Brian Clough has a legendary reputation when it came to being a man-manager but it was often Peter Taylor who scoured the market for players.
Taylor famously signed the next Bobby Moore – or so he thought – when landing Kenny Burns from Birmingham City.
Clough was a manager who never focused on the opposition and instead set about assembling a squad of players who would run through brick walls for him.
The great man won countless trophies in charge of Forest and was always keen for his teams to play football the right way.
However, Clough – and perhaps more accurately – Taylor didn’t always get things right.
When it came to transfers, there were a number of near misses and one in particular proved extremely costly.
Peter Taylor decided Kevin Keegan wasn’t good enough for Forest
Back in the day when Taylor and Clough were in their pomp, scouting was done a little bit differently at Forest and other clubs.
Instead of having teams of people looking through data, managers and assistants would go and watch players playing for their clubs.
Clough was always keen to look for a bargain in the lower echelons and and on a fateful night in August 1969, Taylor went to watch Keegan playing for Scunthorpe against Southend.
In the book, With Clough by Taylor, the assistant manager explains that he didn’t think much of the player.
He said: “The player we’d gone to watch didn’t get a kick and his team lost 3-0. He was valued at just £15,000 but didn’t look worth it that night.
“He was too small, he didn’t know where to run or wait and he didn’t have the physique or experience for his job of playing up front on his own.
“I ought to have realised that his best position was striking from midfield or just behind the front runners; instead I crossed him off my list.
“Two years went by before I heard of him again. He had gone up in the world, fetching a £30,000 fee and joining Liverpool. His name was Kevin Keegan.”
Kevin Keegan named Ballon d’Or winner in 1979
Clough and Taylor didn’t get a lot wrong, but this was one huge error of judgment.
Keegan would enjoy a superb time of things at Liverpool, winning three First Division titles and a European Cup during his time at Anfield.
He would later go on and play for Hamburg, Southampton and Newcastle and in 1979 he enjoyed the pinnacle of his career.
Although he was on the losing side in the European Cup final against Forest, he was named as the winner of the Ballon d’Or.
Forest might have dominated even more in the seventies and eighties had Keegan been given the chance in 1969.
He was a stunning footballer and it’s madness to think that Taylor had his signature in the palm of his hand but chose not to bring him to the football club.
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