The Damned United

The Damned United (2009) is Tom Hooper's football drama you can watch online on iFILM. It covers the 44 days Brian Clough spent managing Leeds United in 1974 — the most combustible six weeks of an already volatile career.

Michael Sheen plays Clough as a man whose genius and arrogance arrive in equal measure. He inherits a squad built by his great rival Don Revie and makes no secret of his contempt for their cynical, kick-anything style. The film cuts back to his rise at unfashionable Derby County and to the partnership that made him whole: assistant Peter Taylor, the steady hand Clough can't function without. Timothy Spall, Colm Meaney and Jim Broadbent round out the bench.

Writer Peter Morgan adapted David Peace's novel into something other than a sports picture — a study of obsession, wounded pride and one man's jealousy of another's success. The matches barely matter. You don't need to care about football for this one to land, because the rivalry, not the scoreline, is the real game. Stream The Damned United (2009) online on iFILM.