Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger recalls influence of Nottingham Forest icon Brian Clough on his career: 'He was from another planet'

  • Arsene Wenger will  get a reminder of his past as he takes his seat at City Ground
  • Arsenal's boss was heavily influenced by Nottingham Forest icon Brian Clough
  • Wenger recalls driving through the night to watch Clough's training routines
  • The former Forest and Derby County manager was someone he looked up to

Arsene Wenger will get a warm reminder of his past as he watches Arsenal at Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup third round on Sunday.

Simply the mention of Brian Clough’s name brings memories flashing back for Wenger: of a City Ground corridor meeting, studying the legendary Forest manager as a youngster and later travelling by car at night to hone his coaching talent.

Wenger arrived in England in 1996, three years after Clough’s 18-year Forest reign came to an end — but the legacy of the two-time European Cup winner still sits in his mind.

Arsene Wenger will get a reminder of his past when he takes his seat at Nottingham Forest

Arsene Wenger will get a reminder of his past when he takes his seat at Nottingham Forest

Brian Clough was a major influence on the Frenchman during his early managerial career 

Brian Clough was a major influence on the Frenchman during his early managerial career 

Looking from the stands, as he serves the first game of a three-match suspension, the Frenchman will get a reminder of his first meeting with Clough at this stadium.


‘I didn’t say a lot because he was already fatigued and he was lean, very lean,’ Wenger said. ‘You could see he was not at full power anymore.

‘But of course I had huge respect and greeted him and wished him all the best. The conversations are always very limited after the games.’

Wenger’s admiration of Cloughie go back further than that short but memorable meeting in the mid-90s.

The Arsenal boss says the former Forest and Derby County man was someone he looked up to in his younger days.

Later, hungry for further insight, he would read up on Clough before starting his own managerial career in 1984. What he observed was a style ‘from another planet’ to what he was used to.

Signs of Clough's influence are all around Nottingham Forest's City Ground

Signs of Clough's influence are all around Nottingham Forest's City Ground

‘When I was a young boy you look at the big managers who were successful,’ Wenger said. ‘Today, all is available — easier. At the time you had to look.

‘I spent time, you would not believe, to see how managers work, to travel with my car at night and watch the training in the morning, come back home again. It’ s different now — you go on the internet and you have every exercise of every single club.

‘At the time you had to fight for your information and at the time it was a rarity to see, for me. Brian Clough was like a guy on another planet.

‘He’s a special person in English football. It is beyond his achievement, it’s his personality that has left a huge print in the history of the game so he will be remembered as one of the greatest ever.’

Clough, who died aged 69 in 2004, never won the FA Cup — a trophy Wenger has claimed a record seven times.

But in front of the Brian Clough Stand, he expects a real test of Arsenal’ s ability: ‘It’s a special venue for them,’ Wenger added. ‘That’s why we have to be absolutely ready.’