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Although there was little doubt that Peter Beardsley was England's unarguable first choice creator-in-chief for strike partner Gary Lineker at the end of the 1980s, it didn't do Bobby Robson much harm to take a look at potential replacements in case an injury or chronic lack of form befell the Liverpool forward. In the summer of 1989, Beardsley was unavailable to play in the now-traditional Rous Cup competition at the end of the domestic season because Liverpool still had League games to play in the aftermath of Hillsborough. Robson looked around for someone with potential to eclipse Beardsley's imaginative ballwork behind a main goalscorer, and Nottingham Forest's compelling Nigel Clough stood out. Robson played him alongside fellow debutant John Fashanu in the opening contest against Chile at Wembley but the 0-0 scoreline told its own story for Clough and England. Nigel was on the bench for the trip to Hampden Park which followed but lost out to the prolific Third Division chancer Steve Bull when Fashanu needed to be substituted early, and Bull promptly scored on his debut while the more cultured Clough failed to be picked by Robson again as Beardsley returned to the fray, fit and, as it turned out, remaining so through the rest of the qualifying campaign for the 1990 World Cup and the tournament itself.
However, it was believed that Nigel's chance would come again one day and it duly did when Graham Taylor took over as coach after the World Cup. Taylor put Clough on the bench for a summer mini-tournament game at Wembley against Argentina, and he came on for John Barnes as England threw away a two-goal lead to draw 2-2. The summer of 1991 saw a long-haul trip to Australasia and the Far East for a four-match mini-tournament and Clough started the first and last of these games, enjoying a hopeful understanding with Lineker in the latter against Malaysia, which England won 4-2 with Lineker scoring them all. However, Clough was absent for the two European Championship qualifiers at the end of 1991, from which qualification for the 1992 tournament in Sweden was guaranteed. Taylor duly went into experimental mode to get his squad sorted for the European Championships finals, and Clough was capped in a friendly win over France, playing in a positive, resourceful role just behind a partnership of Lineker and debutant Alan Shearer, who scored one each in a 2-0 win. Clough won further caps against Czechoslovakia (as a starter) and the shortlived CIS (as a sub for Shearer) and made Taylor's final squad for the tournament, even acquiring the prized England No.9 shirt in the process. However, as England's injury-riddled side struggled through two goalless draws before losing to the hosts and going out, Clough was not once called upon to kick a ball. Taylor called him back for an eighth cap against Spain in September 1992, and then he finally played a part in a competitive fixture when he came on as a substitute during a professional 2-0 win in Turkey as the 1994 World Cup qualifiers got underway.
Clough came on for two more sub appearances in the qualifying competition; for Paul Gascoigne during a stuttering 1-1 draw in Poland, and then infamously for Des Walker as Taylor, miked up for a Channel 4 documentary, issued him with a rambling set of instructions which Clough, although one of the more cerebral footballers, struggled to understand or absorb. England's tactical nightmare that night in Oslo resulted in a 2-0 defeat and World Cup qualification became highly unlikely from this point. Nigel himself took no further part in it, and would never start a competitive match for his country. He won three final caps during a joke mini-tournament in the USA, which included a humiliating defeat by the host nation, but Forest's relegation that season took Clough to Liverpool where he failed to settle, thereby removing any minor hope of an England comeback after Taylor's departure. Terry Venables cut his losses after taking over and recalled the ageing but on form Beardsley. There was little doubt Clough was skilled enough to play for his country, but ultimately the game England were playing didn't suit him. (Matthew Rudd)
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