FBS
Steve Chettle
I haven't seen any mention on here about a new Forest-related documentary. So thought I would offer a few words about it:
Three footballers recount their climb to the top of the professional game during a period of austerity and economic turmoil.
I guess the question that we all have as Forest fans is: How do you make a documentary about any/all of the Miracle Men without going over the same ground time and again? Using the backdrop of the social and political striff of the 1970s and detailing how three working class lads became world beaters and yet still stayed humble and local to the area is an interesting, and slightly different, angle to take. Anderson, Birtles and Woodcock all have their stories to tell and I’m sure many of us have heard some of the before. However, there are some intriguing bits in this documentary about their own personal lives that I don’t believe have been talked about too much, if at all. Listening to Anderson talk about his upbringing is the most engaging of the three. Not to say Birtles or Woodcock don’t have bits that are worth listening to. I just found myself being really fascinated with Anderson’s story.
Of course there are stories about Cloughie and some of the other players at that time. There are even additional talking heads from Alan Hill and Kevin Keegan. They only add fuel to the fire that we really were a one-off in terms of what that set of players accomplished for the club, for the country and for the sport in general.
The documentary also details what each of them are doing these days. I have to say I haven’t really been keeping up with any of them as I don’t live in the area. So I was shocked about Woodcock’s family story. Also, Birtles tragically losing his wife to Cancer. What comes across in the documentary is that all three of these guys have each others backs in times of great need. All these years later and they are still friends, and local as well. That’s the important point in this documentary. These guys haven’t lost their local identity or moved to another country. They are Nottinghamshire through and through.
Sadly from a technical point of view this documentary is poorly put together. I did Media Studies AT People’s College back in the 90s and if I had delivered some of the footage quality seen in this documentary then I would have had the VHS tape thrown back at me and told to reshoot it. There is footage so dark in this documentary that you can hardly see anything, and it’s just a person sat in a room. Some of the camera work is wonky. The audio is hideous at times (none more so than during an interview with CEO of UK Meds where I couldn’t hear a single word he said). Also, what bright spark had the idea to make a documentary about three lads from Nottingham but have it voiced by some cockney geezer??!! Why wouldn’t you employ someone with a Nottingham accent? Big opportunity missed there. The technical side of this documentary really lets down what is actually being said by Anderson, Birtles and Woodcock.
I Believe In Miracles this is not. Yet there is still enough material here to be interesting to most Forest fans.
Three footballers recount their climb to the top of the professional game during a period of austerity and economic turmoil.
I guess the question that we all have as Forest fans is: How do you make a documentary about any/all of the Miracle Men without going over the same ground time and again? Using the backdrop of the social and political striff of the 1970s and detailing how three working class lads became world beaters and yet still stayed humble and local to the area is an interesting, and slightly different, angle to take. Anderson, Birtles and Woodcock all have their stories to tell and I’m sure many of us have heard some of the before. However, there are some intriguing bits in this documentary about their own personal lives that I don’t believe have been talked about too much, if at all. Listening to Anderson talk about his upbringing is the most engaging of the three. Not to say Birtles or Woodcock don’t have bits that are worth listening to. I just found myself being really fascinated with Anderson’s story.
Of course there are stories about Cloughie and some of the other players at that time. There are even additional talking heads from Alan Hill and Kevin Keegan. They only add fuel to the fire that we really were a one-off in terms of what that set of players accomplished for the club, for the country and for the sport in general.
The documentary also details what each of them are doing these days. I have to say I haven’t really been keeping up with any of them as I don’t live in the area. So I was shocked about Woodcock’s family story. Also, Birtles tragically losing his wife to Cancer. What comes across in the documentary is that all three of these guys have each others backs in times of great need. All these years later and they are still friends, and local as well. That’s the important point in this documentary. These guys haven’t lost their local identity or moved to another country. They are Nottinghamshire through and through.
Sadly from a technical point of view this documentary is poorly put together. I did Media Studies AT People’s College back in the 90s and if I had delivered some of the footage quality seen in this documentary then I would have had the VHS tape thrown back at me and told to reshoot it. There is footage so dark in this documentary that you can hardly see anything, and it’s just a person sat in a room. Some of the camera work is wonky. The audio is hideous at times (none more so than during an interview with CEO of UK Meds where I couldn’t hear a single word he said). Also, what bright spark had the idea to make a documentary about three lads from Nottingham but have it voiced by some cockney geezer??!! Why wouldn’t you employ someone with a Nottingham accent? Big opportunity missed there. The technical side of this documentary really lets down what is actually being said by Anderson, Birtles and Woodcock.
I Believe In Miracles this is not. Yet there is still enough material here to be interesting to most Forest fans.
