Brian Clough and Derby County : From Glory to Disaster. The inside story as told by the DCFC Board Meeting Minutes

Brian Clough’s time as Manager of Derby County is the most successful period in the history of the club. But it all ended acrimoniously when he resigned in 1973. Told through the official board meeting minutes, this is the inside story.

Whilst all was fine on the field with the club's first league title and European competition, the relationship between the Manager and Directors deteriorated during the latter years to a point where they went their separate ways amidst a very public row.

For the first time, with exclusive, authorised access to the Board Meeting Minutes, we are able to reproduce many of these from the start of the 1970-71 season through to the early part of the 1973-74 season.

We learn about the European ban in 1970, the controversial signings of players and the numerous complaints made to the footballing authorities about the conduct and comments made by the Manager about other clubs.

Additional comments from the author provide background details to the events discussed in the Board Meetings and, together with several autobiographies forms an important addition to the history of the club.

About the Author

Andy Ellis is a life-long Derby County supporter and saw his first game during the Division Two promotion season of 1968-69 and has been fortunate to see the titles won in 1969 and 1972 and the club’s first European matches.

His fascination with the club began by collecting match programmes and then other memorabilia associated with the club covering tickets, photographs, trade and cigarette cards and any documents relating to the club.

He co-founded The Derby County Collection aiming to preserve the heritage of the club and having authored four previous books and writing in the match programme for many years, he currently acts as the Club Historian.