Prolific Rhodes keen to learn from Clough at Stags

Jordan Rhodes has scored almost 250 career goals during his 17-year career to date, but says he is now excited to learn more about his trade from Mansfield Town boss Nigel Clough.

The 34-year-old remembers Clough the player – an England international who was prolific for Nottingham Forest and who went on to have spells at Liverpool and Manchester City.

Rhodes, a former Scotland international, says the chance to play under Clough was an undeniable lure when agreeing to make a transfer deadline-day loan move from Blackpool to their League One rivals.

“He is a player, first of all, that I grew up watching,” Rhodes told BBC East Midlands Today.

“There are not too many there in the changing room that will remember him playing, and what a great player he was.

“And playing at the forward end of the field as well, it’s a real help for me personally. Because seeing one of the greats there as your manager, being a striker as well, you can tap into some of his expertise.”

Clough the player is inextricably linked to Mansfield’s Nottinghamshire neighbours Forest.

He remains the club’s all-time top scorer with 123 goals – a vast majority of which he scored while playing under his late, great father Brian Clough during the later years of his illustrious time as Reds boss.

“The Clough family name is a dynasty in football, particularly in our country,” Rhodes said. “I’m really looking forward to that part of it, and it’s a real pleasure to be here.”

Mansfield Town are the 11th club that Rhodes will have played for in a career that has spanned England’s top five divisions – from non-league to the Premier League.

He had made a permanent move to Blackpool just six months earlier, having scored 15 goals for them while on loan at Bloomfield Road from Huddersfield last term.

When asked if his move to the One Call Stadium was likely to lead to a longer stay, Rhodes said: “I don’t know what the future is. It’s about the here and now.”

What drives the striker – who counts Blackburn Rovers, Sheffield Wednesday, Middlesbrough, Brentford and Ipswich Town among his former clubs – is not the goals he has slammed in consistently throughout his career.

Not even the milestone of reaching 250 is at the forefront of his mind now that he talks of his career in terms of being a footballing father.

“It’s my family,” Rhodes answers, when talking about what motivates him.

“My two boys are now getting into football and seeing their dad go out there and trying to do the best that he can and then taking up football themselves, that is what it’s all about.”