Brian Clough was a very interesting man. A genius football manager yes, but certainly an interesting man, and not always for the right reasons.I'm not a huge source of knowledge about the real man, so can only take this films version as being close to accurate. I think Sheen gives an accomplished performance, and dominates every scene he is in.The films heavy handed approach to language is the only thing that put me off slightly. I get that in a mans world like behind the scenes of a football club there would be swearing, but it alienated this viewer.Don't get me wrong though, this is a better than average film.

The Damned United is probably the best film about soccer/European Football out there. That being said, this movie isn't just a sports movie or bromance, but it also qualifies as a dramatic gem. Tom Hooper, director of the King's Speech and Les Misérables, takes helm of this small independent film, and Peter Morgan, writer of The Last King of Scotland and Rush, pens the script. Both come together and give it absolute quality. The story's main character is the cocky and arrogant, yet undoubtedly talented Brian Clough (Michael Sheen). It shows his 44-day reign as the coach of Leeds United, one of the top clubs in England, and has flashbacks of how he got there. Clough made his name prior to taking the helm at Leeds by bringing glory to their rivals Derby County. Clough takes the reins from a person he hates, celebrated coach Don Revie (Colm Meaney), who has decided to end his reign to take the job as England manager. The film goes back and forth between Clough's rough time alone at Leeds and the successful time he had, with his assistant coach Peter Taylor (Timothy Spall), at Derby. The film strongly depicts a relationship between closest friends and dearest rivals. It is one that will probably not show up on most people's radars, but if it pops up should never be missed. The end product is something special. And given its topic and indie status, it pleasantly surprises and is something all can enjoy and learn from.

I was 13 and very interested in Soccer/ football and loved to see Cloughie in his interviews. I agreed with him in some regards to the way Leeds played and how he wanted to play, so in that respects it was always going to be a bad fit for manager and players and a mistake by Cloughie and the board at that time.Still, I still loved Cloughie, faults or not. He did later prove just what he might have achieved for Leeds, if only the board would have had the strength of their own decision to appoint him in the first place and continue to back him. In the end I feel Leeds lost out by being weak.I think it would be fair to say that quite a few of the Leeds players were reaching the end of their best playing days and would need to be replaced before too long and Cloughie was aware of that, plus he had his own way of thinking how a team should play. I blame the players as much as Cloughie for things not going right in his time with them. he showed with Forest that he knew had to win a match and trophies and that was Leeds loss in the end.* I am getting fed up of Brits having a go at the Americans for calling it Soccer, well why not? It is a English saying developed in the mid 19th century to differ Rugby Football and association football. Hence Rugger and Soccer. As a northern lad of the sixties, I can well remember always calling it soccer and fairly certain my friends did as well.

"You are a bloody disgrace!" hollers actor Michael Sheen as he explodes in the role of Brian Clough - the larger than life character, who in real life was arguably one of the greatest football managers ever.Sheen produces an incredible performance to re-create the persona of Clough. In The Damned United, he completely captures Clough's arrogance, his humour, his humility and his incredible professional drive. For those too young to remember the outrageous genius of Clough in his prime, then this movie encapsulates not just Clough but the whole halcyon era of 1970s football. This is a time when football was about glory and not money. It was a period when players played for the jersey and clubs were packed full of characters - Clough was undoubtedly one of, if not the biggest and most talked about character of them all. In fact thinking back Clough's charisma makes Mourhino look like a ball boy!Sheen plays Clough without parody not the easiest thing to do given that Clough was one of the most parodied figures of the day. So much so that it became a staple of impressionist Mike Yarwood's BBC1 Saturday night prime time show in the 70s. It's great credit to Sheen that he avoided what could have been an easy option. Instead what we get is the talented Mr Sheen giving us the real deal, the accent, the mannerisms, the realness that Cloughie himself would have admired.As a film, this is superbly put together with old footage, snappy editing and a clever use of the graphics of the time -the old vidi-printer is used very effectively in relaying the back story of Clough's teams'successes.Though the backdrop to the story is football, this isn't really about football. It's a character study of a unique man and his friendship/partnership with his closest colleague - Peter Taylor played by Timothy Spall - an actor who is true drama heavyweight and not just physically. Spall as always delivers a strong performance and provides good foil for Sheen and most importantly does no devious scene stealing when there must have been a temptation as Taylor too was a big character.The plot weaves flashbacks of Clough's heady days as Derby Manager with his 44 day ordeal as manager of Leeds Utd - then Britain's top club side. The script is true and pacey, the cinematography well done, the soundtrack is apt if not memorable (surpisingly for the 1970s) and the set designs/wardrobe are authentic.Having read the book, the film admittedly bears only mild resemblance. The book gets more into the head of Clough and is a very tunnel visioned and bitter point of view of his short time in charge of England's top football club. The book is much darker and less sentimental than the film, but both are equally enjoyable and entertaining.Whether you are football fan or not, if you claim to be a film fan and you don't see The Damned United then as Mr Clough himself would say, "You are a bloody disgrace!"