i'm just going to make a brief statement.
for leeds to win the first division title, and for me to be named as english manager of the year. feels like a dream come true.
you'd expect nothing less having been their manager for 13 years. but the fact is i'm here today as manager of england.
win. the people of leeds are used to winning.
i haven't personally heard mr. clough's comments, but they have been reported to me, and our solicitors are looking into them. if i could offer mr. clough some advice . i think he'd be better off keeping his opinions to himself. some of these allegations against leeds united and his fellow professionals are an absolute disgrace.
hello?
who is this?
what?
are you drunk, man? it's two in the morning. what do you want? why are you ringing me here?
for god's sake go to sleep. where's you dignity, man? and don't call here again.
see? not so easy to make accusations when it's to someone's face.
being very, very honest, i think it was a difficult job for anyone to do. but i do feel brian clough, i won't call him clough because i won't take him down like that.
i do feel he made it harder for himself than he need have.
shooting his mouth off about how dirty my players were.
that's not true. the last four seasons, we've topped the charts for entertaining football.
of course it did! the things he said? why, man? why did you take the job in the first place?
of course it was the best job in the country.
you were. you were taking over the best bunch of players you'd ever seen.
there's no way you could win it better.
i only lost four matches.
no, no, no, no.
see, there he goes again.
you don't know me!
i totally refute that. the atmosphere at leeds was like a family. a happy family. you ask any of my players. i signed most of them personally. knew their backgrounds. their parents. their streets. i was a father to them. in that club every morning. massaging those boys. did you do that for them?
did you try? you didn't even try. i soaped those boys down with my own hands. you just went to leeds with no thought for the club, no thought for the players. just on some kind of mad personal vendetta with me.
what did i do?
never! matter of principle! i always shake the other manager's hand!
then i probably didn't see you!!
never would i knowingly refuse to shake a colleague's hand. the truth is, i probably just didn't know who you were.
it's the truth.
oh, we all know it now. we know you as the man who's constant outbursts, his defaming of fellow professionals, have brought this game, this beautiful game into disrepute. who had one of the best jobs in the country, at derby, and managed to get the sack. who had one of the best partners in the game, in peter taylor, and threw him away. who was given the greatest gift in british football leeds united, a team that in ten years hasn't finished outside the top four, and took them to the bottom of the first division. yes, it's fair to say we all know who you are now.
dear oh dear.
thank you, austin.