James Ducker November 18, 2009
Liverpool have risked a furore over a film starring Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher that portrays Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, as a whisky-guzzling drunk and Gary Neville, the clubâs captain, as a rat who âhates Scousersâ.
Gerrard and Carragher were joined by Rafael BenĂtez, the Merseyside clubâs manager, at the premiere of Fifteen Minutes That Shook The World in Liverpool on Monday evening.
The 43-minute film is a darkly humorous, fictional account of the events that inspired Liverpoolâs fightback against AC Milan in the Champions League final in Istanbul in May 2005, when they came from 3-0 down at half-time to win on penalties.
But while the movie â which includes cameos from Gerrard and Carragher, the Liverpool captain and vice-captain respectively â was intended to be light-hearted and firmly tongue-in-cheek, it remains to be seen what United make of it.
In one scene, a Ferguson parody called McTaggart rings a Neville lookalike, wearing a United No 2 shirt bearing the name âRat Boyâ on the back, to celebrate Liverpool trailing Milan by three goals.
âRat Boyâ, whose features were digitally enhanced to make him more ratlike, responds by singing about how he âhates Scousersâ, an ironic nod to the song that United fans chant about Nevilleâs widely perceived dislike of Liverpool.
When word comes through that Liverpool have drawn level, McTaggart is seen swigging furiously from a bottle of Scotch, which has the words âManager of the Month but not as good as Bob Paisleyâ on it. He then tries to put his head in a noose only to be thwarted when the gum bubble he blows explodes over his face.
United declined to comment yesterday, but Ferguson and Neville are likely to be unimpressed, not least because of the involvement of Gerrard and Carragher and others at Anfield, even though they would not have been aware of the full extent of the content.
Ferguson did not react well the previous time a club tried to poke fun at United. He described Manchester City as a âsmall club with a small mentalityâ, arrogant, cocky and stupid for the âWelcome to Manchesterâ poster they erected in the summer after Carlos TĂ©vezâs move to the club from Old Trafford.
Liverpool fans, though, will doubtless view the film as it was intended â a bit of fun â even if the timing of its release may raise a few eyebrows, coming as it has only days before BenĂtezâs team face Manchester City in the Barclays Premier League and Debrecen in the Champions League, games that could define their season.
Ferguson and Neville are by no means the only ones sent up in the film. BenĂtez, who is played by Neil Fitzmaurice, the actor and comedian, tells his players in the dressing room at half-time that âthe whole damn world will take the p***, go on that pitch you shower of pigs and make it our day.â Of Dietmar Hamann, the former Liverpool player who also has a cameo in the film, Fitzmauriceâs BenĂtez says: âBut what is Hamann, what has he got, he smokes, he drinks, he uses pot, but he will shine.â
Djimi TraorĂ©, the former Liverpool defender, is brought into the dressing room in a box by Sami Hyypia, at which point Gerrard says, âDjimi, thatâs the best youâve been in the box all night,â while Carragher, when pressed by BenĂtez for his thoughts, can utter only the Scouse phrase: âIâm still chocka.â Gerrard adds that he âwonât be able to show my faceâ around his home town of Huyton if Liverpool do not stage a comeback.
The film was written by Dave Kirby, the Liverpool playwright, and will shortly go on general release at selected cinemas â although presumably not in Manchester â before being released on DVD in time for Christmas.
Truth stranger than fiction
Rafael BenĂtez went to the premiere of Fifteen Minutes That Shook The World on Monday night and laughed at the lampooning depiction of himself at half-time in Istanbul (Tony Evans writes). Yet the events in the dressing room at the AtatĂŒrk Stadium are so bizarre that fiction does not do them justice. Nor does BenĂtez need sending up. He repeats the story with wide-eyed humour.
The Liverpool manager rose from the bench with AC Milan leading 2-0. âI was thinking what to say,â he said. âThen Milan scored again.â
BenĂtez took off Djimi TraorĂ© and sent on Dietmar Hamann. âThen I spoke,â he said. âFor eight minutes. In English.â With the officials calling them back on the pitch, BenĂtez was told that Steve Finnan was injured.
TraorĂ© was retrieved from the showers while Finnan pleaded to stay on. BenĂtez drew up his team. âI had Hamann, Finnan was still on and I added TraorĂ© back,â he said, laughing. Someone pointed out he was sending out 12 men. âSo I rubbed out both full backs,â he said. âIt left ten men.â
With a bit of help, BenĂtez sent 11 on to the pitch, Liverpool came back to 3-3 and won on penalties. File under âgreat team-talksâ.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/liverpool/article6920853.ece
