Brian Clough: I Believe in Miracles [Blu-ray] [2015]

A must see for any Red Dog

Bought as a gift for my dad as he grew up as a forest fan and seeing what cloughie did for the club. Informative and insightful, albeit through rose tinted specs.

This looks at the incredible - but true - story of how Brian Clough and his partner, Peter Taylor - arrived at then-Second Division (now Championship) football team, Nottingham Forest, and within a year had made them First Division (now Premiership) champions and then European Cup (now Champions League) winners twice in a row. It was then, and remains, arguably (but not really) the greatest ever achievement by a football team in the history of British football (or football anywhere, for that matter).The programme is filled with interviews (often very funny) from some of Clough's players at the time and of clips of Clough himself (also a very funny and enigmatic character), and is a terrific watch, whether you like football or not to be honest.

Great film, made in an extended documentary style featuring interviews with the key players, cut in with footage from the time, all backed up with an amazing soundtrack. I ordered it on Instant Video and I'm very pleased with the HD picture and sound quality.The story is from the golden age of English club football, when English clubs won the European Cup from 1977 to 1982 and again in 1984, with a few UEFA Cups thrown in for good measure too. The star of the show is of course Cloughie who just draws you in with his charisma and arrogance.To describe Nottingham Forests story as a miracle actually downplays the brilliance of the Clough/ Taylor partnership and the quality of the squad they built. Clough & Taylor had already built a title winning team at Derby County and brought some of the key players from Derby to Forest. They also brought in experienced players like Larry Lloyd who had been successful at Liverpool. The squad was strong, for example Pete Shilton in goal with Chris Woods in reserve and with forwards of the calibre of Tony Woodcock, Gary Birtles and Peter Withe. They further strengthened the squad with the record breaking purchase of Trevor Francis for over a million quid, shattering the previous transfer record. Over the 1977-8 and 1978-9 seasons Forest set a record of 42 consecutive unbeaten games which stood until Arsenal's Invincible's, they also remained unbeaten at home during the title winning season of 1977-8.The icing on the cake was of course the two European Cup wins and I particularly loved Martin O'Neill's response to the mocking of Adrian Chiles at the end - brought a real lump to my throat.

Who would enjoy this film? Anyone with an interest in music, sport or british history and culture. This film has been begging to be made since the excellent prologue 'The Dammed United' left ninety percent of the Brian Clough story untold. This part-bio picks up the story in the moments, literally, after Clough's sacking by Leeds. It goes on to tell the story of his appointment at Forest, the scepticism surrounding his arrival and the success that followed, with a particular focus on the promotion season and the first Division 1 season.As the story unfolds the film provides a musical timeline to the much maligned seventies music era and picks out song after song that credits the era with a greatness long forgotten. As if that wasn't enough, the story includes a social 'date-stamp' and reminds us of the pressing issues and life in the same era.The anecdotes are brilliant and endless and you are left assuming that Director Jonny Owen must have left as many clips out as he included in this great film. As the film closed I was left with a smile right across my face which lasted for days. Clough was a British anomaly - an 'in your face' icon of uncontrolable honesty in a society of, even then, political correctness and restricted behaviours. All of this comes through in the film and you can enjoy this film in the knowledge that you just learned something about sport, the UK and music that you didn't know before.

This for me is the absolute pinnacle of one of the greatest story in the all time history of football. How 2 men one who (Clough )had only been sacked a few weeks earlier by Leeds, and the other Taylor joined forces to put together a team like no other. After inheriting a team/club that was a footballing backwater, and mould them into a team that earned success that will probably never the likes will ever be seen again. If anyone tells you that you can’t polish a turd. Look them in straight in the eye and tell them you can.

I’m a Liverpool fan and really despised the competition that Forest gave us in the late 70’s and early 80’s, the passage of time has softened me and I borrowed this DVD from a Forest fan in work, and have ended up wanting my own copy. This is a remarkable story, I think even more than what Leicester did recently, for a team to come up from the old 2nd division and win 2 Champions leagues is incredible ( as well as their other triumphs of course ).Even the extra’s on the DVD are good, would highly recommend this to any football fan, if you love the game you will love this story. Hope to see Forest back in the premier league at some point, still a giant for me.

Memories of a bygone era….great