We must try to take one step at a time – Clough

AMID the surge of optimism which followed Sheffield United’s weekend win over Crewe Alexandra, one man was keeping firmly entrenched in reality.
Nigel CloughNigel Clough
Nigel Clough

While many Unitedites have already permanently eradicated the spectre of relegation from their minds after a run of seven points from the last nine available in League One, the new Blades chief Nigel Clough is remaining unapologetically grounded.

Talk of the Blades, who have risen to fifth from bottom after propping up the table back on October 13, jet-propelling themselves up the table is not being entertained by Clough, whose immediate aims remain far more prosaic.

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He is mindful of his experiences upon arriving at former club Derby County in January 2009 where the Championship survival brief he was handed was only achieved well into April. This followed the initial lift which is usual under a new man.

Clough insists the tempering of expectations at Bramall Lane should not be deemed unambitious, merely sensible in the circumstances.

Losing sight of the here and now is an inherent danger, according to the 47-year-old.

Clough said: “We don’t want to lose touch of the reality that we are still down there. It seems a little bit after Saturday that everyone thinks, ‘Oh we are safe now’. There’s still an awful lot of work to do yet.

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“It’s one step at a time. People were asking me about making a push for the top six after Saturday when we are just out of the bottom four.

“The first priority is still getting safe. It shouldn’t be and looking ahead it won’t be, but it is for this moment.

“That shouldn’t be construed as a lack of ambition, but just the reality of the situation where we are.

“The team have won three games out of 16 (this season).

“You don’t get any points for tradition, crowds or anything like that – just performances on the pitch. Nobody is going to give us anything just because we are a big club at this level. It doesn’t count for anything.”

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Equating his experiences to those at Derby in the second half of the 2009-10 season, he added: “In the first season, we just had to survive. I remember Sir Alex Ferguson telling us that when we played Man United in the League Cup that year. He did it there (in 1989-90) and just said, ‘You get through it’.

“We were close to being relegated and stayed up with two to three weeks to spare.”

Clough’s approach to the Blades’ current situation may not necessarily be vote-winning, but is based on a needs-must basis with results and building a solid and lasting base his modus operandi.

Within that, Clough is making no apologies for going back and taking a leaf out of Danny Wilson’s book last term.

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Defensive stoutness and a personal pride in keeping the back door shut characterised the Blades’ rearguard for large parts of 2012-13, with clean sheets commonplace.

It should be remembered that the Blades went well over nine playing hours without conceding a goal in late winter and early Spring and were close to equalling a club record of seven clean sheets set by John Harris’s vintage class of 1970-71.

Nigel’s famous footballing father Brian regularly extolled the virtues of not conceding and credited this as the main reason for Nottingham Forest’s Division One title success in 1977-78.

The prize for the present-day Blades is not quite so glittering, but no less important, with the side having kept just one clean sheet in the league so far this season.

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Clough will have taken note and will have been stressing to defensive pillars Neill Collins and Harry Maguire, who stood tall for most of last term, that they must do so again.

He said: “We are believers if you do the basics well in football matches you have a chance of winning. The second you veer away from that, you give daft goals away.

“We were 2-0 up in the Under-21s on Monday and Sean McGinty gave a goal away midway through the first half and it changed the game.

“It’s a case of don’t make those mistakes and don’t give the opposition anything.

“It’s hard enough without giving away something.

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“The teams we have managed to get at our last couple of clubs have been very hard-working sides with ability as well.

“But an under-lying work ethic is very important and should be fundamental in this league – in any league.

“The best sides are usually the hardest working.

“We have been very pleased with the lads’ attitudes in training; they have been good.

“We’ve been concentrating on doing the basic things well and, within that, the two centre-halves are very important.

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“I read somewhere that we kept the most clean sheets in League One last season (21).

“So we have got to get back to what they were doing last season and make sure those two at the heart of the defence with (goalkeeper) George (Long) behind them build and use that as a foundation.”