Alan Irvine was right, Preston did not deserve to lose. They desrved at least a draw and on many occasions, a win wouldn’t have been a scoreline Newcastle fans could really moan about. But, alas, Kevin Nolan (who else) popped up and nailed a winner and that condemned Preston to defeat.

It was a scrappy affair, which was very evenly matched for many parts of the game. Preston had chances, plenty of them, and for the first time in a while, Newcastle were out-marshelled in midfield. We also had chances and mopped up much of the trouble at the back. Whilst Preston probed and endeavoured to go forward, we looked impressive coping with pressure. A good habit to have

I have on many occasions said i’d take a win under any circumstance, but that theory is starting to wane slightly. Remember Derby a few years ago? “The 1-0 specialists” soared up the league after grabbing late winners against similar teams. They perfected it and capitilised on it and eventually got promoted with this formula. When there, they recorded the second worst top flight record ever and the worst in the Premiership. They were immediately condemned to The Championship after just one season.

Please, lets not do a Derby!

It must be pretty rough being a Derby fan at the moment.  If the dross served up by their team on friday night is any sort of indication of what they have to put up with every week then times are desperate enough as they are.  But Robbie Savage has decided to add insult to injury by insisting that Derby actually played quite well!  Now I don’t know about you but if were a Rams supporter and had just seen my team spend 90 minutes on a football pitch without trying to do anything even resembling play a game of football like that, I would expect the captain of said team to be frankly grovelling and pleading for his job.  Instead Savage, ever the gent, has chosen to essentially slap his own supporters in the face.

How can Derby possibly justify their tactics on friday night?  They showed no ambition, no drive, no desire, no skill, no inspiration and no joy.  If the game had been over after 5 minutes Savage would have been perfectly happy – is that the man you want captaining your club? 

“They didn’t hurt us, other than the two chances we’ve seen”, he said last night on the BBC’s pisspoor Football League Show.  Now clearly this is also an insult to Swansea, who were so much the better side it was actually embarrassing, and who plainly – despite Savage’s claims – had loads more than two clear-cut chances, as watching any highlights of the game that last more than 30 seconds will show you.  But I’m not concerned with that for the time being, so shocked am I at Savage’s willingness to just lie to his own supporters.

“Up to that point (the goal) we defended really really well”, he goes on to  say, once again completely missing the point.  The fact is this – anyone can defend well if you have 10 defenders like Derby did on Friday ; it doesn’t make you a football team.  Putting 11 men behind the ball and hoping that you survive might just be excusable if you are a lower league team  playing Man Utd in the cup, but how can Derby, in the same division as Swansea and with infinitely more resources and cash at their disposal – how can Derby justify their choice to play this way against us?

For one thing, it doesn’t work.  When Paulo Sousa needed to steady the ship after Swansea’s own injury-plauged start to the campaign he focussed on getting the defence right and building up from there, but at no point did we ever ignore the need to attack, which we still did in earnest – we were just rubbish at taking the many chances that came our way, which is completely different.  Never did we set out simply to defend and hope for a 0-0 and guess what? Our defensive record is spotless.  It seems it’s much easier to keep the ball out of your own net if it’s the other side of the pitch and in your possession rather than just let your opponents run all over you for 90 minutes.

“Overall it was a decent away performance.”

Does he even really believe this himself?  The scary thing is I think he does.  If I were a Derby fan I would feel I had no option but to break into the club offices and tear up the man’s contract myself after this rot.  If only seeing 30% of the ball and not forcing the opposition keeper to make a save can ever be seen as a performance at all, let alone a decent one, then Derby are doomed.  I feel genuine pity for those supporters tonight; they aren’t idiots, they know the truth.  How are they supposed to deal with their captain insisting that their display on the wrong end of the most one-sided game ever at The Liberty Stadium was – in principle – good enough?

Not content with rubbing up the fans of every other club in the country the wrong way, Robbie savage now seems to have rub salt into the wounds of his own.  It’s a sorry state of affairs over at Derby.

On the other hand, it’s happy times indeed for us Swans!  At times like this where literally everything seems to be going our way, it’s quite easy to believe that we could end up in the playoff spots this season and why not?  The way we play the game is exemplary, our team spirit would appear to be second to none (the post-match huddle after the final whistle on Friday was as passionate as I’ve ever seen professional sportsmen who aren’t playing for their country) and we have a manger who seems to know exactly how to get the best out of a group of very talented players.

Full match report from our man PeteyJack.

The Swans beat the Rams 1 – 0 at the Liberty Stadium tonight. They were by far the better team and fully deserved every one of their three points.

And that could remain my very short match report because it really says it all. We have dominated many matches over the last few seasons but never like this. Whatever the final match statistics tell us of possession percentages, it felt as if the Swans had a good 90%. De Vries didn’t have one decent save to make in the entire match so easily did our defence deal with the few ineffectual flourishes that came their way. Rams keeper Steven Bywater, on the other hand, pulled off a string of saves to deny Craig Beattie and Darren Pratley in particular.

As soon as Nigel Clough announced that he was going to play (unusually for Derby) one striker, then one feared the worst. And we got it. Derby put a solid body of men between the marauding Swans and Bywater`s goal. Seldom were they interested in crossing the halfway line, though ironically when they eventually did, they earned the game’s first corner.

If Derby’s first half was unambitious then their second was (until the Swans` late goal) positively reclusive. Bywater took a very long time to take his first goal kick of the second half and that signalled a whole slew of time wasting from his team mates. Nigel`s daddy would not have been proud of his son’s tactics tonight. They only work if you actually manage to grind out that no-score draw. When the better, more ambitious side finally manages to get past you, then the tactics are made to look rather foolish and naïve. With second half substitutions Clough ended up with six defenders, and that sums it up.

And the better team certainly did win. The Swans`s passing game, never less than good this season, was brilliant tonight. On the few times we lost possession we quickly won it back again and sprayed the ball confidently around the pitch. Derby, on the other hand, found it beyond them to put more than a couple of passes together at any stage of the game.

