The Damned United Page #5

So the Cup winners...

...beat the League Champions.

William Bremner...

...your conduct in the Charity Shield

match was deplorable...

...and cannot be tolerated.

We understand Leeds United

are taking disciplinary action...

...against you internally.

However, the Football Association

has to be seen to make an example.

We have therefore decided

to impose a fine of 500 pounds.

Thank you.

And a suspension

until September the 30th.

What?

September 30th?

That's over a month.

That's six bloody weeks.

I'll make it seven if you carry on

with language like that.

Come on. Double the fine.

Treble it. Anything.

Just don't suspend him for that long.

Gentlemen.

He's my captain.

Hey, he's the best player I've got.

Hello?

I suppose you've heard.

Suspended for 11 bloody games.

Well, you're buggered.

Billy Bremner's the heart and soul

of that team.

Plus, Mick Jones

and Eddie Gray are injured.

Well, like I said, you're buggered.

What do I do, Pete?

I need new players.

Tell me who to buy.

No, Brian.

No one scouts players like you, Pete.

You're the best.

We can sort this place out together.

You and me.

Turn it around.

It's too late, Brian.

I'd have helped you once,

but not now.

Not after what was said.

We're on our own now, remember?

Each man for himself?

And I think it would be better

if you don't ring here again.

These are heady days for

Brian Clough's Derby County...

... Champions of England.

They have the biggest night in

the club's history coming up in Turin...

... in only four days' time.

The semi-final of the European Cup

against Juventus.

But first today,

they've got quite a tricky challenge.

They face Leeds United

whom they unseated...

...as the First Division Champions

at the end of last season.

Leeds, one would imagine,

will have revenge on their mind.

Get me today's team sheet,

could you, Joe?

There's always been a strong,

some might say unhealthy...

...rivalry between the two teams...

...and the managers in particular.

It's well known there's no love lost

between Don Revie and Brian Clough....

What's up, Uncle Sam?

A bit below stairs

for you here, isn't it?

Taken a wrong turn somewhere?

Just seen the team sheet.

Hinton, O'Hare, Todd, Mackay,

that's our strongest side.

Of course it's our strongest side,

it's Leeds United.

Would you prefer I send out

the apprentices?

We're at Juventus midweek,

semi-final of the European Cup.

Biggest night in the club's history.

Couldn't you field...?

What?

You know.

A weaker side?

Am I hearing right?

Is the chairman of this football club...

...seriously asking his manager

to lose?

You know what I'm saying.

Against their biggest rivals?

The chairman of this football club...

...is asking his manager

to be pragmatic...

...and manage his resources.

Prioritise. We've just embarked

on a huge programme of refurbishment.

Improvement. New stand.

Better floodlights.

We need a good run in Europe

to pay for it.

I'm going to pretend

I didn't hear a word of this.

You've still got an hour

before kick-off.

I'd reconsider if I were you. I wouldn't

want my employer to be unhappy.

My employer?

Chairman of Derby County. Chairman

long before you ever showed up.

Oh, that's right.

You were chairman of Derby County

before I came here.

I remember that.

When Derby County were at the

f***ing foot of the Second Division.

When nobody had heard of them

for 20 years...

...and nobody had heard

of Sam-bloody-Longson ever.

Full stop. And that's where you'd

still f***ing be if it wasn't for me.

At the foot

of the bloody Second Division...

...where nobody remembered you...

...and nobody had heard of you.

There would be no Derby County

without me.

No League title.

No Champions of England.

Not without Brian Clough.

I'm gonna give you some good advice,

Brian Clough.

No matter how good you think you are

or how clever...

...how many fancy new friends

you make on the telly...

...the reality

of footballing life is this:

The chairman is the boss,

then comes the directors...

...then the secretary, then the fans,

then the players...

...and then finally, last of all...

...bottom of the heap,

the lowest of the low...

...comes the one, who in the end,

we can all do without...

...the f***ing manager.

What are you doing, Brian?

You are a bloody disgrace!

Hey, Bremner, you should be

in the bloody book for that!

-Come on.

-Look at this!

F***ing come on then, you bastard!

You see what your lads are doing?

They don't deserve to be

on the same pitch as my lads.

Brian.

Good luck in Europe.

Peter, good luck in Europe.

You f***ing knobheads.

Derby was unlucky, I can tell you.

You bloody fool.

-Are you disappointed, Mr. Clough?

-Disappointed, not a bit.

My players

were heroic out there tonight.

Effectively, we were playing the Italian

champions with a reserve team.

Many of my first team are injured

thanks to the brutality of Leeds United.

This happens

when you have a chairman...

...who authorises a multi-million-pound

refurbishment of the Directors' Box...

...and hospitality suites

before he pays for a proper squad.

It depends on your priorities,

players or prawn sandwiches.

I know which I'd prefer.

I know which honest working-class

Derby supporters would prefer too.

What I am say--

We're taking you into hospital

now, love. Don't worry, okay?

Heart attack, eh?

Been having it for three weeks,

they reckon, one way or another.

They ran all sorts of tests on me.

I told them the only thing

they need to know...

...was that I share my professional

life with Brian Clough.

That seemed to satisfy them.

I'm only half joking, you know.

-We still got jobs?

-We have.

Longson has tried to put

a gagging order on me, of course.

"Any further utterances in public...

...or media appearances

by Brian Clough...

...will be met with instant dismissal."

Take notice and act accordingly.

Would you like to hear

my contrite reply?

-Go on, then.

-Written a letter to the board.

You and I feel it is impossible

to continue our good work...

...with Derby County.

We therefore wish to tender our

resignations with immediate effect.

What?

What do you think?

I don't want to resign.

Don't worry, they won't let us.

We just won them the Championship.

But it'll strengthen our position

and force them to get rid of Longson.

Oh, no.

No, Brian, they'll never do that.

He's chairman--

Look, I can't do it, Pete.

I can't work with me hands tied.

A chairman telling me

what I can and can't do?

You're picking the wrong enemy,

Brian.

The enemy's not Longson.

It's Revie.

And this obsession with Leeds.

Don't be daft.

We won the league, Pete.

We're top dogs in Derby now,

Longson can't stand it.

-That's the problem.

-No, it's not. It's you.

This mad ambition.

It comes and it goes.

Sometimes it's good. Oh, yes.

Like a fire that stirs everything up.

Then there's this.

This thing that takes over.

Destroys everything

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