Clough: Dad would have been proud of Burton
Burton Albion manager Nigel Clough believes his late father Brian would have been proud of the team's 1-0 upset victory over Middlesbrough in the League Cup quarter-finals yesterday morning (Singapore time).
Following their victory over the second-tier side - thanks to Jake Hesketh's 48th-minute goal - Burton, who play in the third-tier League One, have reached the League Cup semi-finals for the first time in history.
"The scale of the achievement is just absolutely staggering for Burton Albion to get to the semi-finals of a major cup competition," Clough told BBC Radio Derby.
When asked what his legendary manager dad would have thought of their achievement, Clough said: "I think he'd have been proud of our clean sheet and the away performance that we put in.
"I think he would have been proud of the way we went about it."
His father won the League Cup four times while managing Nottingham Forest, with Clough leading the line during their back-to-back triumphs in 1989 and 1990.
"It's funny because when we play in all yellow, as we did tonight, Forest did it many, many times away from home in an all-yellow strip," said Clough.
"I'd like to think there were a few characteristics there - nowhere near as good and at the same level, but the same sort of commitment."
Burton chairman Ben Robinson told Sky Sports News that Clough deserves the credit for leading them into the last four of the League Cup.
Said Robinson: "If he decides to move on to a bigger club and a bigger stage with a bigger opportunity to manage a club with vast financial resources, then he would go with my and my club's best wishes."
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