Book description
In this first full, critical biography, Jonathan Wilson draws an
intimate and powerful portrait of one of England's greatest football
managers, Brian Clough, and his right-hand man, Peter Taylor. It was in
the unforgiving world of post-war football where their identities and
reputations were made - a world where, as Clough and Taylor's mentor
Harry Storer once said, 'Nobody ever says thank you.'
Nonetheless, Clough brought the gleam of silverware to the depressed
East Midlands of the 1970s. Initial triumph at Derby was followed by a
sudden departure and a traumatic 44 days at Leeds. By the end of a
frazzled 1974, Clough was set up for life financially, but also hardened
to the realities of football. By the time he was at Forest, Clough's
mask was almost permanently donned: a persona based on brashness and
conflict. Drink fuelled the controversies and the colourful character;
it heightened the razor-sharp wit and was a salve for the highs of
football that never lasted long enough, and for the lows that inevitably
followed. Wilson's account is the definitive portrait of this complex
and enduring man. Jonathan Wilson is the football correspondent for
the FINANCIAL TIMES, and writes for the SUNDAY TELEGRAPH and GUARDIAN
ONLINE. His work has appeared in the INDEPENDENT, INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY,
FOURFOURTWO and WHEN SATURDAY COMES. He is the critically acclaimed
author of BEHIND THE CURTAIN: TRAVELS IN EASTERN EUROPEAN FOOTBALL,
SUNDERLAND: A CLUB TRANSFORMED AND INVERTING THE PYRAMID: A HISTORY OF
FOOTBALL TACTICS, which won a National Sporting Club award and was
shortlisted for the WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR.
