I enjoyed Damned United particularly Michael Sheen's performance as Brian Clough. The film is cleverly written and fun to watch. The film makes Clough seem a much more sympathetic character than he appeared at the time. Many people including myself felt that Clough was an arrogant twit with an amazing ability to lose friends and alienate people. Sheen makes him seem likable. Clough had his demons and was a complicated man. Clough's methods were unique. He was essentially a dictator, and not always a benevolent one, often punching or slapping his players. What can't be argued was that he was a great and very successful football manager.

Clough's record was remarkable. He won the English championship with different provincial teams, neither of which is currently in the Premier League. He won the European Cup twice with Nottingham Forest. In 1973 his Derby team lost in the semi-finals to Juventus. Clough called the Italian team "cheating bastards." A later London Sunday Times investigation claimed that Clough was right and Derby's opponents had bribed the match officials. Nothing was ever done about this by FIFA or EUFA, some things never change.

As a Leeds United supporter, who lived through Clough's 44 days at the club, I don't feel the film portrayed the events fairly or accurately. I don't remember the Leeds team being particularly violent, the game was certainly more physical then and players received less protection from referees.

The film depicts Billy Bremner, Norman Hunter and Johnny Giles as boorish thugs. Bremner was a hard man but he was also a very skillful player. He was captain of Scotland in the 1974 World Cup and has been inducted into both the English and Scottish Halls of Fame. Giles was at the time also the manager of the Irish national team. Hunter played 28 times for England. Don Revie was a great man who took Leeds from the old Second Division to two First Division championships and two European trophies. The film doesn't really explain how he was able to win the loyalty of the Leeds players. In movies it's just easier to show everything in black and white terms.

One thing the film does get right is the lack of money in football back then. When Peter Taylor was at Brighton he offered my best friend a professional contract. My friend decided to go to university instead. With the DVD this is an additional feature in which three idiots masquerading as "experts" discuss football in the 1970s. One of them thought Norman Hunter was Scottish. Another couldn't believe that the Leeds players were educated enough to understand Revie's tactical reports. Anyone who has played the game at any level knows that football intelligence does not correlate with academic success. I've played football with very smart streetwise kids who left school at 16, on the field they were tactically astute. Sir Alex Ferguson, the manager of Manchester United, was a shipyard worker before he became a footballer.

Overall I enjoyed the movie. It was clever and well written and Michael Sheen is brilliant as Clough.

Michael Sheen (The Queen, Frost/Nixon),Jim Broadbent (Moulin Rouge! , Longford),Timothy Spall (Michael Sheen),and Colm Meaney (How Harry Became a Tree) are all great actors, and their presence means that this film is worth watching even if you don't particularly like football. I doubt however, you would be watch if you weren't a fan.

Brian Clough (Sheen) brings Derby out of obscurity to the top and ends up managing his archenemy Leeds United. He hates the team, he hates the style of football they play, and yet, he signs on to manage them. A recipe for disaster, and a disaster it was.

The film is not so much about football, as it is about Clough. He makes enemies everywhere he goes. No wonder he only lasted 44 days.

A fantastic film with brilliant performances by Sheen and Spall.

Perhaps the film could have been longer, so that while Clough was developed surprisingly well and avoided going into caricature, the rest of the characters could have been more so. But this is a very good film regardless.

It is very well directed by Tom Hooper(The King's Speech),and is shot beautifully complete with striking scenery. The dialogue is excellent and involving, and no the odd anachronism didn't bother me besides I have heard much worse, and so is the story, while the football is exciting the more drama-driven sequences also impress.

The acting is excellent across the board, but the film belongs to Michael Sheen, while not necessarily a tour-de-force(like in Fantabulosa!) Sheen does nail it making every trait of Clough believable.

All in all, a very good film. 9/10 Bethany Cox