‘Football hero Brian Clough gave me a kiss when my TV manager tried to cut off our interview’

An audience with Gary Newbon, pillar of Midlands sports broadcasting for over 50 years, is a glorious trip through the tunnel of treasured football memories, a ringwalk of boxing soundbites. 

At his Solihull home, the legend has reduced me to tears of laughter with a stream of hilarious anecdotes, fired at machine gun speed. He has razor sharp wit and is a first-rate mimic.  And the man knows how to laugh at himself. That has doubtless stood him in good stead as thousands of football fans bellowed an expletive after his name. 

That ability was needed as Jasper Carrott fired a salvo of one-liners at Gary’s expense during the launch of the 78-year-old’s book, “Newbon, Bloody Hell”: the title is taken from Sir Alex Ferguson’s shell-shocked comment after Manchester United gained last gasp European Champions League final victory. 

A host of celebrities at Birmingham’s Hotel Du Vin – the guest list including football manager Ron Atkinson, sports presenter Tom Ross and Bob Warman – were treated to a glorious comedy routine by Jasper. And Newbon was the butt of jokes. “The first time I met Gary at Wolverhampton, he came up and introduced himself to me,” Jasper said. “Three hours later, he was still introducing himself to me.” 

His book, Newbon, Bloody Hell, is a treasure trove of memories from a man who has reported on a host of key sporting events during his time with ATV, Central, ITV and Sky. He was there for Maradona’s “Hand of God” goal, he was present at the Munich Olympics massacre. He has interviewed legend after legend. 

But my own favourite stories concern Newbon’s many brushes with Derby and Nottingham Forest boss Brian Clough. That is when the words, both written and spoken, truly sparkle. Newbon revealed: “At the Baseball Ground stadium (Derby’s ground), Clough’s office was right next to the directors’ room – ironic, because he was soon to deeply dislike them. There was a long corridor from the manager’s office to the home dressing room. He had a phone connection to that dressing room from it. 

“One rare day Clough was the only person in the stadium apart from the apprentices cleaning up in the dressing room. Clough suddenly rang down to the youngsters. He asked, ‘do you know who this is, young man?’ One apprentice answered, ‘yes, it’s the manager, Mr Clough’. 

“Clough replied, ‘Good lad, now I would like a pot of tea with some milk, plus some biscuits’. Back came the question, ‘Mr Clough, do you know who this is speaking?’ The reply, ‘no’. The young lad then exclaimed, ‘then **** off’. Furious at this, the manager sprinted down the corridor, but the apprentices had all run out of the ground.” 

After Forest were beaten convincingly by Everton in a match prior to the team’s League Cup final clash at Wembley, Newbon was tasked with interviewing Cloughie. Gary says: “Clough told me only Albert was sure of a place on the coach to Wembley. I challenged Clough, ‘you don’t have an Albert’. Clough explained, ‘yes we do – he’s the driver’.  

“As I kept pushing Clough, the manager realised I was going way over the 30 second limit and my floor manager was going berserk until Clough rescued me by saying, ‘because our lot are a bunch of pansies like you and me’ and promptly gave me a huge kiss.” 

The book also lifts the lid on a clash between Clough and Forest midfielder Martin O’Neill. Gary writes: “I was present on a stage when O’Neill talked about a long stint in the reserve team. He said that he asked Clough about it. ‘Why do you keep playing me in the second team?’ Reply, ‘simple answer, Martin – I don’t have a third team’.” 

* Newbon, Bloody Hell, published by Biteback Publishing, is priced at £20.