An English Fairy Story (The Damned UTD - David Peace)

Member Name: tommy7

Product:	The Damned UTD - David Peace
Date:	21/05/09 (54 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Seems exceptionally well researched

Disadvantages: Needs a lot of prior knowledge

"The Damned Utd" is David Peace's dramatised account of Brian Clough's forty-four day reign as manager of Leeds United in 1974. In addition to those days it also covers happier times for Clough when he was the manager of Derby County, from 1962.

This was one of the stranger aspects of the book. It doesn't tell the story
chronologically, instead the stories overlap, with seldom more than a few pages of the one time period occurring before it flips back to the other. This could have been (and on occasion is) a little confusing. However, Peace has put the Derby story in italics and whilst this is more difficult to read it does make it totally clear which story you are reading.

I guess the main thing I would say about this book is that it is a very good read if you remember Clough the man. I felt you needed to recall his ego, the way he spoke, the interviews he gave and be familiar with his voice even, to really get the most from this. The reason I say this is that Peace has obviously put a lot of research into this book. Every time his dramatised voice says something in the book you can imagine Clough saying it. Often it brings a smile to your face when reading some of his dialogue. However, if you didn't know who Clough was I think you would assume that the author took a lot of creative license with some of the stories. From what I know of Clough though, I imagine most if not all are based on real incidents.

Obviously both parts of the story are from well over thirty years ago. This made it more difficult for me to remember a lot of the players who are mentioned. Some of the names are familiar but I can't remember their personalities or style of play so that sometimes makes things a little more difficult. You do not know if Clough is justified or is being overly harsh in his opinion of a lot of the characters.

The abrupt changes of story didn't really work for me. I felt I was getting into one part then it suddenly changed to the other story. This lack of cohesion bothered me more as the book went on. I think I would have enjoyed it more had it been chronological as often you lost track of where either team were in their respective competitions. I realise that this isn't a biography of Clough and the author had his reasons for writing in this style but I found it more of a nuisance than anything else.

There was a fair amount of controversy about the book. Seemingly Clough's family weren't happy about how he was portrayed and one of the players in the book, Johnny Giles sued the publisher and won an apology with a financial settlement for damages. In Giles' case I can't comment as he obviously remembers the situations and he felt he had been misrepresented. Sadly Brian Clough is no longer with us to give us his thoughts. I felt he came over reasonably well in the book and would like to think his family had read the whole thing and not just a few excerpts. What was clear was how much he relied on Peter Taylor and their relationship is one of the things which features heavily throughout the book.

The Times newspaper has a quote on the cover saying 'Probably the best novel ever written about sport.'. So I had huge expectations of this book. It's fair to say it never got close to reaching them. I felt it was a mildly interesting book and a good fictionalised account of what may have happened but the best sport book ever..... probably not even in the top hundred.

The biggest issue I had with the book is that it assumes a lot of prior knowledge. I knew Clough the Nottingham Forest manager but not from before that. I didn't feel that there was enough background contained. I think the book would have benefited hugely from an introductory chapter setting the scene. Similarly the ending is quite abrupt at the end of his forty-four day tenure. Whilst the book is focusing on this period alone it would have been good to have a closing chapter summarising what Clough went on to do from there. These chapters needn't even have formed part of the actual book, they could have been in the form of author's notes.

I find it hard to decide whether I would recommend this book or not. I think I would to anyone who is over thirty and remembers Clough. As a football book it holds a small appeal and as an account of the time it didn't give much detail. Therefore, I think it's aiming for a small market.

I picked this up from Amazon for £3.99 although I see the film tie-in version is currently available for £2.99.

Summary: Doesn't justify the hype