​The regional – and indeed national – sporting press was doing its best to catch up with the stunning news that Brian Clough had signed from local rivals Middlesbrough the previous day.Alf Greenly, writing in the Sunday Sun, exclaimed that “the signing of Clough must go down as one of the best-kept secrets in soccer”.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSomehow, this deal had been struck in the goldfish bowl of the North East with seemingly watertight security. Not a whisper had escaped about a deal that had been at least a couple of weeks in the making.Chairman Syd Collings made the announcement at the club’s annual general meeting the day before, triggering loud applause from the shareholders gathered.Collings triumphantly declared to the AGM: “I know I am speaking on behalf of the board, and I am confident most supporters will agree when I say I would sooner see Sunderland in Division One with a heavy overdraft than in Division Two with a substantial credit balance.”The fee was a record amount for Sunderland at the time and was said to be in the region of £45,000, surpassing the £42,500 paid to Clyde for George Herd the previous season.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementCollings, it seems, was not too concerned about the size of the outlay, declaring: “I have admired Clough’s football for many years and, when the opportunity came to sign him, the board acted quickly.”Middlesbrough had let it be known towards the end of the 1960/61 season that they would cash in on their biggest asset. Despite being a record-breaking goalscorer for Middlesbrough (204 goals in 222 games), the outspoken Clough had rattled a number of cages at his hometown club.Having been made captain of Middlesbrough, the club then had to deal with nine of his team-mates signing a petition calling for him to be removed from the role. Clough’s demanding standards allegedly led to him accusing his team-mates of not trying hard enough!AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIn his book Walking on Water, Clough expressed not only his frustration but also his suspicions about why success never came Middlesbrough’s way despite all the goals he scored. The best they achieved was fifth place in the Second Division.Clough made his debut for Middlesbrough in September 1955 and went on to finish as the club’s leading scorer in that and every subsequent season until July 1961. During that time, he earned two England caps as a Second Division player in the 1958/59 season.Middlesbrough had made it public that they wanted £55,000 for their goalscorer. What was not known publicly until Sunderland’s chairman revealed the news at the club’s AGM was that Sunderland were even considering an approach for the centre-forward – or that Clough would consider joining another Second Division side. It was remarkable that such a high-profile transfer could take place in complete secrecy.Apart from managing to get this transfer over the line without too many people find