When Roy Keane took over at Sunderland a few weeks ago, he revealed something about what made Clough a cut above other managers when he said something like 'There are loads of bullshit managers who talk about playing for the shirt and giving 110%, anyone can do that - but Clough would observe things about football matches that others didn't see and it was often those details that made a difference'
I think he put his finger on something there that is beyond the old arguments about motivation and tactics. Both of those are obviously important, but after a while professional players have heard it all before - what Keane was getting at was that Clough could tell the players things that weren't obvious, that when they put them into practice they worked. That's not the same as talking about 4-4-2 or 4-3-3, because those are just formations, but formations do not win games.
Jose Mourinho has this talent too. As well as having good motivational and team building skills, he has an eye for small details which others either do not see or might not think would make any difference, but he does. When he was Bobby Robson's assistant at Barca (his first step into management) Robson said that he was amazed at the details and insights that Mourinho would report back to him when he sent him to check up on other teams.
