Editing Brian Clough (section)

===Sunderland===

In July 1961, one of Clough's transfer requests was finally accepted and he moved to Boro's [[Tees–Wear derby|local rivals]] [[Sunderland A.F.C.|Sunderland]] for £55,000 scoring 34 goals in the [[1961–62 Sunderland A.F.C. season|1961–62 season]]. With Sunderland, Clough scored a total of 63 goals in 74 matches.<ref name="autogenerated1" /> In the [[1962–63 Sunderland A.F.C. season|1962–63]] season, Clough had scored 24 league goals by December as Sunderland pushed for promotion. In a match against [[Bury F.C.|Bury]] at [[Roker Park]] on 26 December 1962, in icy conditions and torrential rain, Clough was put through on goal and collided with goalkeeper, [[Chris Harker (footballer)|Chris Harker]]. Clough tore the [[medial collateral ligament|medial]] and [[cruciate ligament]]s in his knee, an injury which in that era usually ended a player's career. He returned two years later, but could manage only three games and then retired from playing at the age of 29.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/0253-0d81cad2d50b-a149110db9bb-1000--in-profile-brian-clough/|title=In profile: Brian Clough|publisher=UEFA|date=28 August 2016|access-date=20 September 2018}}</ref>

Clough's manager at Sunderland was [[Alan Brown (English footballer)|Alan Brown]], a disciplinarian credited as a big influence on Clough. Brown inspired fear, imposed a strict code of conduct and would fine players for minor transgressions. He once upbraided Clough for talking to a friend during a training session. Such traits would later be adopted by Clough himself when he became a manager.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://fourfourtwo.com/blogs/championsleague/archive/2010/01/27/the-men-who-made-brian-clough.aspx |title=The men who made Brian Clough |publisher=Fourfourtwo.com |access-date=14 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120629083949/http://fourfourtwo.com/blogs/championsleague/archive/2010/01/27/the-men-who-made-brian-clough.aspx |archive-date=29 June 2012 }}</ref>

Of the players who have scored over 200 goals in the English leagues, Clough has the highest goals-per-game ratio of 0.916,<ref>using data from https://www.rsssf.org/tablese/engtops-allt.html</ref> and has the second highest ratio in the [[List of footballers in England and Scotland by number of league goals|list that includes the Scottish leagues]].