Peter Taylor (footballer Born 1928) - Rift With Clough

Rift With Clough

Taylor's friendship and partnership with Clough had been strained on various occasions in the past. While at Derby, Taylor was riled when he learned that Clough had received a pay rise from chairman Sam Longson; Taylor did not get one. He was also annoyed that Clough was often away earning extra money from media work while he was left to do a larger share of the work with the players. His unhappiness led him to accept an offer to be assistant to Manchester United manager Frank O'Farrell in 1972, though in the event the deal was blocked by Matt Busby. The relationship worsened in the autumn of 1980 when Taylor published With Clough, by Taylor, an autobiography which was largely based on Taylor's work with Clough. Taylor had not told Clough that he was writing the book and, to Clough's ire, did not give him a share of the proceeds.

Although they initially parted on good terms when Taylor retired in 1982, the relationship was finally damaged permanently after a dispute over the transfer of John Robertson from Forest to Derby, whom Taylor was now managing, in May 1983. Clough was apparently angered that Taylor did not inform him about the deal. Clough attacked Taylor afterwards in a tabloid article as being a "rattlesnake", "a snake-in-the-grass" and said that "We pass each other on the A52 going to work on most days of the week. But if his car broke down and I saw him thumbing a lift, I wouldn't pick him up, I'd run him over".

The two men would never speak to one another again. During the final six years of his life, Taylor sometimes wrote newspaper articles giving his view on football. In 1989, a year before he died, Taylor urged Clough in a tabloid article to retire before either a chairman like Longson forced him out or his health suffered under the strain of being a top-level manager, forcing him into premature retirement, which happened four years later.