Burton Albion In October 1998, he moved into management when he accepted the role of
player-manager at
Burton Albion in the
Southern Football League Premier Division. Now aged 32, Clough was still registered as a player, which possibly explained his apparent lack of ambition to move into League management (his father bitterly lamented the premature curtailment of his own playing career). However, Clough had not played regularly for Burton since the early stages of the
2005–06 season, though he did play in the team's 6–3 win over
Sutton Coldfield Town in the
Birmingham Senior Cup on 27 October 2008. His final senior appearance for Burton came in the league against
Droylsden on 12 February 2008, his only appearance of the season. In January 2006, Burton, then in the
Conference, held
Manchester United to a 0–0 draw in the third round of the
FA Cup. The United team featured
Ole Gunnar Solskjær and
Louis Saha, with
Cristiano Ronaldo and
Wayne Rooney introduced as second-half
substitutes. Burton midfielder Chris Hall said: "After the match, the press were buzzing... but we had a local cup game, against
Stourbridge, I think, and the gaffer only wanted to focus on that.... With his playing career, he was used to the publicity... It was brilliant and it was quite a breath of fresh air, but at the same time, the gaffer kept us grounded". In the
replay at
Old Trafford, Burton were beaten 5–0, but earned a reported £600,000 in the process. Clough won the Conference Premier Manager of the Month for December 2008, after completing 11 straight wins in the division and guiding Burton to 13 points clear at the top of the table.
Derby County in 2009 On 5 January 2009 he was officially approached by
Derby County, one of the clubs his
father had previously managed, to take over as their manager as a replacement for
Paul Jewell. He was appointed the next day, prior to his taking charge, on 8 January,
Academy head coach
David Lowe guided Derby to a victory over
Manchester United 1–0 in the first leg of the League Cup
semi-final. Clough's first victory in charge of The Rams came on 31 January 2009, when Derby beat
Coventry City 2–1. Results improved after Clough's arrival, with a run of four consecutive wins. However, a series of injuries to key players saw a loss of form for the Rams. Safety in the
Championship was not confirmed until the penultimate game of
the season against
Charlton Athletic, with a 1–0 victory. Clough's
first full season in charge of Derby saw significant changes to the playing staff as he brought in nine players and moved on fourteen as well as making substantial dealings in the loan market. Despite this, the Rams again struggled with injuries, at one point being without thirteen first team players. When key players returned from injury, Clough was able to start picking a regular team, and results began to improve. Derby finished two points and four places better off than the previous campaign. Clough was involved in several altercations during the season. He was accused by counterpart
Billy Davies of kicking him in the knee in a pitch side altercation during Derby's 1–0 victory over
local rivals Nottingham Forest. Clough denied the claim and, though Davies put in an official complaint to the Football League, nothing came of the incident. Clough was also in trouble again when he was sent to the stands during Derby's 3–1 home defeat to
Ipswich Town on 5 April. He was fined £1,000 and given a one-match ban, which he served during Derby's final match of the campaign at home to
Cardiff City. Clough also gave himself some game time during the course of the season, coming on as a late substitute for the
reserve side in their 2–1 victory over
West Bromwich Albion reserves in their
Central League Central Section clash. Derby suffered a major shock in the
FA Cup, losing to
Crawley Town 2–1. The result saw Clough's job at the club reportedly come under threat, as he issued an apology to the club's supporters, many of whom responded with demands for his dismissal. Derby's chief executive Tom Glick answered fan's concerns by reiterating the club's support for Clough, saying: "Nigel is absolutely our guy. We have been clear about that continuously." During Derby's post-November struggles Clough came under focus for his consistent criticism of individual players, which came to a head when he strongly criticised
Tomasz Cywka after his mistake led to a late
Portsmouth equaliser in a 1–1 draw at
Fratton Park. Of Cywka, Clough said: "He's an extremely inexperienced and not very bright footballer ... he can go back to
Wigan or wherever he came from – I'm not really bothered – until he learns the game." These incidents led
Professional Footballers' Association chief
Gordon Taylor to criticise Clough, saying: "It cannot be appropriate to criticise your team in such a way in public. We'll sort things out ... otherwise it looks an untenable situation." Ultimately, nothing came of the incident but the outbursts, coupled with Derby's poor results on the pitch, led to some unrest among supporters. Clough's players were booed at the end of a 3–1 home defeat against
