Clough demands honesty from players

The Rams were met with jeers and boos from the Pride Park faithful after being hammered 4-1 at home to Scunthorpe last weekend, which made it five games without a win for Clough's side.The Derby boss then held a tough-talking team meeting on Monday to tell his players he will not be accepting excuses anymore.The Rams duly saw off Millwall on penalties in the FA Cup on Tuesday and Clough was pleased with the character of his side.Now he wants more of the same from his players, insisting he only wants to see honesty from his squad.Clough told The Guardian: "I told them I'm not interested in their excuses any more."I've had 12 months of listening to excuses from players blaming this and that, trying to explain why they haven't done their jobs properly."But last weekend finished all that for me. It's black and white now - you either do your job or you don't do your job, end of story."I got them all together and I told them that all I would do from now onwards was pick our most honest side. It's time I saw some honest players."Clough added: "I didn't ask for feedback because I have been listening to them for long enough."They've given me feedback for 12 months: 'Oh, so and so was meant to cover me, I was caught in two minds, blah blah blah.'"Well, no more. I've tried in the past to cajole the players because I knew confidence was low."I've put my arms round the players and said 'bad luck' - but there are only so many 'bad lucks' and so many pats on the back you can hand out."Clough also revealed the support of the fans is keeping his head up as he seeks to turn things around at Pride Park.He added: "I've lived in Derby over 40 years and you feel like you are letting down everyone. If I lived an hour away maybe I'd have an escape - but I don't."It's much harder being a manager than a player because of the responsibility you feel to everyone. You can't switch off. You wake up in the night sometimes."But then the first person I saw in Sainsbury's last Sunday morning, a guy doing his recycling, the first fella I had seen since losing 4-1 to Scunthorpe, he said to me: 'Keep your head up, keep going.'"The next person said exactly the same. You might get some idiot who shouts something but the Derby people generally want their manager to do well." Coca Cola Ch'ship Promotion 09/10 Win Outright: Derby 80/1  

Source: Team_Talk