Sean Dyche returns to Nottingham Forest nearly 40 years after tragedy stopped him breaking into Brian Clough’s team

SEAN DYCHE’S appointment as Nottingham Forest manager will be an emotional one for him.

Dyche, 54, was announced as the club’s new boss on Tuesday, replacing Ange Postecoglou who lasted just 39 days.

The former Burnley and Everton boss is also bringing Ian Woan and former England star Steve Stone with him to the Forest dugout, both of whom he met in Forest’s academy.

All three are former stars of Forest, though Dyche’s time as a player there was limited to the youth ranks.

Born and raised in Kettering, Dyche was spotted by scouts and invited for a trial at Forest at the age of 14, where he impressed.

He began training regularly with the club when he was 15 and signed a scholarship when he turned 16, but crucially never managed to convince legendary boss Brian Clough that he was worthy of a first-team chance.

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However, an unfortunate roll of the dice left Dyche with a broken leg to scupper his chances of a proper run at making it in the first place.

Stone, who shared a room with Dyche back then and who has enjoyed an enduring friendship ever since, recalled how the pair bonded when he suffered a similar injury within four days.

Speaking to The Athletic in 2021, he said: “We broke our legs within four days of each other, which kept us out for the best part of a year.

“We were training together every day, seeing the same specialists, doing the same workouts, recovery and rehab.

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“They were long, hard days and you are basically living together 24 hours a day, so that bond is there for life. 

“We were very different people and still are, but similar in certain ways. We are both winners and have that strong mentality because of the adversity we have gone through.”

The pair fed off of each other’s work ethic to see them through that dark period.

Dyche was also helped by former Forest captain Stuart Pearce, who put an arm around his shoulder while he was recovering from that broken leg, cementing their bond as friends even after Dyche left the club.

Stone ultimately went on to become a major star at Forest and play for nine times for the England national team despite suffering three leg breaks throughout his career.

Meanwhile, for Dyche the injury only made him hungrier to play at the top level, and that path ultimately led him away from the City Ground.

Dyche and Stone were joined by Woan later on when he moved in with them after not sorting anywhere to live when he arrived from Runcorn.

After a neighbour broke her leg and was seen on crutches, Dyche and Woan would pay them regular visits to check on her wellbeing.

Stone recalled what living with Dyche was like, saying: “He liked to keep it tidy.

“It was a different time then. We were kids and we were just bouncing off each other. He was always into his music, even if we had different tastes.

“There is absolutely no difference to how he is now to back then. The only thing is he is older.

“To live with him was pretty straightforward. You get what you see with him. He wants things done right and professionally, and that’s how he lives his life.”

While he never ended up playing football under Clough, he learned a lot from him. Although that wasn’t to say there wasn’t a share of funny stories.

On Monday or Tuesday, the Forest groundsman would find four scholars and drive them to Clough’s house to do some work in his garden.

Stone recalled: “That was common. We all did it.

“We would jump on the minibus — sometimes it would be me and Dychey — and you would be there all day, have some lunch and come back home, and you would get £30 or so, which was a week’s wage.”

On more than one occasion Dyche found himself in awkward situations at the two-time Champions League winners’ place.

One day he was in a group which found a tennis ball in the garden. Two of the group hopped over the neighbours low hedge and started playing head tennis.

Leaf it out

Clough came out of the house to ask what they were doing. But rather than finding themselves in trouble, the manager replied, “carry on”, before leaving them to it.

Another day saw Dyche given the task of burning leaves.

However, the smoke created by the fire kept on catching the wind and blew towards Clough’s house, leaving the boss less than pleased.

Dyche’s solution to the problem was to burn leaves one or two at a time in an effort to limit the smoke.

Brian Rice, a first team player during Dyche’s time in the youth ranks of Forest and an opposition scout during his time at Watford, said: “There was so much to be learned from a man like Brian Clough.

“I have seen first hand what Sean’s man-management is like. He gets the best out of people.

“Sean has never had the best players in the league to work with, has he? You don’t see many Burnley players get sent off, do you? He always seems to get the most out of his players.

“You can see a lot of the traits in him that the gaffer had. Even spending a short amount of time working under Clough, he would have learned so much.

“We all did. We all learned something from that experience — the only difference is that Sean has been successful from it!

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“Everyone admires Sean and they should do for the job he has done. He must have taken so much from the gaffer when you look at what he has done at Burnley and also the way in which he has done it.

“Sean surrounds himself with the right kind of characters because he understands that, in football, you are role models. You have to set the right example.”