I admit that, with 60 minutes played, I felt that it was going to be another of those nights where negativity would be rewarded, but the turning point came when Joe Allen came on in place of Orlandi and showed us yet again that he is a real talent. His vision was outstanding with acute passing and subtle footballing skills to fool anyone silly enough to take him on.

And it was his great vision that made the goal. Bursting forward in the middle of the park, he spotted Butler making an unmarked run on the left. I, and probably everyone else watching, would have released the ball there and then. But what makes Joe Allen different to you or me was that he delayed until Fedde Bessone had overlapped with Butler. The Argentinian received the perfect ball, cut inside and released the most fearsome shot that cannoned into the net off the crossbar. It was a goal that was richly deserved by the Swans and one which no one could dare say we hadn’t earned for the creativity and flair that we had served up all evening.

And for that half hour alone Joe Allen gets my man-of-the match award Though, in truth, it could have gone, without argument, to anyone else in a white shirt tonight

Paulo Sousa lives every minute of every game on the touchline. His anger and frustration being as evident as his total joy when the final whistle went and he ran onto the pitch for a communal hug. The great player is beginning to show that he also has the makings of a great manager.

So here we are with 28 points, an unbeaten run of 11 matches and playing some truly superb football. We’re in third place – only until 5 o’clock tomorrow of course – but it does feel sweet. The sadness and anxieties of the summer seems a long way off now.

Brian Little’s Leicester City squad assemble on the Filbert Street turf in August 1993 for the traditional pre-season photo call.
The previous two seasons have seen them beaten at Wembley in the Play Off Final by Blackburn Rovers and Swindon Town.
Will it be third time lucky for Brian’s men?

Colin Gibson and Gary Mills, the sort of good solid pros on which City’s promotion bid will be launched.

Steve Walsh, Richard Smith, Phil Gee, Tony James and Gavin Ward check out the latest polaroids of Ormondroyd’s Nose.

New boy David Speedie… has a big job ahead of him in winning over the Leicester fans after his dive for a penalty in the 1992 Play Off Final… he ended the season with a dozen goals but suspension robbed him of another appearance at Wembley.

The new Carling Stand is taking shape on the west side of the ground, but it won’t see it’s 10th birthday.

New signing Gavin Ward is brought in by Brian Little who is worried about Kevin Poole’s lack of ‘presence’.
Ward’s superb performance in the first leg of the Play Off semi-final at Tranmere sees City through to Wembley.

Last minute hair adjustments for the team photo…

Simon Grayson will end his season leading City out at Wembley; providing the cross which leads to Steve Walsh’s winner against Derby; and becoming the first City captain to lift some silverware at Wembley.

So, another week, another ex-Premiership team swimming in relative cash for the Swans to pit their meagre resources and plentiful wits against.  Granted, Derby hardly covered themselves in glory in the most recent foray into the Promised Land* – the only promise seeming to be the oath they took to lose pretty much every game they played – but at this lower level the sheer financial clout that Derby wield means that they simply have to be taken seriously as a force, no matter how bad a season they appear to be having.

Swansea, for all our great football, upwardly mobile trajectory, good will from neutrals and general great reputation, could never just go out and buy Kris Commons, for example; it just isn’t (and probably never will be) the way a club of our size is able to operate.  We have to be shrewder than that, in the way we work and the way we play.  Luckily, in Huw Jenkins and Paulo Sousa it would seem we have two of the shrewdest about.

When I say shrewd, I don’t mean Niel Warnock “shrewd” – forming great swathes of total rubbish into a rock hard unit of drilled, sledgehammer precision who are able to bruise their way to results against teams far superior to themselves.  No, our “shrewd” is infinitely preferable.  We can match any team in this division for skill and good football, that’s not the problem.  The clever bit from Mr Jenkins is in somehow finding the money for the players to do this, and the clever bit from Mr Sousa is instilling in them the nous not to let teams like Warnock’s Palace – who did the double over us last season –  force the result of a game come down to anything other than who the better team is.

The media of course, has been way off the scent with regards to Swansea this time.  You kind of expect that with the BBC  – when they talk about our “slow start” to the season and imply it was more to do with Sousa finally discovering a “winning formula”, rather than the fact that first-team players finally returning from injury meant he was able to “discover” players other than the youth team to actually put on the pitch on a Saturday afternoon., you can forgive them because that’s what it looks like from the outside.

The Evening Post is more of a worry.  before the Cardiff game they still referred to us as “struggling”.  I’m not one for conspiracy theories, but it seems to me and many others that the knives are out for Paulo Sousa over in SE1, and you get the feeling that they would much rather him to be falling flat on his face than leading the triumphant charge he has been recently.  Why is this?  In many ways Sousa is a journalist’s dream – stylish, hip, successful and with a rich history in the game to draw from on a slow news day.  He doesn’t pull his punches in interviews either – this week he pretty much came out and said that Swansea crowds were shit most of the time, but we Jacks still love him because we know that, well, he’s right! 

Oh don’t look at me like that.

I love being a Jack.  I’m proud to be a Jack.  I’m proud of pretty much every other Jack I’ve ever met, but let’s not pretend that we are a good crowd because we are not.  We are fickle, tetchy and generally unloyal.  We turn on players at the drop of a hat, are quite happy to sit in relative silence during a game if the excitement level drops anything below “pulsating”, and idiots still phone in to the Football League Show to complain that they’re still “not sure” about Paulo as manager. 

So when Sousa criticises us a crowd, that’s fair enough really, and we know it.  While there are still people in our crowd who will even now insist that Jason Scotland is lazy and rubbish I don’t really see how we can argue.  When Roberto Martinez used to bang on about what a “great crowd” we are it felt a bit embarrassing in that it clearly wasn’t true.  It made me think of that Shakespeare sonnet:

When my love swears that she is made of truth,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     I do believe her though I know she lies

But I digress.  And one thing you can never knock us Jacks for; we love to win.  Man, we love to win.  Most clubs of our size who have won as little as we have seem to develop a rather mild acceptance of the fact that they never win – there’s none of that with us.  Luckily, winning is something that we’ve actually been able to enjoy recently rather than just optimistically (and rather ridiculously) demand.  The Liberty will be packed on Friday night, with 16,000 tickets sold already and the match promises to be a good old fashioned night time game.

