Documentary about Nottingham Forest: I Believe in Miracles film review ★★★★★

I Believe in Miracles review: The irrepressible Brian Clough is the subject of a film looking back at Nottingham Forest’s improbable rise to the top in the 1970s.

Clough’s ill-fated 44-day spell as Leeds manager was explored in The Damned United, David Peace’s novel later turned into a film, but here, it's the first five years of his markedly more successful time in charge of Nottingham Forest that director Jonny Owen chooses to explore.

When Clough takes over, in 1975, Forest are a mid-table Second Division side with an average attendance of fewer than 15,000 people. By 1979, they are the champions of Europe increasingly accustomed to playing in packed stadiums all over the continent.

Through video footage from the era and present-day talking-head interviews with the Forest players, Owen's film shows how Clough, aided by his trusty assistant Peter Taylor, transformed the whole club. His footballing philosophy, training methods and approach to man management lead Martin O’Neill, then a midfield enforcer and now the Republic of Ireland boss, to declare Clough to be ‘years ahead of his time’.

Owen's thought-provoking film captures the imagination: witty and inspirational in equal measure, it expertly demonstrates what a football team’s success can mean to a city and its people. I Believe in Miracles harks back to a bygone era, when football was grounded yet still full of character and grit and charm, and when there were no such things as impossible dreams.