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I am Brian Clough. No, not the Brian Clough. I'm another one. We are not related. I guess it was just co-incidence that the first club I was to manage would be Hartlepool as well.
The first thing I was told after taking control of Hartlepool was that I was expected to avoid relegation. I would be looking for a change in league, but I wanted to leave the Third Division upwards to Division Two, rather than dropping out into the Conference. Before the serious business of the league though, which would start with a trip to Scunthorpe, I had to sort out my squad, and take them to Ireland for a couple of friendly matches.
The squad itself was pretty good for this level. However, there was a lack of depth in the midfield area and there was a slight injury problem with 3 players. It was no major crisis however and various offers were made for several players.
The first player to join was Gary Twynham, and he was brought in on loan from Macclesfield until November. Leo Fortune-West was then recruited from Cardiff but this deal was permanent and it set us back £7o,ooo. I believe it to be money well spent but we will see as the season unfolds.
With these two on board, and other negotiations still ongoing, we travelled to Ireland for a two-match tour. First up were Limerick and goals from Fortune-West and Stephenson secured a 2-1 win. A superb performance was only marred by the last minute penalty we conceded, but none-the-less, it was a nice way to begin the tour. Before the second of our games, Michael Barron, not brought on the tour because of his injury, was sold to Birmingham for £5oo,ooo. He was a good player, but I had others who were similar, and I felt I would be better off with the money to further strengthen my squad. A 3-2 victory over Longford was then secured, but the score-line didn’t reflect our total domination of the game. Two goals from Stephenson and one from Miller saw us lead three-nil and allowed us to relax in the second half. It concluded a successful four-day tour for us. Fortune-West and Twynham gelled with the others immediately, and Stephenson was in superb form in both games.
A bid from Burnley for Tommy Miller was rejected and in the couple of weeks leading up to our league opener at Scunthorpe, one more addition was made to the squad. Chris Priest was brought in for £85,ooo from Macclesfield and was placed on the bench for the league opener. I was expecting a tough encounter because, like us, Scunthorpe had made some strong additions to their squad in the pre-season. Fortune-West marked his competitive debut with a tenth minute header, and from then on we never looked back. Knowles, Henderson and another from Fortune-West had us leading four-nil at half-time, and Fortune-West completed his hat-trick, an outstanding debut, in the second half to give us the five-nil victory. Not a bad start to my, or LFW’s, Hartlepool career’s.
Our next game was at home to Orient, and it was bound to be more difficult. Indeed, Orient had only conceded four on the opening day, compared to the five we stuck past Scunthorpe. The first half was all us, but we were having difficulty finding the target. We lost Miller to an injury after the half-hour mark but his replacement, Ian Clark, fired us ahead early in the second-half. Westwood headed home his first ever for the club to put us two up and we played out for another clean-sheet victory. This game was marred by the sending-off of Fortune-West but, other than that, another solid team performance.
Miller would be out for three weeks, but LFW’s one match suspension didn’t take place straight away, so he was in the side as we travelled to First Division Crewe for the first leg of our first round League Cup tie. Despite the home side taking an early lead, we showed the form we had been showing in the league. Fortune-West equalised and then Crewe were reduced to ten men, which turned the balance of the match in our favour. Fortune-West put us ahead after the break with his second goal before Stephenson made it three-one with ten minutes left. A late goal from the home side meant that the tie wass still in the balance, but we came away with a superb three-two victory.
We travelled to Torquay for the return to league action, but Stephenson was removed from the team due to picking up an injury in training. It didn’t seem to have an effect as Fortune-West quickly fired us into a two goal lead. The home side managed to pull a goal back, but we still held out for the two-one win. Bank Holiday Monday saw the visit of Darlington and after a frustrating first-half, which saw us hit the woodwork three times, we finally took the lead thanks to a goal from Henderson. This was the only goal of the game and it meant that we had gone through the whole of August unbeaten, with five wins in five (including the win at Crewe). Amazingly though, we weren’t the only ones and we found ourselves second behind Mansfield on goal difference.
We had made a superb start, but there were still some saying we had been lucky rather than good. I made two more signings before our next game, which would be away at Exeter. Twynham had impressed me enough in the first month of his loan and I paid Macclesfield £2o,ooo to make his presence in our squad permanent. I also secured the signing of Cardiff’s Tony Sheridan, and we paid a further £11o,ooo for him. Sheridan went into the team for our trip to Exeter, replacing the suspended Fortune-West. We clearly missed the suspended striker and, having fallen behind early, we went down by one goal to nil for a first defeat of the season. He returned for the return leg against Crewe, and partnered Sheridan upfront as we looked to secure passage to the second round. Goals from Fortune-West and Sheridan sandwiched a red card for Crewe’s Sodje, and we advanced, winning 5-2 on aggregate. Our reward was a tie with Premiership side Coventry, and we would travel to their Highfield Road ground for the first leg.
The cup was something to look forward to, but I wanted my players to concentrate their efforts on the league. We had Plymouth at home next and thanks to two efforts from Clark and one from Fortune-West, we eased to a three-one victory. We lost goalkeeper Williams to an injury, which put a slight dampener on things, and he will miss two weeks of action. Hollund came in to replace Williams for our mid-week trip to Rochdale, and he did a fine job. Fortune-West fired in his tenth of the season to put us one-up and Davies did Rochdale no favours when he got himself dismissed right on half time. We totally dominated the second half and a goal from Clark, and another one from Fortune-West, helped us to a three-nil victory.
