I remember once at The Dell we were playing Nottingham Forest.

One of their young apprentices knocked on my office door an hour before the game and said Mr Clough said could he have two glasses of brandy for him and Mr Taylor'.

I replied Son, you go and tell Mr Clough he knows where my office is and he can have a cup of tea like anybody else'.

He didn't come back but I found out on delivering the message Brian had sent him along the corridor and asked the same question in the director's room.

They, thinking it was for medicinal purposes, gave the youngster a full bottle.

I was reminded of this incident when reading the book The Damned United.

Normally I only read books when I'm away on holiday.

This one has 330 pages but I finished it in two and a half days.

It tells the story of Cloughie's 44 days as manager of Leeds United when he took over controversially from Don Revie who had gone off to manage England.

It is written in such a manner that it also covers his time at Derby County and also his short spell at Brighton.

Speaking to Niall Quinn after the Sunderland game he had also read it and couldn't put it down.

I don't know whether this is just a book for football people but it certainly reveals a lot more about one of our best managers than ever before.

The author, David Peace, writes as if it is Brian himself. The language is often such it would not make the ideal present for schoolchildren or faint-hearted grandmothers.

But it's a great reminder in a week when three of our teams reached the semi-final of the biggest club championship of all that all those years ago when Brian won the European Cup on two occasions and, as I watched the various games this week with the many foreigners taking part, I remembered that all of his team were British.

Seeing how everything unfolded with the excitement and passion, unfortunately boiling over at some times with the supporters, makes you realise why our own FA Cup has been pushed back in the priorities of our major clubs and in fact you start to wonder how much importance the players put on playing for their countries any more, particularly during the domestic season.

However, nothing can be taken away from our clubs. Whatever point Jose Mourinho is trying to make to his Russian owner it has to be said that his team selections and substitutions have given him the admiration of the professionals, while what more can one say about Sir Alex?

Surely no other manager in the history of football will be able to look back when he finishes on such a wonderful career. The 7-1 scoreline at that stage of the tournament is, as he said himself, the best result ever.

So at least we will have one team in the final, hopefully two, which will then ensure that the boast that our Premiership is the best will have to be accepted around the other capitals of Europe.