Most Jacks expect an easy win, which in itself is just stupid.  If half time comes round and we aren’t winning (or God forbid LOSING!), you know that small but vocal minority will boo.  You just know it.  Our tremendous win in the derby – far from buying our team and manager the patience and admiration they deserve – only really serves to raise our already unhealthily-high expectations to the kind of levels where disappointment will always be just around the corner.

So my fingers will be crossed on Friday night.  N0t just for a Swansea win, but in the hope that our bumper crowd doesn’t let itself down at the first test.  The Evening Post would just love that.

* Promised Land – do we even want to be in The Premiership?  I mean of course we do, but do we really?  I think on this quite a bit, and it’s something I plan to address in a future article.

I’d never seen a ram on a pitch before last week, and in all honesty we probably should have sacrificed it to the Gods before yesterday evenings match against Derby County. In all honesty, we probably should have played well.

For the second week in a row, we had an excellent chance. Playing a side which had suffered three defeats in a row and which had just lost to Ipswich Town with 16 first team players missing. We couldn’t ram home (yes, I’m hilarious) that advantage, however, despite an excellent start, and in the end we suffered another defeat. According to The Times, in the first half we “kept the ball with an efficient simplicity.” Now, as far as I could see, we barely touched it after Leon’s lovely strike, and Derby were all over us.

It wasn’t surprising when Derby equalised, then. Shocking defending yet again, with 3 players on the right ball watching, Eastwood not tracking back, and Ward leaving his man; leaving (Van Aanholt?) to mark two players, which is a somewhat difficult activity. It also left Dimi Konstantopolous stretching for the ball in vain and the Derby fans celebrating, with the us Sky Blue fans exasperated.

After Derby’s equaliser, I felt we started to play better. We carved out a few opportunities, but there was no real variation. I can’t remember Eastwood touching the ball in the second half (although I can’t remember him ever looking like he wanted to), as we were constantly coming down the right. Derby’s defence dealt with this fairly comfortably, something even our latest loan signing worth £2.5 million didn’t look too good at, although he was much better than certain other members of Coventry’s back line.

The second goal, again, epitomised our defensive failings. A decent cross in which I feel Dimi should have come for, and he would have got if he hadn’t stopped. However, you can’t blame Dimi for the constant defensive mishaps; Dickov pulled it back and, there was Hulse unmarked, with two Sky Blue defenders ball watching. Take nothing away from Hulse, it was an excellent finish.

Then…the red card. I cannot believe how that could have been a red card. 50/50 challenge, Savage gets there first, fair enough. Not a second booking. But Savage’s reaction was an absolute disgrace. If Clarke was going to get a booking for the challenge, Savage had to get a booking for his reaction. It takes a special dive to give yourself a nosebleed.

After that…well, not much really happened for the Sky Blue fans to get excited about, Derby were the better side and Dimi Konstantopolous saved us from a second succesive 3-1 defeat with a truely superb penalty save. The five minutes of injury time, and the madcap attacks we put forward made it look like we’d get something – it did most certainly look like a Teale handball on the edge of the area about three minutes in to injury time. But, at the end of the day, you can’t defend as poorly as we did and expect to get away with it. And Coleman; YOU MUST START BRINGING STIKERS ON WHEN WE’RE BEHIND.

Ratings

Best – 8 – worked hard all night with little reward.

Dimi – 7 – excellent penalty save, dealt well with most things.

Cork – 7 – played well, no idea why he was brought off.

Clarke – 6 – sympathy vote goes to him.

Next match is vs Crystal Palace after the International Break.

Keep the faith.

haha, setelah sekian lama saya melihat banyak orang menonton film ini dan sekaligus mereviewnya, hmmm, saya sumpah sangat tergiur, karena pertama, saya juga lumayan menggemari bola, dan lumayan suka dengan film film bertema bola, tapi The Damned United ini benar benar menyuguhkan sesuatu yang berbeda, menyuguhkan keidealisan dari salah satu pelatih inggris paling kontroversial yaitu brian clough yang diperankan oleh michael sheen, menyajikan perjalanan karirnya serta jatuh-bangun karirnya dia dimulai dari mengangkat tim underdog Derby County untuk akhirnya bisa mencicipi titel juara liga inggris hingga dicaci maki setelah pindah ke Leeds United untuk menggantikan Don Revie, sang manager yang dipuja puja oleh pemainnya sekaligus rival Clough sendiri. well, untuk sebuah biografi, dan untuk sebuah kejeniusan pelatih serta bagaimana caranya bermain bola indah, The Damned United adalah pilihan yang tepat untuk menjadi tontonan anda.

Last night I got the opportunity to meet ex-Nottingham Forest and Derby player John McGovern during a Sportsman’s dinner at my workplace. McGovern also had a very brief spell with Leeds United (under Brian Clough’s management) and made an appearance in The Damned United.

He seemed like a decent bloke. After waiting around like a giddy little teenager for the right moment, I managed to get the book-version of The Damned United signed on the night, which was nice. Here it is:

Il maledetto United -The Damned United ***

Brian Clough è stato uno dei più corrosivi, provocatori, formidabili manager del calcio inglese. Un incrocio di Mourinho e Sacchi, si potrebbe dire.

Interrotta bruscamente la sua carriera di calciatore, dopo un devastante infortunio, alle soglie della nazionale maggiore e con all’attivo lo strabiliante score di 251 gol in 274 partite (soprattutto nelle serie minori), Clough si dedica alla carriera di allenatore, asseme al fidato assistente Peter Taylor. Il debutto a soli 30 anni con l’Hartlepools in quarta divisione. Dopo un incoraggiante ottavo posto, i due vengono ingaggiati dal Derby County, una piccolissima squadra che fatica al fondo della seconda divisione: la porteranno subito a vincere il campionato.

