I Believe In Miracles: The Remarkable Story of Brian Clough's European Cup-Winning Team

by Daniel Taylor, Jonny Owen

On January 6, 1975, Nottingham Forest were thirteenth in the old Second Division, five points above the relegation places and straying dangerously close to establishing a permanent place for themselves among football's nowhere men.

Within five years Brian Clough had turned an unfashionable and depressed club into the kings of Europe, beating everyone in their way and knocking Liverpool off their perch long before Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United had the same idea.

This is the story of the epic five-year journey that saw Forest complete a real football miracle and Clough brilliantly restore his reputation after his infamous 44-day spell at Leeds United. Forest won the First Division championship, two League Cups and back-to-back European Cups and they did it, incredibly, with five of the players Clough inherited at a club that was trying to avoid relegation to the third tier of English football.

I Believe In Miracles accompanies the critically-acclaimed documentary and DVD of the same name. Based on exclusive interviews with virtually every member of the Forest team, it covers the greatest period in Clough's extraordinary life and brings together the stories of the unlikely assortment of free transfers, bargain buys, rogues, misfits and exceptionally gifted footballers who came together under the most charismatic manager there has ever been.

Genres: Football, Nonfiction, Sports

288 pages, Hardcover

First published November 12, 2015

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Daniel Taylor is a British journalist and author. He was the chief football writer for The Guardian and The Observer from 2012 to 2019, having joined the newspaper in 2000; in October 2019, he joined The Athletic. In March 2017 he won news reporter of the year and sports journalist of the year at The Press Awards for his series of stories about the United Kingdom football sexual abuse scandal.

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing story, which is really well told in this book (and the accompanying film is also a must see too) - how a club languishing in the second division could scrape promotion in third place and then win the top league the next season. Especially enthralling for me, as it happened when I was a teenager first getting into football (soccer to US readers) so I remember it all very well (and remember how almost boringly dominant Liverpool were back then). Didn't realise that not much progress was made by Clough to start with until he was reunited with Peter Taylor -it was always about the two of them even though Clough gets all the credit.

It was the season after that when it got really special though - they won the European Cup (now Champions League) two years in a row, for goodness sake. Leicester City last season runs them close for unexpected English title wins but that side of their achievements will never be repeated.

Favourite Clough quote that I hadn't heard before:
Archie Gemmill (smallest member of the team): "I'm not happy"
Clough: "Which one are you then ?"

(Snow White and the Seven Dwarves - if you don't get it straightaway)

[Mahlon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Believe in Miracles is the companion book to the Johnny Owen film of the same name, which celebrates the triumphs of Nottingham Forest football club between 1977-82, a period during which they won almost everything English and European football had to offer, including back to back European cups. This transformation was orchestrated by the management team of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor Who performed a football miracle when they took a struggling second division side, and made them the kings of Europe.

All the great Clough and Taylor stories are here, plus some you've never heard before, a must read for Forest fans, or anyone nostalgic for 70s era football. Well done Daniel Taylor! It's my hope that the increased exposure of this team leads to their eventual induction into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I'm not a Forest fan in any shape or form, but the story of such a remarkable rise with such rounded (read 'round' for Robertson and Lloyd) characters just carries you along. With terrific, humorous asides and stories of football past, this is a great read of the rapid rise of the second team in Nottingham.

Note: if you're a Liverpool fan your midfield come out of this very badly. Avoid if you have high blood pressure.

[Alex Kershaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome account of a management team of great genius - Clough and Taylor - and the greatest underdog team in football history, Notts Forrest 1977-1980 - five stars all the way.

[Pinko Palest · Rating 3 out of 5]

it's nice to be able to go back in time, when Brian Clough was at his very best. An intriguing read

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

The sheer number and scale of Forest's achievements in such a short space of time beggars belief. It's an amazing story and deserved some tighter editing: John Robertson was from Uddingston, not Uddington; the authors get terribly confused with Hartlepools/Hartlepool - the 's' was dropped in 1968 but there are post-1968 references to the team with the 's' and pre-1968 references without it; we are told that two FA Cup replays against Newcastle were held at Goodison Park, "to Forest's intense irritation" but not why they were irritated; Liverpool did not prevent Forest defending their title in 1978/79 but they did prevent them from retaining it; 1979/80 was not the silver jubilee season of the European Cup - a silver jubilee is 25 years and as the first competition was 1955/56 its silver jubilee was 1980/81; Archie Gemmill's fantastic goal against Holland in the 1978 World Cup saw him pick up the ball on the left hand side of the Dutch box, not the right; Pitesti is in the Wallachia region of Romania, not Transylvania, so the reference to the match being held "deep in Dracula country" is just lazy writing. There's also a major oversight in the bibliography: how can you write a book about Brian Clough and Forest and not include Duncan Hamilton's Provided You Don't Kiss Me which came out eight years before this book. And lastly, save yourself five minutes and skip Jose Mourinho's foreword - it's the dullest piece of football writing you'll ever come across.

