IF you thought that signing Robbie Savage was the most foolish thing Derby County have ever done then think again. Today in 1973 chairman Sam Longson’s ego got the better of him as he forced County manager Brian Clough out.

Cloughie had taken over at the Baseball Ground in at the end of the 1966/67 season, taking over a side that was languishing at the bottom of Division Two. Within two years Clough and Peter Taylor had built a promotion-winning side and Clough would have his first stab in the top flight.

Back in the good old days when promotion didn’t automatically mean a season scrapping around trying to reach the 40-point mark, Clough led Derby to a very respectable fourth-place finish. Derby were denied the chance to take part in Europe due to financial irregularities, but soon got over this blow and in the 1971/72 season put together a title challenge against the two biggest teams of the era, Leeds United and Liverpool.

Derby’s season finished a week earlier than their two rivals and with the Rams sitting on top by one point with Leeds and Liverpool still having a game to play, Taylor took the squad on holiday to Spain, while Clough went to the Isles of Scilly with his parents. When Derby’s rivals failed to win, they had won their first ever title.

Cloughy took his side on a European tour the next year, making it to the European Cup semi-finals where they lost to Juventus in controversial circumstances.

Ever the diplomat, Clough called the Italian’s ‘cheating bastards’ and questioned their effort in the war. Behind the scenes, chairman Sam Longson was fuming, as cracks in their relationship worsened.

Two months into the next season Clough had had enough and walked out. Taylor and all the loyal backroom staff followed and Derby were in a bit of a tight spot. Fans protested at their next game, calling for the board to resign and for Clough to be reinstated.

That didn’t happen and Clough and Taylor took the reigns of Division Three Brighton and Hove Albion. After less than a year on the south coast, Clough left Taylor to begin his well-documented 44-day spell in charge of Leeds United.

In 1975 the pair were reunited at Nottingham Forest and Derby fans had to watch their former manager take their greatest rivals to two European Cups. Ouch.

See some classic Cloughy below and see what else was going down today here.

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