"Graham Taylor: An Impossible Job" is a 1994

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

fly-on-the-wall Fly on the wall is a style of documentary-making used in film and television production. The name derived from the idea that events are seen candidly, as a fly on a wall might see them. In the purest form of fly-on-the-wall documentary-making, ...

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

directed and produced by Ken McGill, written by Patrick Collins, and made by

Chrysalis A pupa (; : pupae) is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their life cycle, the stages the ...

for '' Cutting Edge''. The documentary follows the England football team through the 18 months before their failure to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup Finals and showed the pressure manager

Graham Taylor Graham Taylor (15 September 1944 – 12 January 2017) was an English football player, manager, pundit and chairman of Watford Football Club. He was the manager of the England national football team from 1990 to 1993, and also managed Lincoln ...

was under before his resignation. It was originally broadcast by

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

on 24 January 1994.

Background

Neil Duncanson (who joined

as a freelance producer in 1991) suggested the documentary, though some of his colleagues believed they would never get permission. The title of the film, ''An Impossible Job'', reflects the difficulties of the England manager's position. Film-maker Ken McGill and his team recorded

and his team throughout the qualifiers. Taylor agreed to take part in the programme as he hoped it would show the differences between club and international management. But as results turned for the worse, the focus shifted to Taylor and the documentary captured a manager increasingly bereft as results went against him. In 2013, journalist Rob Shepherd revealed, "None of us in the ' Hack Pack' who followed England at the time knew that a documentary was being filmed. But Graham Taylor did." Taylor thought about cancelling filming before the trip to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

in June 1993, but believed that the written press - who were already hostile towards him - would seize on it as an admission England would not qualify. Before England's match against

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, the Dutch FA had denied access to the crew filming Taylor, but the England manager helped to smuggle them inside the

De Kuip Stadion Feijenoord (), more commonly known by its nickname De Kuip (, the Tub), is a stadium in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It was completed in 1937. The name is derived from the Feijenoord district in Rotterdam, and from the club with the same na ...

stadium. The crew donned England tracksuits and carried their film equipment into the stadium in team kitbags.

Synopsis

The documentary follows

before, during and after

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

's crucial qualifier against the Netherlands in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

. England's campaign started poorly with a home draw against Norway in October 1992. Taylor's subsequent touchline performances included the quotes "Do I not like that" and "Can we not knock it?" from an away game against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

in May 1993. During the following game, with England 2-0 down in Norway in June and making several misplaced passes, Taylor can be heard off-screen saying "fucking hell". Taylor visits David Platt in Italy to ensure the player consents to his captaincy being handed to

Stuart Pearce Stuart Pearce (born 24 April 1962) is an English professional football manager and former player, who was most recently a first-team coach for Premier League club West Ham United. He was nicknamed "Psycho" for his unforgiving style of play. ...

. He holds court in front of an audience of prison inmates of Ashwell Prison. He quips and scolds journalist Rob Shepherd during a press conference: Shepherd looks dejected by Taylor's team selection for the game against the Netherlands and pleads with him to change his mind. Taylor mocks him for his negativity, "Rob, I can't continue... Rob, I can't have... Listen, Rob... I cannot have faces like yours around about me. proarious laughterNo I can't – I tell you this now, if you were one of my players with a face like that, I'd fucking kick you out. You'd never have a chance. Put a smile on your face, we're here for business, come on." In October 1993, during the penultimate match in the Netherlands, referee Karl-Josef Assenmacher did not send off

Ronald Koeman Ronald Koeman (; born 21 March 1963) is a Dutch professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the manager of the Netherlands national football team, Netherlands national team. Koeman scor ...

for fouling Platt. After Koeman scored, Taylor vents his frustration on the fourth official

Markus Merk Markus Merk (born 15 March 1962) is a former top-level German football referee. He is a six-time winner of the ''German Referee of the Year Award'' and the record holder in games refereed in the Bundesliga. In 2005, Merk was awarded the German ...

and the nearside linesman. After repeatedly complaining about the decisions, he says to Merk: "You see, at the end of the day, I get the sack." He then says to the linesman, "I'm just saying to your colleague, the referee has got me the sack. Thank him ever so much for that, won't you?"

Appearances

( England manager) *

Phil Neal Philip George Neal (born 20 February 1951) is an English retired footballer who played for Northampton Town, Liverpool and Bolton Wanderers as a full-back. He is regarded as one of the most successful English players of all time, having won ei ...

