In the 2009 movie The Damned United, actor Michael Sheen (Alice in Wonderland, Frost/Nixon) plays English football coach Brian Clough. The movie chronicles Clough’s tenure as the coach of Leeds United and Derby County football clubs.
The Damned United Synopsis
The film begins in 1974 with Leeds United coach Don Revie (Colm Meaney) taking a job as the England football coach. His replacement is Brian Clough (Sheen), an unexpected choice for the job. Clough’s first action as manager of the team is to go to a television interview and badmouth Revie’s coaching skills. He also goes after the team for their rough play and bad sportsmanship. He is not well received with the team after this interview.
Flash back to 1968, when Clough was the manager of Derby County football. When the team is randomly matched with Leeds United in the championship game, Clough gets very excited. He preps the stadium for Don Revie’s arrival, hoping to have some time with the legendary coach. Instead, Revie completely ignores Clough and Leeds crushes Derby in the game. Clough is crushed and incredibly angry about the entire experience.
From that time on, whenever his team met with Leeds, it became personal. Clough even brought Derby from a Division Two team to a Division One team. While it did benefit the team, it was a move driven by wounded pride.
Clough and his managing partner, Peter Taylor, are able to negotiate Derby to some success. They recruit players and get a great team together, paid for by the team’s owner (Harry Potter’s Jim Broadbent). When one of Clough’s schemes of attack goes terribly wrong, the pair is let go by the team, and they are left jobless. This causes a rift in the friendship.
Clough is offered a job and agrees to coach for Brighton, but when the Leeds managing position opens up, he splits with Taylor and goes. Unfortunately, the Leeds players have no respect for Clough and his new style of coaching. He begins the season with a terrible record, and does not get much further. After only 44 days as manager, Brian Clough is sacked from Leeds United.
The Damned United Trivia
Former Leeds United player Johnny Giles sued author David Peace over the character depictions and facts in The Damned Utd, saying that it was an inaccurate story. It has since been explained that the book, and subsequently the screenplay, were meant to reflect a fictionalized account of real events.
Screenplay writer Peter Morgan has written Michael Sheen movies before. Sheen appeared in The Queen (2006, dir. Stephen Frears) and Frost/Nixon (2008, dir. Ron Howard), both penned by Morgan.
The Damned United directed by Tom Hooper, 2009.
Alicia Linn - Hi! I'm Alicia. I have a degree in journalism from Michigan State University. In terms of writing, I have worked on feature and news-type ...
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