Provided You Don't Kiss Me: 20 Years with Brian Clough - Duncan Hamilton

Some of you may have noticed that I reviewed the film 'The Damned United' very recently, based on the book of the same name about the ill fated 44 days that football manager Brian Clough spent at Leeds United. It was not an area that I had that much interest in, but my partner's brother was insistent that I went. Some people may also be aware that I reviewed a book recently that I was forced to read as it was lent to me. For those loyal readers I would first like to thank them both (hi Mum), but also prepare them for this review of 'Provided You Don't Kiss Me' a book lent to me by my partner's brother! A double whammy of pressure reading! Oh joy; it's also another ...  Read the complete review

Someone once said that 'sport is life', and for many working-class Brits that is certainly the case with football, even Middle-England slowly realizing the beauty of our national sport over their ponsy arts and class. But, alas, the game has slowly been priced out of the working class and Premier League is the new opera. Going to the match on Saturday and being in the stand is as close as it comes to being out on the pitch for many and the match was that bond that held communities together. Brian Clough, a new breed of manager at the time of his peak, encapsulated that blue-collar need to work hard to get success and that ethos flowed through his player's, ...  Read the complete review

Duncan Hamilton was a journalist at the Nottingham Evening Post for over twenty years. He was to gain access to Brian Clough's Nottingham office on his very first day at the newspaper as a nervous sixteen year-old journalist. Brian Clough was one of the self-proclaimed giants of the English game who brought unlikely success to two of the most unfashionable English football clubs: Derby County and Nottingham Forest. Hamilton would become an integral part of Clough's world, and eventually one of the few journalists who would gain his trust. As such Hamilton was fortunate to have access to every aspect of the club, and he does a good job of painting a vivid portrait of ...  Read the complete review