The Damned Utd by David Peace (easy readers txt) 📕

The Damned Utd

DAVID PEACE

For Jon Riley, with love and thanks

I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage;

I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.

Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest;

It crieth out against me, therefore have I hated it.

Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her;

Come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour.

Jeremiah, Chapter 12, Verses 7–9

The Argument II

Repetition. Repetition –

Fields of loss and fields of hate, fields of blood and fields of war –

Their sport upon the walls, their sport upon the floor.

Milton! Thou shouldst be living at this hour: England hath need of thee …

In her shadow time.

On our terraces, in our cages, from Purgatorio, we watch,

With our wings that cannot fly, our tongues that cannot speak:

‘Destroy her politics! Destroy her culture! Destroy her!’

But our wings are thick with tar, tongues heavy with her coin,

On our broken backs, our broken hearts, she’ll dine again tonight.

In her shadow place –

We are selfish men: Oh, Blake! Orwell! Raise us up, return to us again.

These civil wars of uncivil hearts, divided and now damned –

The old is dying and the new cannot be born –

By Elland Road, I sat down and wept; D.U.F.C.

THE DAMNED UTD

An English Fairy Story

Wednesday 31 July – Thursday 12 September 1974

Contents

Title Page

Dedication

THE FIRST RECKONING

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Day Four

Day Five

Day Six

Day Seven

Day Eight

Day Nine

Day Ten

Day Eleven

Day Twelve

Day Thirteen

Day Fourteen

Day Fifteen

Day Sixteen

Day Seventeen

Day Eighteen

THE SECOND RECKONING

Day Nineteen

Day Twenty

Day Twenty-one

Day Twenty-two

THE THIRD RECKONING

Day Twenty-three

Day Twenty-four

Day Twenty-five

THE FOURTH RECKONING

Day Twenty-six

Day Twenty-seven

Day Twenty-eight

THE FIFTH RECKONING

Day Twenty-nine

Day Thirty

Day Thirty-one

Day Thirty-two

THE SIXTH RECKONING

Day Thirty-three

Day Thirty-four

Day Thirty-five

Day Thirty-six

Day Thirty-seven

Day Thirty-eight

Day Thirty-nine

THE SEVENTH AND FINAL RECKONING

Day Forty

Day Forty-one

Day Forty-two

Day Forty-three

Day Forty-four

Sources and Acknowledgements

By the Same Author

About the Author

Copyright

THE FIRST RECKONING

First Division Final Positions, 1973–74

Home

Away   Total     P W D L F A W D L F A F A Pts 1 Leeds United 42 12 8 1 38 18 12 6 3 28 13 66 31 62 2 Liverpool 42 18 2 1 34 11 4 11 6 18 20 52 31 57 3 Derby County 42 13 7 1 40 16 4 7 10 12 26 52 42 48 4 Ipswich Town 42 10 7 4 38 21 8 4 9 29 37 67 58 47 5 Stoke City 42 13 6 2 39 15 2 10 9 15 27 54 42 46 6 Burnley 42 10 9 2 29 16 6 5 10 27 37 56 53 46 7 Everton 42 12 7 2 29 14 4 5 12 21 34 50 48 44 8 QPR 42 8 10 3 30 17 5 7 9 26 35 56 52 43 9 Leicester City 42 10 7 4 35 17 3 9 9 16 24 51 41 42 10 Arsenal 42 9 7 5 23 16 5 7 9 26 35 49 51 42 11 Tottenham H 42 9 4 8 26 27 5 10 6 19 23 45 50 42 12 Wolves 42 11 6 4 30 18 2 9 10 19 31 49 49 41 13 Sheffield Utd 42 7 7 7 25 22 7 5 9 19 27 44 49 40 14 Man. City 42 10 7 4 25 17 4 5 12 14 29 39 46 40 15 Newcastle Utd 42 9 6 6 28 21 4 6 11 21 27 49 48 38 16 Coventry City 42 10 5 6 25 18 4 5 12 18 36 43 54 38 17 Chelsea 42 9 4 8 36 29 3 9 9 20 31 56 60 37 18 West Ham Utd 42 7 7 7 36 32 4 8 9 19 28 55 60 37 19 Birmingham C 42 10 7 4 30 21 2 6 13 22 43 52 64 37 20 Southampton 42 8 10 3 30 20 3 4 14 17 48 47 68 36 21 Man. Utd 42 7 7 7 23 20 3 5 13 15 28 38 48 32 22 Norwich City 42 6 9 6 25 27 1 6 14 12 35 37 62 29

Bottom 3 clubs relegated.

I am a Yorkshire Man and I am a Cunning Man –

And I curse you! First with gift, then with loss –

I curse you!

Loss and then gift, gift and then loss –

Until you lose. Until you leave –

I will curse you!

Day One

I see it from the motorway. Through the windscreen. The kids in the back. Fallen off the top of Beeston Hill. Are we nearly there yet, they’re saying. Are we nearly there, Dad? In a heap up against the railway and the motorway banking. Asking me about Billy Bremner and Johnny Giles. The floodlights and the stands, all fingers and fists up from the sticks and the stones, the flesh and the bones. There it is, my eldest is telling my youngest. There it is. From the motorway. Through the windscreen –

Hateful, hateful place; spiteful, spiteful place …

Elland Road, Leeds, Leeds, Leeds.

I’ve seen it before. Been here before. Played and managed here, six or seven times in six or seven years. Always a visitor, always away –

Hateful, spiteful place, flecked in their phlegm …

But not today; Wednesday 31 July 1974 –

Arthur Seaton. Colin Smith. Arthur Machin and Joe Lampton …

Today I’m no longer a visitor. No longer away –

No more zombies, they