Glory Glory Damned United

There was always going to be a major issue if and when anyone eventually dared tackle Brian Clough on the big screen.

A man of such contrasting and confounding characteristics, with an ego to boot, that finding an actor capable of taking on such a monumental task was destined to be the films brick wall.

Luckily, in our day an age one such actor does exist in Michael Sheen. Sheen is, in some respects, the 21st century’s ultimate character actor after taking on the likes of Kenneth Williams, Tony Blair and David Frost, all to great acclaim.

It’s fair to say that here Sheen has done much the same with Old Big ‘ead himself.

Damned United follows Clough during his ill-fated move from the Derby he loved to the Leeds he so despised, and the ultimately disastrous 44 day period of employment that followed. This is less a biopic and more a mere snippet into the life of a troubled genius in arguably his darkest hour.

Based on David Pearce’s novel/biography of the same name, the film, ironically, takes a book that meshed fact with fiction and instead creates a triumphant tale of one man’s struggle to cope with a world around him that just won’t see things his way.

Of course there are still question marks over how much of both the book and the films events are based on fact, but after the 97 minutes are up few will know, and less will care.

Jim Broadbent, Colm Meaney and Stephen Graham at his bullyish best all put in a good turn, but it’s Sheens on-screen chemistry with Peter Taylor, played more than ably by Timothy Spall that really shines through the celluloid.

After all, at its heart Damned United is a good old fashioned buddy movie, and it’s those ‘I can’t do this without you’ Thelma and Louise-esque moments that really give it the heart it needed to rise above the likes of ‘Kicking and Screaming‘ and ‘Goal!‘ and into the Premier League of football films.

Michael Sheen and Peter Morgans pairing once more has hit the back of the net to give audiences what they’ve always dreamed of, a football film that’s actually worth watching more than once. I wouldn’t say that Damned United is the best football film ever made, but it’s definitely in the top one.