Brian Clough, who died on 20 September, 2004, at the age of 69, will be remembered as one of the greatest characters and finest managers to grace football.

During a phenomenal career Clough guided two unfashionable lower league teams - Derby County and Nottingham Forest - to the heights of English and European football. With Clough Derby won the English First Division, just two seasons after gaining promotion to the top flight.

Clough repeated the success with Forest, where he went one better in claiming the greatest prize in European club football, the European Cup.

It was his no nonsense attitude and bloody mindedness that Clough will perhaps be remembered for. His authoritarian, outspoken style saw him come to blows with countless football club chairmen.

It can also be seen as the reason why Clough was overlooked for the England manager's job in 1977, once declaring: "One reason I never became the England manager was because the FA thought I would take over and run the show. They were dead right".

A prolific goalscorer as a player, Clough’s career was cut short by injury. Following his early retirement he channelled much of the frustration he felt regarding the demise of his playing days into his managerial career, with great assistance from Peter Taylor .

Brian Howard Clough was born on 21 March, 1935, in Grove Hill, Middlesbrough. The sixth of nine children, Clough began his career with his home town club, Middlesbrough in 1952, though a period of National Service in the Royal Air Force stalled his development. Upon returning to the club he was unable to secure a starting position, until Peter Taylor - the reserve team goalkeeper - began to sing Clough's praises. His debut came against Barnsley in 1955. From here the prolific centre forward never looked back, scoring an incredible 197 goals in just 212 appearances.

Two England caps came in 1959, though he was not selected again after failing to score. Not for the last time, Clough was deemed surplus to requirements by his nation. A transfer to Sunderland followed, where he continued to score at a frightening rate - 54 goals in 61 games - before his career was ended on Boxing Day, 1962, after a collision with the Bury goalkeeper caused him to tear a cruciate ligament. At 27 Clough's playing career was over.

The position of youth team coach at Middlesbrough offered Clough a chance to further his football education, though this was quickly retracted by directors' who he had upset in the past. In 1965 Fourth Division Hartlepool decided to take a chance, making him the youngest manager in the football league at the age of 30, and allowing him to hire Taylor as his assistant. The pair rejuvenated a dying club, saving Hartlepool from extinction, before heading south to Derby County in 1967.

On his arrival Derby were struggling in the Second Division. The pair showed great vision, signing players such as Roy McFarland and Archie Gemmill for small fees, before turning them into international standard footballers. Within two years the club had gained promotion to the First Division, and three years later Derby were crowned League Champions.

A fallout with chairman, Sam Longson, ended Clough's relationship with Derby in 1973, and a brief spell with Brighton preceded an even quicker period as manager at Leeds United in 1974 after Don Revie was appointed England manager. The established professionals at Leeds were not accustomed to the dictatorial methods he employed, and coupled with the fact that he had once referred to many of them as "cheats", it was destined to fail. Clough was sacked after just 44 days.

A year later he returned to management with Derby's closest rivals, Nottingham Forest who were without a trophy to their name since the 1959 FA Cup. Taylor joined him in 1976, and the pair began to work their magic. In an unprecedented period of success Forest gained promotion to the First Division in 1977, won the League Championship and the League Cup in 1978 and 1979, before claiming the European Cup in both 1979 and 1980, beating Malmö FF and Hamburg respectively.

Taylor’s eye in the transfer market, alongside Clough's ability to get the best out of his players, provided the perfect combination. Sadly the pair fell out following Taylor's decision to return to Derby County in 1983, compounded by his signing of Forest player, John Robertson, without consulting Clough beforehand. The pair never reconciled before Taylor's death in 1990, something Clough regretted.

Without Taylor, Clough and Forest never repeated their success. League Cup wins came in 1989 and 1990, though the League Championship and the FA Cup - the only major trophy to elude Clough - were not won.

In 1991 Clough became the longest serving manager in the league, and two years later he retired from football, having managed Forest for 18 years. Sadly, he saw Forest relegated from the top flight in his final game as manager.

Constantly in trouble with the authorities, Clough made countless headlines thanks to his outspoken views and uncompromising style of management. In 1989 he struck several fans who had invaded the pitch following a cup game against Queens Park Rangers, leaving him with a £5,000 fine and a ban from the touchline of every football league ground for the rest of the season.

Awarded the OBE in 1991, Clough famously joked it stood for "Old Big 'Ead", a suggestion that was supported further when he once stated: "I wouldn’t say I was the best manager in the business, but I was in the top one."

Clough had a liver transplant in January 2003, but died 20 months later from stomach cancer. He was survived by his wife Barbara and three children.