Provided You Don't Kiss Me: 20 Years with Brian Clough [Hardcover]

'Anyone who remembers Clough should read this book, and one can only hope the younger generation of fans will seek out the tale of one of the true characters of the game that existed before Sky TV. While accepting the enigma of Clough will endure, Hamilton has probably come closer than anyone ever will to distilling a remarkable football coach and unforgettable man.' Sean O'Connor

'This gem of a book successfully casts fresh light on numerous facets of Clough's complex personality and managerial style. A brilliantly insightful, superbly crafted book and essential reading for anyone who wonders what made the great Brian Clough tick.' Jon Spurling, FourFourTwo. ***** 'Best Book'

'He drank on duty, punched employees, called journalists "shithouses", produced classic one-liners and was rumoured to like a bung – but he got results. No, not Gene Hunt from Life on Mars, but another Seventies icon, Brian Clough. Playing the Sam Tyler role here is Duncan Hamilton, a teenage reporter on the Nottingham Evening Post. Readers of David Peace's novel “The Damned Utd”, set in 1974, will be familiar with Clough's boozy, brilliant, bombastic world. Hamilton's reality is just as entertaining.' Pete May, Independent

'”Provided You Don't Kiss Me” is a case of great title, great book.' Sunday Express

'What I enjoy most about this beautifully written and tender account of the relationship between a nervous young provincial reporter and a football genius is the sense of genuine proximity to its subject, so that Clough's obvious flaws seem forgivable and even beguiling, rather than cruel and unbearable. Wonderful book.' Russel Brand, Guardian

‘1970s England, damp and grey is beautifully evoked.’ Will Cohu, in the Daily Telegraph ‘Books of the Year’

'Exhibiting a refreshing turn of phrase, Hamilton explains why the mercurial Clough would not survive in today's game.' Arena

‘Outspoken, often outrageous, always ready with a quotable quote, a proven winner at club level, the people's choice as England football manager. But Brian Clough never became the nation's special one and this enthralling book goes a long way to explaining why. The judges of the William Sports Book of the Year Award said that, despite a very strong shortlist, they were unanimous in declaring this beautifully crafted memoir the winner. Read it, and you will understand why.' Simon Redfern, Independent on Sunday 'Book of the Week'

'Books like this will never be written about today's giants because it is so difficult to gain the access enjoyed by Hamilton.' Scotsman

'Beautifully written. It manages to be both homage and critique, intimate and objective and remarkably cohesive considering the subject's complex and opaque personality.' Tom Dart, The Times, 'Books of the Year'

'Justifiably prize-winning. A vigorous, funny, warm, warty account of this sports writer's years following the brilliant, mercurial, but, in the end, damaged Clough from game to game.' Ray Connolly, Daily Mail 'Books of the Year'

‘It is a tremendous book. Hamilton, though, was not handed a best–seller on a plate. He had to display remarkable tenacity and stamina to obtain his raw material.' Daily Telegraph

‘His account of those extraordinary days adds to the mountain of anecdotes surrounding his subject.' Sunday Times

'1970s England, damp and grey is beautifully evoked.' Daily Telegraph

‘He brilliantly captures Clough's energy, spirit and monstrous ego, and doesn’t shirk the alcoholism that ended his career and shortened his life.' Guardian

'A forensically detailed account of Clough's time at Nottingham Forest.' Chris Maume, Independent 'Books of the Year'

'Compelling anecdotal detail. This is an intimate portrait of the man in full rather than the bombastic media image Clough helped so much to create.' Alan Chadwick, Metro

'This is a strikingly intimate portrait…read this book, for we will never know genius like this again.' Irish Examiner

'The story in between – the memoirs of nearly two decades serving as Clough's mouthpiece in the Nottingham Evening Post – blows away anything The Damned Utd came up with. I wouldn't say that this was the best book about Brian Clough ever written – but for now it's in the top one.' Al Needham, ‘When Saturday Comes’

'The local footballer is in a unique position. He is part of the club's fabric: friend, agony aunt and punch bag for players and manager alike. But when he went to Nottingham Forest, Hamilton was gifted with a tale with resonance well beyond the provincial. Clough was a huge figure, his face and mannerisms known outside the confines of football. On virtually every page of this book is evidence of an unsurpassed talent for motivation.' Daily Telegraph

‘An affectionate and funny portrait of this often eccentric football legend.’ Big Issue

‘A vivid, often painful memoir of Brian Clough’s triumphs and subsequent decline into the dark pit of alcoholism. By September 2004, Duncan Hamilton was deputy editor of the Yorkshire Post. A decade earlier, he had decided to give up writing about football. Or even watching it. He was sick of the game. Now he learned of Brian Clough’s death. A million images came swimming back. Eventually, he cried. And then, thank goodness, he wrote this book.’ Derby Evening Telegraph

'The deserved winner of the William Hill's Sports Book of the Year. A lucid, revealing and at times extremely funny story of the mercurial managing genius. That he is an excellent writer whose prose is a joy to read is simply an added bonus. This is an excellent piece of work that I can't recommend highly enough.' John Tague, Independent on Sunday

'Superb portrait of the conflicted, contradictory man which doesn't dusk his uglier aspects.' FHM