Occasionally, it's a good idea to pick up a book for which you have no frame of reference. It can serve as an education, a corrective to bad assumptions, or just a nice diversion from your usual reading. I know very little about European football (soccer) and have virtually no knowledge of the English leagues, which was why David Peace's novel was not only an introduction but also as something much deeper. It also serves as the basis for a movie starring Michael Sheen.Peace, more well known perhaps for his crime noir Red Riding quartet and his reputation as a British James Ellroy, takes as the novel's subject the short, turbulent career of football manager Brian Clough heading his long-time nemesis, Leeds United. The story is told from Clough's point of view, in short, clipped, often vulgar stretches of self-flaggelation and rage. It isn't necessary to know the backstory to appreciate very early on the stakes.Clough, a footballer whose career ended prematurely due to injury, becomes the manager of Derby County and quickly gains a reputation as a brilliant manager. His nemesis, though, is Don Revie's Leeds United, a championship club he holds in the utmost scorn for what he perceives as their dirty play. He is publicly critical of them and their manager while at the same time building his own legend in Derby. When he is forced out in Derby, he becomes Leeds' unlikely hire after Revie takes the England manager's job.From there, Clough embarks on a whirlwind 44 days as manager, trying to change the character of the team while at the same time hating what he has inherited. It is Peace's achievement in this novel to tell both stories of Clough's rise and fall simultaneously, showing the seeds of his downfall in his rise. Constantly, Peace's Clough understands it's not his team, but Revie's. There is no changing them, and even as he tries to lead them, he still hates them. Even a reader with no interest in soccer can appreciate the humanity in the observation, "They love me for what I'm not. They hate me for what I am."Clough does not believe in God, but he does believe in sport, which makes him believe in himself. It's easy to recognize the familiar egotism that runs through virtually every athlete. The idea that particular teams can be cursed, that the game can help one overcome life, that to beat an opponent is in some ways a moral exercise. "You believe in football; in the repetition of football; the repetition within each game, within each season, within the history of each club, the history of the game - "But again and again, life intrudes to recalibrate what Clough feels about himself and the game, and the games outside the game. The turning point comes when Clough's mother dies. She isn't really a character in the novel (indeed, characters in the novel mostly serve as foils for the portrait of Clough that emerges) but it is her death which begins the descent that eventually carries him to Leeds, "The end of anything good. The beginning of everything bad..." Clough doesn't believe in an afterlife, no heaven, no hell, no God, nothing, but after her death, "for once in your life, just this once, you wish you were wrong."Clough, in real life, went on to once again achieve success with Nottingham Forest, becoming the sort of sports figure for whom statues are erected. Peace's novel though reminds us that even the worlds we create within our world -entertainment, sports, business - all seek to operate outside life according to rules of effort, and fairplay. Rules we devise. And yet, even there, the ball seems to bounce against us, no matter what strategies we devise, what defenses we deploy, whatever trophies we think we may capture.
A remarkable piece of historical literature that just so happens to be centred in the world of English football.David Peace is clearly an exceptionally talented writer of semi-noir stories. His Red Riding Quartet being the darkest, bleakest, deepest black that the modern take on the genre gets. And on the face of it a fictional tale of a high profile sports personality from 1970s England doesn't automatically lead you in that direction. His portrait of Brian Clough however ticks the majority of the boxes required of a noir protagonist and it is this portrait that lifts this novel head and shoulders above all other books about football and perhaps even, as The Times said in its review, every novel ever written about sport.Forty-four days in the life of a disturbed genius. Forty-four chapters of self-loathing and doubt interspersed with examples of his brilliance and an almost biographical look at how it was that Brian Clough came to be in the position he found himself in. It plays out with a sense of inevitability, the kind of relentless and futile struggle that you might find in such classic B-movie noirs as Detour and the kind of psychological study of human nature that wouldn't be out of place next to the great names of 20th century literature, like Graham Greene perhaps.Peace really finds Clough amongst these words, contrasting his speech patterns with his inner monologue to enhance the troubled genius aspect of him, a constant repetition of words and phrases highlighting the driven nature of the man and again this skill is what marks Peace out as the award winning talent that he is.Whilst this is a fictional tale, it is based on fact and extensive research, it becomes easy to villify the designated bad guys thanks in no small part to the talent of the author; and it is this that got both him and his publisher in to legal trouble after publication. After losing a libel case certain sections were removed from editions published after 2008. I was very happy to find myself in posession of a 2007 printing and read with great interest, keen to discover what exactly was no longer deemed suitable for publication. I must say I thought it a bit soft, Johnny Giles really doesn't come off too badly, especially not when compared to the conflicted drunken genius of the main character.The movie adaptation was also very good but to my surprise on reading the novel painted Clough in a much friendlier light. Whilst I enjoyed the movie it didn't really give you an insight in to the inner workings of the man and only really touched on the turmoil of his mind when compared to this book. Both are excellent on their own merits.This was a very easy read, addictive to the point where I have put off all other activities where possible today to allow myself the pure pleasure of reading this novel, without interruption. Highly recommended for fans of powerful character studies as well as all those football fans impatiently waiting for the new season to start.
