I still haven’t seen the ‘controversial’ film ‘The Damned Utd’ but you can bet your life that’s not going to stop me commenting on it!I have to say I’ve been a little amused by the outpouring of anger that has followed the release of the film and I guess a lot of it has come from Clough fans who, like me, have yet to see the film. I’m amused because somewhere along the line between David Peace’s book being published - which incidentally I have read - and Tom Hooper’s film, crashing into our consciousness, we moved from fiction to biopic!
As I understood it ‘The Damned Utd’ was never meant to be an accurate account of the actual events surrounding Cloughie’s infamous 44 Day reign at Elland Road, but an entertaining take on what may have been going on backstage.
Regardless of your views on this book or film, I would highly recommend another book, which I know is much, much closer to the truth of the matter where the late great Brian Clough is concerned. If you want to know about the real backstage Cloughie and don’t mind a few warts, Duncan Hamilton’s ‘Provided You Don’t Kiss Me’ is a right riveting read.
Duncan was the Nottingham Evening Post reporter who covered Forest for a large slice of the Cloughie era, and had to extract stories from Old Big Head on a daily basis - it was not an easy job!
I know that because Duncan used to tell me at every opportunity he got. I should explain. At the time I was also working as a sports reporter for the Evening Post, covering the mighty Mansfield Town. I had no such trouble getting Stags bosses Stuart Boam and then Ian Greaves to feed me story lines and juicy quotes, and whenever I met up with Duncan he would bemoan the fact that I had it easy when gathering my weekly news quota.
Many of the stories he would tell me at the time, in tones of exasperation, have since become chapters in his book. Sadly I don’t think my recollections of life at Field Mill in the early 80s would have publishers scrambling. So, for Duncan, through his excellent book, his suffering at the hands of the mercurial Mr Clough, has borne well-deserved fruit, and for the rest of us provided a real and accurate insight into Cloughie’s golden years - it’s well worth a read.
Jez
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