Marian
Well it's not so much a review of the film more the history of what went on at the time. Anyhow, hope it's of interest Gray.
GO TO WATCH CLOUGH but STAY TO PRAISE REVIE
DAILY EXPRESS 21/03/09
The Damned United, released next Friday, is an excellent film about Brian Clough and his catastrophic 44 days as manager of Leeds United in 1974. But that is to damn it with faint praise. It’s dramatic, funny and also very moving. It’s about love and hate, loyalty and vanity, idolatry and self-delusion.
For 10 years, Don Revie’s Leeds United had never finished out of the top four in the league; in 1974 they won the title. They were a team of internationals, among them Billy Bremner and Johnny Giles, the best mid-field players in Britain. Leeds United were feared for their ability and their organisation and their physical threat.
They could play almost any other team off the pitch, sometimes they also kicked them off it. They were masters at pressurising referees. Only fools denied their exceptional ability but outside Leeds they were certainly not loved.
Brian Clough, the brilliant young manager of Derby County, hated them. He had said as much often enough – brutal cheats,he called them. So when Don Revie was appointed England manager after the 1974 season, what possessed Leeds to offer him the job, and what possessed Clough to take it?
He was a man with a marvellous capacity to inspire others and delude himself.
He called himself “big‘ead;†he said, “I certainly wouldn’t say I’m the best manager in the business but I’m certainly in the top one.†He achieved remarkable feats at Derby and later at Nottingham Forest but sheer charisma, combining fear, authoritarianism, eccentricity and a magical flair for making his players play.
But not at Leeds, where to his wild resentment of Revie and his own belief that he could walk on water, he sank without trace.
“As far as I’m concerned you can throw all those medals you’ve won in the bin, because you’ve won them all by cheating†he told the players on his first day, not so much losing the dressing room as never finding his way to it. He was on his way out, “big’ead, “a footnote in Leeds history, as Leeds were a footnote in his.
He was a man of paradoxes; this supreme egoist only succeeded with this assistant Peter Taylor at his side (Taylor did not go to Leeds); this strict disciplinarian became an alcoholic; a firm labour supporter who often insisted that in return for an interview, newspapers brought wheelchairs for charity, he was often up for the ‘bung’ to line his pockets.
Revie and Clough, both born in Middlesborough (Revie in 1927, Clough in 1935) could not have been more different. Revie was methodical and superstitious, he was like a father to the players. The mutual loyalty was total. He brought them up as a family and kept them together. He was attentive to every detail, he left nothing to chance and he prepared meticulous dossiers on the opposition. He was a pioneer of what has become modern coaching.
Clough didn’t bother with any of that. He was a romantic. He gave his players few instructions, he told them to love the ball, he yelled at them, kissed them and occasionally punched them in the stomach.
Today Revie, the most successful boss of his era, is largely forgotten outside Leeds: Clough is a legend. Somebody even persuaded Muhammad Ali to say “I hear there’s this guy Brian Clough who talks as much as me. Now Clough I’ve had enough.â€
Don Revie was Joe Frazier to Clough’s Ali: insulted by him and disrespected, his equal in combat but coldly disregarded.
Don Revie became England manager, the hardest job in the world. It didn’t suit him and he failed. Brian Clough is famous still as “the greatest manager England never hadâ€. It’s the easiest job in the world and he filled it like a dream.
