reminding. That’s just financially, never mind everything else.
“Relegation is horrible. The feeling was that bad that we were on the floor even at the start of this season.”
Manager Clough, whose Burton side are 16th in League One, has untold happy memories about Forest where he played and where his father Brian enjoys legendary status for taking them to two European Cup victories.
And having already knocked out Aston Villa and Burnley in this cup, the Burton boss says the target of a place in the last eight is a massive reward.
“When you see who is left in the competition, getting through is a big prize for both clubs,” said Clough. “We won’t get carried away but we are aware of the size of the clubs left in. But we also know we have to get through this one first. We could quite easily have lost against Villa or Burnley, but you sneak through and we suddenly find yourselves in the last 16.”
Under the management of Brian Clough, Nottingham Forest won the League Cup on four occasions. Nigel played in two of them, scoring twice in 1989 as they beat Luton 3-1 and was part of the team which triumphed again a year later, defeating Oldham 1-0. Forest lie seventh in the Championship, having drawn 1-1 at Leeds on Saturday in a run of just one defeat in 10 games in all competitions.
Manager Aitor Karanka said at the weekend: “We can’t forget that for the last two or three months we’ve changed a lot of players and it’s not easy to train in the week because you have games every two or three days.
“The other teams respect us a lot now. They know when they play Forest we’re not Forest of the past few years.
“We’re in a good way and we need to keep it going.”
Karanka may hand a debut to Claudio Yacob. The former Argentina midfielder is yet to feature since signing in September.