This book won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2007. It is a look back at Brian Clough's 20 year career as manager of Nottingham Forest. It is written by Duncan Hamilton who was a reporter who worked for a local paper.

I have previously read and review a couple of other books about Brian Clough - Damned United and Walking On Water.

I found the book to be a very easy read. I already knew most of the events that occurred in Brian Clough's management career and the book focuses rather more on the man. He was a rather eccentric character who was a bizarre mixture of arrogance and insecurity. His many eccentricities are highlighted, the tendency to kiss people(male or female in a friendly way), the continual threats to resign, the way he used to take his teams to the pub before games, the fact he used to punch some players, etc. I suppose I feel the book doesn't have that much that is really new. I wonder if the author really has quite the close bond with Clough that he seems to imply. I wonder if rather he just did a hell of a lot of research. The idea that he saw Clough as a sort of father figure seem a little bit far fetched to me. I just got the feeling that a lot of it was stuff that I had read before and it wasn't really getting behind the issues, I feel that the book probably doesn't deserve the praise it seems to have received. I suppose I am disappointed that less is mentioned about how Clough actually managed his teams, he was after all probably the best man-manager in British football history and yet little is really made of how - perhaps it can't be taught.

I suppose I found this an enjoyable read, but expected more. A lot of the material wasn't new and that rather tarnished it for me.