The Damned United by David Peace

The Damned United is a book set in the world of football. (Soccer)

I wanted to read it for a few of reasons.

1) David Peace is from near my hometown and has written about places I know and have frequented.

2) It brought back memories of the 1970s that I had long since forgotten.

3) It is written as literature using stream of consciousness in a way rarely used in novels.

The book is set in Leeds and Derby as Brian Clough - the England Manager we never had - (allegedly) - took over Leeds United Football Club from a very successful Don Revie who had just won the Football League.

The viewpoint is Clough himself in an internal narrative that switches from Leeds United to his former success and sacking at Derby County Football Club. It contrasts the success Clough had in the European Cup - he was the first English Manager to win it - and the highlights and disappointment of his 7 week stay at Leeds. I found the style to be a good attempt at an authentic inner narrative, with repetition and swearing and a buildup of emotional symbolism in the stifling repetitions of Cloughs journeys and feelings.

I found it to be a particularly interesting piece as it documents a piece of football history that I had no knowledge of at the time, as I have only recently become intersted in watching football. I found it very surprising too, as I knew all the players in Leeds United and the book. On reflection, I realised that at that time I had been surrounded by my mates who were all Leeds United supporters, and talk of Billy Bremner and Peter Lorimer was the stuff of my 1970's playground. We all knew them, and my mates would declare themselves to be these players when we had our games in the playground and on the field.

The press of course loved this drama, and they got Clough and the former manager - Don Revie into the studios after Clough's sacking. It is on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxsRt2yG8Es

as are incidents in the Charity Shield the year Clough took over Leeds and the controversy it brought.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUqOH2PGlko

I found it to be written in an interesting style. It accurately documents, in a surprising way, contrasting periods in Brians Clough's life, and the buildup of tension to the ineviable denoument is masterfully done.

The film was certainly very good. However, I can understand why Brian Clough's family were upset by David Peace's book. It seems strange that you can fictionalise a person's life who is not very long dead. It is taking some liberty. I wondered what category of literature that is. It's not biography, but it's not entirely fiction. I suppose Shakespeare did something similar with his fictionalised accounts of real people, but they were mostly dead for centuries.

I wasn't very keen on association football as a boy, being rubbish at it, but when I was five or six in the early 70s I lived in Long Eaton near Derby. All the other kids used to chant "Derby County! Derby County!" I didn't realise Derby County had come from nowhere to win the football ball league and the European Cup. My father, however, used to teach in Dewsbury near Leeds. He said all the horrible kids he had to teach were Leeds fans.

Hi Kev. Long Eaton sounds familiar. I think my wife's Uncle lives there.

I was similar in the 70s. No interest in footie, but exposure to it through my mates. I was surprised at how many memories came back, particularly about the Leeds team and our playground football.

I think the Clough family sued. The film extends the end a bit, but I agree. I liked it. I found the book good, and suprisingly literary in the techniques he uses. There was a good sense of tension moving towards the end.

I don't envy your Dad teaching in Dewsbury. I'm from Wakefield down the road and it was just as bad. Yes, most of the kids were Leeds fans too.

Sprake,Hunter,Charlton,Maedely,Giles,Bremner,Reane y,Cooper,Jones,Lorimer,Clarke - not bad after 40 years or more. Most of our school were Burnley or Man United fans But I was Leeds.

I remember those times very well, The Matches against his Derby County side were like open warfare, they'd kick lumps out of each other for 90 minutes. But Brian Clough was a great adimirer of Leeds. There were just too many ego's at the club, and his was the biggest of all.

He was by the look of the youtube vids. I didn't like Cloughie much, but he was certainly a good manager. he probably put too many people's backs up to manage England..

It was a funny book - literary, but about such an evocative and unliterary time. I think he did a good job in portraying the time and informing about the league. It certanly brought it all back for me, and I only watched Leeds if they were on the telly.