Cloughie's Postman
Former Cloughie player Brian Laws has
described how he became the Great Man's unofficial postman - making regular
deliveries to his brother in Middlesbrough. Laws says it started after
his first pre-season tour with Forest and the team had just landed at East
Midlands Airport. "Cloughie grabbed my shoulder and said: 'Lawsy, give
this to my brother.' He handed Laws a bottle of whisky and a wad of
money.
Laws was puzzled by the request at first but after speaking to Brian's son
Nigel he realised it was a present for Cloughie's brother Joe. "It seems
Cloughie had automatically thought that because I was still a Middlesbrough
resident at the time I would obviously know where his family lived." Nigel
gave Laws the phone number for Joe and the delivery was made. "Joe then
asked me where I had parked my car and told me to back it on to his
drive." Laws was then told to open the boot of the car.
"From that moment, I kept hearing thud, thud, thud. Something quite heavy
- and quite a lot of it - was being put into the boot. I just sat still, not
wanting to look or to ask." After leaving the house, Laws turned the
corner and stopped his car to see what was now inside his boot. "What I
found was six bags of spuds! They came back with me to Nottingham and were
still in the boot when I reported for training on the following Monday
morning."
The potatoes, which Laws assumed had been grown by Joe, were then transferred
to Cloughie's car. "'These are the best you will ever get,' insisted
Cloughie. I thought to myself: Yes, and they must also be the most expensive!
Cloughie then gave me a spud - just one, mind - with the words: 'Here, have one
yourself.'"
From that moment on, Laws became the delivery man between the
brothers and was even allowed to use Cloughie's Mercedes. The tale is recalled in Laws' book 'Laws Of The Jungle' published by Vertical Editions at
£16.99.