(England assistant manager) *

Lawrie McMenemy Lawrence McMenemy MBE (born 26 July 1936) is an English retired football coach, best known for his spell as manager of Southampton. He is rated in the ''Guinness Book of Records'' as one of the twenty most successful managers in post-war English ...

(England assistant coach) *Fred Street (England physiotherapist) * Charles Hughes (

The Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...

Director of Coaching) *Rob Shepherd (''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * The current day and calendar date ** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone * Now, the time that is perceived directly, present * The current, present era Arts, entertainment and m ...

'' journalist) * David Platt *

Paul Gascoigne Paul John Gascoigne (, born 27 May 1967), nicknamed Gazza, is an English former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Regarded as one of the best playmakers of his generation and one of the best English footballers of ...

* Carlton Palmer *

Ian Wright Ian Edward Wright (born 3 November 1963) is an English media personality and former professional footballer. Wright enjoyed success with London clubs Crystal Palace and Arsenal as a forward, spending six years with the former and seven year ...

Paul Ince Paul Emerson Carlyle Ince (; born 21 October 1967) is an English professional football manager and former player who was most recently manager of Reading. A midfielder, Ince played professionally from 1986 to 2007, starting his career with West ...

* Nigel Clough *

Les Ferdinand Leslie Ferdinand (born 8 December 1966) is an English football coach, former professional footballer and television pundit. A striker, his playing career included notable spells in the Premier League with Queens Park Rangers, Newcastle United, ...

Paul Merson Paul Charles Merson (born 20 March 1968) is an English former professional footballer, manager, commentator and sports television pundit for Sky Sports. Originally a forward, Merson found success as an attacking midfielder and playmaker late ...

Broadcast and release

The film was broadcast by

on 24 January 1994 as part of the '' Cutting Edge'' documentary series. A

censored Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

version of the film was broadcast a few days later. More than six million people tuned in to watch the film. A 77-minute version of the film including previously unseen footage was released on VHS on 7 July 1997 retitled ''Graham Taylor: "Do I Not Like That. The Final Chapter"''. North One (which now owns

) sold the documentary to ITV who broadcast the extended version of the documentary on 5 October 2008 on

ITV4 ITV4 is a British free-to-air television channel which first aired on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV plc. The channel focuses primarily on general entertainment programming targeting a male audience, including action series and films, ...

Aftermath

During the qualifying campaign, commentators felt that Taylor and his two assistants

and

gave the impression of never being in control of their situation. Neal was criticised for being a ' yes man' after the documentary was broadcast. The 2001 comedy feature film '' Mike Bassett: England Manager'' was inspired partly by Graham Taylor and ''An Impossible Job''. In 2013, Ken McGill told ''

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

'', "I found it hard to take the consequences of the film. But there is nothing I would change. It is a piece of honest film-making."

Reception

The ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...

'' called it "A fascinating mix of

black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

and personal tragedy." 101 Great Goals said in 2008, "...the documentary is a super watch... Above all, it explains much about the pressure of being the England manager. It does also make you wonder how Graham Taylor is now a respected pundit." ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' reported in 2010, "''An Impossible'' Job was immediately hailed as a comic masterpiece". Daniel Taylor of ''The Guardian'' in 2013 described it as "a piece of television gold." David Elkin of ''Pulp Football'' in the same year said, "The documentary is a brilliant examination of the media, the pressure and the utterly ludicrous nature of being the England national team manager." He added: ''An Impossible Job'' gives a real insight into the doomed campaign and the nature of the role." Barney Ronay in his 2010 book ''The Manager: The absurd ascent of the most important man in football'' said, aylor"turned out to be a brilliantly absorbing subject for a tragicomic documentary film." Andy Mitten in his 2003 book ''The Rough Guide to Cult Football'' said, "the programme's enduring legacy is to present him aylorunfairly as a provincial buffoon."

Awards

References

External links

* * *
''An Impossible Job''
on tvduck.com

''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

''. 8 October 2013 {{DEFAULTSORT:Impossible Job, An 1994 films 1994 British television episodes 1994 documentary films British documentary television films Channel 4 documentaries Cutting Edge (TV series) episodes Documentary films about association football Films shot in London Films shot in Poland Films shot in Norway Films shot in Italy Films shot in the Netherlands Films set in London Films set in Poland Films set in Norway Films set in Italy Films set in the Netherlands 1994 directorial debut films England national football team 1990s English-language films British sports documentary films 1990s British films English-language documentary films