Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness

I enjoyed David Peace’s novel ‘The Damned United’ tremendously. Indeed I was so enthusiastic that I indulged in wild hyperbole on this weblog , likening it to Hamlet, with Brian Clough cast as the prince and Elland Road substituted for Elsinore. Naturally I’ve been looking forward to the release of a film, based on the novel. But today, after searching local cinema websites for a showing this evening, I learned that in Northern Ireland the movie is not yet available . The rest of the UK can watch the film, but its distributors have decided to deny us the pleasure. Now, I understand fully that demand to watch Michael Sheen play Clough has exceeded expectation. However with 200 prints available you might expect that one could have found its way to Belfast, given that it is a regional capital. Perhaps Monica McWilliams could graft something for poor deprived cinema goers on to the recommendations for a Northern Ireland Bill of Rights.

In 1984, seeking a government grant to fund the completion of the North Stand, Linfield FC needed the Irish FA to sign a long term lease in order to secure the funds. With Linfield being the IFA’s pet club, a contract was quickly formulated and so cosy was the relationship between the two that no-one within the Inept, Farcical and Absurd governing body bothered to include any release clauses. 23 years later Linfield continue to receive handouts, rulings and clientalism of all kinds from Windsor Avenue, but despite the hundreds of thousands of pounds they receive annually from hosting Northern Ireland international matches, they have let their stadium fall into a state of unusable disrepair. Of course if you deal with the despicable it doesn’t matter how much toadying you do, it doesn’t matter how much you bend your own rules to accommodate them, it doesn’t matter how partially you favour their interests, they will screw you over whenever things don’t entirely go their way. A lesson th...