Description
Boxing Day 1962: Sunderland's star striker Brian Clough suffers a career-ending knee injury when he collides with an outrushing goalkeeper. After a forlorn battle to regain fitness, he retires early and sinks into deep despair.
October 1965: Clough persuades ex-'Boro teammate Peter Taylor to join him in managing perennial North-East strugglers Hartlepools United, lying next to bottom of the Fourth Division.
A magical football odyssey has begun.
Alchemy reveals the bittersweet reality of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor's first management job together. Lower-league Hartlepools United are penniless, with a meddling chairman, a ramshackle ground and want-away players. Yet the management pair tackle every challenge head-on, forging a winning blueprint that later transforms unfashionable Derby County and Nottingham Forest into League and European Cup champions.
Exploiting a wealth of archive newspapers, plus interviews with those present at the creation, Alchemy exposes the humble origins of Clough & Taylor's meteoric rise to the top of the football tree.
About the Author
Despite being born and raised in London, Christopher Hull has been following Hartlepool United since 1978. He is the author of Our Man Down in Havana (Pegasus, 2019), which William Boyd described as 'A revelation and a delight.'
Reviews
In my early years as
a BBC commentator, I regularly crossed paths with Brian Clough and Peter Taylor
in their halcyon days in charge of Derby County and Nottingham Forest. But it
was only upon reading Alchemy and its account of their time at
Hartlepools United that I realised how their philosophy and initial success
were shaped by their two eventful years in the basement of the Football League.
What a place to start!
Book Information
ISBN 9780750999595
Author Christopher Hull
Format Hardback
Imprint The History Press Ltd
Publisher The History Press Ltd