Promossi in Premier League, gli epici scontri tra il Derby ed il Leeds United di Don Revie – la squadra del momento, a cavallo tra i ‘60 e i ‘70 – faranno storia.

Clough e Revie sono agli antipodi: riservato, scontroso, difensivista Revie,  pirotecnico, provocatorio, amante del bel gioco Clough.

Entrambi uomini del Nord, fatto di nebbia, fango, campi impraticabili e classe operaia.

Ma Clough è roso dall’ambizione, persino la rocambolesca vittoria della Premier League con il Derby, all’ultima giornata, non gli basta.

Vuole la Coppa dei Campioni e soprattutto vuole battere Revie ed il Leeds: ma il suo caratteraccio e la sua vanità lo porteranno sino al punto di perdere il suo braccio destro, Peter Taylor.

Persa anche la fiducia del suo presidente, il board del Derby County finirà per accettare le dimissioni dello staff tecnico, subito dopo l’eliminazione dalla semifinale di Coppa Campioni, ad opera della Juventus.

I destini di Clough e Revie sono destinati ad incrociarsi ancora una volta, perchè l’allenatore del Leeds è chiamato alla guida della nazionale, reduce dalla mancata qualificazione ai Mondiali del 1974.

La panchina della squadra più vincente e più scorretta d’Inghilterra è ora libera e la dirigenza pensa di affidarla proprio a Brian Clough, acerrimo avversario dello “stile Leeds”.

Senza il contrappunto tattico e la conoscenza dei giocatori di Peter Taylor - ed in balia di uno spogliatoio ostile - l’avventura di Clough a Leeds è destinata ad un fallimento annunciato.

Quella de Il maledetto United è una delle più belle storie sportive mai raccontate. E’ una cavalcata, a ritroso nel tempo, a partire da quei famosi 44 giorni di Clough a Leeds, fino alla stagione 1969.

Il calcio c’è, le immagini d’archivio si confondono con le ricostruzioni odierne, ma quello che conta sono gli uomini, il loro talento, la loro determinazione, la loro ambizione e la loro incoscienza.

Non c’è un briciolo della consueta retorica sportiva: ci sono solo sconfitte, umiliazioni, brevi momenti di felicità e la ricerca di nuovi traguardi.

In un mondo del calcio da sempre paludato e falsamente rispettoso, big mouth Clough è una bomba lanciata in uno stagno. Gli anni gloriosi del Derby sono ricostruiti con bellissima dedizione da Tom Hopper, già autore del pregevole John Adams televisivo.

Il team creativo è quello collaudato di The Queen e Frost/Nixon: la sceneggiatura tagliente di Peter Morgan, l’interpretazione ancora una volta mimetica di Michael Sheen, la produzione di Andy Harries.

Una menzione speciale meritano anche Timothy Spall e Jim Broadbent, cresciuti alla scuola di Mike Leigh, e Colm Meaney, nella parte di Don Revie.

Ancora una volta un romanzo di David Peace ha trovato una splendida trasposizione cinematografica: di certo sembra essere più fortunato del suo maestro Ellroy, le cui opere hanno avuto adattamenti assai diseguali.

Gli amanti del football e del buon cinema non possono perderlo. Uscirà in Italia il 22gennaio 2010.

A damned good film. Better yet, a damned good film about football.

See it.

Leicester City 0:0 Derby County

Leicester and Derby ground out a disappointing 0-0 draw in front of a large crowd at Filbert Way on Saturday…

Nigel Pearson brought Howard and Wellens into the starting line-up, in place of Kermorgant and Gallagher, and City started brightly.
Howard headed over, Fryatt forced a good save from Bywater, Wellens found the side-netting with a shot and King went very close with a long-range effort.
But despite their first half dominance City continued to lack a cutting edge up front and Derby got away with a very poor performance.
The Rams improved a little after the break and a dipping shot from Commons shaved the crossbar. The visitors then had loud claims for a penalty waved away when Hulse went down in the area after being clipped by Hobbs.
At the other end Dyer cut in and beat two defenders but fired his shot into the side netting.
Waghorn replaced Fryatt in the 66th minute and eventually found the back of the net late on but the linesman’s flag curtailed the celebrations.
City then endured a nervous period of time added on. Commons broke clear on goal and look set to steal a  late winner when Hobbs performed a majestic last-ditch tackle to deny him.  
Then Savage lined a up free-kick from a dangerous distance but, but missed out on a chance to win the game against his old side, two rebounds seeing the ball fall into Weale’s grateful arms.
Neither side had done enough to win the game and a large crowd went home disappointed with a derby that never took off.
Nigel Pearson commented: “Derby got what they came for so in that sense it was frustrating. We never asked them enough questions, but over 90 minutes we were the better side. We created good opportunities in the first half but never really got our rhythm going in the second half.”

Leicester: Weale, Brown, Berner, Hobbs, Morrison, King, Dyer (Kermorgant 79), Oakley, Wellens, Fryatt (Waghorn 66), Howard. Subs Not Used: Gallagher, Logan, Campbell, Adams, McGivern.
Derby: Bywater, Leacock, Moxey, Stoor (Connolly 76), Barker, Teale, Savage, Commons, Croft (Hendrie 59 (McEveley 85)), Livermore, Hulse. Subs Not Used: Deeney, Buxton, Mills.

Referee: M L Dean (Wirral). Attendance: 28,875.

By CHARLES HAPPELL

The Australian sporting landscape has been dotted with its fair share of neurotic, eccentric and lovable (if semi-certifiable) loonies – and Kevin Sheedy, Jack Gibson, Ron Barassi, Lawrie Lawrence and John Kosmina are a few that come straight to mind – but I’d hazard a guess that, in the matter of sheer originality and barminess, this wide brown land has produced no-one that comes within cooee of English soccer manager Brian Clough.

Clough made his name as an outspoken and controversial manager of Derby County, which he transformed from a Second Division rabble to First Division champions in 1972, and then Nottingham Forest which he took to the Championship in 1978 and the European Cup in 1979 and 1980, an astonishing result for a club that had won nothing of note since the FA Cup in 1959.

