Clough doing well after liver swap

Legendary football manager Brian Clough was today “progressing very well” after undergoing a successful liver transplant, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The former Nottingham Forest boss had been given just two months to live until he had the operation at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital.

The spokeswoman said: “He is progressing very well but there is no date set for him to leave yet.”

The team who operated on him also removed a cancerous growth they found in Mr Clough’s diseased liver during the procedure earlier this month.

Consultant Derek Manas, who performed the operation, said last week Mr Clough was in good spirits, adding: “He is being his old self, teaching us all how to play golf and telling us what, and what not, to do.”

Clough led Nottingham Forest to two European Cup triumphs during his career as a manager which also saw him win the Division One title with Derby County.

He also had less successful and indeed controversial spells in charge at Leeds United and Brighton and Hove Albion.

As a player, he won two England caps and scored 251 goals in 274 games as a striker for Middlesbrough and Sunderland.

His son Nigel, 32, was also capped by England and has followed his father into football management at non-league Burton Albion.

In the book Walking On Water, written last year with Sun columnist John Sadler, Clough, a father of three, revealed the damage heavy drinking had done to his health.

He told how he had sought help after his grandson Stephen pleaded with him: “You’re not having a drink, Grandad, are you?”

He added: “I was spending time drinking when I should have been doing other things. It was bound to take over. If you do something to excess, something has to suffer somewhere.

“Drink became more important to me than the anguish I was creating for those I loved most.”