A couple of unnecessary statistical facts “Brian Cleef was the best British coach of all time who never led the England team,” the final credits of Damn United sadly write. And it's absolutely true, as is the fact that Cliff worked for the "super club" (Leeds United) for only 44 days and despite this he was twice champion of England and twice won the Champions Cup.
Only the film is not about the victories of Cliff and not even about his unsuccessful experience of training Leeds, but about the fact that sometimes the boss’s relationship with subordinates develops, and sometimes not. And the greatness of the parties to the conflict does not depend entirely.
Billy Bremner is recognized as the best player of Leeds in history, and Cliff’s successor in the same year reached the final of the Champions Cup, where the team lost to Bayern Munich (in those years the German club won the title of the strongest club in Europe three times in a row).
There is surprisingly little football in the film, much more thinking about how to do your job, and stories about the importance of strong male friendship no matter what (Taylor Cliff will quarrel again, now forever). Well, Cliff's jokes in the film, of course, included.
By the way, the great coach, in addition to successes at the edge of the football field, still set a record for speed drinking a pint of beer.
British football in the 70s was not as beautiful as it is now. All sweat and blood and tears. Taylor earned a reputation as a good mentor, as at his own expense he took football players with their wives on vacation.
9 out of 10
Original