An Impossible Job

"An Impossible Job"
Cutting Edge episode

VHS cover
Episode no. Season 5
Episode 1
Directed by Ken McGill
Written by Patrick Collins
Narrated by Mark Halliley
Produced by Ken McGill
Featured music Cliff Rossiter
Editing by Dave Simpson
Justin Annandale
Production code Chrysalis Sport
Original air date
  • 24 January 1994 (1994-01-24)
Running time 50 minutes
Awards Royal Television Society – Best Sports Coverage (1995)

Graham Taylor: An Impossible Job, also known as Do I Not Like That, is a 1994 British fly-on-the-wall documentary directed and produced by Ken McGill, written by Patrick Collins, and made by Chrysalis 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 gave an insight into revealing the pressure manager Graham Taylor was under before his resignation. It was originally broadcast by Channel 4 on 24 January 1994.

Background

Neil Duncanson (who joined Chrysalis as a freelance producer in 1991) suggested the documentary, when all around him said they would never get permission.[1] The title of the film An Impossible Job reflects the difficulties of the England manager's position.[2]

Film-maker Ken McGill and his team recorded Graham Taylor 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[3] and the documentary captured a manager increasingly bereft as results went against him.[4] In 2013, Pete 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."[5]

Taylor thought about cancelling filming before the trip to Norway in June 1993, but knew that the written press - who were already hostile towards him - would seize on it as an admission England would not qualify.[3]

Before England's match against the Netherlands, the Dutch FA had denied access to the documentary/camera crew filming Taylor, but the England manager helped to smuggle them inside the De Kuip stadium.[6] The crew donned England tracksuits and carried their film equipment into the stadium in team kitbags.[3]

Synopsis

The Sun headline on 24 November 1993 following Taylor's resignation as England manager. 18 months earlier he had been called a "Turnip" by the newspaper, after England's defeat to Sweden in Euro 1992

The documentary follows Graham Taylor before, during and after England's crucial qualifier against the Netherlands in Rotterdam.[6]

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 in May 1993. During the following game, with England 2-0 down in Norway in June and running through their repertoire of misplaced passes, Taylor can be heard crumbling off-screen, a couple of resigned "hells fucking bells".[7]

Taylor visits David Platt in Italy to ensure the player is OK with his captaincy being handed to Stuart Pearce. 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:[7] 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,[8] "Rob, I can't continue... listen, Rob... I cannot have faces like yours around about me. [Uproarious laughter] No I can't – I tell you what, 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."[9]

In October 1993, during the penultimate match in the Netherlands, referee Karl-Josef Assenmacher made a poor decision to not send off Ronald Koeman for fouling Platt.[7] After Koeman scored, Taylor vents his frustration on the fourth official Markus Merk 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."[10] He then whispers 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?"[7]

Appearances

Results

14 October 1992
England  1 – 1  Norway
Platt  55' Report Rekdal  77'
Wembley Stadium, London
Attendance: 51,441
Referee: Arturo Brizio Carter (Mexico)

18 November 1992
England  4 – 0  Turkey
Gascoigne  16', 61'
Shearer  28'
Pearce  60'		 Report
Wembley Stadium, London
Attendance: 42,984
Referee: Bo Karlsson (Sweden)

17 February 1993
England  6 – 0  San Marino
Platt  13', 24', 67', 83'
Palmer  78'
Ferdinand  86'		 Report
Wembley Stadium, London
Attendance: 51,154
Referee: Roger Philippi (Luxembourg)

31 March 1993
Turkey  0 – 2  England
Report Platt  7'
Gascoigne  45'
Kemal Atatürk Stadium, İzmir
Attendance: 60,000
Referee: Fabio Baldas (Italy)

28 April 1993
England  2 – 2  Netherlands
Barnes  2'
Platt  23'		 Report Bergkamp  34'
Van Vossen  85' (pen.)
Wembley Stadium, London
Attendance: 75,000
Referee: Peter Mikkelsen (Denmark)

29 May 1993
Poland  1 – 1  England
Adamczuk  36' Report I. Wright  84'

2 June 1993
Norway  2 – 0  England
Leonhardsen  42'
Bohinen  47'		 Report
Ullevaal, Oslo
Attendance: 22,500
Referee: Sándor Puhl (Hungary)

8 September 1993
England  3 – 0  Poland
Ferdinand  5'
Gascoigne  49'
Pearce  53'		 Report
Wembley Stadium, London
Attendance: 71,220
Referee: Frans Van den Wijngaert (Belgium)

13 October 1993
Netherlands  2 – 0  England
R. Koeman  61'
Bergkamp  68'		 Report
De Kuip, Rotterdam
Attendance: 48,000
Referee: Karl-Josef Assenmacher (Germany)

17 November 1993
San Marino  1 – 7  England
Gualtieri  1' Report I. Wright  34', 46', 78', 90'
Ince  22', 73'
Ferdinand  38'
Renato Dall'Ara, Bologna
Attendance: 2,378
Referee: Abdullah Mohamed Nazri (Malaysia)
Rank Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1  Norway 1610721255+20
2  Netherlands 1510631299+20
3  England 1310532269+17
4  Poland 8103251015−5
5  Turkey 7103161119−8
6  San Marino 110019246−44

Norway and the Netherlands qualified.

