Ex-linesman and the real Cloughie

Myles Joyce rubbed shoulders regularly with Old Big 'Ead during nine years as a Football League linesman.

The 62-year-old father-of-four rarely left a game involving Clough without a tale to tell.

He said: "I remember doing a Nottingham Forest game just after a new rule had been brought in preventing goalkeepers from marking the pitch.

"I went into the Forest dressing room to check the players' studs and jewellery and I had a word with the goalkeeper, Hans Segers, to remind him yellow cards would be awarded to goalkeepers breaking the new rule.

"I was leaving, Brian Clough asked me what I had just said to his goalkeeper, so I told him.

"He said: 'do you think he understood you?' I said 'yes'. And he said 'well, could you ask him if he plans to catch the bleeding ball this week?'

"There was another Forest game when the referee was retiring and he asked before the game if he could keep the matchball.

"No-one was too sure but at the end of the match 'Cloughie' and the club secretary appeared at the door of our dressing room with a signed ball and a beautiful glass vase with his name on it.

"Brian was standing there talking to us and one of the apprentices kept appearing with a brush, unaware that Cloughie was standing behind the door.

"He asked him if he had got anything to do and the lad said he was waiting to clean up.

"So Cloughie said 'while you're waiting, young man, you can clean my car'.

"As we left the ground, there were two apprentices cleaning the car.

"I remember doing a match at the City Ground when Forest were 2-0 up and Coventry came back to draw 2-2 with an equaliser from a penalty.

"The Forest players were angry about the handball decision but Cloughie came in afterwards and told us it was a spot-on decision.

"My last game was at the City Ground, Nottingham versus Leeds, just before Forest went to Wembley to play Tottenham in the FA Cup final.

"I took my son, who was 13 or 14, to show him behind the scenes and he was standing in the corridor, leaning on the wall, when Cloughie appeared from the home dressing room.

"When he saw my son he said 'is the wall falling down, young man? Take your hands out of your pockets and stand up straight'.

"Whatever is said about Cloughie, I never had any problems with him."

Mr Joyce, who works for the Express & Star as a property advertising representative in Cannock, retired as a linesman in 1991.

He reckons Clough, who is portrayed by Sheen in The Damned United, which hits cinemas this evening, was one of the most courteous managers he dealt with.

The former linesman said: "I would say that he and Graham Taylor were the best. David Pleat was always a gentleman as well but Cloughie was always a bit special."