In 1999 Manchester United completed an historic and amazing treble by following victory in the English Premiership and the FA Cup by scoring two goals in the dying minutes of the Champions League final to win 2-1. The road had been a long one and the squad that did it achieved their place in the annals of Manchester United history. The film follows them in the season after this as they look to build on their brand image, head to Brazil and look back on their achievements to date.
I'm not a Man Utd fan; actually I support Wolves so therefore know nothing about professional football at all (boom boom). However, like the Arsenal unbeaten run of 49 domestic games (stopped by Man Utd) it is hard not to be impressed by any club that achieves dominance like the treble winning season for Utd saw or recognise their place in sporting history. For that reason I watched this film and, on the whole enjoyed it and found it interesting, although it is difficult to get past how glossy and airbrushed the film is and how much it feels like a corporate attempt to spread the brand of Utd throughout the world. So therefore this film is less about the football and more about the off-pitch action. Sadly this means we get 15 minutes on Vodafone (new sponsors) being awarded the contract and how the white seats will be arranged, how the logo will be put on the new shirt and so on. This corporate aim feeds through into everything Ferguson's falling out with Beckham is given a very glossy spin but it doesn't compare to the total whitewash applied to Man Utd's decision to drop out of the FA Cup to go to Brazil (where they were basically handed their asses). They managed to find the one journalist in the UK who thought it was a good idea and got him to just put it under the carpet hell, longer was spent on Vodafone's services and products than on the games in Brazil! Outside of this the film does have some interesting bits but they are few and far between as the film is almost totally about Man Utd as a corporate entity rather than a football team. Shots of goals and games are minimal and not injected with any real meaning or significance within the season. Contributions from fans only serve to make the club look silly and basically play to the criticisms; the main fan we follow is Irish and lives in New York? The few Manchester fans play to the arrogance that many see in Reds fans claiming they should really win everything and expressing disgust with their "precious Reds" whenever they struggle to win! Not unlike many football fans I suppose or at least the ones that call phone-in shows. If anything the film is more interesting in the way it inadvertently shows how quickly things can change and how modern football is very like a corporate machine profits driven and without any sense of history or loyalty.
It shows this in several ways. We see Peter Kenyon gushing over the club knowing that only a season or two later he would jump ship to a club with a bigger income in the shape of Chelsea. We see Beckham downplaying the fights with Ferguson, knowing the truth now and the fact he left Man Utd shortly after this film. We see the Man Utd fans dismissing Arsenal only for them to break records and win the Premiership a season later. We hear all this rubbish about how they will never fall off the top knowing that they now sit 3rd behind "non-contenders" Chelsea and Arsenal and have a trophyless season just after the one seen here. We hear Ferguson praised (and rightly so for his past) but we know that the many, many duff players he has signed in the past few years were only months after the season we see. The most impacting thing is the note that, when Man Utd went to Brazil in 2000, Leeds were top of the Premiership by a point; this is the same Leeds that spent the following season or two imploding and have come to rest in the middle of Division One now that would be a much more interesting documentary! Overall this is a pretty poor film with only vague interest even Man Utd fans will find this lacking in real value. With almost no game action shown the focus is on the corporate machine and more cumulative is spent looking at the Vodafone deal than at the on-pitch action. The interviews and dressing room footage is boring and pointless and none of the passion we are told about is seen on the screen. More interesting now due to events since the film was made but even this interest is not enough to make me ever want to watch this film again.
I'm not a Man Utd fan; actually I support Wolves so therefore know nothing about professional football at all (boom boom). However, like the Arsenal unbeaten run of 49 domestic games (stopped by Man Utd) it is hard not to be impressed by any club that achieves dominance like the treble winning season for Utd saw or recognise their place in sporting history. For that reason I watched this film and, on the whole enjoyed it and found it interesting, although it is difficult to get past how glossy and airbrushed the film is and how much it feels like a corporate attempt to spread the brand of Utd throughout the world. So therefore this film is less about the football and more about the off-pitch action. Sadly this means we get 15 minutes on Vodafone (new sponsors) being awarded the contract and how the white seats will be arranged, how the logo will be put on the new shirt and so on. This corporate aim feeds through into everything Ferguson's falling out with Beckham is given a very glossy spin but it doesn't compare to the total whitewash applied to Man Utd's decision to drop out of the FA Cup to go to Brazil (where they were basically handed their asses). They managed to find the one journalist in the UK who thought it was a good idea and got him to just put it under the carpet hell, longer was spent on Vodafone's services and products than on the games in Brazil! Outside of this the film does have some interesting bits but they are few and far between as the film is almost totally about Man Utd as a corporate entity rather than a football team. Shots of goals and games are minimal and not injected with any real meaning or significance within the season. Contributions from fans only serve to make the club look silly and basically play to the criticisms; the main fan we follow is Irish and lives in New York? The few Manchester fans play to the arrogance that many see in Reds fans claiming they should really win everything and expressing disgust with their "precious Reds" whenever they struggle to win! Not unlike many football fans I suppose or at least the ones that call phone-in shows. If anything the film is more interesting in the way it inadvertently shows how quickly things can change and how modern football is very like a corporate machine profits driven and without any sense of history or loyalty.
It shows this in several ways. We see Peter Kenyon gushing over the club knowing that only a season or two later he would jump ship to a club with a bigger income in the shape of Chelsea. We see Beckham downplaying the fights with Ferguson, knowing the truth now and the fact he left Man Utd shortly after this film. We see the Man Utd fans dismissing Arsenal only for them to break records and win the Premiership a season later. We hear all this rubbish about how they will never fall off the top knowing that they now sit 3rd behind "non-contenders" Chelsea and Arsenal and have a trophyless season just after the one seen here. We hear Ferguson praised (and rightly so for his past) but we know that the many, many duff players he has signed in the past few years were only months after the season we see. The most impacting thing is the note that, when Man Utd went to Brazil in 2000, Leeds were top of the Premiership by a point; this is the same Leeds that spent the following season or two imploding and have come to rest in the middle of Division One now that would be a much more interesting documentary! Overall this is a pretty poor film with only vague interest even Man Utd fans will find this lacking in real value. With almost no game action shown the focus is on the corporate machine and more cumulative is spent looking at the Vodafone deal than at the on-pitch action. The interviews and dressing room footage is boring and pointless and none of the passion we are told about is seen on the screen. More interesting now due to events since the film was made but even this interest is not enough to make me ever want to watch this film again.