Clough’s methods were unique. He was essentially a dictator, and not always a benevolent one. “Have you ever been punched in the stomach, young man?” he once asked a centre-forward, Nigel Jenson, in the dressing room. When the answer was no, Clough suited the action to the word, remarking, “Well, now you have.”

The Damned United is a film based on David Peace’s wonderful novel of the same name which traced Clough’s ill-fated 44-day term as boss at Leeds United in 1974. The film has just been released in Australia and, if it is anything like as good as the book – a masterpiece of its type – it will be well worth a look.

Here is an exerpt from the book* (The Damned United, by David Peace, 350pp, Faber) which gives some idea of the erratic, expletive-strewn rants Clough was often prone to as a manager, not to mention his paranoia, obsessiveness and arrogance. It is also a glimpse at a distant age, long before players had become tycoons who drove Maseratis to training and had their own special table permanently reserved at Nobu, when coaches and managers were often unrepentant autocrats: (* If you are offended by bad language, look away now).

… Here is where League Championships are won and lost; here at Leeds Road, Huddersfield. Not White Hart Lane. Not Anfield or Highbury. Not Old Trafford in front of 50,000 crowds and television millions -

… And Derby have just lost 2-bloody-1. You look around this filthy fucking dressing room, these filthy fucking players, soaked to their bloody skins and covered in flithy fucking Yorkshire mud -

And you ask Colin Boulton, ‘You want to get me the fucking sack, do you?’

‘No, Boss,’ he says.

‘Well, you fucking will because you’re a useless cunt of a keeper.’

You ask Ronnie Webster, ‘You want to get me the fucking sack, do you?’

‘No, Boss,’ he says.

‘Well, you fucking will because you’re utter fucking shite, bloody rubbish.’

You ask John Robson, ‘You want to get me the sack, do you?’

‘No, Boss,’ he says.

‘Well, you fucking will because you’re the worst fucking defender I’ve ever seen.’

You ask Colin Todd, ‘You want to get me the fucking sack, do you?’

‘No,’ he says. ‘I don’t.’

‘Well, the amount of bloody money I fucking paid for you, I must have been bloody pissed out of my fucking skull. You can’t even keep on your fucking feet.’

You ask McFarland, ‘You want to get me the fucking sack, do you, Roy?’

‘No,’ he says.

‘No, what?’

‘No, Boss. I don’t want to get you the sack.’

‘Well, I don’t fucking believe you,’ you tell him and then turn to Terry Hennessy, ‘You want to get me the fucking sack and all, do you?’

‘No, Boss,’ he says.

‘So where the bloody hell were you this afternoon? You might as well have fucking stopped at home, use you were to me out there.’

You ask John McGovern, ‘You want to get me the fucking sack, do you John?’

‘No, Boss.’ he says.

‘Well, you remember that open goal, that bloody open goal you should have stuck that fucking ball in?

‘Yes, Boss.’

‘Well, that looked like a deliberate miss to me, to get your manager the sack.’

‘I’m sorry, boss,’ he says. ‘It wasn’t.’

‘Fuck off,’ you tell him. and turn to Archie Gemmill. ‘ You want to get me the fucking sack and all, do you, Scotsman?’

‘No, Boss,’ he says.

‘Come on, admit it,’ you tell him. ‘You liked it better back in the Third Division, didn’t you? Come on, admit it.’

‘No, I didn’t,’ he says.

You shake your head and turn to John O’Hare, and ask him the same question: ‘You want to get me the fucking sack, do you?

‘No, Boss,’ he says.

You point at Hinton and ask O’Hare, ‘You know how many centres he sent in?’

‘I’m sorry, Boss,’ he says.

‘No, you’re not,’ you tell him. ‘Or you’d be out there now fucking practising.’

You ask Kevin Hector, ‘You want to get me the fucking sack, do you?’

‘No. Boss,’ he says.

‘Really?’ you ask him. ‘Didn’t bloody look like that to me. Not when they took the lead and you had that chance – not chance – that fucking sitter when you landed flat on your bloody arse. They’ll be laughing about that in Huddersfield all fucking season.’

You turn to Alan Hinton. You tell him, ‘You played well, Alan. Thank you.’

Set in 1960’s and 1970’s England, THE DAMNED UNITED tells the confrontational and darkly humorous story of Brian Cloughs doomed 44 day tenure as manager of the reigning champions of English football Leeds United. Previously managed by his bitter rival Don Revie, and on the back of their most successful period ever as a football club, Leeds was perceived by many to represent a new aggressive and cynical style of football – an anathema to the principled yet flamboyant Brian Clough, who had achieved astonishing success as manager of Hartlepool and Derby County building teams in his own vision with trusty lieutenant Peter Taylor. Taking the Leeds job without Taylor by his side, with a changing room full of what in his mind were still Dons boys, would lead to an unheralded examination of Cloughs belligerence and brilliance over 44 days. This is that story. The story of The Damned United. Adapted for the screen by Peter Morgan (The Queen, The Last King of Scotland, Frost/Nixon) from the best-selling and critically acclaimed novel by David Peace. Directed by Tom Hooper (John Adams, Longford, Elizabeth I).

Genre: Drama
Director: Tom Hooper
Cast: Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall, Colm Meaney, Jim Broadbent

US Release: October 9th, 2009

Click on the link to the BBC below to see highlights of

Cardiff City’s recent match against Derby County.

Photo courtesy chaosemerald's Flickr account

Brian Clough, OBE (1935-2004), for those that are new to the game of football, was focal point of the famous The Damned United book-turned-motion-picture, as well as the best manager England’s national team never had.  What’s more, Clough was known for taking provincial clubs to heights they could never dream of, taking Nottingham Forest to two famous consecutive European Cups victories in 1979 and 1980.

Nottingham Forest today seem far from the lofty heights that Clough took them to so many years ago, but in this, so are many of his other clubs. All five of them – in order: Hartlepool United, Derby County, Brighton and Hove Albion, Leeds United and Forest – all now occupy places in the Coca-Cola Football League.

