As a teenager at nearby Mansfield he would come over to watch Clough’s side; he can point to the seat from which he saw a Uefa Cup tie against Celtic.Some 600 League appearances and 31 caps later, he joined Forest from Aston Villa. In his sixth game, at Birmingham, he suffered a badly broken leg. “I played one more first-team match after that, but physically I was nowhere near good enough I went on loan to Notts County but I was hopeless Embarrassing. His 14-year-old daughter, Abbey, has always had to help him with computer presentations for training sessions or analysing opponents.

This summer he took a course at Warwick University, held in conjunction with the League Managers’ Association, where he learnt about “everything to do with football bar the game itself: finance, psychology and IT skills”. We have what it takes to succeed in this division and the foundations are so firm that we should be competitive in the next one, too. Look at the teams promoted from this league, like Reading and Wigan They went on to the Premiership. Hull, Luton and Plymouth each had two promotions and are established at Championship level.

If we get a momentum going at Forest, we could do the same, or even better.”If Clough was one of the last great “character” managers, who dominated clubs by sheer force of personality, Calderwood is part of the modern breed. Following the departure of Gary Megson from Forest late last season, two coaches, Frank Barlow and Ian “Charlie” McParland, took a floundering side on a run that almost led to the play-offs “They did a fantastic job. I was sorry when Frank chose to join Hull City,” says Calderwood.”But I’d have been just as interested in coming here if Forest had narrowly avoided relegation Everyone in football knows what a good job it is. He recalls promotion there as “what I’m proudest of in my career – equal to captaining Swindon into the Premiership, which was another great ‘group’ thing – and even more satisfying than representing Scotland in the World Cup”.However, he describes as “huge” the difference in the potential of the two clubs, who meet at Northampton a week on Saturday. What he achieved here is unlikely ever to be repeated.”Not that Calderwood does not aspire to greatness. It was the sense that Forest offered the opportunity to achieve it that persuaded him to leave Northampton after delivering them to the same level as his new club last May. It’s unbelievable for a club to go, in five years, from near the foot of the old Second Division to being champions of Europe.

“There can’t be any harm in honouring the club’s history.”Could they even be an inspiration to today’s Forest squad? “Maybe if we were pushing for the Champions’ League, but we’re too far away from what Cloughie achieved for that. “Judged on those terms, this club would be one of the best in the Championship, and equal to the great majority of the Premiership.”As we chat he points to a large, framed photo of Garry Birtles in action on one of the epic European nights. It is waiting to be rehung after a previous incumbent had it removed. “I’m happy to have those pictures around the place,” he says. “The stadium, facilities and fan base all stem from that era,” Calderwood says.