Lowry’s ‘less is more’ philosophy paying off

It may have been a year of Olympic and Paralympic medals, of another Irish golf Major and a breakthrough All-Ireland but it was Jonathan Wilson’s book on Brian Clough that got me thinking about Shane Lowry.

Back in 1984, Old Big ’Ead’s Nottingham Forest side was drawn against Celtic in the quarter-final of the Uefa Cup and looked in trouble after the first leg ended in a goalless stalemate at the City Ground.

Meetings between English and Scottish sides were far more of a rarity then than they are now in these days of excessive games and bloated competitions and Cloughie’s lot were warned to expect a hostility of extreme proportions in Glasgow.