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Nigel Clough speaks on what non league means to him, friendly at Hucknall, and Mansfield

Nigel Clough speaks on what non league means to him, the friendly vs Hucknall, and looking ahead to the 2024/25 season with Mansfield Town.

The Stags continued their pre-season campaign with a 6-0 victory over Hucknall Town, who play in the United Counties League Premier Division North (9th tier), at the RM Stadium on Saturday afternoon, in front of a packed crowd which turned out to be the biggest at the host’s new home.

Hiram Boateng put the League One outfit ahead in the early stages before trialist Ben Quinn doubled their lead from the penalty spot before the break. Then trialist Eric McWoods, Keanu Baccus, Finn Flanagan and Stephen McLaughlin netted second half goals.

Interviewer: Thanks for bringing your team here this afternoon, Nigel, and congratulations on your promotion. You opened a facility here 18 months ago and you were one of the first to see the ground we stood on there. It was about 10:00 on a winter’s night. What does it feel like today? The first time we’ve had 1,200 supporters in this ground.

Nigel: It’s brilliant. It’s an ideal pre-season game for us. Could have done with a bit of water on the pitch, a bit of rain that we’ve had over the summer, but can’t do anything about that. But I thought it was a good game for everybody. We certainly got something out of it. The lads have worked physically hard today in muggy conditions as well and I thought your lads played very well.

Interviewer: Thank you. You and your family have a relationship with this club going back a long time. Obviously. Your Dad opened the facilities across the road. You opened the facilities here. What do clubs like this at this level mean to you?

Nigel: Well, we’ve played against them. When you start out somewhere like Burton, you know, the Dr Martens and the Unibond and things like that, then you get to come to places like this and you get to appreciate the work that goes into clubs, you know, that people are volunteers, work, you know. And we always said people don’t do it for the money because there isn’t any money at non league level, you know, to a degree playing. I know the players get a few quid and stuff, but, you know, they do it because they love the club or they like football and that’s it. And that’s why it’s such a contrast, I think, maybe to the highest level at times. You know, people see the money swilling around the top level and to see this, this is what real football is about.

Interviewer: And you said you’ve got what you wanted out of today’s game.

Nigel: Yeah, yeah, we always don’t want any injuries. It’s funny because we played yourselves, Retford on Tuesday and we had a game against Leicester last Saturday and that was the only injury we got against Leicester on a perfect pitch. So just got to show you can’t tell sometimes, but yeah, it was a good workout. We’ve had a tough week. So this is the third 45 minutes that players have played, they’ve done the track as well in Woolaton Park. So it’s week two for us and just under three weeks to the start of the season.

Interviewer: Okay, just turning to Mansfield, you were deservedly promoted at the end of last season. So, you know, that must be something that you personally you’re really proud of.

Nigel: Yeah, no, we’re just proud for the club and everything that we’ve had. Taken us three and a half years, probably a year or two longer than we would have hoped, but we got there in the end. I think the disappointment at Wembley a couple of years back, that’s been the motivation. And then missing out by one goal the previous season, we sort of sat down and said, this is it now. This is our season. We’ve got to do it in automatic if we can. We did that especially in the company of the Stockport and Wrexham. MK Dons were hot on our heels as well. So its a very, very strong league last year.

Interviewer: Absolutely, yeah. What do you see as the main challenges moving from League Two to League One?

Nigel: Well, staying in the league will be the main challenge. Its been 21 years since Mansfield have actually played in League One and came straight back down. So it’ll be an achievement, first of all, to do that, where you finish from there. Too many variables, you know, in a football season, how fortunate I am with injuries. A little bit of luck here and there as well. Can we get a couple of players in? You know, do you get lucky with the loans or fortunate? So were working on a couple of players coming in just to boost the squad. But we think we’ve got the nucleus of a squad good enough to compete at what level in League One. We’re not sure.

Interviewer: It must be a challenge to even manage supporter expectations when you get promoted.

Nigel: Yeah, it is. But I think they’re realistic when they have been all along. You know, they’ve been waiting for this promotion. They got back into the Football League and now gone on. I think two promotions in what, seven, eight years or something is pretty good going for the club, however long it is. So, you know, the owners are back the club now for over 12-13 years and it’s lovely reward for them as well.

Interviewer: Well, we thank you for today. It’s been a great occasion. It’ll take some years, I would imagine, for this, for this crowd number to be beaten. So we really appreciate you bringing your team here today and we wish you all the best in League One this season.

Nigel: Thank you. And all the very best for you this season as well.

Nigel Clough returned to the ground, which he helped open in December 2022 as guest of honour and also took part in a Q&A session at the time.

He reflected on his time as a non league manager during his first stint in charge of Burton Albion which began 24 years ago, saying: ‘People (on the outside) have no idea what it takes to keep a club like this going.’

When asked what he made of the facilities, he said, per Hucknall Nub News: “Absolutely beautiful. I remember the old ground from 20 odd years ago when we played there with Burton. New grounds are special, I think they get extra support come in because they come and see the facilities, they like it, it’s very important to have the bar as well as the beautiful stadium. It can be a good platform to build on for success, we know that from being at Burton.”

On if non-league has changed in recent years, he added: “I don’t think non-league changes. I think the honesty of the people and the dedication of them doesn’t change and that hasn’t changed in 50/100 years.

“People say football at the top level is all about money and it is, it’s not about it at this level because there isn’t any. So people do it for the love of the club, for the love of football and they do it out the goodness of their hearts and that’s what makes it special.

“You’d be amazed how many times when we’re at Mansfield, because I’m still with the same staff, Andy Garner and Gary Crosby, we talk about our non-league days, and in so many ways they were the happiest days. We used to get on a bus at 8 o’clock in the morning and go to Dorchester or Weymouth, get back at 3 o’clock in the morning from those sorts of places, and the lads would go to work the next day, that’s the essence of non-league.”

CLOUGH’S CAREER:

Senior career*
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

1984–1993 – Nottingham Forest – 311 games (101 goals)
1993–1996 – Liverpool – 39 games (7 goals)
1996–1998 – Manchester City – 39 games (4 goals)
1996–1997 → Nottingham Forest (loan) – 13 games (1 goal)
1997 → Sheffield Wednesday (loan) – 1 game (0 goals)
1998–2008 – Burton Albion – 227 games (16 goals)
Total – 630 games (131 goals)

International
1986–1988 – England U21 – 15 games (3 goals)
1990–1991 – England B – 3 games (1 goals)
1989–1993 – England – 14 games (0 goals)

Managerial career
Burton Albion – 28 Oct 1998 until 8 Jan 2009 – G709, W310, D101, L298, 43.72 win %
Derby County – 8 Jan 2009 until 28 Sep 2013 – G233, W78, D54, L101, 33.48 win %
Sheffield United – 23 Oct 2013 until 25 May 2015 – G104, W49, D30, L25 47.12 win %
Burton Albion – 7 Dec 2015 until 18 May 2020 – G228, W78, D57, L93, 34.21 win %
Mansfield Town – 6 Nov 2020 until Present – G202 – W92, D52, L58, 45.54 win %
Total – G1,476, W607, D294, L575, 41.1 win %

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