The Damned United (Kingdom)? Liz Truss has become the shortest serving Prime Minister in British history with a premiership that lasted only as long as Brian Clough’s infamous spell in charge of Leeds United.
Truss’ 44-day tenure means she fell 74 days short of George Canning’s unwanted record as PM. The Tory statesman died of ill health in 1827 after just 118 full days in office and had, until Thursday, held the record.
The outgoing Prime Minister can at least console herself with the fact that she matched the tenure of one of Britain’s greatest football managers – albeit only in a spell so bad that it inspired a famous book and film.
Clough had earned acclaim as manager of Derby County after a playing career cut short by injury, winning promotion to the First Division with the Rams in 1968 before going on to win the title in 1972.
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The outspoken and divisive coach would later cement his legend with Nottingham Forest, winning the European Cup twice, the league once and a number of other trophies.
However, between those hugely successful spells at Derby and Forest, Clough had a short and turbulent stint as Leeds boss in 1974.
Having arrived at the reigning league champions from Brighton in July to succeed new England manager Don Revie, Clough is said to have told his players to throw their medals in the bin.
Midfielder John Giles quoted the speech in his autobiography. “Right you f**king lot,” Clough supposedly said. “You lot may all be internationals, and have won all the domestic honours there are to win under Don Revie. But as far as I’m concerned, the first thing you can do for me is chuck all your medals and all your caps and all your pots and all your pans into the biggest f**king dustbin you can find. Because you’ve never won any of them fairly. You’ve done it all by cheating.”
He subsequently oversaw six league matches and only one win before being sacked, then making a memorable appearance on the ITV Calendar chat show alongside Revie.
His time at Leeds was later the subject of David Peace’s novel The Damned Utd, which was adapted into a film released in 2009.
Truss, who had referenced her upbringing in Leeds during the leadership race had also said “I do want us to channel the spirit of Don Revie” as “we need to win”.
She ended up channelling the spirit of Revie’s successor with excruciating success. Still, at the least the job at Forest could soon be up for grabs…
Additional reporting by Press Association
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