David Peace - Red or Dead

On the train, at their table. Harold stared out of the window. Harold did not recognise the landscape, Harold did not recognise the place. Harold turned away from the window. And Harold took a postcard from out of his jacket pocket. Harold put down the postcard on the table. Harold slid the postcard across the table towards Bill. Harold smiled. And Harold said, You know who that is, Bill?

Aye, said Bill. Of course I do. It’s the Huddersfield Town side that won the Championship three seasons running.

Harold shook his head. And Harold said, No, on the other side. Turn it over, Bill. Do you know who that is?

Bill picked up the postcard. Bill turned over the postcard. And Bill read the words on the back of the postcard:

Up the Town, Nikita Khrushchev

Bill looked up from the words on the back of the postcard. Bill looked across the table at Harold. And Bill nodded. Bill smiled. And Bill heard the whistle of the train. Bill heard the voice of the guard –

All change here! All change, please!

This book is a work of fiction. And so this book is a novel. The following books all helped to inspire this work of fiction, this novel. However, I would like to pay particular tribute to four books:

SHANKLY: My Story by Bill Shankly, with John Roberts (1976, 2011).

Shanks: The Authorized Biography by Dave Bowler (1996).

It’s Much More Important Than That by Stephen F. Kelly (1997).

The REAL Bill Shankly by Karen Gill (2007).

And then …

44 Years with the Same Bird by Brian Reade (2009).

A Strange Kind of Glory by Eamon Dunphy (1991).

Best and Edwards by Gordon Burn (2006).

Bob Paisley: An Autobiography by Bob Paisley (1983).

Bob Paisley: Manager of the Millennium by John Keith (1999).

Burns the Radical by Liam McIlvanney (2002).

Cally on the Ball by Ian Callaghan and John Keith (2010).

Crazy Horse by Emlyn Hughes (1980).

Dalglish by Kenny Dalglish, with Henry Winter (1996).

Dynasty by Paul Tomkins (2008).

Everton: The School of Science by James Corbett (2003, 2010).

Ghost on the Wall: The Authorised Biography of Roy Evans by Derek Dohan (2004).

Harold Wilson by Austen Morgan (1992).

Harold Wilson by Ben Pimlott (1992).

If You’re Second You Are Nothing by Oliver Holt (2006).

In a League of Their Own by Jeremy Novick (1995).

Jock Stein by Archie Macpherson (2004).

Kevin Keegan by Kevin Keegan, with John Roberts (1977).

Kevin Keegan by Kevin Keegan (1997).

Life of Robert Burns by John Stuart Blackie (1888).

Liverpool 800 edited by John Belcham (2006).

Matt Busby: Soccer at the Top by Matt Busby (1973).

Mr Shankly’s Photograph by Stephen F. Kelly (2002).

RED MEN by John Williams (2010).

Secret Diary of a Liverpool Scout by Simon Hughes (2009).

SHANKLY by Phil Thompson (1993).

Shankly: From Glenbuck to Wembley by Phil Thompson and Steve Hale (2004).

Sir Alf by Leo McKinstry (2006).

Sir Roger by Ivan Ponting and Steve Hale (1995).

Soccer in the Fifties by Geoffrey Green (1974).

SOVPOEMS by Edwin Morgan (1961).

Talking Shankly by Tom Darby (1998, 2007).

The Amazing Bill Shankly (CD) by John Roberts (2007).

The Bard by Robert Crawford (2009).

The Best Laid Schemes: Selected Poetry and Prose of Robert Burns edited by Robert Crawford and Christopher MacLachlan (2009).

The Boot Room Boys by Stephen F. Kelly (1999).

The Essential Shankly by John Keith (2001).

The Football Man by Arthur Hopcraft (1968).

The Footballer Who Could Fly by Duncan Hamilton (2012).

The King by Denis Law, with Bob Harris (2003).

The Management by Michael Grant and Rob Robertson (2010).

The Saint by Ian St John (2005).

The SHANKLY Years by Steve Hale and Phil Thompson (1998).

The Unfortunates by B. S. Johnson (1969).

THOMMO: Stand Up Pinocchio by Phil Thompson (2005).

Three Sides of the Mersey by Rogan Taylor and Andrew Ward (1993).

Tom Finney by Tom Finney (2003).

Tommy Smith: Anfield Iron by Tommy Smith (2008).

Tosh by John Toshack (1982).

Winning Isn’t Everything by Dave Bowler (1998).

The crowd attendances, team sheets and goals for many of the games in the novel were taken from the website www.liverweb.org.uk. Chris Wood of the www.lfchistory.net website also kindly pointed out many factual (and grammatical) errors in the original proof. Thank you, Chris!

Many of the scenes involving Bill Shankly and the supporters of Liverpool Football Club were also inspired by the recollections of people on the many fan forums and websites dedicated to Liverpool Football Club.

There remains a great deal of debate about when You’ll Never Walk Alone was first sung by the supporters of Liverpool Football Club. However, the closing scene of Chapter 12 was inspired by Wooltonian’s post of 30 April, 2004, on the www.redandwhitekop.com forum. Thank you.

The original idea for this novel came out of a conversation with Mike Jefferies. I would like to thank Rob Kraitt for putting Mike in touch with me. And to thank Mike and Rob for all their encouragement, help and support during the writing of this book. I would also like to pay particular thanks to John Roberts: very generously, John lent me the tapes of his conversations with Bill Shankly and also a tape of the Radio City interview between Bill Shankly and Harold Wilson.

Astrid Azurdia, Sam Dwyer, Robert Fraser, Ann Scanlon and George Scott also very kindly provided me with documents and materials that helped in the writing of this novel. Thank you very much.

I would also like to thank the following people for their assistance and their support. In Liverpool: Ian Callaghan, Stephen Done, John Keith, Stephen F. Kelly and Paul McGrattan. In Huddersfield: Stephen Dorril and Michael Stewart. In Leeds: Stephen Barber, Emma Bolland, Anthony Clavane, Robert Endeacott, Rod Dixon, Chris Lloyd, Alice Nutter, Jane Verity and all the Red Writers at Red Ladder, Leeds. In Tokyo: as always, Hamish Macaskill, Junzo Sawa, Peter Thompson, Atsushi Hori and all the staff of the English Agency Japan; Motoyuki Shibata, Ariko Kato and all the staff and students of the Department of Contemporary Literature at the University of Tokyo; Mike and Mayu Handford, David Karashima, Justin McCurry, Akiko Miyake, Shunichiro Nagashima, Richard Lloyd Parry, Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert and David Turner. In London: Ruth Atkins, Ian Bahrami, Andrew Benbow, Lee Brackstone, Angus Cargill, Anne Owen, Anna Pallai and all the staff of Faber and Faber. Also Jake Arnott, Matteo Battarra, Andrew Eaton, Laura Oldfield Ford, Stephen Frears, Carol Gorner, Tony Grisoni, John Harvey, Michael Hayden, Richard Kelly, Eoin McNamee, Keith and Kate Pattison, Maxine Peake, Ted Riley, Katy Shaw, Steve Taylor, Paul Tickell, Cathi Unsworth, Paul Viragh and the staff of the Working Class Movement Library in Salford. Finally, I would like to thank all my family and friends, in Britain and in Japan, particularly Julian Cleator, Jon Riley and,

most of all, my father, Basil Peace,