Finished it this morning. Before it came out I said, if Peace manages to get into the DNA of the great man I would be thrilled. He did that and some more. Shankly feels like family now, fleshed out, a real person. Don't normally read sport books because I feel the drama happens on the pitch, court, ring and writing about it seems superfluous to me.
I'm a fan of Peace, read all his books apart from the Japan series. I get why he uses repetition in his books, it accurately captures the inner thoughts of driven single-minded people like Clough and Shanks. In the beginning it felt like it was being overdone. But I soon learned to read the repetitive parts like a hymn, skim reading the oven cleaning after a defeat, you know the words, you know what is gong to happen, how he'll deal with it. After that it got a lot easier. Loved the chats with Matt Busby and Don Revie.
The real drama and most enjoyable bits for me from a novelistic point of view come in the second half of the book, the interviews with Harold Wilson, Scottish TV, chats with fans at the local cafe. He feels like a real person I know rather than a historic icon now. The man was a saint, and I love him.
