Product Description

"Clough's War" is the story of his epic ascent and decline at Derby County, a club he took in a few short years from nowhere to the top English football and teetering on greatness in Europe, before the whole dream came tumbling down in the national spotlight with his acrimonious resignation in 1973. It is the story of his rise to national fame, his almost messianic adoration at Derby and his jealous political tussle with the chairman Sam Longson and the ultimate fall of Clough's unchecked power. Award-winning script writer and lifelong Rams fan Don Shaw, was the man who, at Clough's behest, ran the campaign to keep Clough at Derby and who found himself almost in the spotlight as much as the great man himself. It is a tale dramatized with all the power of Greek tragedy and the Machiavellian intrigue of "All The President's Men", while shedding new light on the Clough legend like no other book before it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #66533 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

About the Author
Before writing Don was a teacher, a manager of a grand prix racing team and a cadet at Sandhurst. He began writing full-time in 1968 and soon became one of Britain's top television writers, with credits including Z-Cars, Dangerfield and Van der Valk. His Wingate trilogy of plays and Bomber Harris both won BAFTAs. Don is the author of The Hike and he has also written a number of film screenplays. Don led the 'Keep Brian Clough at Derby' campaign in 1973 and is still a regular guest on BBC Radio Derby. He divides his time between London and Derby.

Customer Reviews

"I wouldn't say it was the best book in the world. But it is in the top one"
Don Shaw's "Clough's War" is the best book I've ever read in terms of providing the real inside story of Clough & Taylor's magical six year spell at Derby County from 1967 - 1973.

The book is a thriller, a rollercoaster of a read. A compelling page turner, revealing the true genius of Brian Clough.

What makes the book so good is that it is not blinkered to Brian Clough's faults. It shows that Brian Clough's pride was as much a source of weakness for him as it was his strength. Secret meetings are revealed between the author and Brian Clough and the constant struggle that went on, in relation to figuring out how the mind of a genius works.

What Don Shaw has written does more than anything to bring back the 'People's Hero' to his adoring public.

The main story revolves around the actions of Brian Clough, his players and a group of people led by Don Shaw who tried their best to get Brian Clough back at Derby County.

A complex character is revealed, but one who always surprises you. Don Shaw has shown the great man as he really was, a man who always tried his best, a man with impeccable standards and values.

Read "Clough's War" and relive those traumatic days in 1973. You will not be disappointed.

Brian Clough may have lost his battle but in the end he won the war.

Damned damned damned
During his six years at the helm of Derby County, Brian Clough transformed the club from Second Division no-hopers into one of the strongest and most feared in Europe. Behind the scenes, however, all was not well. Clough's War documents the deterioration of the relationship between manager and employer - chairman Sam Longson in particular - as well as the fallout from Clough's bitter resignation in October 1973.

In his foreword, author Don Shaw (who instigated 'The Campaign' to have Clough reinstated, and was its nominal head) intimates that he has tried to somehow 'right the wrongs' of David Peace's The Damned Utd, the controversial 2006 novel which caused such deep upset to the late Clough's family.

Perceived wisdom is that The Damned Utd was a 'hatchet job', but beneath its unremittingly grim exterior it painted a warmer picture of its subject than the copious effing, blinding, drinking and smoking might suggest. Granted, Peace took creative liberties and blew up Clough's demons to grotesque and almost satirical proportions, but he never neglected to acknowledge that Clough was a ferociously driven and charismatic man, as well as a brilliant manager with a peerless ability to motivate and get the best out of players.

Even so, Clough's faults were often as manifest as his strengths. Shaw recognises this dichotomy, as well as the fact that the line between the two was at times so fine as to make them almost indistinguishable. In so doing, he manages largely to avoid sentimentality and remain objective, but a surprisingly large proportion of Clough's War is devoted to events prior to The Campaign, and very little in Shaw's first-hand account comes as any great surprise or revelation. So Clough was vain, arrogant, paranoid and a control freak, was he? Stop the press.

It is also unclear what Shaw's motivations are, both in writing Clough's War (other than as an attempted counter-balance) and indeed throughout The Campaign itself (beyond being a Derby fan). Despite being at the front line, he frequently expresses uncertainty as to the purpose of The Campaign, suddenly questioning the point of continuing, only to just as quickly backtrack. Arguably, this diffidence was less his fault than that of the ex-manager, but Clough's War consequently never manages to wholly convince or achieve the right focus.

A couple of other minor points. As noted by the previous reviewer, there are several factual errors and inconsistencies, mostly trivial but occasionally glaring. For instance, we are told how Len Shackleton - upset at the lack of recognition for tipping Derby off about Clough - never speaks to Sam Longson again, yet several pages later the two are conversing over the phone. More curiously, by taking a non-linear form and through its use of 'imagined' conversations, the structure of Clough's War at times seems almost to mimic that of The Damned Utd - this in spite of the two being ostensibly chalk and cheese (or more pertinently, Fact and Fiction Based On Fact).

I had hoped that Clough's War might, if nothing else, fill any gaps in the story of Old Big 'Ead. In this regard, it singularly fails, maybe because there are no gaps left to fill, but it ultimately feels frustratingly insubstantial, and as such is perhaps of interest more to the casual reader than to a student of one of English football's greatest ever characters.

Quite hard work
I actually bought this book in advance & was looking forward to reading yet another angle on the BC story. Overall, I was disappointed.

I found the narrative quite turgid & even boring, even though the actual events (which I remember at the time) were unprecedented in English football.

Don Shaw comes across as somebody who was being buffeted by each new event & was clearly being manipulated by a very odd & even sinister Brian Clough. Quite bizarrely, & by way of comparison, I found myself actually liking the Clough in the fictional 'The Damned United'(book); much more so than the 'real' character in 'Clough's War' & the baffoon in the film of 'The Damned United'.

Whilst 'Clough's war' is supposed to be factual, there are one or two quite glaring errors. Willie Carlin could not have been involved in the attempted Board Room 'hostage taking' - he was long gone from the Baseball Ground by 1973.

Another very odd feature of the book (& it is shared by 'The Damned United'), but this is a bit of an anorak point, is the anonymity of Kevin Hector. Hector was by far the most popular Derby player of the period & a decisive influence with his many goals. I know he was a quiet type, but he really does not feature much in any of these publications & I just wonder why? There is a wonderful line in 'Clough's War' where Shaw states that 'Dave Mackay quickly became the fan's favourite (after Hector)'.

Overall, I don't think there will ever be a better book about Clough than 'The Damned United'; sorry, I know it offended a lot of people & it is supposed to be fiction, but it certainly felt real to me.