Flies on the walls
The talk of the football world has been Amazon Prime’s documentary on Tottenham Hotspur but it is not the first time that a club has let the cameras in.
Far from it, in fact. The fly on the wall football documentary has a long and storied past, with earlier examples standing to show how much the game has changed over time and with the influx of money.
There are many examples to show that Spurs, who choose to move to their new stadium’s NFL changing rooms after the coronavirus pandemic, and Manchester City, who featured in the first English Premier League series of
All or Nothing, are very much at the “all” end of that ultimatum.
Here are the series that show the clubs who have “nothing.”
A Season In The Life: Gillingham FC
The story of the only professional club in the English county of Kent and their 1997-98 season. On paper it was far from a disaster, with the club finishing eighth in the English Football League Division Two and just missing out on the playoffs on goal difference. But behind the scenes there was trouble aplenty. Manager Tony Pulis, chairman Paul Scally and Ade Akinbiyi’s agent stand out among the cast of characters.
Big Ron Manager: When Big Ron Went Iffy
Ron Atkinson had been one of the greatest managers in English football and a respected pundit once he had hung up his sunglasses and trench coat. That was until a racist remark made off camera about Marcel Desailly ended his broadcasting career. This documentary series, Big Ron Manager, attempted to rehabilitate him back into the game by parachuting him into clubs as a “football consultant.” This one-off episode sees him sent to struggling Swindon Town, who have sacked manager Andy King after a shocking start to the 2005-06 season with youth team coach and ex-striker Iffy Onoura promoted to first-team boss. Atkinson joins them for the December of the season but it was a non-starter as Onoura did not want him there and eventually the plug was pulled. Atkinson did a whole series at Peterborough but that also ended badly, with him leaving the club.
There’s Only One Barry Fry
Speaking of Peterborough, this documents the eponymous manager and his attempts to take over the Posh in the mid-1990s. The Independent described it upon its airing in 1997 as “the tale of an amiable buffoon and his ill-fated takeover of Peterborough United.” No arguments there. Fry is the only owner-manager in English football and it does not end well. The Independent did suggest others could learn from it, though “it may be instructive for any other football managers who are considering allowing a documentary team to film them at work to note the three things that these three documentaries have in common, which are (1) bad language, (2) bad football, and (3) the abject humiliation of the manager concerned.” There remains truth in that, 20-something years later.
They Think It’s All Rovers
Doncaster Rovers were a club in crisis when they invited the cameras to Belle Vue. This follows the club as they face relegation to The Conference, and the subsequent downward spiral of the club, after the most losses in a Football League season. The chairman of the club was later found to have hired an ex-SAS soldier to set to fire to the stadium. Somehow this 48-minute documentary captures it all but it does make you wonder why the cameras were there.
Chester City: An American Dream
Chester City had seen better days by the 1999-2000 season when former NFL player Terry Smith has taken charge with the club on the brink of bancruptcy. Bizarrely Smith decides to take on managerial duties and the results are as expected – this may be part of the inspiration for the new Apple TV comedy Ted Lasso, which sees an NFL coach transplanted into a fictional English Premier League club. This was no joke though. Smith sacks himself but to no avail – the club’s relegation is confirmed on the final day of the season, which makes for great television but terrible news for a football club and its fans.
Orient: Club For A Fiver
Perhaps the sweariest, poorest football and most humiliating example of the fly-on-the-wall football documentary genre, Club For A Fiver piles on the humiliation from the off. Manager John Sitton will be long remembered for a speech in which he colorfully offers to fight his players while the 1994-95 season itself will be marked by a lack of fight on the pitch – Orient did not win once away from home, losing nine games in a row to end the season and being relegated.
The Four Year Plan
Queens Park Rangers, once stalwarts of England’s top flight, are on the brink of bankruptcy. The Championship side need an injection of cash and it comes in the form of new owners, the Formula 1 bosses Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone plus Alejandro Agag, steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal and Amit Bhatia. The new owners brought with them a “Four Year Plan” and so the documentary maker Mat Hodgson had a timeline – and a name – for his own project.
Premier Passions
Peter Reid’s Sunderland team welcomed the cameras to Roker Park. Reid becomes ever more foulmouthed as the six-part series wears on and it becomes evident that his team will be relegated from the Premier League. A fascinating insight into what the mid-1990s top flight was like then.
Sunderland Till I Die
The only modern example of these is an update to Premier Passions, where the changes of the modern game are highlighted at Sunderland, as are the struggles of the club. Both series of this Netlfix hit capture seasons defined by despair and disaster in equal measure but also the hope of the fans, players and staff at the club, who all want success. There is hope at the Stadium of Light, but as they say, it’s the hope that kills you.