Nigel Clough: Mansfield Town's League Two play-off defeat 'top of disappointments' for Stags boss
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Nigel Clough led Mansfield Town to the League Two play-off final in his first full season in charge of the club
Manager Nigel Clough says Mansfield Town's League Two play-off defeat by Port Vale was proof that football and Wembley "are sometimes horrible".
Port Vale were devastating as they beat 10-man Stags 3-0 on Saturday.
The defeat left Clough with no desire to return to Wembley on Sunday to watch ex-club Nottingham Forest face Huddersfield in their play-off final.
"I don't care if I don't see another football game for the foreseeable future," he said.
"Football is a horrible game sometimes and sometimes, I have to say, this [Wembley] is a horrible place."
Clough insists Mansfield will still look at their season "as a success" despite suffering a defeat that he ranks "top of the list of disappointments".
He compared the loss at the national stadium to the shock of seeing his former side Burton relegated from the Championship in 2018 in dramatic fashion on the final day.
The 56-year-old, whose defeat at Wembley was his second in two appearances there as manager, said Mansfield "can't lose sight" of what they achieved during the season.
The Nottinghamshire club was in the relegation zone in October after a woeful 14-game winless run in all competitions.
But a club-record 11 consecutive home league wins between 30 October and 2 April catapulted the Stags to what previously seemed an unfathomable promotion bid.
They were in the race for automatic promotion until the final day, but eventually had to settle for a seventh-place finish and a play-off campaign that took them back to Wembley for the first time since 2011.
"It's still been a successful season, but it wasn't the the ultimate success we wanted," Clough said.
"To get to this point from where we were, I think we have to recognise it as a major achievement. We will try build on that for next season.
"After what the players have done this season, we just fell short at the final hurdle - that's it."