The Damned Utd

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 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 show more 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 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 show more 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

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 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 show more Bill Shankly at Liverpool. show less

Interesting fictionalisation of Clough's 44 days at Leeds. The endless repetition, endless repetition, endless repetition started to get on my nerves half way through and I had to start skipping lines. It is a good account of a fascinating character and seemingly well researched... but don't believe the hype: if you aren't interested in football [I am a Leeds supporter] and don't remember the 1970's then you probably wont enjoy this book.

Cracking read, particularly if you're interested in football, particularly if you remember Brian Clough. All pseudo-stream of consciousness, which I think Peace pulls off reasonably well. It doesn't really convince as a "stream of consciousness", however if it did it would probably be unreadable. It does succeed at giving the illusion of a stream of consciousness while remaining readable. More than that, I found the structure of the book really interesting, interlocking the stories of Clough's time at Hartlepools and Derby, with his time at Leeds.

My one reservation is that if you didn't know this was a real person, I'm not sure the book would be so interesting or engaging. By the same token, it did make me really desperate to find out show more more about Brian Clough. One reason that it might not work as a pure work of fiction is that Clough was so much larger than life, it would be difficult to invent him convincingly. Peace definitely manages to bring a plausible version to life, which is a huge achievement. Fascinating. show less

This was a bit of a change of scene for me: a British author and a book based around football (soccer). Peace is a darling of the British media at the moment, having had his Red Riding Quartet turned into a highly acclaimed TV series, and with a film adaptation of The Damned United currently doing well in cinemas. I was given The Damned United, and read it very quickly.

The Damned United is a fictionalized (and factually questionable) account of the true events that saw Brian Clough, arguably the greatest English football manager of all time, taking charge of Leeds United, undeniably the most successful English team of the era, at the beginning of the 1974 season. It was a match made in hell. Clough hated the Leeds players before he show more arrived, and had publicly criticized them for cheating, diving, violent play and bribery, leading many to question why he took the job. His arrogance alienated him from the Leeds players further, and their resentment was fueled by the feeling that one of them, Johnny Giles, should have been given the job instead of Clough. After just 44 days, the greatest English manger and greatest English club parted company amid bitter acrimony and abject failure.

The book, and film, have been described as the best ever about football, because they are not really about football, and to a point this is true. Clough was a fascinating man in real life: unspeakably arrogant, strangely camp, alcoholic, witty, self-obsessed and undoubtedly a footballing genius. To those who are already yawning at the idea of a sports-based book, get on youtube and see some of Clough's interviews, and you start to get the idea. Peace's book tries to uncover the demons that not only caused Clough to fail at Leeds, but that caused him to take inexplicable decision to accept the job in the first place. The whole book is narrated from the inside of Clough's head, his thoughts stripped bare, and we see the everyday football (training, transfers, results) juxtaposed with the swirling doubts and haunting thoughts that force Clough's search for more and more success: the premature end to what could have been a great playing career,a snub from then-Leeds boss Don Revie, subsequent losses to the violent play of Leeds, the death of his mother, his sacking from the one job he loved at Derby. All of these things create a claustrophobic darkness to Peace's book that transcends the subject matter. The writing is brilliantly structured, with short pieces alternating between Clough's Leeds disaster and flashbacks to happier, more successful times at unfashionable Derby County. In this sense, it is not a book about football, but about being driven by demons to the verge of self-destruction.

Except that, of course, it is about football. Every page has football stuff happening, and reels off match reports and boardroom conversations. I remember Clough at the latter end of his career, and was always fascinated by him, but I wonder how interested I would have been if The Damned United was purely a work of fiction. Peace's writing is very good, and is as gripping as the very best of thrillers, but I suspect that some interest in football, is perhaps required to really enjoy this book. It is a study in obsession, and undoubtedly a good one, but may not be for everyone. For what its worth, I thought it was very, very good. show less

The Damned United is the story of Brian Clough's infamous 44 days as manager of Leeds. It also tells, concurrently, the story of Clough's football career leading up to the point he took the position at Leeds. Peace's research allows him to tell the story from Clough's viewpoint. We share his insecurities. We cannot know what is true and what paranoia. But this is not simply another unreliable narrator. It is the mind as unreliable narrator. A reminder that for each of us if our life is a text then we are our own reliable narrator.

It is also a brilliant (in the sense of sparkling with light as opposed to just good) reminder of the fact that Clough was such a wondeful bastard. He makes a great fictional character because he was such a show more one-off in real life. A Gordian knot of paradoxes. A self destructive man who orchestrated so many triumphs. An intelligent man who did so many stupid things. A tyrannical socialist. And like that knot he was a problem you could only solve by destoying it.

It is a shame that many will miss this book because it is based in the world of football. It's themes are universal and it is outstandingly well written. show less