Source: Daily_Mail
Martin O'Neill delves into Brian Clough memories in bid to lift Sunderland
Thursday morning. The first 'home' pre-season game for Sunderland, so a press call. And Martin O'Neill was reminiscing about Brian Clough.[LNB]He was about to return to the club where Clough and trusty assistant Peter Taylor cut their managerial teeth on their way to becoming European champions. Hartlepools, as it was known then, where they spent as much time redecorating the ground as they could rebuilding a team. The great man remembered the time fondly.[LNB]O'Neill said: 'He would talk about the chairman who was 5ft 2in and his feet couldn't touch the floor when he sat down. He and Peter Taylor were really funny taking about those days.' [LNB] Driving to success: Brian Clough in his Hartlepool days[LNB] More from Colin Young... Northern Exposure: All quiet in the north east... but things are about to get busy24/07/12 Northern Exposure: The north east team of the 2011-12 season15/05/12 Northern Exposure: Trapattoni can help Sunderland winger McClean be a Euro star08/05/12 Northern Exposure: North East duo hold key to Manchester's title race01/05/12 Northern Exposure: Middlesbrough have 90 minutes to keep Premier League dream alive... or face the consequences27/04/12 Northern Exposure: Newcastle and Sunderland face battle to keep hold of their best players17/04/12 Northern Exposure: Ben Arfa's dream goal makes European football even more of a reality for Newcastle10/04/12 Northern Exposure: Sunderland cup joy would be Euro nightmare for Toon27/03/12 VIEW FULL ARCHIVEThe pre-embarrassing-defeat-at-Hartlepool press conference also presented an opportunity to quiz O'Neill on the difference between the modern player and those of his generation who had a rather different outlook to close season.[LNB]In those days it was common for players not to see a ball for the first week. Day one meant run, run and run some more. Right up O'Neill's street.[LNB]'Players will mostly stick to a programme now,' he said. 'I think there is a realisation that you can play for longer. Years ago, when we hit 30, the feeling was that it was all-but over. Now with the money being so good, it's worthwhile the players staying in shape to prolong their careers.[LNB]'I was the same on the first day of training as I was on the last - dreadful. John Robertson was worse. We used to run around a lake at Woolerton and they didn't have a stopwatch for John, they had a calendar out.[LNB]'Funnily enough, it was always the case that the boys who could belt around that lake the quickest were never in the team when the season started. Of the four or five who could run brilliantly, if you threw a ball at their feet they would fall over it.' [LNB] Memories: Sunderland boss Martin O'Neill[LNB]But it was recalling Clough's own attitude to pre-season that brought arguably the biggest revelation about the first summer warm-up Sunderland and the club's players have experienced under O'Neill.[LNB]He recalled: 'Our pre-season at Forest was overall less demanding than at other clubs. I went down to Norwich at 28, Mel Mechin was the manager, and the pre-season was purgatory. Shocking, really, really shocking. I thought he had no respect for the number of games I had played![LNB]'We didn't see too much of Cloughie during pre-season. He went to the games, which he held a lot of store in. That was really important. He always felt that players should take responsibility to get themselves into some sort of condition. [LNB]'Whathe was brilliant at was giving you time off. If you had given your heart and soul into the game then you needed the time because the seasonwas too long. Jimmy Gordon was our trainer and Cloughie trusted him. But we never saw him until we went out to Germany, as it normally was, to play some games.' [LNB]O'Neillis a manager who, like Clough, tends to leave the day-to-day coaching to his coaches. So when he says that Clough tended to concentrate on players' form in the July matches, and no doubt results, rather than thewinner of the club cross country championship, you got the feeling O'Neill might just feel the same.[LNB]Andthe reaction to that his pilgrimage to Hartlepool? Sunderland up the ante in the move for Steven Fletcher, and no doubt a few more O'Neill iskeeping very close to his chest. Stand by for other reinforcements. Andimproved results as Sunderland hit the road this week for games in Helsingborgs, York, Derby and Leicester.