As a way of getting to know these clubs, this article will explore both their current situations and where Clough took them in his time at each, as it will help to give an indication of where these clubs stand in one of the greatest tales in English football history.

1965-67: Hartlepool United

Clough’s managerial career started in County Durham, England, where alongside assistant Peter Taylor, Clough  took charge of Hartlepools United (now just Hartlepool United) in October 1965.  The Victoria Park club had very limited resources and was languishing near the bottom of the fourth division, but Clough helped the Pools to achieve safety in the league in his first season. Also of note in Clough’s first season in charge of the club was his handing of a debut to midfielder John McGovern, who on 21 May 1966 broke the record as the youngest ever player for the club at an age of 16 years, 205 days old.  In the following campaign, Hartlepools United earned an eighth-placed finish in his first and only full season in charge.

Clough is one of the most notable names ever to manage Hartlepool, but their current situation seems far more appealing.  The Pools are now in the Coca-Cola Football League One, one division above the old fourth division (nowadays referred to League Two). They are League One stalwarts, and are safe bets for a mid-table finish this season. They have the talents of striker James Brown in their books and with a few more elements added could challenge for a spot in the play-offs, though, unlike Clough, who was a proponent of attractive football, the club now plays direct football based on the talents of their strikers such as Brown.

1967-73: Derby County

After leaving County Durham, Clough and Taylor took their places at Derby County in May 1967. A top flight club as recent as two seasons ago, the Rams will be known well to all fans of the Premier League, but mostly for the wrong reasons. Prior to the arrival of Clough and Taylor, the Rams had been anchored near the bottom of Division 2 (now the Championship), but Clough in his very successful five-year tenure made real progress at County.

In his first season in the top division, Clough’s County side challenged Leeds United and Liverpool all the way for the title, with Derby eventually earning the first ever title in the club’s then 88-year history.  The next season, Clough achieved a seventh placed finish in the league, though he took Derby County to the now insane heights of the semi-finals of the European Cup, where they lost to Italian giants Juventus.

The season was to be their last full one with Clough and Taylor, though, who were repeatedly at odds with Derby chairman Sam Longson. After the board dissuaded Clough and Taylor to leave for Coventry City on one occasion with financial incentives, Clough believed he could play the devil’s advocate, and in October 1973, he and Taylor offered their resignations in a move to persuade the board to get rid of Longson. The plan backfired, though, and despite a protest movement against the board, Clough and Taylor were frozen out when one of their players, Dave Mackay, was offered the managerial position at The Baseball Ground.

With European semi-finals and a top-tier title  to live up to, Derby have certainly fallen a long way since the tenureship of Brian Clough, but until this past decade, the Rams have spent most of their time in top-flight football.  The shadow of Brian Clough has always followed them around, though, as with the thought of what he could have achieved had his decision to resign not backfired. Certainly the shadow of Clough hasn’t left the club with his son, Nigel, now the manager of the club.

A very different character from his father, Nigel looks as capable as anyone to bring glory to Pride Park. With Nigel coming in last season, much work has gone on behind the scenes, with one of the main tasks that the former Burton manager performed being the reduction of the massive wage bill of the club.  Robbie Savage stated on this week’s The Football League Show on the BBC that real progress is on its way at the club, as his manager had taken no less than 17 players off the club’s wage bill. Indeed, this was a serious hangover and millstone around the neck of the club since their disastrous 2007/08 EPL season, and something needed to be done about it.

If anyone is going to be given time at Derby, it is the son of the Brian Clough, and ime is very much what young Nigel is being given, with the fans delighted at his appointment and patient to wait as he builds up a squad to take the East Midlands club back to greatness. They will not be far from the play-offs this season, though it may be too soon for a return to the top flight, as the team Nigel is trying to build around him will take time to materialise.

1973-74: Brighton and Hove Albion

It didn’t take Brian Clough and his foil Taylor long to find another job after leaving Derby County, even if it was a much smaller club they went to. They took charge of Brighton and Hove Albion in 1973, just months after leaving Derby, and Brighton were then near the bottom of what’s now League One.  Clough and Taylor in their short time of 32 games in charge of the Seagulls weren’t exactly successful, as their tenure at the south coast club brought only 12 wins in 32, a 19th place finish in the 1973/74 season and a famous 8-2 defeat to Bristol Rovers.

Brighton are very much where Clough left them, and they have gone through rather interesting times in recent years, in which they flirted twice with Championship football, going up as  League One champions in 2001-02 and then being relegated soon after. They made another brief return to the Championship, though, winning the League One play offs in 2003-04. In this time, they’ve had the likes of Bobby Zamora on their books, with the now Fulham striker being particularly prolific and really making his name at the Withdean Stadium.

Nowadays, the Gulls are very much on the up with an ambitious new chairman, and they are building an ambitious new 22,500 all-seater stadium. The stadium is so far named the Falmer Stadium and is being built on the outskirts of Brighton near the village of Falmer. Alongside this, they have a decent wage budget, being able to bring in the likes of Alan Navarro and Mark Wright on free transfers over the summer.

1974: Leeds United

After Clough’s spell at the small south coast club, he then landed a job that was probably a bit more tough, with a job offer coming in July 1974, whereupon he was offered at Leeds United the job vacated by Don Revie, Clough’s great rival who left  to become the manager of England.  Clough’s spell at Elland Road will be greatly known to anyone that has seen or read the film/book The Damned United, and although much of the book is a fictional interpretation of actual events, it gives you some idea of how disastrous his spell at the then-league champions was.

Clough took over a Leeds United side full of domestic honours, having previously been champions of Division One (now the Barclays Premier League).  When he was sacked on 12 September 1974, though, after a mere 44 days in charge, Leeds were rock-bottom of England’s top tier. Leeds were a club that were much maligned by Clough, and you have to really ask why he became their manager. Many believe Clough never managed to take control of the dressing room, and as portrayed in David Peace’s book, one of the main reasons he never succeeded at Leeds was down to the absence of Taylor.

