The Damned Utd Book

David Peace's The Damned United is an excellent fictionalised account of the forty-four troubled days that Brian Clough spent as manager of Leeds United in 1974. Told from the point of view of Cloughie himself, The Damned United is a stream of consciousness account of his failed attempt to impose his own will and playing style on the Leeds team that he inherited from his bitter managerial rival Don Revie. The Leeds players remained strikingly loyal to their old manager and so conflict with Clough was inevitable, leading the new manager to look back wistfully on his more successful days with Derby County. David Peace has a great ear for dialogue and I loved the banter and anecdotes that were spread throughout this book. Although The Damned United is based on fact, a great deal of the book is fiction, much of it based on rumours about Clough's time at Leeds that have been circulating for years and so many of the incidents described by David Peace should be taken with a pinch of salt. None of the characters are portrayed in a particularly positive light but it is Brian Clough himself who probably comes across the worse. Far from being a dynamic and inspirational manager, Clough is portrayed as being an extremely conflicted, foul mouthed man suffering hugely from alcoholism. Although Clough is the most extreme, David Peace hasn't shown any real bias since nobody comes out of The Damned United well - not the players, not the board, not even the fans. No doubt the characters of Clough and the others have been made far more extreme than their real world counterparts to make the book a more dramatic read but, as characters at least, they work really well. Despite the very heavy weight of fiction rather than fact in the plot, The Damned United is a great book, a really gripping read, and should entertain everyone, not just football fans.

The hugely acclaimed novel of '70s football and the turmoil of the game's most charismatic and controversial manager, from the bestselling author of GB84 and Red or Dead.One of Mike Atherton's 'Top Ten Best Sports Books' in The TimesIn 1974 the brilliant and controversial Brian Clough made perhaps his most eccentric decision: he accepted the position of Leeds United manager. A successor to Don Revie, his bitter adversary, Clough was to last just 44 days.In one of the most acclaimed British novels of recent years - subsequently made into a film starring Michael Sheen - David Peace takes us into the mind and thoughts of Ol' Big 'Ead himself, and brings vividly to life one of football's most complex and fascinating characters.

The Damned Utd : Paperback : Faber & Faber : 9780571224333 : 0571224334 : 05 Apr 2007 : The hugely acclaimed novel of '70s football and the turmoil of the game's most charismatic and controversial manager, from the bestselling author of GB84 and Red or Dead. In 1974 the brilliant and controversial Brian Clough made perhaps his most eccentric decision: he accepted the position of Leeds United manager.