The Damned United film

[Year Zero ITK]

Not wishing at all to ruffle any so called feathers Stewpot, but I have read up on it and I also had family friends working there at the time, and I'm very close to someone very much in the know about the whole situation. I think there is a relative of one of the directors on this forum too, sorry if I'm mistaken though it's not a big deal if I am or not We'll just have to agree to disagree here mate, no problem, but it wasn't just Cussins' decision, there were some big characters on that board and a couple of them really did feel someone like Clough was the answer to replace The Don and also to help sort out the 'ageing' squad which did have a lot of player power I think we'd call it now.

[stewpot01]

Not wishing at all to ruffle any so called feathers Stewpot, but I have read up on it and I also had family friends working there at the time, and I'm very close to someone very much in the know about the whole situation. I think there is a relative of one of the directors on this forum too, sorry if I'm mistaken though it's not a big deal if I am or not We'll just have to agree to disagree here mate, no problem, but it wasn't just Cussins' decision, there were some big characters on that board and a couple of them really did feel someone like Clough was the answer to replace The Don and also to help sort out the 'ageing' squad which did have a lot of player power I think we'd call it now.

No offense taken or feathers ruffled

[lufctrav]

I just watched it and it feels a lot like the Brian Clough story part 1. It got me thinking though, would there happen to be a Don Revie story? Drama or documentary? I would love to see something like that being to young to have not been around for it.

[Another Northern Soul]

I just watched it and it feels a lot like the Brian Clough story part 1. It got me thinking though, would there happen to be a Don Revie story? Drama or documentary? I would love to see something like that being to young to have not been around for it.

There is a Don Revie Story documentary which was widely available on VHS. There's also Leeds United Story video which naturally features much of the Revie era from the start.

I'm not sure they're available on DVD but I'd bet you can watch them on YouTube TV etc without much difficulty.

[Billy the kid]

I've not read the book but I thought the film was terrific. It impressed me that they tried hard to find lookalikes for the Leeds players. The two main actors were brilliant.

Someone complained that McGovern was a disaster for Leeds but in the long run he would have been a good buy. He proved himself at Derby and Forest. How many games did he play? Probably just a handful. You can't judge a player on that. It's the same with managers. When you employ someone like Revie, Clough or Ferguson they need a few years to sort a club out.

I often wonder what would have happened if Clough had stayed. I think he would have bought the same players he bought for Forest and I think we would have achieved the same success.

[Another Northern Soul]

McGovern did brilliantly away from Leeds but as it was, people viewed him as Clough's favourite and a substandard replacement for Billy Bremner.

It's only opinions but I nearly fell off my chair when you said you were impressed by the lookalikes for LU players I love the book, hate the film, I've droned on in this thread many moons ago about why. What could have been a modern day classic in the mould of This Sporting Life became a comedy, a Carry On Clough type movie. Clough could not succeed here, not with the manner of his arrival and of his disdain for Leeds and Don Revie before getting the job.

[Deleted User 728]

Yeah, I agree with ANS - the book, especially in its original form (before it was abridged to remove some of the stuff Johnny Giles objected to) was a superb work of "faction".

I actually think there's a very effective movie in there if you look at the deleted scenes on the DVD. The bits they left out were the more brutal, serious-minded aspects of Cloughie's neurosis including when he removed all the furniture from the Don's old office and burnt the lot in a bonfire. Put those back in along with the others of him falling apart and you suddenly have a very different picture altogether.

I'd like to see a Director's Cut, official or otherwise .. I guess I could actually do it myself seeing as I have the software and the DVD

[Billy the kid]

The big mistake was thinking of McGovern as a replacement for Giles or Bremner. In terms of skill he wasn't a patch on them, but Clough wasn't thinking that he was going to do a player for player replacement so as to continue with a similar team to Don's team. He was going to change everything. He didn't want highly skilled players with strong personalities. He wanted players who would do exactly want he told them to do without any questions or any attitude. Clough often made mistakes when he bought players but used to get rid of them quickly. Even though Duncan Mckenzie was a terrific player I think Clough would have sold him very quickly and bought someone he could dominate more easily.

In a football biography, I think it was about Alan Ball, a group of Everton or Southampton players bumped into a group of Derby players on holiday with Clough. These players stated shouting insults at Clough and the Derby players because they thought Clough was a bully and the Derby players were soft for letting Clough bully them. I think most players disliked Clough around this time. That's why he found it so hard at Leeds.

I thought the players were good lookalikes because I could look at the actors who played Billy Bremner, Gordon McQueen,etc and see instantly who they were supposed to be playing.

I enjoyed This Sporting Life but rugby league in the early 1960s was nothing like football in the top division in 1974. When you read the football biographies of players from around that time you find that it was quite an easy life. The money wasn't great compared to today but they were far better off than rugby players from the previous decade.

[Sniffer]

I thought the players were good lookalikes because I could look at the actors who played Billy Bremner, Gordon McQueen,etc and see instantly who they were supposed to be playing.

Stephen Graham in a dodgy wig was one of the many things that got me shouting at the screen. I love/hate the film.

[Another Northern Soul]

Sheen and Broadbent and Colm Meanie are genuinely imo superb impersonations but the rest is a hate/hate situation for me. Love Stephen Graham as an actor but here he was cast as a ginger-haired sniping thug. I was talking about This Sporting Life as cultural examples, not as comparisons in the sports or the players.