The accuracy of the story told by David Peace in his best-selling novel is disputed by a number of the real-life protagonists.
It may even have been sent to you in a WhatsApp group - because the 'fun' has well and truly begun.
It's all aboard the 'banter' bus because the meme machine has already gone into overdrive and rival fans are mocking Man City mercilessly.
On the contrary, this is a serious business, which has the potential to completely alter the future of English football by rewriting its past.
Because while the Premier League has reportedly recorded a resounding victory over Manchester City, this will hardly feel like a win worth celebrating, given the very competition it runs could be stripped of all credibility.
'The Damned United' is not a documentary. The accuracy of the story told by David Peace in his best-selling novel is disputed by a number of the real-life protagonists. But there's one thing that pretty much everyone agrees on: in July 1974, during one of his very first training sessions as Leeds United's new manager, Brian Clough really did get up in front of an undeniably gifted but notoriously aggressive group of players and tell them that they could throw all of their medals in the bin because they didn't win any of them fairly. "You've done it all by blooming cheating," Michael Sheehan's Clough so infamously declares in the film version of the best-selling book, alluding to Leeds' allegedly 'dirty' style of play rather than any level of corruption on their part.
You've probably already seen that clip doing the rounds again on social media - only now in relation to Manchester City, who, as first reported by the Athletic, have been found guilty of all but one of the 115 charges brought against them in February 2023 for breaching the Premier League's financial rules. It may even have been sent to you in a WhatsApp group - because the 'fun' has well and truly begun. It's all aboard the 'banter' bus because the meme machine has already gone into overdrive and rival fans are mocking Man City mercilessly.
But this is no laughing matter. On the contrary, this is a serious business, which has the potential to completely alter the future of English football by rewriting its past. Because while the Premier League has reportedly recorded a resounding victory over Manchester City, this will hardly feel like a win worth celebrating, given the very competition it runs could be stripped of all credibility.
