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It is just gone 6pm in the away dressing room at Anfield. Brian Clough is about to spring a major surprise not only on Liverpool but also on his own Nottingham Forest squad.
In the process, he will kick-start the career of a wiry young Irishman, just turned 19, who will go on to become one of the most heralded players of his generation, then a straight-talking coach, manager and, more recently, an even more vocal pundit.
On that Tuesday evening August 28, 1990 few people had heard the name of Roy Maurice Keane. But that would soon change.
“The gaffer would regularly get one of the young lads to put a tracksuit on and come on the team bus with us. It was a way to give them a taste of things,” Forest’s right-back Brian Laws that night tells
Nottingham charity match to honour ex-footballer s wife
Published
image captionSamantha Birtles (right) was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2019
Familiar footballing faces are reuniting on the pitch to raise money for a hospice that cared for the wife of a former Nottingham Forest player.
Samantha Birtles, 56, wife of former Nottingham Forest player Garry, died on Thursday after being diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer.
The match will involve 50 former footballers including Martin O Neill, Nigel Clough and Kevin Keegan.
Organisers said they hoped to celebrate Samantha s life .
The charity match, which will take place at Basford United in Nottingham, had been arranged before Mrs Birtles death.
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