The Damned Utd

The Damned Utd is a semi-fictional story of Brian Clough's 43 days as manager of Leeds United, back in 1974. I really enjoyed this book. It's a very easy read and quickly finished. Of course, at my age, I knew the story already, roughly speaking. When I was 12 years old, my best friend was a Leeds Utd supporter. Of course, very soon after that he was an Everton supporter, and then a West Ham supporter, but it's amazing how, at the time, I never cottoned on to the fact that he was just picking the best team of the period. As Andy Hamilton once said in Old Harry's Game, a special hell is reserved for football supporters who change the alliances with team results. (He actually said there's a special hell for Manchester Utd supporters who come from Surrey, Singapore, or anywhere except Manchester. You get the idea.)

Clough was controversial, big headed, and big mouthed. He was also brilliant. Even those who hated him, including the pompous dillies at the FA, could hardly deny that his achievements are unprecedented and still to be rivalled. He took both Derby County and Nottingham Forest, two clubs from lower divisions, to league championships and, in Forest's case, European Cups. Now he's gone and, of course, neither of these clubs are well known and, outside their local towns, probably unheard of for the most part.

Author David Peace captures the atmosphere of the era brilliantly. If you lived through it then, you'll live through it again in the book. His football commentary style writing is a bit easy to skip over (unfortunately), but it doesn't really detract from the story. His thesis, based it seems on a lot of background reading, is that Clough took the Leeds job simply because it was the biggest club in England at the time, but that he hated the club from the outset and really did little but try to break-up the team that had won the championship the year before. Leeds supporters will find much to upset them in the story – for supporters of other teams, especially ones like Tottenham which had one of its worst seasons ever (but still didn't even then lose this supporter) or Manchester United, who had dropped to the second division that season (but who also still didn't lose true supporters) it's all like a trip down memory lane. I suspect, though, that anyone who didn't live through the time will find it hard to follow exactly what is going on and why.

I remember looking forward to seeing Clough on the telly because he always had something to say and wasn't afraid to give an opinion. It would have been wonderful to get his views on the way Eriksson picked a squad to lose the World Cup last year, but unfortunately Cloughie's no longer around to point out the truth for us. He is the one clear proof that the English FA put politics and image above the national team's performance as Clough was clearly the best manager in his era, desperately wanted the England job, and was snubbed for the post several times, just as he was when he was the best striker in England, he only won two caps for his country – because his face didn't fit. He had what England lack – professionalism, or, as he put it, true heart. RIP Brian Howard Clough.