"I've decided to pick my moment to retire very carefully - in about 200 years time"
About this Quote
Brian Clough turns bravado into philosophy with a wink. Promising to retire in about 200 years is part boast, part shield, and wholly performative. The exaggeration insists on a competitive appetite that refuses to wane; it also mocks the revolving door of football management where a couple of bad results can end a career. Clough is not just saying he will work forever; he is asserting that he, not the press, the board, or the fashion of the moment, will decide when his time is up. The phrase pick my moment carries his trademark insistence on control, the same instinct that shaped his teams and his myth.
The joke works because of its context. Clough built enduring power at Derby County and Nottingham Forest, turning provincial clubs into champions and European conquerors. That longevity was rare in a profession defined by short-term panic and quickly sacked managers. By stretching time to the absurd, he satirizes the impatience of the game while celebrating the possibility of long-term stewardship, trust, and continuity.
There is also a hint of legacy-making. A manager who plans to last 200 years is really saying he wants his influence to feel that permanent. Cloughs teams played with clarity and conviction; his personality filled every room. He cultivated the persona of Old Big Ead because he knew charisma could protect space to work and set standards. Humor softened the arrogance and turned self-belief into entertainment.
The line gains poignancy in hindsight. Clough did eventually retire, and the end was bruising, as Forest slid from their heights. Yet the quip endures because it captures the defiant heart of his career: an iron will dressed in jokes, a refusal to be hurried or defined by others, and a belief that greatness should outlast the clock.
The joke works because of its context. Clough built enduring power at Derby County and Nottingham Forest, turning provincial clubs into champions and European conquerors. That longevity was rare in a profession defined by short-term panic and quickly sacked managers. By stretching time to the absurd, he satirizes the impatience of the game while celebrating the possibility of long-term stewardship, trust, and continuity.
There is also a hint of legacy-making. A manager who plans to last 200 years is really saying he wants his influence to feel that permanent. Cloughs teams played with clarity and conviction; his personality filled every room. He cultivated the persona of Old Big Ead because he knew charisma could protect space to work and set standards. Humor softened the arrogance and turned self-belief into entertainment.
The line gains poignancy in hindsight. Clough did eventually retire, and the end was bruising, as Forest slid from their heights. Yet the quip endures because it captures the defiant heart of his career: an iron will dressed in jokes, a refusal to be hurried or defined by others, and a belief that greatness should outlast the clock.
Quote Details
| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
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