Content provided in partnership with
If you ask me
Independent, The (London), May 3, 2008 by Dylan Jones
If you ask me, Provided You Don't Kiss Me will probably turn out to be the best sports book you read all year. Subtitled "20 Years With Brian Clough", Duncan Hamilton's episodic biography is that rare thing - a work of sporting non-fiction that has genuine literary resonance. This hasn't gone unnoticed, and as well as being reviewed favourably, it also won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award. The paperback is published in a week's time, and I recommend you buy a copy.
- Most Popular Articles in News
- The Ten Best Laptop bags
- Tata plans cheapest-ever car for Indian market
- GLOBALIZATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT OF THE THIRD WORLD
- Corn is good for you; Corn is not only a tasty treat, but also a cereal that ...
- THE 50 BEST STYLISH HANDBAGS TO CARRY
- More »
The slightly odd thing about Hamilton's book is the fact that there has already been another great book published about Clough recently - David Peace's The Damned United, which catalogued Clough's disastrous 44 days in charge of Leeds Utd following his infamous resignation from Derby County, the team he'd brought all the way from oblivion to Match of the Day in the early Seventies. So what were the chances of another?
But Hamilton's portmanteau study of a football manager who was tormented by alcohol, as well as all the usual triumph-through- adversity precursors to a considerable career, isn't so much a biography as a sort of advent calendar of a life, dipping in and out of Clough's whenever the writer feels like it.
The traditional CV is almost ignored, as Hamilton expertly weaves in and out of Clough's extraordinary career, ably abetted by 20 years of anecdote and proximity as a local reporter. The most affectionate passages are built around the conversations that Hamilton had with Clough in his private office, when early-morning whiskeys were offered either in lieu of, or before, a halfway- decent match report. Clough's rich vocabulary obviously adds colour to the book - especially his fondness for calling most people "shithouses", a term I feel needs resuscitating - as does his surprising penchant for playing Frank Sinatra records in his office and then singing along to them at the top of his voice ("I've Got You Under My Skin" being one of his favourites).
Unsurprisingly Clough also subscribed to the Len Shackleton view of club directors. The ninth chapter of Shackleton's autobiography, Crown Prince of Soccer, was called "The average director's knowledge of football."
Beneath the title, the page was left blank. E
Dylan Jones is the editor of 'GQ'
Copyright c 2008 Independent Newspapers UK Limited. All rights
owned or operated by The Independent.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.
