Quotes from The Damned Utd

David Peace ·  346 pages

Rating: (5.7K votes)


“You wake up and for those few seconds, minutes, you forget; forget you are injured; forget you are finished.”
― David Peace, quote from The Damned Utd


“He once told me, Instead of scoring thirty goals a season, why don't you score twenty-five and help someone else to score fifteen? That way the team's ten goals better off.”
― David Peace, quote from The Damned Utd


“There are stains on their knees, stains on their arses. Dirty Leeds.”
― David Peace, quote from The Damned Utd


“How you harangue referees. How you fall over when you've not been touched. How you make a meal out of every tackle to try and get the other player booked. How you protest when you have nothing to fucking protest about –”
― David Peace, quote from The Damned Utd


“I've seen it before. Been here before. Played or managed here, six or seven times in six or seven years. Always a visitor, always away.”
― David Peace, quote from The Damned Utd



“Johnny Watters bends down, sponge in his hand, tongue in your ear, he whispers, "How shall we live, Brian? How shall we live?”
― David Peace, quote from The Damned Utd


“The smell of blood. The smell of sweat. The smell of tears. The smell of Algipan. You want to smell these smells for the rest of your life.”
― David Peace, quote from The Damned Utd


“They love me for what I'm not. They hate me for what I am.”
― David Peace, quote from The Damned Utd


“The sun comes out but the rain stays put. No rainbows today. Not here.”
― David Peace, quote from The Damned Utd


“Age does not count. It’s what you know about football that matters.”
― David Peace, quote from The Damned Utd



“A boy with a ball. A boy with a dream.”
― David Peace, quote from The Damned Utd


“You are afraid, afraid of your dreams, your dreams which were once your friends, your best friends, are now your enemies, your worst enemies.”
― David Peace, quote from The Damned Utd


“They are waiting for us again. My youngest lad and me. The crows around the floodlights. The dogs around the gates. They are waiting for us because we are late again. My youngest lad and me.”
― David Peace, quote from The Damned Utd


“No matter how good you think you are
or how clever... How many fancy new friends
you make on the telly... The reality of footballing life is this:
The chairman is the boss, then comes the directors...
Then the secretary, then the fans, then the players...
And then finally, last of all... bottom of the heap,
the lowest of the low... comes the one, who in the end, we can all do without...

The fucking manager.”
― David Peace, quote from The Damned Utd


About the author

David Peace
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We move to the bank of elevators, too, and Melonhead isn’t one of those guys who insists on pressing a button that’s already lit. He smiles and says “Good afternoon” to the pregnant woman, but I can’t look away from her swollen belly.

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The elevator dings, and we all get on. Her stomach keeps moving.

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She laughs again, softly, then comes closer. “Here. You can feel it.”

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Melonhead chuckles, and I scowl.

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Four months.

The elevator dings.

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I look at the pregnant lady. I have no idea what to say. Thanks?

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