Larry Lloyd obituary, fearsome defender and one of the 'Miracle Men' at Nottingham Forest

It was a highly unusual way to seal a footballing deal. Nottingham Forest’s idiosyncratic manager, Brian Clough, wanted the defender Larry Lloyd to drop a division and join his club. Lloyd, who had been a young star at Liverpool and an England international before a disappointing spell at Coventry, had his doubts about playing for a manager he knew only as a “mouthy git”.

The conversation then took a strange turn when Clough quizzed Lloyd about the state of his kitchen equipment, and Lloyd admitted that his washing machine had broken. Shortly afterwards, a new machine appeared at his home and was installed. “So that was my signing-on fee,” he recalled, “a washing machine.” It was only when he turned up for training and met