From Brian Clough's garden to his own coaching badges, Steve Stone told all about his rocky road to success.
Cloughie and Gemmill a cut above the rest
As an apprentice he worked in Brian Clough's garden - now Steve Stone is putting all of his efforts into earning his own coaching badges.
The winger progressed up the ranks at Forest in a distinguished 10-year spell at the club and credits Clough and Archie Gemmill for putting him on the road to England honours.
But as a Forest teenager he had to dig deep.
"We'd get driven up in a little minibus and we'd help out in (Clough's) garden," Stone told
Goals on Sunday. "He'd then cook us on his Arga a massive meal that you were never going to finish and you'd have to have a glass of wine or a beer with it as well.
"The first three years I was there he was very good - he was the old Brian Clough that you'd remember. Forest were winning all sorts. What he did have was a massive fear factor around the place.
"You'd see grown men scatter. If you've been in the corridors at Forest there are lots of little doors that shoot off around the dressing room and you would see grown men trying to get out of the way.
"He didn't come in every day so you weren't sure when he was going to be around, he would just surprise you. He was a great motivator. That is what he was about. He didn't complicate the game.
"The way he played his football was a massive influence. I had to learn off him the way you ran yourself as a person and a player. He was very strict on those sorts of things. He wanted you married as a young lad and all that.
"Archie Gemmill used to take an angry pill every morning. He wanted to get you really at it. He was a great motivator as well. I would look back to him to say he was the one who really motivated me and got me where I was."
Bottled
Stone moved onto Aston Villa for a fee of £5.5m in 1999 but despite some strong campaigns he felt the squad never got the credit it deserved.
"The problem with Villa that there was always something going on behind the scenes that detracted from what was going on, on the pitch.
"We were third or fourth in the league and going great guns and all of a sudden there would be posters and banners about getting (chairman) Doug (Ellis) out - that's all it ever seemed to be," Stone recalled. "They wanted to get Doug out. The team never really got a look in.
"When investment needed to be made, when Steve (Watson) was there and they were top of the league going into the Christmas period it never happened.
"I think Doug bottled it just a little bit and instead of going for Juninho they didn't make that signing in January and they fell away after that.
"That seemed to happen a lot with Villa. They would buy, buy, buy and then all of a sudden they would panic a little bit and sell a few players and go back to square one. They never really quite made that leap but they are doing that now."
Credit
Gateshead-born Stone is delighted to see Newcastle top of the current Championship table and although he'd love to see Toon legend Alan Shearer manage the club at some point, for now he insists Chris Houghton must be given a decent run.
"I think he (Shearer) will go on to manage the club. I think Chris Houghton is going to take the job now but I think all Geordie fans eventually would like to see Alan take the job somewhere down the line.
"But you've got to give Chris a massive amount of credit for what he's done. There's nine or 10 players that have gone out in the summer and they sit top of the league. He deserves to take the job."
