Customer Reviews: Read 59 more reviews...
 Astonishing achievement November 26, 2008
The best football novel ever, also, one of the greatest sporting books. It may be fiction but this vivid portrait of Brian Clough's doomed 44 days in charge of Leeds United succeeds in capturing the essence of the man far better than so many of his biographers. Meticulously researched and ingeniously constructed it's a brilliant study in obsession, paranoia, and genius.
This guy deserves a prize. An amazing book November 18, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Quite the most astonishing book anyone let alone a sports fan will read. The way the 2 stories overlap and finally meet up in the harshness of the early seventies is awesome. Its edge of your seat stuff, even if you know ( and most do) the outcome. The writer captures the Clough years excellently and to wrap it up in to such a fine story is quite brilliant. Buy it for a football fan, or anyone with a passion for life.
 Peace far from his best November 10, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've been a fan of David Peace for some time, and with the level of interest that this book has created over the last couple of years, I managed to put off reading it until now.
Its not a bad novel... its just not great. Peace's style that has been so vibrant in its creation of atmosphere and tension in his other works seems to get in the way of character here, and Clough and Giles come accross as two dimensional charicatures. Peace's brilliant evocation of timepiece Leeds that we saw through 1974, 1977 et al without sticky nostalgia is also lacking here. The plot, albiet one based on fact, is still enough to carry the book. It is in fact very disappointing, because I know Peace can do so much better, much like the Clough character within these pages infact. Therfore, lets hope that Peace himself can emulate Cloughie in some respects and that this book is indeed his Leeds United, that the Red Riding Quartet is his Derby County, and the Tokyo Trilogy will be his Nottingham Forest.
BRILLIANT October 25, 2008
Love football, don't usually read books connected with it: it's a spectator sport, and most books are either pointless biographies or something else poorly written by some second-rate hack.
Love Nottingham Forest and love the man, Clough, for obvious reasons.
Love the novel inspired by the man and his term at Leeds United. Fantastically written - by a writer - that really gets you inside the head of the character.
Great stuff!!!
Greatest Sports Book Ever October 13, 2008
This IS the greatest book about sport ever.The story is so amazing you couldnt make it up.It tells the story of Brian Cloughs 44 days at Leeds as well as the end of his playing career through injury to his turbulent time at Derby.Clough hated everything about Don Revie and Leeds yet somehow Leeds offered him the managers job when Revie left to manage England and Clough excepted.The Leeds players hated Clough and he hated them.His famous quote when he had his first meeting with them was"Throw your medals in the bin you won none of them fairly" 34 years later you have to ask the question what possesed the Leeds board to offer him the job.
There are no winners in this amazing story.Clough,the Leeds players and the Leeds board all dont come out with any credit.It was a match made in hell that was always going to end in disaster.
The amazing thing is Clough went on to manage Nottingham Forest to the title and the trophy Revie and Leeds so much wanted to win the European cup.You could not make it up
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