Doncaster Rovers on 1 March 2011. Clough's continuing stay at the club was rewarded by overseeing Derby's best start to the season in 106 years as they opened the season with four victories from four and earned a nomination for
Championship Manager of the Month for August 2011; the award went to
Gus Poyet of top-of-the-table
Brighton & Hove Albion. A 1–1 draw with
Barnsley on 28 September 2011 took Derby into second place and the automatic promotion spots for the first time in over a year. The results came during discussions over Clough's contract – which was due to expire at the end of the season with Forest allegedly interested in securing their former player's services. Despite these reports however, there was no evidence that Clough and his staff were looking to go elsewhere and Clough entered into new contract discussions with Derby, stating "It has never been a question of if we wanted to stay or not. This is where our heart is." Clough signed a new three-year deal, to take him through until summer 2015, on 17 October, two days after a 1–1 draw with league leaders
Southampton had kept Derby in the play-off places. After signing the deal, Derby took just four points from their next five fixtures and slipped out of the playoff places. A 3–2 defeat at
Peterborough United, after Derby had held a 2–0 lead, saw Clough hit out at the
officials and
The Football Association imposed a £2,000 fine on him. Derby suffered mixed form through the remainder of the season. By mid-April Derby found themselves 11th in the table, five points off the play-offs with four games remaining. However, two defeats to
Middlesbrough and
Cardiff City in four days ended Derby's play-off chances. Derby finished the season 12th in the league, with Clough satisfied with the performances of the team, stating that a lack of firepower was the reason why they fell short and that it would be an area to improve on in the following season. The club also finally ended their interest in appointing a
director of football, something the club had been considering since May 2011. This meant Clough retained control of the club's player recruitment policy and he was keen to add to his squad. On the final match of the
2012–13 season, a 1–0 victory over
Millwall helped Derby to finish the campaign in 10th place. After a mixed start to the
2013–14 season, Clough was sacked on 28 September after three defeats in eight days, the final of which was a 1–0 defeat to local rivals Nottingham Forest, with Derby 14th in the table after nine games. He left the club as the longest serving Derby manager in over a decade.
Sheffield United On 23 October 2013, Clough was appointed new manager of
League One side
Sheffield United on a two-and-a-half-year deal. Clough's tenure got off to a winning start as Sheffield United comfortably beat
Crewe Alexandra 3–1 at
Bramall Lane. Clough was named
League One's Manager of the Month for February 2014 after an improved run of form with four wins from five matches, including four
clean sheets. On 9 March 2014, Clough's side beat
Charlton Athletic 2–0 to set up an
FA Cup semi-final tie against
Hull City at
Wembley, this was United's ninth consecutive win in all competitions with United climbing out of the
League One relegation zone up to 11th in the table. In May 2014, Clough was named
FA Cup Manager of the Season by the
League Managers Association in recognition of United's run to the semi-finals of the
FA Cup. Clough also led the Blades to the
semi-finals of the League Cup in the
2014–15 season after a 1–0 win over Southampton at Bramall Lane. Sheffield United parted company with Clough on 25 May 2015.
Return to Burton Albion Clough returned to
Burton Albion for a second spell as manager in December 2015, after
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink left the post to join
Queens Park Rangers. Clough led the club to a second place finish at the end of the season, gaining the club promotion to the Championship for the first time in their history. Clough kept the side in the league for two seasons before the club was relegated back to League One in May 2018 after a 23rd place finish. Clough later stepped down as manager in May 2020 due to the financial impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic on the club.
Mansfield Town On 6 November 2020, Clough was appointed as manager of
Mansfield Town on a two-and-a-half-year deal who were then in 22nd position in
League Two. After a poor start to the
2021–22 season which had seen his side in the relegation zone in October, Mansfield would win a club record eleven consecutive home matches to finish the season strongly. They ultimately finished seventh, missing out on automatic promotion on the final game of the season. On 9 May 2023, Clough signed a new one-year contract with the option to extend it further. At the beginning of the
2023–24 season, Mansfield went 19 games unbeaten. At the
EFL Awards, Clough was named as the League Two Manager of the Season. ==Managerial statistics==