Anders Lustgarten

An impressionistic and even poetic account of a doomed man, it seems a bit strange to say - given the high esteem it is held in - that it read to me as a practice run (albeit quite a good one) for Peace's actual masterpiece, [b:Red or Dead|17846988|Red or Dead|David Peace|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1374078939s/17846988.jpg|24978328]. The repetitive style Peace used in this novel was developed and extended even so much farther in that novel, which of course exchanged one football manager show more for another. Meanwhile, Red or Dead has the advantage of a likeable central character and genteel, restrained drama; The Damned Utd has a difficult protagonist and flaunts its drama, showering it in booze and self-destructiveness.

Together (or separately) the two books are a fascinating education about English football in the late sixties and early seventies when it was a nativist working class arena, much grimier and shadier than the flashy, cosmopolitan, and professional set up nowadays. Totally bizarre to see a First Division/Premier League table with the likes of Carlisle United and Ipswich Town, mere English minnows today with no hope of competing against large urban clubs owned by the wealth of Russian oligarchs and Gulf sheiks, up at the top. show less

Having once briefly worked with Cloughie in the late 1970s when I was promoting a series of football talk-ins and he guested ('Shave your beard off, young man' were his first words to me) and having enjoyed the uncannily accurate characterisation of this controversial figure on film by Michael Sheen, I was particularly interested to catch up with David Peace's fictional portrayal, the novel that inspired the film.

So glad I did. Peace nails the self-obsession, the paranoia, the manipulative show more but compelling speech and eccentric behaviour, and above all the sheer neediness of the man who set out deliberately to create his own legend and came close to being destroyed by the ghost of another, Don Revie.

Throughout we live in Cloughie's tortured mind (first person voice for the Leeds episodes, constantly switching to second person for Derby and other scenes of the past). It's an uncomfortable lodging, but the very best place to explore his troubled psyche, and it does not restrict Peace who brilliantly illustrates the seedy, shambling, low-level corrupt and amateurish nature of 'professional' football in the 1970s, and colourfully recounts the tale of Clough's 44-day tenure as Leeds United manager.

This is a fascinating story, seared by truth, and a great character study, more powerful, dramatic and original than any sporting biography or autobiography you are likely to read, 'ghosted' or otherwise. It may not be, as the cover claims, 'the best novel ever written about sport' (Peace's own list of sources and acknowlegements throws up a couple of contenders for that title) but it's certainly in the running. show less

It is difficult for me to write a review. On the one hand, the story is well and coherently written, with a lot of dark humour, but on the other hand, the way the police behave made me angry, because unfortunately this is not just fiction, but also fact. That's why I didn't give it that many points.
African refugees try to cross the English Channel in a battered fishing boat. Omar is the leader, his goal is to find his girlfriend in London. A very brutal English policeman claims the right to show more find such boats in the water at night and drive the refugees back. When he and his cronies see Omar's boat, they board it and the policeman kicks and murders Omar. A young policeman films the whole thing.
The next morning, Cherry, a nurse, finds Omar's body on the beach and calls the police. The patalogue reveals that Omar was brutally murdered. Now a race against time begins. Cherry tries to bring his girlfriend's body to him, while the brutal policeman tries to prevent this.
This story shows how refugees are treated and how there are still a few ‘good’ people out there. show less

Even if you don’t know the first thing about English football, David Peace’s novel, about coach Brian Clough’s disastrous 44-day tenure at the helm of league champions Leeds United in 1974, will make you care enough to learn. Clough is a vengeful, monomaniacal, charismatic leader who’s lost his followers, and The Damned Utd, in its repetitious, clipped, rhythmic prose, will plunge you into his head, and into the tormented heart of England just before the rise of Thatcher. Readers show more with an interest in leftist politics or English sport will have much to look forward to here, but I’d recommend this just as much to anyone who cares about good writing. If you like it, look for Peace’s new 1970s football novel, Red or Dead, about Bill Shankly at Liverpool. show less