The Leeds United of today are a severely fallen giant. The once-perennial Premier League club have been Football League residents for the past six seasons, and have occupied League One since the summer of 2007.  After much financial turmoil, though, the club are perhaps hitting stability and are a real force these days in League One. They have, however, so far on two attempts in the play-offs failed to get out of League One, so this season is really theirs to seize the moment.  In Simon Grayson, they have a manager who is Leeds through and through and knows just what it means to have the club return to their rightful place amongst England’s elite.

1975-93: Nottingham Forest

After being sacked in September 1974, it didn’t take too long for Cloughie to return once more to football, and his return came at Nottingham Forest in January 1975. Forest plays in Taylor’s hometown, and Clough’s assistant was reunited with his old boss that July. With Taylor back in the fold, success was more likely at the City Ground, and this success came, as within a year of the two pairing up again, they had got the club into the first division.  In the 18 years Clough was in charge at Forest, seven of them were together with Taylor, and they were together for the most succesful period in the club’s history.

They took Forest to a catalogue of major honours, with the most mind-blowing being the aforementioned European Cup triumphs in 1979 and 1980. Alongside this, there was a league championship, a European Supercup, four League Cups and one Charity Shield. The intrepid management duo made Forest into a household name, which any team even now would be glad to emulate.

Even if Derby have Nigel Clough, Forest also now have a manager with links to both clubs in Billy Davies, who famously had a disastrous time after winning the Championship play-offs to get Derby into the Premiership.  Davies has spent about  a year now at Forest and has made real progress; after managing to keep them up comfortably last term, it seems that he bought well in the summer, with such astute buys as Dexter Blackstock, a proven Championship striker.  Forest should finish comfortably mid-table this term, and Davies will have turned them into  a mid-range Championship team before perhaps building a team capable of challenging to get back into the top flight.

Clough made a mark on all these clubs, though some of them are very far from their position when Old Big ‘Ead was in charge, although certainly in the case of Derby and Forest, Clough’s achievements have created a sense of history, ambition and motivation for the clubs he managed to improve on their current fortunes. This is a great thing, as it makes football an industry of hope for the provincial towns that the legendary manager once presided over.

All of the clubs that Clough held the reins at have experienced troubling times of late, but one thing remains constant: Brian Clough made his mark on the history of each of those five teams – History that has its mark across the entire Football League.

Ross Andrew Gallacher

Palace 1-0 Derby County

By Robert Sutherland

Crystal Palace overcame the disappointment of last weekend’s defeat with a hard-fought win against Derby County at Selhurst Park on Saturday.

Palace’s squad featured a number of changes, with Alassane N’Diaye dropped for Johannes Ertl, Paddy McCarthy returning to the side in place of transfer-listed Matt Lawrence, and Sean Scannell featuring in place of Victor Moses.

And it was Johannes Ertl who made his rare appearance in the squad count, with an impressive performance from the Austrian drawing the plaudits. Palace also have goalkeeper Julian Speroni to thank for two fantastic saves – although he might not have been so lucky had the referee been a little more stringent.

Speroni could have received a red card when he picked up ball outside of the penalty area – but referee Michael Oliver only gave him a yellow card. It was a decision that Palace were richly rewarded by when the Argentinian made the two crucial match-winning saves.

Palace took the lead in the 55th minute, when Darren Ambrose drove a shot into the Derby net following a header from Sean Scannell. They might have taken a two-goal lead when Ertl thundered a header against Derby County’s bar.

The Eagles did well to deal with the physicality of Derby’s side, with Rob Hulse being the lead protagonist in aggression. Jose Fonte was lucky not to suffer a broken jaw following one of his many clashes with the bustling forward.

Manager Neil Warnock was delighted with how his players fought for the win. He told the BBC: “We gave absolutely everything and I’m proud as punch of my boys and I hope they get the headlines they deserve.”

While Palace will be pleased with the win, there are still a number of concerns about yesterday. Palace have gone 17 games without scoring in the first half of a match, while Palace’s dramatically falling attendance will also concern the club. With just 12,753 in attendance yesterday (a figure which includes season-tickets no matter whether the holder is at the match), Palace will have to find a way to get more fans into the stands.

The Eagles now face a trip to five-goal-scoring West Brom next Saturday, and then a home fixture against Sheffield Wednesday.

Brian Clough was one of the best English managers on record, the best manager England never had. This film is based on a book which tracked his turbulent44 days when he was Leeds United manager after joining from bitter rivals Derby County. The film focuses on his Leeds days but flashes back to Derby in order to show and explain why it was such a strange thing when he joined Leeds as manager. Brian Clough hated Leeds and everyone knew it, he used to call them cheats and dirty. He hated Don Revie the man who got the England job and who he took over for a Leeds. The film helps to show the determination Brian Clough had to be the best, but also the greed in which to suceed Don Revie and win the personal battle that they had, despite his loyal assistant Peter Taylor warning him against getting too sucked into it all. Instead of just staying with Derby and doing more for them in Europe and being the best.

I read the book for this a few years ago, so had been looking forward to this film since I first saw that it was being made. So eventually watching it after a long wait, I was not let down at all. I really enjoyed it and thought it was fantastic. Michael Sheen who appears to now be the number one choice to portray real life people (Tony Blair and David Frost), but those performances were both out shadowed but not this time, not when Sheen took on the task of becoming Brian Clough. No one was going to out shadow him in this film. No one ever out shadowedClough and therefore Michael Sheen was always going to be just fantastic.

Brian Clough spoke his mind and made many enemies along the way but he also became on the most successful English managers of all time. Being a massive football fan a film like this is right down my street as its just fantastic to see football on the big screen. Not only was Michael Sheen’s performance fantastic so were the other three more lead/supporting roles. Timothy Spall as Peter Taylor, Clough’s right hand man was just spot on and fantastic and totally believable. Jim Broadbent as Sam (Derby’s chairman) was his usual brilliant self, so eccentric as usual. But saving the best for last one of my favorite underrated actors in my opinion Colm Meany as Don Revie, it really was just scary how much they got him to look like the real man himself and his accent sounded so spot on he really was fantastic.

