Damned Utd

Sean O'Conor reviews "Damned Utd" by David Peace

David Peace's 'The Damned United' is a landmark book in the soccer canon because it hauls football into the domain of the historical novel. Lavished with praise from the literati, this will appeal just as much to any fan ever touched by the entrancing madness of King Brian Clough.

David Peace places himself inside 'Ole Big 'Ead' during his 44 days of hell at Leeds United in 1974, to recount, through Clough's self-possessed state of mind, one of the most bizarre and enigmatic episodes of post-war English football.

Interspersed with his Elland Road nightmares are passages recounting Clough's days as a player and as a coach at Derby, with every triumph seemingly ending in personal defeat.

Despite being fiction, this reads throughout like Cloughie himself is speaking, seemingly unbeatable in the fortress of his own ego, desperate to get his revenge on life's slings and arrows, but doomed once more to go down in merciless flames when he steps into the lair of his demons.

The imagined narration is a stream of belligerent yet fragile consciousness, a relentless internal monologue of life as a permanent and bloody struggle. In a world seen only in black and white terms, the cast-iron self-belief of the biggest ego around gets niggled, kicked, tripped up and eventually maimed, as his magic powers fail to heed his call. Peace's Clough is admirable in his never-say-die resolution, his unswerving will, tragic in the face of defeat, and his insecure heartbeat almost palpable.

The books' bibliography proves the author has done his research meticulously enough, and the end-product does feel authentic in its vivid portrayal of the murky, macho insularity of English football in the seventies.

Yet Clough's widow Barbara has slammed 'The Damned United' for inaccuracy, accusing it of painting a picture of a man she never knew. Out of respect we have to take her word for it, yet one inescapably leaves with the spirit of the media Clough in Peace's words.

This debate over authenticity arrives with every historical novel published, a polemic ratcheted up if anyone mentioned in the tale is still alive to say 'I know - I was there!'

That football is now confronting this issue is more proof of how far UK football writing has come since 'Fever Pitch', a status that should only be enhanced when the film of 'The Damned United' is released next year.

Michael Sheen, best known for his portrayal of Tony Blair in the movie 'The Queen', is stepping into Clough's shoes on the big screen, while Colm Meaney plays nemesis Don Revie, Jim Broadbent the Derby chairman Sam Longson and Tim Spall his friend and coaching alter ego, Peter Taylor.

Related Links

Brian Clough - A Derby County Perspective
Brian Clough - A Life
Brian Clough - Provided You Don't Kiss Me

Sean O'Conor

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