The Four Year Plan

[owenthomas]

this could be quite funny

 

 

 

Fabio Capello is to be shown counselling a football club owner about his manager and the tactics being used by his team in a remarkable television film.

England coach Capello offered the opinions when asked by his friend, Flavio Briatore, then the co-owner of QPR. Four Year Plan, which is the story of Italian Briatore's colourful career at Loftus Road, is the result of more than 900 hours of filming behind the scenes.

 

It is, say the makers of the film, an unprecedented study of a football club. And it means that, inadvertently, Capello becomes the first England manager to take part in a fly-on-the- wall documentary since Graham Taylor's infamous Do I Not Like That in 1994.

 

Ruthless Briatore, 61, employed nine managers during his four-year stay at the club. He is filmed trying to influence team selection and tactics during matches, boasting about sacking his manager and demanding the names of 'fans who booed me' in a stormy confrontation after a game.

 

The man who was forced to resign from the Renault Formula One team after a race-fixing scandal, references a previous conversation he had with Capello, all in Italian, about then manager Jim Magilton's failure to grasp tactical intricacies of the game. The film company Ad Hoc have added subtitles to leave the viewer in no doubt that they were questioning the tactics in place.

 

Capello appears apologetic during filming but confirms on screen that the conversation with Briatore took place. Briatore had approval on the scenes included.

 

A spokesman for Ad Hoc Films said: 'We are very proud of the film, it is unprecedented in its access and nature.'

 

Briatore throws open the boardroom doors, exposing combustible and voluble relationships inside his club.

 

During the FA's investigation into Alejandro Faurlin's transfer to QPR, Briatore looks to the camera and admits, 'We're up to our necks in s***'.

'The content, from start to finish, is incredible,' revealed one source involved with the production company. Four Year Plan is the kind of football film that makes you want to hide behind the sofa.

'You would not believe a football club could be run like this, but it's been brilliantly put together.'

 

The film also gives starring roles to former chairman Gianni Paladini and on-off director Amit Bhatia and follows current manager Neil Warnock through his promotion season, despite the pressures from the boardroom.

 

Briatore is shown interfering in team selection and attempting to influence substitutions by bellowing instructions to his coach's assistants during half-time.

 

Paladini responds to fan pressure by referencing one of the managers and screaming: 'The idiot's going to turn them all against us.'

 

In a separate take Paladini injures his legs when he loses control during a match and begins kicking out at seats.

 

Ad Hoc will show the film for the first time in Marbella next month after which TV companies will scramble to buy it.

 

Briatore sold his shares in December to Bernie Ecclestone, who in turn sold out to Air Asia tycoon Tony Fernandes this summer. Since then, the club have bought players such as Joey Barton and Shaun Wright-Phillips.

 

QPR face a tough first season back in the top flight; but first, like Capello, they have to overcome the spotlight of this film.

[Molby]

this is gonna be top class entertainment

[Coyler]

Demanding the names of the fans that booed him is magnificent dictator's behaviour.

[Sir Tokyo Sexwale]

Oh, am I looking forward to this.

 

Just what every club needs, a d**do in charge

[drdooom]

In a separate take Paladini injures his legs when he loses control during a match and begins kicking out at seats.

 

We've all injured ourselves like that. The fact he injured his legs, not just his leg, really makes me want to see this.

[Maldini]

That sounds fantastic

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5xAmAjZ1mY