I would love to see more films based on the real lifes of footballer’s or managers as I just think it would be a fantastic genre to start up. As so many football fans are in the UK and would love this films. Off the top of my head I would love to see something on George Best, Sir Bobby Robson, Paul Gascoigne and possibly England winning the World Cup in 1966. I just think it could show an insight or an opinion on what happened at different events for those player’s etc.

Overall I think this film should be seen by all fans of football of all ages and even those who cannot remember Brian Clough. I can just about remember him from when I was younger. But I think its important that fans of football know about events which occured in the past. I am curious of how Clough’s family saw the film as I heard they were not happy with the book when it came out. Also wondering how Leeds and Derby fans found it, so might just have to have a look around for some reviews by them.

Oooh, to be Nile Ranger on Monday night. It was a fantastic first start for the boy wasnt it? He looked comfortable on the ball, provided some good passes and scoring opportunities and has strength and skill in abundance. A bit of fine tuning on the cards and we should have ourselves a little gem on our hands.

However, for all the good points that was too offer on Monday night, it has to be noted that Nile Ranger was our sole fit first team striker, unless you count Alan Smith in that position anymore, and the fact he got within a whiff of the first team tells it’s own story. We have no strikers. Shola is injured, 5 weeks they reckon, and Carroll, although short term, is still largely unproven, Xisco has legged it ( I don’t blame him) he was treated shabbily, although he wasn’t particularly brilliant, he was still an option. We have only just got Peter Lovenkrands back after he tried unsuccessfully to move anywhere but Newcastle.

But, problems aside, 1-0 versus a very organised and resolute Leicester City side is brilliant. We wern’t spectacular by any means, but we were efficient. Much of that credit has to go down to our very strong and tireless midfield. Guthrie, Smith, Nolan and Barton worked brilliantly together and it was clear they were under strict instructions to bomb forward as much as possible.

It wasn’t vintage, and in many respects, Leicester City will probably feel slightly aggreived that they came away empty handed. In this division though, 1-0 victories are essential, making sure you just do enough with the sparse tools available to eke out the victories, just ask the promotion winning Derby side a few years ago.

For me, 1-0 league victories are euphoric.

Photo courtesy Ben Sutherland's Flickr account

After his Barnsley team only managed to nab one point from a possible fifteen to start the season, the South Yorkshire club severed ties with manager Simon Davey over the weekend.  The move was apparently made via mutual consent.

Davey, 39, spent two and a half seasons at Oakwell, and began his most recent managerial stint by saving the Tykes from relegation after taking over for Andy Ritchie in November 2006.  His Barnsley teams have flirted with relegation from the Coca-Cola Championship ever since, though, and so the club decided to go in a different direction after Saturday’s 3-1 home loss to Reading and subsequent demonstrations by supporters against Davey.

“We are in a results-based industry, and we have had a bad start to the season,” club general manager Don Rowing told BBC Radio Sheffield.

“We would like to thank Simon for his efforts, but unfortunately these decisions have to be made sometimes.”

Elsewhere in Coca-Cola Football League action in the week gone by:

Championship: Nottingham Forest striker Nathan Tyson waved a corner flag bearing the Forest badge at travelling Derby County supporters following Forest’s 3-2 win on Saturday, inciting ugly scenes at the City Ground.  The Football Association has said that it will look into what happened.  “I didn’t see the incident but if that’s what Nathan has done then I will look at the video,” Forest manager Billy Davies said.  “I remember the last time Derby were here and Robbie Savage was waving a Derby scarf around.  There was very little made of that,” and we hope it will be the same for this.”

In other Championship action, West Bromwich Albion stands alone for the moment at the top of the league table after finishing 2-2 at Sheffield United, Doncaster Rovers comfortably defeated former co-leader Cardiff City 2-0 at the Keepmoat Stadium, and Middlesborough got its first taste of defeat in the Championship after Nicky Maynard brace meant a 2-1 loss for the visitors at Bristol City.

League One: Only goal difference divides Charlton Athletic and Leeds United once again at the top of the League Two table, with Charlton winning 4-0 away to struggling Tranmere Rovers and Jermaine Beckford scoring the winner for Leeds in a 2-1 win at Colchester United.  Meanwhile, in the West Midlands, Gillingham manager Mark Stimson criticized referee for keeping Gills winger Dennis Oli on the pitch despite what looked like a potential second booking during Saturday’s 0-0 draw at Walsall.  “I had a little debate with the referee, and I said we have to mark you referees in loads of different areas,” Stimson said in reference to what he would write in his match report after the game.

Other notable results in League One over the weekend included MK Dons moving up to third in the league after winning 2-1 away to Exeter City, Norwich winning its second league game on the bounce after besting Hartlepool United 2-0 in County Durham and a goal from Jon-Paul Pittman with ten minutes to go giving Wycombe Wanderers a 2-1 home win over Bristol Rovers.

League Two: Dagenham & Redbridge went top of the league on goal difference after cruising past Lincoln City 3-0 at home, and Rotherham United, Bournemouth and Barnet all leap-frogged new-money Notts County after Barnet beat the Magpies 1-0 with an injury time winner from substitute Jake Hyde at Underhill.

Elsewhere in League Two, Darlington finally recorded its first point from the first five games of the season after drawing 1-1 at home with Cheltenham, Rochdale crushed Bury 3-0 in a local derby at Spotland, and Aldershot Town moved into seventh place after two goals from Scott Donnelly on either side of the interval saw the Shots win 2-1 at nine-man Grimsby Town.

Matthew Semisch

By Robert Sutherland

Crystal Palace have confirmed the signature of winger Ryan Smith on a short-term deal.

Smith, 22, is a former Arsenal trainee who lists Southampton, Derby County and Millwall as former clubs. He has signed a three-month deal with the aim of impressing Palace’s coaching staff.

Palace are hoping that Smith has more of an impact than he has had at his previous clubs. While the player is clearly talented, he has failed to perform consistently with neither Millwall or Southampton choosing to extend his short term deals.

We here at FYP wish Ryan luck in securing a longer deal, as good performances can only be positive for Palace.