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Boxing Day 1962: Sunderland star striker Brian Clough suffers a career-threatening knee injury. After a futile battle for fitness, he retires early and sinks into deep despair. He's then thrown a lifeline, and persuades ex-teammate Peter Taylor to join him in managing the Cinderella club of north-east football. Penniless Hartlepools United are next to bottom of the Fourth Division, with a meddling chairman, a ramshackle ground, and want-away players. Yet the pair's intuitive chemistry steadily transforms the threadbare team and improves results. Shrewd assistant manager Taylor talent-spots bargain players, while his brash but charismatic partner man-manages them. Clough also spearheads a 'Save the Club' fundraising campaign, in a town where coal trade is dwindling and the last shipyard has closed. Together, the pair develop a blueprint that later wins them league championships and European Cup glory at unfashionable Derby County and Nottingham Forest. Exploiting a wealth of archive newspapers and interviews with surviving players, Alchemy reveals the humble origins of Clough & Taylor's meteoric rise to the top of the football tree.
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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.
John Motson
"'A fascinating, very readable and highly recommended account of a chapter of the Brian Clough story that is sometimes ignored because of glories further down the line.'"
Phil McNulty