Replacing Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest was never going to be an easy thing to do but that was the challenge accepted by Frank Clark in 1992.
The European Cup-winning left-back said yes to the job of replacing Clough in the City Ground hotseat, tasked with immediately returning the club to the top-flight after relegation in the inaugural Premier League campaign.
Clough was a Forest legend. The great man won trophies galore on Trentside and his approach to games was meticulous, with Clough never spending too much time on the opposition.
His management style was all about making his players feel ten feet tall and that was a similar approach to what Clark tried to do, with the manager leading Forest to third in the Premier League during the 1994/95 campaign – the first after promotion.
Mark Crossley was often considered the first-choice goalkeeper under Clark but things might have proved to be very different had the manager got his way when it came to transfers at the City Ground.
Nottingham Forest almost signed Brad Friedel
Clark had a good eye for a player anyway and he almost bought the American goalkeeper to England before he became one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League era.
Crossley wrote a book after his playing days entitled ‘Big Norm – Looking After No.1’, and he’s shared what happened when he rocked up at training one day to see Friedel there.
He said: “There was talk of Forest going after the highly rated American, Brad Friedel. I got a shock when I turned up one day for training and saw Brad there. He looked the part even then. Fortunately for me, the club couldn’t get a work permit for him at the time.”
Friedel would eventually get a move to the Premier League and spent time with Liverpool, Blackburn, Tottenham and Aston Villa during his time playing in England and earned a reputation for being a top goalkeeper.
Brad Friedel holds long-standing Premier League record
The stopper wasn’t just a safe pair of hands in the literal sense but he was also very dependable, holding a long-standing Premier League record to his name.
Fridel made 310 appearances in succession and it’s a record that defies sports science and highlights what a true professional the American custodian was.
Forest landing Friedel would have been a remarkable coup for the football club back in the early nineties and he could have made the club a tidy sum in the way of a transfer fee.
Clark did try hard to sign him when he was in charge of the club but ultimately he was left to dwell on the work permit decision that killed the transfer completely.
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