The debate on whether brilliant but eccentric club boss Clough should also have been given the England job has raged for decades.
But what has never been in doubt is his record with Derby County and Nottingham Forest: Two European Cups, two league titles, four League Cups, one European Super Cup and one old Second Division title.
One present-day player, Arsenal’s French ace Thierry Henry, said: "Brian Clough was a legend. It’s incredible to think what he achieved in his day and when we broke Forest’s 42-match unbeaten record last month it dawned on us just how great he must have been."
He ended his playing days having scored 251 goals in 274 matches and played twice for his country. His managerial career also began at the age of 30 with Hartlepool, then in the old Fourth Division.
The team won promotion for the first time in their history at the end of the 1967-68 season but Clough and his assistant Peter Taylor moved on.
Derby were languishing in the old Second Division when Clough took over in 1967. By the time he quit six years later they had faced Juventus in the semi-final of the European Cup.
A spell at Brighton ended in 1974 and Clough was chosen to succeed the legendary Don Revie at Leeds. Clough lasted just 44 days after ripping down pictures of the players’ former victories and ordering them to drop their big-time pose.
When he took over Forest in January 1975 he had to start all over again. His response was emphatic. They gained promotion in 1976-77. A year later, incredibly, they were champions of England and League Cup winners.
Tales about him include asking dad-of-two Lee Chapman if he had washed his hands after leaving the toilet.
He won the League Cup twice more, in 1989 and 1990, but a rift with Taylor had not been healed when his old friend died in 1990.
Ex-Manchester United and Aston Villa boss Ron Atkinson said: "With him as boss, I’m sure we’d have won the World Cup in 1982. He was the greatest manager of all time."