[Miguel Poveda · Rating 5 out of 5]

El mundo del deporte, y el del fútbol en concreto, son un criadero de historias que parecen sacadas de la pura ficción. El devenir del Nottingham Forest de la Segunda División inglesa a proclamarse campeón de Europa es una de esas historias, probablemente una de las mejores, de hecho. Desde 1977 a 1980, el Forest ascendió a Primera División por los pelos en 1977, le ganó la Liga y la Copa de la Liga al todopoderoso Liverpool doble campeón de Europa en 1978, ganó la Charity Shield, otra Copa de la Liga y la Copa de Europa en 1979, y repitió éxito europeo en 1980. El Forest es el único equipo del mundo con más Copas de Europa que Ligas, y se debe a ese periodo mágico en el que el carismático entrenador Brian Clough y su ayudante Peter Taylor comandaron a un grupo de desconocidos hasta convertirlos en Historia del fútbol. En este libro, como en la película origen del mismo, se cuentan los entresijos de ese tremendo y sorprendente éxito, en el las peculiaridades de Clough (llevar de farra a los jugadores antes de partidos importantes, entrenar poco, irse de vacaciones en plena temporada...) hablan mucho de cómo ha cambiado el fútbol profesional. Es interesante y entretenido, y muchas veces bastante divertido, una joyita para los lectores futboleros.

[ian whyley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply extraordinary.

A brilliant, well written well researched ,poignant , humorous book. A look back at a bygone age when football was both magical and affordable. Cloughs methods were somewhat eccentric and you read this book in headshakin disbelief. What forest achieved is not only the greatest English football story in history , but the greatest story in the history of world sport. Beautiful.

[Bill McFadyen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nottingham Forest and Brian Clough winning the 1979 and 1980 European Cups make up only part of this amazing tale of a talented group of players who changed the shape of European football.
The names of Kenny Burns , John Robertson and John Mc Govern are rarely heard today but should be.
I am now searching for the film that accompanied the book.
If you are interested in football you will enjoy this story.

[Paul Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are few more remarkable stories in the history of sport as Nottingham Forest's rampage through European football at the hands of Brian Clough. This book, capturing Clough's sporting and comedic genius as well as the borderline insanity of his approach to football management, portrays a unique man whom it is often difficult to believe existed. The only downside of reading it is how much you yearn for such people to exist again.

Fantastic book. I loved it. I absolutely loved it.

[Liam Judge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic to read a football book that’s well written and cliché free. I never seem to tire of Reading about Brian Clough. This book does more than focus on the man himself though. It bring out the character and professional backstories of most of the team and leaves you in no doubt as to the scale of their achievements. No team has ever, or will ever, achieved such greatness in so short a period.

Can’t recommend more highly.

[Ian Curragh · Rating 4 out of 5]

4stars

A real life Roy of the Rovers tale. It gives details of where Forest were pre Brian Clough and the remarkable climb from promotion to the top flight, a league championship win, 2 European Cups and a Super cup and 2 league cups thrown in as well. A true rags to riches story told and a must read for any football fan with memories of this era.

[Parashar B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and informative read. As an outsider to the sport (and country) involved, the book definitely paints an interesting portrait of that era. I especially liked the stories about Clough's unconventional "training" techniques, and how they just wouldn't fly today.

[Gavin McCallum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book. Well written and a great account of one of the best characters to grace the game of football.

As a reader of many football books and autobiographies, I rate this as one of the best.

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent account of an eccentric manager, brilliant team outperforming the sum of the individuals and a reminder of a time when football stars were not millionaires but almost common people. Also redressed the bias against Notting Forest a little

[Fred Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic

Liked it all a fantastic read it was like being there watching living every single moment, truly a beautiful story of forest and Clough

[A D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story, well told.

