{"id":25,"date":"2015-07-01T13:15:38","date_gmt":"2015-07-01T12:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/?p=25"},"modified":"2017-02-07T11:23:22","modified_gmt":"2017-02-07T11:23:22","slug":"fm15-beating-brian-will-they-one-day-argue-who-was-better-clough-or-darwen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/2015\/07\/fm15-beating-brian-will-they-one-day-argue-who-was-better-clough-or-darwen\/","title":{"rendered":"#FM15 : Beating Brian : Will they one day argue who was better, Clough or Darwen?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brian Clough is one of my favourite managers ever.\u00a0 Not so much because of what he won, or the teams he put together, but more because of the man himself.\u00a0 I know Bob Paisley was probably a better manager.\u00a0 I know that Ferguson hammers him on trophies won.\u00a0 Hell, even Bobby Gould won the FA Cup as a manager.\u00a0 But none of them, and I mean none of them, had the personality, the alluring character and the sheer entertainment value as Brian Clough.<\/p>\n

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Michael Sheen’s portrayal of him in the movie “The Damned United”, adapted from David Peace’s excellent novel, was a work of art.\u00a0 Even typing this now I can hear his voice.\u00a0 Clough was at his best when he took over an ailing club and rebuilt it into a something new, he was not at his best when he took over something that was already working well – Leeds for example.\u00a0 In taking over Wolverhampton Wanderers, claimed to be “Champions of the World” back in the 1950’s, I have my own version of Clough’s Derby or, to a lesser extent, his Nottingham Forest.<\/p>\n

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I have my methods of playing this game we all love.\u00a0 Mine are slightly different, just like Brian’s were.\u00a0 I think in his own way he would have respected me.\u00a0 He was one for the non-obvious too and, although I suspect he didn’t sit there pouring through data as I now do, he was always looking that bargain, that player that others had written off but he could get more out of.<\/p>\n

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The method, inspired by a bit of Moneyball<\/i> and a bit of Soccernomics<\/i>, has been christened “Searching the Stats.”\u00a0 My good friend Alex Stewart hosted my initial thoughts on how the system can be used in Football Manager to make better recruitment decisions and hopefully save some money at the same time.\u00a0 In a nutshell, I tend to ignore a player’s technical, physical and most of their mental attributes.\u00a0 At a push I will cast an eye over their determination, decisions and off the ball.\u00a0 What I am really interested in is the key performance data that tells me whether they are good at their job.\u00a0 To read up on my method, visit the original post at Put Niels in Goal here.<\/p>\n

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This recruitment strategy combined with the rules I have set myself below mean that Wolves should become known as a very, very well run club.<\/p>\n

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