Liz Truss may only have been Prime Minister for 44 days when she announced her resignation on Thursday, but she still lasted just as long at the pinnacle of her profession as ex-Albion manager Brian Clough after he walked out on the club to take over at Leeds United in summer 1974.
Old Big Head, as he styled himself, was in and out of Elland Road in 44 days, and if anyone doubts that managing Leeds was the top job at the time, remember that the Yorkshire club were the reigning champions, and would be England’s sole representatives in the European Cup, the forerunner of the Champions League.
Many wondered why Clough had ever agreed to come to Brighton in autumn 1973 after offering his resignation at Derby County and, to his surprise, having it accepted.
Part of the reason was the persuasiveness of Albion chairman Mike Bamber, who offered Clough and Peter Taylor, his long-time number two, more money than they had been getting at the first division club.
It was quite a risk on Bamber’s part, not least because Clough faced a charge of bringing the game into disrepute over remarks made to a Sunday newspaper with the possibility of a long suspension.
But while Taylor attacked his side of the job with relish, Clough’s heart was seldom in it. He was often absent, frequently back in Derby to campaign locally for Labour or see his old players.
The sort of transformation he had wrought at the Baseball Ground failed to show any sign of materialising at the Goldstone. Instead he seemed to set out to demoralise the players and the results were plain to see, including a 4-0 home humiliation by non-league Walton & Hersham in the FA Cup and an 8-2 hiding by visiting Bristol Rovers.
So when the invitation to take over from Don Revie at Leeds came, Clough jumped at the chance to return to the big stage, even though he had always been highly critical of Revie and the Leeds players. And that did not stop when he arrived at Elland Road, telling players who had won everything the game had to offer that they could ‘take all your medals and chuck them in the bin because you won them all by cheating.'
These were proven internationals who could not be intimidated, and although they have always denied it, the impression beyond the West Riding was that they would not play for Clough.
It was no surprise that results were poor, with only one win from his six games in charge. A players’ meeting left Leeds chairman Sam Bolton and the club’s directors in no doubt that Clough had to go. It was Paul Madeley, the quiet man of the squad, who delivered the decisive blow: “What the lads are trying to say, Mr Bolton, is that he’s no good.”
Clough left with a hefty compensation pay-out but a gigantic bruise to his ego that was visible from the south coast. The concept of karma was not as widely mentioned in those days, but there were plenty of Albion fans who thought that Clough had got what he deserved for walking out on a club that had given him a chance when he faced a lengthy ban.
In one way, Brighton – the town as well as the club - could be held partly responsible for Clough’s failure at Leeds, because Taylor had refused to accompany his old mate, preferring to stay in Sussex, take over as manager and try to finish the job he had started.
“He loved the climate,” defender Harry Wilson said in Spencer Vignes’s superb book on Clough’s time at the Albion, Bloody Southerners. “He had a superb seafront apartment, his wife liked it, his daughter liked it. You could see him thinking ‘Why move?’”
Without Taylor’s qualities as a sounding board, not to mention his ability to analyse matches and spot a player, Clough’s previous magic did not work. Only when they were finally reunited at Nottingham Forest in July 1976 did they both achieve further success, winning promotion to the first division in 1977, the league title in 1978 and the European Cup twice, in 1979 and 1980.
Clough’s loss and his abject failure at Leeds was Albion’s gain. Taylor stayed in Sussex for two seasons, just failing to deliver promotion in 1976. But he was largely responsible for building the side that Alan Mullery took up the following season, signing key players including striker Peter Ward and captain Brian Horton.
Both were in the side that made it to the top flight in 1979, a feat that Taylor had believed was possible but Clough had not, saying that “Brighton is not a big-time club and is never likely to be.”
Fans who remembered that were especially delighted when Albion beat Forest at home and away in their first season after promotion.