[James Tidd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forget the mighty Liverpool, Leeds or Manchester United sides, this is about a side who came from mid-table mediocrity of the 2nd Division (now the Championship) to European Champions not once but twice repeating Liverpool's feat of the two previous seasons. Promoted only just in the 1976-77 season, the Forest side who trained in a park only accessible from the City Ground through 3 feet of nettles then won the league championship (now the Premier League) and the League Cup after a replay at Old Trafford against Liverpool which was won in very controversial circumstances. The next season they added the European Cup having the tenacity of beating European Champions Liverpool in Round 1, and FC Cologne in the semi-final, drawing 3-3 in the 1st leg at the City Ground, winning the 2nd leg 1-0 when the only other way of progressing would have been a penalty shootout or a very unlikely 4-4 draw, eventually beating another unlikely side Malmo in the final in Munich's Olympic Stadium and also retaining the League Cup. The following season they won the European Super Cup beating Barcelona, got to the League Cup final again losing to Wolves captained by a delighted Emlyn Hughes and amazingly retaining the European Cup beating Kevin Keegan's Hamburg 1-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, home of Real Madrid. Whilst English sides have won the European Cup (now the Champions League) several times since, Forest since the days of glory have won the League Cup twice again in 1989 and 1990 reaching the final in 1992 and reaching the FA Cup final in 1991 losing to Tottenham, the only major trophy to elude Clough. Clough once said in an interview alongside his great nemesis Don Revie that he would win the 1st Division title better than his title winning Leeds United side of 1974, he did just that in 1978 losing only 3 games to Revie's 4, that was in a run of 42 games undefeated (bettering Leeds' 34 from a few seasons back) and bettered only by Arsenal's 49 around 27 years later. Clough's management style was unorthodox to say the least, ask fans of Derby County and Nottingham Forest and to a lesser extent Hartlepool, Brighton and Leeds. He is without doubt the greatest manager never to manage England, I think he would have been our most successful manager but some idiot at the top preferred Ron Greenwood. Yes he managed West Ham to glory in the 1964 FA Cup, 1965 Cup Winners Cup and 3 of his players (Moore, Hurst and Peters) won England the World Cup in 1966 yet in his England sides he couldn't decide between Shilton and Clemence. I doubt Clough would have had that trouble, but then again would Forest have been so successful had he been England manager? England's loss was definitely Forest's gain.

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the greatest sides in history, led by one of the greatest managers in history (or at least in the top one).

This is book is a joy even for those who have no special interest in Nottingham Forest. Clough had a dark side and there isn't really an attempt to show much balance but his achievements in the game are extraordinary and the stories from his time are fascinating, especially given how football has evolved since then.

As a Scotsman, it pains me to see the quality players we had at the time that couldn't even get into our squad - John McGovern won two European Cups and never won a cap!

But I digress. In short, a must read for any football fan, regardless of age or allegiance.

[Peter Atkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was a fantastic trip down memory lane - I was there for the few lows and the many highs.
It made me laugh out loud a few times at "ol' BigHead"'s tactics. During this period my life changed and I remember significant moments in Munich and Madrid and my own adventures in getting there.
A fabulous book for any football fan - except a Scouser.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read.

It's quite an amazing story of how Nottingham Forest came to win the different trophies especially at a time when Liverpool were dominating. I think the author does a good job of documenting this story and talking about Brian Clough. Would be nice to have more pictures and some statistics to show how great this team was.

[Carla Groom · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, and I don't even like football. If you do, you'll probably go crazy for it. I grew up a short walk from the City ground so there were some delightful references back to Nottingham before they tidied it up. But what I appreciated most about this book was the detailed account of how this incredible leader turned a bunch of misfits into an exceptional team. Astonishing.

[Garry Marlton · Rating 5 out of 5]

it maybe because I was a teenager when this all happened. It was unbelievable then and even reading it now you still think how! Loved the book and though I am not a supporter of the club I will always have a soft spot for them.

[Kevin Coaker · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a great story. Lower reaches of division two (in old money) to successive European cup (in old money) winners. The pity is it's poorly written. The author basically took the players out bought them a few beers, and took as verbatim every drunken story they told.

[Marcus Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grear read for any football fan.
what Forest did in the late 70's and early 80's will never be repeated. It was the stuff fairytales were made of, orchestrated by Clough and Taylor.
Brilliantly written by Daniel Taylor and great snipets from players of that golden team.

[Jason Mather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great sports book, lots of insider details about the most amazing rags-to-riches sports story I've heard of. Well paced, and accessible even to non-soccer gurus (unlike, say, "Inverting the Pyramid").

[John Costello · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant, one of the most enjoyable and engaging books I've read in a long time!

[Gerard Harrington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Abaolutely superb

The best sports book i have ever read, even though i am not a supporter of Forest. Highly recommend it.

[Fiona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Makes me proud to support Nottingham Forest. I wish o could have met Clough.

[Paul Mc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a Forest fan, but you don't have to be to enjoy this well written story. One if the finest sports stories I have encountered.