Bristol Rovers and Brighton share a page in Brian Clough’s history book | OneFootball

The late great manager had the Pirates to thank for his heaviest defeat of a legendary career.

An offshoot of being a great manager is, regardless of how legendary a career you've had, if you've been in the game long enough, the law of averages dictates that at some point you'll suffer at least one truly embarrassing defeat.

Whether it's Sir Alex Ferguson losing 6-1 to a Manchester City side ready to change the guard, José Mourinho's Galacticos losing El Clásico five-zip, or Pep Guardiola suffering a humbling 5-1 defeat in North London, no one is safe from an occasional thrashing.

But while City, Barcelona and Arsenal are perhaps to be expected as the aggressors in a trouncing, there is one manager whose statistically darkest day emanates from a much more unusual source.

In a strange pocket of British footballing history, no team got the better of the late great Brian Clough quite like Bristol Rovers did in 1973.

Brian Clough's bizarre Brighton spell

It was the first of December, one month to the day since Brian Clough and Peter Taylor shocked the football world by joining Third Division Brighton and Hove Albion.

The pair had led Derby County to a European Cup semi-final as recently as April and now found themselves attempting to pluck the Seagulls out of a relegation battle in the third tier. Try to imagine, if you can, Jürgen Klopp taking the helm at Peterborough United tomorrow, and the amount of public interest that might generate.

Ahead of the home tie with Rovers, Clough found himself unbeaten after his first four league matches in charge, though was coming into the match having suffered an extremely embarrassing 4-0 defeat to semi-professional outfit Walton & Hersham in an FA Cup replay three days prior.

With media attention beckoning amid potential capitulation, the game was being filmed for national broadcast on 'The Big Match'. Pressure appeared to have been on for Cloughy. With this in mind, it wasn't ideal that a table-topping, as yet unbeaten Gas were the ones traveling to the Goldstone Ground that day.

Eight-goal Bristol Rovers secured record away win against Brian Clough

Characteristically unphased by the occasion, or perhaps a cunning PR move in the knowledge that television cameras would be firmly on the polarising manager throughout, Clough shared the dugout with his two young boys, including a 7-year-old who currently finds himself managing Mansfield Town.

The relaxed atmosphere would soon subside, however, as the Sussex side would quickly be lampooned by an exhausting attacking display.

The Gas configuration was fronted by strike partnership Alan Warboys and Bruce Bannister, or as they were more familiarly known, 'Smash and Grab'. This nickname was usually quite apt for a pair who spearheaded a side that had found themselves top of the league with just 23 goals in 18 matches thus far, though for this particular game, it seemed incredibly unfitting.

It was a procession from the off, with Bannister tapping home a squared pass in the fifth minute, setting the tone for the afternoon. The big Yorkshireman would only have to wait a further 25 minutes to complete his hat-trick, as a brilliant headed finish and a goalkeeper spill contributed to a three-goal lead barely after the half-hour mark.

Warboys, not to be completely outdone, grabbed his first of the day just before half-time, leaving a bemused, but admittedly still smiling Brian Clough going back down the tunnel 5-1 down at the break.

There are few men in the world today who know exactly what was said in the home changing room, during what was presumably among the most scathing team talks from the two-time-European Cup winner, but whatever was said, didn't work. While Bannister was finished with scoring for the day, Warboys would collect a further three goals in the second half, making it four in total for the day.

The Seagulls had lost 8-2 in front of more than 10,000 supporters, and millions at home, and while the seven-goal duo argued over who took home the match-ball, Brighton staff, including Clough, would do well to unplug their television sets for the remainder of the weekend.

Bristol Rovers would achieve promotion that season, while Clough, despite avoiding relegation, continued underwhelming with Brighton. The manager departed upon the season's conclusion for second-division Nottingham Forest, an appointment that went a little more smoothly.

It wouldn't be the first time the iconic gaffer lost at the hands of the Gas, though in terms of scoreline, Clough would get his own back on the South West side in 1977, as in an FA Cup replay his Forest side would beat the Pirates 6-0 at a neutral Villa Park.

The match remains Rovers' joint-highest away victory, alongside 6-0s against Northampton (2017) and Reading (1999), but when it comes to legacy, nothing beats that historic day out the South Coast.