Bully to face old England ally
Stafford boss Steve Bull will face an old England teammate at Marston Road tomorrow night and the man he would like to emulate as a manager - Burton boss Nigel Clough.
Stafford boss Steve Bull will face an old England teammate at Marston Road tomorrow night and the man he would like to emulate as a manager - Burton boss Nigel Clough.
Clough will again lace up his boots to play for Burton reserves against their counterparts from Stafford, with Bull in close proximity to run the rule over his side.
The two former Midlands stars know each other from their time with the national team.
Then-Nottingham Forest midfielder Clough won his first full cap months after the Wolves legend burst onto the England scene in the run up to the 1990 World Cup.
The two drifted into non-league management when their playing careers ended but, whilst the Stafford boss has just eight months experience in his current role, Clough celebrates 10 years in charge of Burton this year.
Obviously parallels between the two are there to be seen and Bully admits he would love to emulate the success of his counterpart.
He said: "I have not had a chat with Nigel since I became a manager, so it will be nice to speak with him. He has done a great job at Burton and quite rightly I aspire to what he has done for that football club.
"He may have had the resources, but he has took Burton from nothing and made them a force. Now they are challenging for a place in the Football League.
"It has took him 10 years to get them there, which is an extraordinary amount of time for a manager to be at a club. It is normally one year and out you go these days!
"It would be nice if I do something similar here. We are a work in progress, much like Burton were and it takes time to build something like that. But if I could be at Stafford in four, five, six years time building something like that, I would be delighted.
"As for Nigel, the one thing I could never understand is why he has never been snapped up by a Football League club."
But while the Rangers boss will watch from the safety of the touchline, 42-year-old Clough will take to the field, something he has been known to do when the mood so takes him.
Bull said: "You have got to take your hat off to Nigel, still out there and playing for the fun for it. I may have played against him for Stafford, if I had two new knees!"
The Stafford squad will tonight head with Bully to the Esporta gym in Wolverhampton for a spin class, aiming to further build the endurance of his side.
He said: "It makes a change from training at Marston Road and at Esporta we can solely concentrate on the fitness side of our game. I have wanted to do this for a while."
