Jake's Road Report is Gemini Sports founder Jake Schuster’s weekly update from professional football's frontlines. He travels globally, meeting club executives to share candid insights on AI's role in football. These raw, actionable thoughts are delivered weekly, with meeting details kept confidential and specific intel omitted.

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In 1977, Brian Clough was manager of Nottingham Forest, freshly promoted to the First Division. His assistant, Peter Taylor, had identified their missing piece: Peter Shilton, the Stoke City goalkeeper. They'd built a team that could score goals. Now they needed someone to stop conceding them.

If they could persuade Shilton to come, they'd be unbeatable. But Shilton was dragging his feet. He wasn't sure Forest was a big enough club for him.

Taylor wanted to drive straight to Stoke and talk the reluctant keeper into signing. Clough said no. Let's wait a week. Taylor asked what difference a week would make.

Clough explained: “Everyone knows he's the best goalkeeper in England. But he can't get onto the England team because of Ray Clemence. Clemence plays for Liverpool, and Liverpool's winning everything, so people think Clemence is better.”

“Shilton knows he can only prove he's the best if he plays for a good team. He doesn't think we're big enough. But right now he's stuck at Stoke, in the Second Division. Next week, Stoke are playing Mansfield Town.”

“Imagine what that'll feel like—a wet, muddy Saturday at a tiny, rusty stadium with drafty changing rooms and damp towels. Imagine how that will feel to a man who knows he should be playing in massive international stadiums. He'll feel depressed and desperate.”

“So let's wait a week, until after the game. Then make him an offer.”

And that's exactly what they did. And Peter Shilton nearly bit their hand off to sign.

Nottingham Forest may have only just been promoted, but they were a better team than Stoke and Mansfield Town. Shilton was the missing piece.

In his first season, Shilton kept 23 clean sheets. With Shilton in goal, Nottingham Forest won the league. The next year they won the European Cup. The year after that, they won it again.

No English team, before or since, has done it. And Peter Shilton went on to replace Ray Clemence as England's first-choice goalkeeper.

It's not just what you say and do that's important. It's also where, and when.