The Damned United

Submitted by I Blue Myself on

So, has anyone noticed the parallels between the movie "The Damned United" and the recent history of Michigan football?  I did a search and couldn't find any discussion of this on the board, which surprised me, because as I was watching, it really felt like I was watching Rich Rodriguez's life story, if only he'd been born in England instead of West Virginia.

If you're not familiar, the movie is based on the true story of the hiring of Brian Clough, a legendary English soccer coach, at Leeds United in 1974.  I don't want to give too much away, so I'll just say it's a familiar story. 

If you're the kind of person who hates soccer, don't worry: there's very little actual soccer content in it, and the soccer that's in it mostly involves fistfights and violent tackles.  It's just a very well put together movie directed by the same guy who did "The King's Speech" and the "John Adams" documentary on HBO.  It's a movie about sports without being a sports movie, if you get the distinction.

Anyway, it's very much worth watching if you're trying to make sense of the last three years, and it's available to watch instantly on Netflix.

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Rich Rodriguez
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strange parallels

seattleblue

January 15th, 2011 at 7:30 PM ^

Rich Rod and Brian Clough both share an offensive philosophy in their respective sports, but beyond that they couldn't be more polar opposites.  Clough was an alcoholic and egomaniac who never endeared himself at Leeds United because he was so outspoken and made a point to bad-mouth Don Revie and his players.  I've never heard anything remotely negative that Rich Rod has said re: Michigan or Carr.  Rich Rod strikes me as an earnest/ humble guy.  While these are both cases of classic change management, IMO the parallels are limited.

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I Blue Myself

January 15th, 2011 at 8:45 PM ^

. . . I'm not trying to accuse either Rich Rod or Lloyd Carr of having the same flaws as their counterpart in the movie.  I just think the parallels of an outsider coach coming into an established culture and trying to change things dramatically are really striking. 

The fact that these two brilliant coaches struggled enormously when placed in that situation should tell us something about how difficult it is to be in that position.

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Argyle

January 15th, 2011 at 7:52 PM ^

It is a pretty decent parallel. Now RR just needs to resurrect another up-and-coming team and the story will be complete. Great film.

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JimBobTressel

January 15th, 2011 at 7:55 PM ^

Brian Clough was an arrogant ass, but he knew how to contsruct a football (soccer) team and to do it right. The other guy (his assistant) who he had trouble succeeding without and whos forgiveness he had to ask for at the end, would that be RR's Jeff Casteel?

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I Blue Myself

January 15th, 2011 at 8:39 PM ^

Also, the chairman of Derby County who doesn't want to spend the money Clough wants to spend is the WVU athletic director.  The Leeds United chairman who goes outside the organization to hire the up-and-coming coach against his previous coach's wishes is Bill Martin.  You can fill in the blanks about trying to change an ingrained culture and playing style at Leeds United.

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I Blue Myself

January 15th, 2011 at 8:48 PM ^

Worth noting that Clough, the Rich Rod character, went onto another obscure team and led it to unimaginable success, while Leeds United slid backward and didn't reach the same heights for 20 years afterward.  That's the scary part.

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