Forest fulcrum Robertson – ‘a talented, highly skilled, unbelievable outside-left’

Robertson spent the first few months of his life at the City Ground before Clough made his debut in January 1975, utilizing the talent and intelligence that had been hidden behind the Scot’s frequently gloomy appearance to great effect in Forest’s excellent team in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

In fact, the left-winger was widely regarded as the most influential player for a team that, after winning promotion in 1977-1978, won the First Division title and the League Cup in their inaugural season.

Despite what we know, this was just the beginning.

Forest followed up this with the even more remarkable achievement of winning the European Cup in 1979 against Malmo when Robertson headed the decisive header from the left-hand side of Trevor Francis. He continued to do so the following year when he scored against SV Hamburg in Madrid.

In 1983, Robertson and his long-term managing partner Peter Taylor experienced a bitter divorce.

Clough never apologized to Taylor, who was then in charge of Derby County, for signing Robertson for a fee that would be determined by a tribunal without giving him any explanation about his intentions.

Before Taylor’s death in 1992, at the age of 62, the rift was never resolved, to Clough’s regret.

Before joining Forest as a teenager in 1970, Robertson had played for Scotland both in high school and youth. Prior to Clough’s appointment, he had not had a significant impact, but the great manager saw potential in him.

In his autobiography, Clough wrote that “Rarely could have been a professional athlete with a more unattainable appearance… scruffy, unfit, uninterested waste of time,” but something told him he was worth persevering with and one of the best football players I have ever seen.

He added, “I would sit next to him if I ever felt a little off color.” In contrast, I had a bloody Errol Flynn. But give him a ball and a yard of grass, and you’ll see how talented he was as a player as Picasso.

Robertson compared Clough to a man who loved him, saying, “I knew he liked me but I loved him. Without him, I wouldn’t have been able to work.

Robertson played 243 games in total between December 1976 and December 1980, and despite the big-money signings of England’s first £1 million footballer, Francis, he was the one who made Forest tick.

Robertson was Forest’s pivot despite the talent elsewhere.

Robertson not only contributed greatly to Forest’s 1977-1978 return to the top flight under Clough, but he also scored the winner from the penalty spot against Liverpool in the League Cup final replay at Old Trafford.

Robertson’s significance was recognized by Clough, who was a former team-mate Martin O’Neill, who said: “He was the most influential player in Europe for maybe three to four years.”

And John McGovern, Forest’s captain, said: “He had two good feet like Ryan Giggs.”

Despite Robertson’s own admission that he had no pace and was invincible, everything was done.

Clough, however, preferred to let him focus on what he could do rather than what Robertson could not do. The ideal manager-player union was achieved in football. Two entrancing mavericks working in harmony.

Before the 1980 European Cup final against Hamburg, Clough was questioned about the possibility of their great German right-back Manfred Kaltz keeping Robertson quiet in a well-known interview before the famous interview.

And so it was when Robertson, who was outstanding, cut inside to exchange passes with Garry Birtles and beat Hamburg’s goalkeeper Rudi Kargus from 20 yards before striking out with his right foot to end the 20-minute game.

Robertson won the First Division title, two European Cups, and two League Cups while playing 386 games for Derby before making an agonizing switch.

Instead of Robertson’s deeds, it is a transfer that is remembered for the irreparable division it caused between Clough and Taylor. A return to Forest in August 1985 failed because he was now past his best years.

Robertson won 28 caps for Scotland, including two World Cup appearances in 1978 and 1982.

He scored eight goals for his nation, including the penalty-winner in the 1981 Home International Championship victory over England at Wembley and the second goal in the 5-2 victory over New Zealand at the 1982 World Cup in Spain, which he referred to as his “greatest ever goal”.

Robertson joined his former Forest manager when he was manager of Wycombe Wanderers, Norwich City, Leicester City, Celtic, and Aston Villa, and was a key member of his old colleague O’Neill’s backroom team.