What had he done? Who had he managed? Did the Rams seriously believe he was up to the job?
Well ... he was the son of their greatest ever manager ... so I suppose that was one thing in his favour.
Jimi Hendrix was a great guitarist ... his grandmother wasn't.
Klara Hitler was (allegedly) a lovely person ... her son Adolf wasn't.
Do you get my drift?
Well Nigel comes to St James' Park tonight, and he has challenged his struggling Derby County team to shock the Geordies.
He is still reeling from back-to-back home defeats by Doncaster Rovers and Blackpool, and his Derby side also have the second worst away record in the division.
Nigel Clough: "It's a time to say, 'Come on, you are professional footballers, you haven't done your jobs against Blackpool or last week (against Doncaster) – it's about time we did them on Monday.
"Newcastle away might be a good fixture to have, we don't know.
"It might be one of those where we go and battle and get a result or we could get done 5-0.
"At the moment I'm not sure where my money would be.
"No-one will expect us to get anything, so let's go and battle and see if we can get a result."