Ange Postecoglou could barely believe teh scene during his first training sessions at Nottingham Forest. “John McGovern was running around chasing balls today and I’m going, ‘What are you doing, John? You are a legend, you don’t have to do that.'”
It is indeed true that McGovern does not have to do this. But he wants to do it. It has become part of the routine for the man who captained Forest to two European Cup wins. He turns 76 later this month but still gets a kick out of his daily visits to the training ground.
“it is not quite as good as actually joining in,” McGovern tells Sky Sports. “Obviously, those days are long gone. But it is nice to see the players in training.” The Scot has been doing this for years now, a tradition initiated by former Forest manager Steve Cooper.
“Before that, nobody had even mentioned me going to training,” McGovern explains. “I said to Steve that I would come to have a look. I thought it would be two days and that would be it. But he said, ‘no, I want you to come up every day.’ I thought he was joking.”
The habit continued under Nuno Espirito Santo. “I asked Nuno if it would be alright, I would not just turn up. He left it entirely up to me but made it clear I was welcome.” Now, Postecoglou is happy for this personification of Forest’s glory days to stick around.
McGovern attends each session unless his ambassadorial commitments take precedence. He enjoys the banter with characters such as Ola Aina. “I shake hands with all of them,” he says. “One or two have some questions. It’s just a nice thing, isn’t it?”
He adds: “Obvious, thay were informed who I was when I first started going so they have been respectful. That respect is mutual. I don’t bother them with anything, I just literally watch them train, watch them enjoying it. It takes me back to the days when I did it.”
What’s changed since than? He laughs. “The first day I walked out at the academy, I heard this buzzing noise. And I was looking around thinking, what’s that? Somebody pointed out to me that it was a drone filming the training. And then you feel really old.”
Former Nottingham Forest captain John McGovern reflects on the game’s changes
As for the pitches, a man who spent six seasons calling Derby County’s old Baseball Ground home can hardly believe it. “They were moaning the other day because ther was not enough water on it or somthing. They don’t know what a thing called mud is!”
he describes the facilities as “slightly more luxurious” than his seven-year stint as a Forest player under Brian Clough when it would be runs along the river bank and “taking a couple of shirts to make some goals on the local park” – not that this always worked out.
“We would be
There were happy times at Hartlepool, winning promotion for the first time in their history. “that gave me a big thrill. Still does when I think about it.” At Derby,they won promotion and went on to lift the title as champions of England. Leeds was a different experience.
“An absolute nightmare. I experienced for the first time in football getting booed by both sets of fans when I ran out onto the pitch. I can laugh about it now but it was not very pleasant for my other half in the stands. The verbal abuse I got there was ridiculous.”
McGovern lasted a little longer than Clough at Elland Road but linked up with him again once he got the Forest job. The old magic returned when taylor showed up in 1976. “He signed the players. I knew that later when we signed Raimondo Ponte,” laughs McGovern.
“I had been left out and was watching him play from the bench when Clough turned to me.He said, ‘You know what’s wrong with Ponte, don’t you?’ I said, ‘Well, no, but I’m sure you’ll tell me, boss.’ He said, ‘I bloody signed him, that’s what’s wrong with him.'”
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