Categories: uncategorized
Date: 10 October 2011 15:01:27
Provided You Don't Kiss Me 20 Years with Brian Clough by Duncan Hamilton, (3 of 100), is a football book but it's more than that - it is a reminiscence. It's focused around the 1970's and '80's and most predominantly around the mid 70's and early '80's. Now I have to confess this is a golden age as far as I am concerned. Ipswich, ,like Forest, never had it so good before or after. Whilst Liverpool did have a dominance over that period it was an era when those from outside the big cities had a place at the top table. And it was a time when the FA cup and UEFA cup which Ipswich won in that period meant something. These themes of the place of smaller towns and cities and cups that meant something are part of what Hamilton discusses within the book, but framed around Clough and Nottingham Forest (and to a lesser extent Derby County). Within that era Brian Clough was a legend. Yes, it did all go wrong later and that too is part of the story Hamilton tells honestly and with sensitivity. But which ever way you look at it Clough was still up there with Bobby Robson in the '70's. I guess this book was interesting to read because of the nostalgic element. It took me back to a time and a place different to the book - as I have indicated, but somehow tied in. Personally it took me back to Saturday afternoons and Football Focus at lunchtime with the results at the end of Grandstand. It transported me to the world of the Green 'Un being for sale on Saturday night and seeing the Evening Star headlines on a Monday all talking about the game. It reminded me of the small, suburban fete of some kind which Eric Gates was opening and so I could go on. This is one of those books which can truly be enjoyed only by reading it with an eye on your own past - because it will take you there and make you smile.