DERBY County would have won the European Cup if Brian Clough had stayed at the Baseball Ground – that's the verdict of the ex-Rams players who knew him the best.

Speaking at Derby Assembly Rooms at the tribute show Brian Clough's Way last night, Roy McFarland, Roger Davies, Archie Gemmill, John McGovern and John O'Hare explained why they thought their old boss was the greatest and what he could have achieved if he had not resigned in 1973.

Davies said: "It was his and Peter Taylor's biggest mistake and they always regretted it. If they had stayed at Derby we would have gone on to win the European Cup. We were the Manchester United of our time and he could have founded a dynasty."

Such was the loyalty generated by Clough that players like McFarland were considering striking in order to get him his job back.

"Such was the emotion he created," said McFarland.

Clough won the League Championship at Derby but went on to win two European Cups at the Rams' bitter rivals, Nottingham Forest.

"Those cups he won down the road should have been ours," added Davies.

Earlier the players had shared their favourite memories of the Clough era at the Baseball Ground with the help of actor Colin Tarrant, who took on the persona of Old Big 'Ead.

There were also tales of drinking sessions at the Midland Hotel.

"It was his way of getting us to relax," says Gemmill, who refused to touch alcohol until Cloughie persuaded him to try Champagne at the age of 23.

But the Rams manager would be the first to berate players if it went too far.

"I spent two years with Dave Mackay at the Midland Hotel and it felt like 42," said McFarland. "It was a drinking education."

But it didn't impress Cloughie, who told his young defender to stop drinking with his veteran team-mate or "your career will be finished before his".

Cloughie always knew how to get the best out of his players. Some he would praise; others would feel his tongue; while some he would ignore.

After one bad back pass cost the Rams a key game, McGovern was ignored by Clough for six weeks until the player's mother intervened. Many years later Clough told McGovern, "your mother gave me a right rollicking".

But all of his players were fiercely loyal to the man, still calling him "boss" decades later.

"Brian was very special to all of us; a fantastic man," added Gemmill.

And all still mourn his passing.

"There's not a day goes by where I don't think about him," said McFarland.