Miller returned from his injury for our next game at home to Halifax. Midgley, in the team due to the absence of the still-injured Stephenson, put us ahead before Fortune-West made it two before half-time. Halifax offered nothing in terms of attack, so we never had to leave first gear in the second half, and Fortune-West helped himself to another goal for another three-nil win. We had another midweek game to follow this, but it allowed us a break from the league as we travelled to Coventry in the first leg of the League Cup Second Round. We didn’t expect much, but first half goals from Midgley and Clark saw us take a shock lead. No further goals were added in the second half and we would take a shock two-nil lead back to Victoria Park. The score-line was a fair reflection of the game and Coventry were made to pay for fielding a somewhat under-strength side.
We travelled to Chesterfield as we returned to league action and, unsurprisingly we were full of confidence. I opted to keep Midgley in the team despite Stephenson now being completely recovered from his injury. After a goal-less first-half, Midgley got his third goal in three games to put us ahead and then Fortune-West added a second. Chesterfield pulled one back but Henderson, on for an injured Fortune-West, secured a three-one win with a last minute clincher. The news that Fortune-West would be out for three weeks was a blow, but it was something I felt we could cope with. We welcomed Coventry to Victoria Park for the return leg of the cup, and they were fielding a much stronger side. They took the lead early on but we rallied and had overturned the deficit, to lead two-one at half-time, through Sheridan and Henderson goals. Sheridan added a third in the second half and we had somewhat ‘hammered’ Premiership opposition three-one on the night and five-one on aggregate. Another ‘shock’ win was rewarded with a home tie against local rivals Middlesbrough.
We finished off September with a return to the league to face Carlisle at home. A goal from Clark saw us lead at half-time, but we were somewhat unconvincing all the way through. A last-minute goal from Miller secured a two-nil victory and also secured top-spot in the table heading into October.
The turn of the month brought with it a player of the month award for Fortune-West and also bids for two of my players. Norwich were after both Miller and Stephenson, but both bids were turned down and both players were in the squad as we travelled to Shrewsbury. A goal-less first half passed, as did the first fifteen minutes of second-half, before Clark finally broke the deadlock on the hour to put us ahead. Sheridan and Henderson both struck to add to this goal to put us three up, all three coming within ten minutes of each other. Minutes later, however, Shrewsbury were offered a lifeline when goalkeeper Williams was sent off and the home side awarded a penalty. They duly converted and then quickly added another to make to three-two. Things were edgy, and we were under a bit of pressure due to having just ten men, but Clark sealed us a four-two victory with a stoppage-time goal.
A busy week before our next match saw us reject bids for Clark, Stephenson and Knowles from Preston, a bid for Hollund from Palace and a bid for Midgley from Port Vale. I did allow reserve player Andy McAvoy to leave though and he was bought by Kidderminster for £6,ooo. After this ‘hectic’ week, we faced Southend at home. Clark followed up his two goals against Shrewsbury when he fired us ahead, and we lead one-nil at half-time. We were totally dominating, but we failed to take all our chances and we were made to pay when Southend snatched a one-all draw with a late goal.
Another bid for Stephenson from Preston was rejected before Lee Fitzpatrick left the club, going to Oldham for £16,ooo. Palace, West Brom and Barnsley all had bids rejected for Hollund and Walsall had one rejected for Westwood. We travelled to Brighton next, a midweek game, and we fell behind early on. Clark netted his tenth of the season before half-time and Stephenson claimed all three points when he hit a late winner to give us a two-one win. More bids for Miller, Hollund and Westwood from various clubs were rejected before we faced Cardiff at home, without Williams who started his three-match ban. Hollund proved to be a more-than-adequate replacement and it was the ex-Cardiff striker Sheridan that gave us a good one-nil victory.
A nice break from the league followed, as we faced Premiership side Middlesbrough at home in the third round of League Cup. Midgley came in for the injured Stephenson and we welcomed the return of Fortune-West. Like Coventry, Middlesbrough were fielding a weakened team, and only two of the eleven starters could be considered ‘first team’. Despite this, it still came as a shock to the near capacity crowd when Sheridan fired us into a fifth minute lead. Francis equalised for the visitors just before half-time and, despite both sides having chances to win it in the second half, the tie went to extra-time. It was heading for a penalty shoot-out when a cruel winner was scored. Cruel for the visitors as it was Sheridan, netting his second of the game, firing home to give us a two-one win and another ‘cup shock’. In injury time of extra-time, Middlesbrough’s misery was completed when they were reduced to ten men. Another Premiership side sent had been sent packing and the draw for the fourth round saw us pitted against another top flight team. We would travel to Bradford.
More bids for various players were turned down as we returned to the league to face a home game against Macclesfield. Tommy Miller scored to give us a half-time lead but a dubious penalty allowed Macclesfield to pull level with twenty minutes remaining. It was still level with five minutes to go so I threw on another striker in Henderson. I was rewarded for my decision when Henderson headed home in the last minute to give us a two-one win. It meant we ended October still top of the pile, but still only clear on goal difference.
Being Brian Clough 
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Funny that! 
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