‘Footballing Picasso’ John Robertson – Brian Clough’s ‘favourite player’ who smoked in tunnel

European Cup winning legend John Robertson, once hailed as Brian Clough’s “favourite player”, has died.

Robertson, 72, was a pivotal member of the famed Nottingham Forest team that conquered Europe twice under Clough – providing Trevor Francis with a cross for the winning goal against Malmo in 1979 and then finding the winner against Hamburg 12 months later in 1980

In a statement confirming his death, Nottingham Forest said: “We are heartbroken to announce the passing of Nottingham Forest legend and dear friend, John Robertson.

“A true great of our Club and a double European Cup winner, John’s unrivalled talent, humility and unwavering devotion to Nottingham Forest will never ever be forgotten. Our thoughts are with John’s family, friends and all who loved him. Rest in peace, Robbo… Our greatest.”

Voted by fans into first place in a 2015 poll of favourite all-time Nottingham Forest players by the Nottingham Post, the legendary left winger did it all in the East Midlands, winning promotion from the old Second Division in 1977 before winning the First Division title the following season.

The two-time League Cup winner also played for Scotland, scoring a winning goal against England in 1981 and against New Zealand in the 1982 FIFA World Cup, before moving into coaching, as a chief scout and assistant manager to former Forest team-mate Martin O’Neill at Wycombe Wanderers, Norwich City, Leicester City, Celtic and finally Aston Villa, between 2006 and 2010.

Ahead of the iconic Hamburg clash, Clough had joked: “We have a little fat guy that will turn him inside out. Very talented, highly skilled, unbelievable outside left. He’ll turn him… inside… out.”

Robertson would have one final smoke in the tunnel before matches – and a former team-mate once joked he couldn’t go to the supermarket because his face was so lined he would set off all the barcode readers.

Clough would berate him for not being able to run or jump properly, but then would joke: “I only put up with you because you’re a f****** genius.”

He would also joke that “rarely could there have been a more unlikely looking professional athlete… [He was a] scruffy, unfit, uninterested waste of time… but something told me he was worth persevering with”.

But that “[He] became one of the finest deliverers of a football I have ever seen – in Britain or anywhere else in the world – as fine as the Brazilians or the supremely gifted Italians.”

And “he was an artist, the Picasso of our game”.

Robertson’s favourite memory didn’t come at Forest, however. Instead, when asked, he said it was fulfilling his boyhood dream of scoring against England at Wembley. Robertson was told he had to quit smoking in 2013 after he suffered a heart attack.

He was later diagnosed with Parkinson’s, which he battled with for the final years of his life, telling The Times: “I don’t feel ill or anything like that. You’ve got to battle on, don’t you? I’m not going to complain.”