The 20 very best Brian Clough quotes as Nottingham Forest celebrate 40 years since European Cup triumph

Clough led Forest from the second division to the very top of world football - and he said some brilliant things along the way.

Yesterday marked 40 years since Brian Clough led his Nottingham Forest side to their second consecutive European Cup success.

John Robertson scored the winner that night in Spain as the Reds beat Kevin Keegan's Hamburg to make history.

But Clough was the mastermind that night as his side completed English football's greatest fairytale story - yes, Jamie Carragher, greater than Leicester's 2016 title win.

Clough had led his side from the second division to the very top of world football, and he said some brilliant things along the way.

Here are 20 of his very best quotes during his time in management and beyond...

"That Jose Mourinho’s got a lot to say for himself. He reminds me of what I was like at his age – but I was better looking."

"Rome wasn’t built in a day, but I wasn’t on that particular job."

"I’ve lost to a team [Walton and Hersham] that sounds like a firm of solicitors."

"He [Teddy Sheringham] was the slowest player on the staff. Probably because of all the nightclubs he told me he didn’t visit."

"Can that young Wayne Rooney live with all the hype?. If he’s as thick as I think he is – yes!"

"I call myself Big ‘Ead to remind myself not to be one."

"Whenever I felt a bit off-colour I’d go and sit next to John Robertson – then I looked like Errol Flynn."

"He [Peter Shilton] was standing there with his back to me. It had a big No1 on it and I told him there and then ‘There’s only one No1 at this club and it isn’t you!"

"Actually the half-time Oxo was was better than he [Gary Birtles] was, but I signed him anyway."

"Don’t worry too much about what to do, just give the ball to John Robertson and he’ll do the rest."

"When I signed Peter Shilton, Stoke’s chairman said he was brilliant but he would get me the sack. I told him straight ‘He’s not that f*****g brilliant!"

"I only ever hit Roy Keane once. He got up, so I couldn’t have hit him very hard."

"At last... England have appointed someone [Sven Goran-Eriksson] who speaks better English than the players!"

"Don’t send me flowers when I’m dead. If you like me, send me some when I’m alive."

"Football hooligans? Well, there are 92 football club chairmen for a start."

"If a player had said to Bill Shankly ‘I’ve got to speak to my agent,’ Bill would have hit him. And I would have held him while he hit him!"

"Peter Shilton was absolutely brilliant that season. He won us the title, but I didn’t dare tell him. One big head at our club was quite enough."

"Who’s been the biggest single influence on my career? That’s easy. Me."

"The River Trent is lovely. I should know, because I’ve walked on it for 18 years."

"I wouldn’t say I was the best manager in the business, but I was in the top one."