Broadcast and release

The film was broadcast by Channel 4 on 24 January 1994 as part of the Cutting Edge documentary series. A family-friendly version of the film was broadcast a few days later. More than six million people tuned in to watch the film.[3]

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".[11] North One (which now owns Chrysalis) sold the documentary to ITV4 who broadcast the extended version of the documentary on 5 October 2008 on ITV4.[12][13] leading up to ITV's launch of their coverage to show live England matches.

Aftermath

During the qualifying campaign, Taylor and his two assistants Phil Neal and Lawrie McMenemy appeared to never give the impression of being in control of their situation.[7] Neal was criticised for being a 'yes man' after the documentary was broadcast.[3] The documentary earned a cult following and was renamed by aficionados to Do I Not Like That.[14]

"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."

— Ken McGill, director of An Impossible Job[3]

The 2001 comedy feature film Mike Bassett: England Manager is based on the career of Graham Taylor, and the real comedy of An Impossible Job.[15]

In 2013, Ken McGill told BBC Sport, "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."[3]

Reception

Daily Express called it "A fascinating mix of black comedy and personal tragedy." The Daily Mail said, "Never has a private agony been so publicly exposed."

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."[16]

The Guardian reported in 2010, "An Impossible Job was immediately hailed as a comic masterpiece".[7] Daniel Taylor of The Guardian in 2013 described it as "a piece of television gold."[17] Rob Shepherd reporting for the Daily Mail in the same year said, "In many ways it is football's Spinal Tap [This Is Spinal Tap] with a hint of Monty Python."[18] 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."[19]

Barney Ronay in his 2010 book The Manager: The absurd ascent of the most important man in football said, [Taylor] "turned out to be a brilliantly absorbing subject for a tragicomic documentary film."[20] Andy Mitten in his 2003 book The Rough Guide to Cult Football said, "the programme's enduring legacy is to present him [Taylor] unfairly as a provincial buffoon."[21]

Awards

Year Award Category Recipient(s) Result
1995 Royal Television Society Best Sports Coverage Cutting Edge Won

See also

References

  1. ↑ Duncanson, Neil (6 October 1996). "Anorak with a cutting edge". The Independent. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  2. ↑ "The impossible job". BBC News. 5 February 1999. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Rostance, Tom (8 October 2013). "Do I not like that: 20 years since Graham Taylor's World Cup failure". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  4. ↑ White, Jim (7 Oct 2010). "Graham Taylor: I will take England's failure to reach 1994 World Cup finals to my grave". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  5. ↑ "Do we not like that: Shep's TV highlight". Sports Journalists' Association. 12 October 2013. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  6. 1 2 "Documentary: Graham Taylor – "The Impossible Job"s". 4DFoot. 5 November 2010. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "The Joy of Six: Football documentaries". The Guardian. 5 November 2010. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  8. ↑ Hellier, David (18 May 2004). "Been inside? You're hired". The Independent. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  9. ↑ Brown, Oliver (3 October 2008). "Top five managerial rants". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  10. ↑ Jackson, Jamie (1 October 2006). "How did it feel ...". The Observer. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  11. ↑ "Do I Not Like That - The Final Chapter [1994] [VHS]". Amazon.co.uk. 7 July 1997. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  12. ↑ McMahon, Kate (17 September 2008). "ITV to revive C4's classic Graham Taylor football doc". Broadcast Now. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  13. ↑ "An Impossible Job/ Do I not like that !". Digital Spy. 5 October 2008. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  14. ↑ Shepherd, Rob (11 October 2013). "Do I Not Like That! England on the brink brings back memories of my TV spat with 'Turnip' Taylor on eve of World Cup '94 failure...". Mail Online. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  15. ↑ Smith, Arthur; Pulver, Andrew (21 September 2001). "Turnip - the movie". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  16. ↑ ""Do I not like that"". 101 Great Goals. 23 September 2008. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  17. ↑ Taylor, Daniel (12 October 2013). "England manager Roy Hodgson shows job may not be impossible after all". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  18. ↑ Shepherd, Rob (12 October 2013). "The Truth About The Turnip and Me". Bobby FC. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  19. ↑ Elkin, David (10 December 2013). "The 5 Essential Football Documentaries". Pulp Football. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  20. ↑ Ronay, Barney (2010). The Manager: The Absurd Ascent of the Most Important Man in Football. Sphere. ISBN 978-0751542790.
  21. ↑ Mitten, Andy (2010). The Rough Guide to Cult Football. Rough Guides. ISBN 978-1848365421.

External links

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