I Believe In Miracles, film review: the basic philosophy of Brian Clough’s triumphant football team of the 70s

Jonny Owen portrays Nottingham Forest football team in a beautiful documentary

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Jonny Owen’s very enjoyable documentary feature about Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest football team of the late 1970s shamelessly plays up the comic-book, Roy of the Rovers side of its story. Somehow, a small team from the East Midlands, languishing midway down the old Second Division table, were turned within a couple of years into one of the best sides Britain had ever seen.

The garrulous Clough and his assistant Peter Taylor were wily and often inspired operators who took a determinedly leftfield approach to football management. Clough’s basic philosophy, summed up by one of the team, was work hard, play well and then you’ll enjoy yourself. Under his tutelage, the scruffy, grumbling Scottish journeyman John Robertson was transformed into a world-class player and the team’s new lynchpin. Owen intercuts archive footage of Clough and his team with interview material featuring the players, many of whom (Larry Lloyd, Martin O’Neill and John McGovern among them) are born raconteurs.

I Believe In Miracles (12a), Jonny Owen,104 mins