On This Day (15th July 1961): The Secret Transfer That Brought Brian Clough to Sunderland

The regional – and indeed national – sporting press was doing its best to catch up with the stunning news that Brian Clough had signed from local rivals Middlesbrough the previous day.

Alf Greenly, writing in the Sunday Sun, exclaimed that “the signing of Clough must go down as one of the best-kept secrets in soccer”.

Somehow, this deal had been struck in the goldfish bowl of the North East with seemingly watertight security. Not a whisper had escaped about a deal that had been at least a couple of weeks in the making.

Chairman Syd Collings made the announcement at the club’s annual general meeting the day before, triggering loud applause from the shareholders gathered.

Collings triumphantly declared to the AGM: “I know I am speaking on behalf of the board, and I am confident most supporters will agree when I say I would sooner see Sunderland in Division One with a heavy overdraft than in Division Two with a substantial credit balance.”

The fee was a record amount for Sunderland at the time and was said to be in the region of £45,000, surpassing the £42,500 paid to Clyde for George Herd the previous season.

Collings, it seems, was not too concerned about the size of the outlay, declaring: “I have admired Clough’s football for many years and, when the opportunity came to sign him, the board acted quickly.”

Middlesbrough had let it be known towards the end of the 1960/61 season that they would cash in on their biggest asset. Despite being a record-breaking goalscorer for Middlesbrough (204 goals in 222 games), the outspoken Clough had rattled a number of cages at his hometown club.

Having been made captain of Middlesbrough, the club then had to deal with nine of his team-mates signing a petition calling for him to be removed from the role. Clough’s demanding standards allegedly led to him accusing his team-mates of not trying hard enough!

In his book Walking on Water, Clough expressed not only his frustration but also his suspicions about why success never came Middlesbrough’s way despite all the goals he scored. The best they achieved was fifth place in the Second Division.

Clough made his debut for Middlesbrough in September 1955 and went on to finish as the club’s leading scorer in that and every subsequent season until July 1961. During that time, he earned two England caps as a Second Division player in the 1958/59 season.

Middlesbrough had made it public that they wanted £55,000 for their goalscorer. What was not known publicly until Sunderland’s chairman revealed the news at the club’s AGM was that Sunderland were even considering an approach for the centre-forward – or that Clough would consider joining another Second Division side. It was remarkable that such a high-profile transfer could take place in complete secrecy.

Apart from managing to get this transfer over the line without too many people finding out, there is another incredible element to the deal. To many observers, Clough seemed destined for one of the leading clubs in the top flight. How on earth did Sunderland persuade him to remain, for another season at least, in the Second Division and move effectively 30 miles north rather than head to one of the country’s glamour clubs?

To understand that is to understand, to a degree, the character of Brian Clough and, similarly, Alan Brown – appreciating the similarities between these two complex individuals.

Following a board meeting sometime between the end of the 1960/61 season and the AGM on 14 July 1961, the club agreed to pursue the signing of Clough. Chairman Collings and vice-chairman Laurie Evans met with the Middlesbrough board and agreed terms.

Collings then contacted Alan Brown and gave him the go-ahead to approach Clough and complete the deal. Clough, though, was actually out of the country.

In his own words, he described what happened next:

“I wasn’t that chuffed at the idea of a Mediterranean cruise in the close season of 1961, because sailing, like flying to me, is something I can well do without, but Barbara relished the prospect, so who was I to argue? In the event I loved it, but I wasn’t prepared for the welcoming party that greeted us when we returned to Southampton. Alan Brown, the straight-backed guardsman who managed Sunderland, was waiting on the quayside. I am known as the one who speaks his mind, who gets to the point without fuss. But Browny was the master of it. He tipped a porter a couple of bob, heaved our luggage onto a trolley, looked me straight in the eye in a way that made lesser men freeze to the spot and asked, ‘Would you sign for Sunderland?’ Done – yes, I blurted out without the need to be asked again. Brown told me he would see me at Roker Park in a week and assured me I would be on top money. We were back to good, solid standards here. I didn’t know Alan Brown, but I knew of him. I was aware of his reputation as a strict and honest man. I took him at his word.”

Clough was joining a young team that had started to show great potential, guided by a manager cut from the same cloth as Clough himself.

One of those young players, Charlie Hurley, would go on to become a Sunderland legend. Long after he had retired, he remained convinced that Alan Brown never made a better signing than Brian Clough. He was a proven goalscorer whom Hurley admitted always demanded his utmost attention when playing against him, to the extent that the big centre-half changed his own game, cutting out all the fancy stuff and forward runs to ensure this scorer of every type of goal got nothing for 90 minutes!

Hurley, like Clough, respected Alan Brown enormously. In his autobiography, The Greatest Centre Half the World Has Ever Seen, he acknowledged that Brown took a chance by signing Clough because, even then, the 26-year-old was known for his abrasive and outspoken personality.

Clough, true to his word, made three visits to Sunderland in four days the following week and the deal was soon all done and dusted, as his wife Barbara approved the housing arrangements and Brown satisfied the ambitious Clough’s career and financial requirements.

It was typical of Clough that, when approached by a reporter on the evening of that third visit to Roker Park at his home in Newham Avenue, Middlesbrough, he refused to elaborate on his reasons for switching to Sunderland or confirm when he would be moving home. The reporter noticed the lounge was devoid of furniture but was hurried from the doorstep as Clough had returned not to answer questions, but to play in the Middlesbrough annual tennis championships at Albert Park.

Clough proved to be an inspired signing by Brown, scoring 63 goals in 74 appearances before suffering the injury that would tragically end his playing career on Boxing Day 1962. Many supporters have often wondered what might have happened had this goalscoring icon been given more time to work his magic for the Lads.

Whilst the fee for Clough was a club record and represented a hefty outlay, it was offset by the sale of promising Northern Irish forward Ian Lawther to Blackburn Rovers for £18,000.

Lawther had arrived as a 19-year-old from Belfast Crusaders and scored a not-too-shabby 41 goals in 78 appearances.

Within days of Clough’s signing, Argus was reporting in the Sunderland Echo: “The fresh wave of enthusiasm which has hit Wearside is just as evident among the players and staff as it is among the public. Supporters are piling up the season-ticket receipts far beyond the all-time record.”

Exciting times for Sunderland supporters back in July 1961.