Do You like book The Damned Utd (2007)?
Uno dei migliori libri sul calcio che abbia mai letto. Un libro bellissimo in assoluto, sia che sareste disposti a vendere serenamente l'anima in cambio della Coppa dei Campioni sia che non ve ne importi un fico secco. Brian Clough, appunto, l'anima se la sarebbe venduta di sicuro (forse l'ha fatto, chissà)in ogni caso alla fine ce l'ha fatta. Anzi ce l'ha fatta due volte di fila, col Nottingham Forest per giunta. Lui sbancava l'Europa del calcio, Margaret Thatcher sbancava i seggi in Patria. Qui però si racconta un'altra storia, non una storia di trionfi e gloria. Si raccontano i quarantaquattro giorni di Clough alla guida del Leeds United. Quarantaquattro giorni alle prese coi suoi demoni, la vittoria e la sconfitta, e con le sue ossessioni. Da solo, completamente solo, senza nemmeno il suo secondo, che sempre lo ha accompagnato ma che al Leeds ha detto no. Perchè il Leeds United loro lo avevano sempre odiato e visto come quanto di più scorretto e negativo ci fosse nel calcio. Il maledetto United. Quando Clough arriva sono campioni in carica e lui gli promette che rivinceranno ma in modo diverso. Vinceranno comportandosi correttamente. In realtà probabilmente la più grande "scorrettezza" del Leeds consisteva nel riuscire spesso a battere il Derby County di Clough e nell'aver vinto il campionato. Non ci sarà nessuna vittoria ottenuta in modo "diverso". Quarantaquattro giorni disastrosi, pieni di alcol e fantasmi. Di tabacco e campi fradici. Di tristezza e scarsa professionalità. Quarantaquattro giorni traboccanti rancore raccontati con una voce ruvida di sigarette. Senza gli eccessi pulp di John King e il buonismo di Febbre a 90. Un libro sul calcio e sull'Inghilterra che stava per fare scelte drastiche. Quarantaquattro giorni per ridursi in cenere. Ci sarà la resurrezione e la gloria, ma è un'altra storia.
—Luca
The author called it, "another fiction based on another fact." It is a fictional account of Brian Clough's 44 days as manager of Leeds United football club in 1974. The story flits between the past and the present. The past is told in the second person and revolves mostly around his more successful time as manager of Derby. The present, at Leeds, is told in the first person as a stream of consciousness that felt disjointed at first, but I felt more comfortable with as the book progressed. I probably would have enjoyed the book more if I had more than a passing interest in soccer, or knew anything about the characters in that time period. It was difficult to separate out the soccer, as the book is peppered with scores and league tables, from the story of the man, which was actually quite fascinating. He came across as an incredibly abrasive fellow, but brilliant manager, highlighted by the fact that Leeds continued to decline after his demise, while he moved on to drag another club up from the depths.
—Peter Holz
"Probably the best novel ever written about sport." -The TimesThat's the quote on the cover of the edition of The Damned Utd. I read. I agree. But, to say this novel is just about "sport" is unfair. Yes, Brian Clough was a brilliant football manager. Yes, Brian Clough was outspoken. Yes, Brian Clough was not perfect. And that's what I loved so much about this book. Clough was really good at a few things and failed miserably at others. Just like all of us.If you've ever started a new job or taken over for someone else at something, you can imagine what Cloughie was going through when he took over Leeds United for 44 days. Here was someone that was beloved by his former team, worked miracles to bring Derby County up to Division I champions and took over a club with it's own history and own way to do things. Mr. Peace does such a great job of running Clough's ascension with Derby and his downfall with Leeds that you don't have to be an English Football fan (it helps a little) to see the the everyman qualities of Clough even though he is a larger than life character. We all struggle with wanting to succeed on our own terms. We all get in over our head sometimes. Peace made Clough the kind of character you cheer for and cringe at. That's not just taking some newspaper articles and biographies and making an enjoyable story out of them, that's creating a literary hero that's bigger than the story. Much like the real Brian Clough I guess.
—Andrew Cumming
