Daily Dialogue — June 20, 2014

EXT. TRAINING PITCH — FOLLOWING DAY — (1974)

CLOUGH walks out into the drizzle and towards the LEEDS PLAYERS..

CLOUGH: (up-beat, clapping hands) All right, gentlemen, gather around, please.

The players truculently gather round. CLOUGH watches them, notes their mood, then…

CLOUGH: I might as well tell you now. You lot may all be internationals and have won all the domestic honors there are to win under Don Revie, but as far as I’m concerned, the first thing you can do for me is to chuck all your medals and all your caps and all your pots and all your pans into the biggest fucking dustbin you can find because you’ve never won any of them fairly. You’ve done it all by bloody cheating.

Silence from the PLAYERS..

CLOUGH: Mr. William Bremner. You’re the captain. And a good one. But you’re no good to the team and you’re no good to me if you’re suspended. I need you fit for every game, and I want good, clean, attractive football from my captain. Setting an example.

CLOUGH turns to PETER LORIMER.

CLOUGH: Mr. Lorimer, I hope you were listening because you’re as good a footballer as I’ve ever seen, but you know how I feel about the way Don let you harangue referees, fall over when you’ve not been touched, protesting and pointing, trying to get other players booked. We’ll have no more of
that.

CLOUGH turns to JOHNNY GILES.

CLOUGH: And you, Irishman. God gave you skill, intelligence, and the best passing ability in the game. What God did not give you was six studs to wrap around another player’s knee.
GILES: I don’t know what you’re talking about.

CLOUGH turns to NORMAN HUNTER.

CLOUGH: But you do, though, “Bites yer Legs”.
HUNTER: People kick me, I kick them back.
CLOUGH: Not with me as manager. Do that on my watch, you’ll be fined and stuck in the reserves. (to all the PLAYERS) Things are going to be a little different around here. Without Don. Might feel a little strange at first. Might pinch a little. Like a new pair of shoes. But if you want your grandchildren to remember you for being something other than the dirty buggers you all were, if you want to be loved as REAL champions, WORTHY champions, you’re going to have to work. And improve. And change.

— The Damned United (2009), screenplay by Peter Morgan, novel by David Peace

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: 1st day on the job, suggested by Bretton Zinger. Today’s suggestion by Daniel Cossu.

Trivia: The scenes in the film set at the Derby County training ground were actually filmed in Leeds at a football pitch ironically overlooking the Leeds United stadium.

Dialogue On Dialogue: The first day on the job as a coach comes with a special kind of pressure. Here Clough makes a firm statement straight off the bat.

Note: Could use your suggestions for this week’s theme. Thanks!

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