Former Nottingham Forest ahead Garry Birtles has shared some memorable anecdotes that spotlight the shut bond between legendary supervisor Brian Clough and winger John Robertson, who died last week.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, Birtles recalled Robertson’s relationship with Clough and Peter Taylor, noting the supervisor’s understanding of the winger’s quirks.
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“He [Clough] gave a little bit of leeway at times in pre-season training,” Birtles mentioned. “[Robertson] would stand 500 yards in front of the rest of us and he had a head start because the gaffer knew he wasn’t the greatest pre-season trainer!
“But Robbo liked the gaffer again and I feel he at all times says that with out Brian and Peter coming at that exact level, he won’t have achieved what he did.”
Beyond the jokes, Birtles highlighted Robertson’s playful rebelliousness, from his love of smoking, despite the strict routines of professional football, to his bold moments off the pitch.
“He was a smoker. The ingesting tradition was there at that exact level, however Robbo favored the fags,” Birtles explained. “On matchdays, you’d see him sitting in the bathroom and the smoke was popping out of the cubicle!”
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One particularly memorable story came from the successful European Cup campaign in 1978-79. Birtles recounted how Robertson calmly dealt with a tense situation outside the team hotel.
“I keep in mind the semi-final in opposition to Ajax on the European Cup in Amsterdam,” he said. “We at all times used to exit for a stroll after dinner and out of doors on the resort, there have been fairly a number of Ajax fans with flags and all the things – a bit hostile.
“The gaffer just said to Robbo: ‘John, give me a lighter’. So he took the light off John and just snatched one of the flags off one of their supporters and set it on fire and stamped on it on the pavement right in front of everybody.
“That quietened them down a bit of bit!”
Listen to the full interview from 01’10’00 on BBC Sounds
[BBC]