Legendary football manager Matt Busby resurrected in 'Believe'

Scottish actor Brian Cox brings legendary football manager Sir Matt Busby back to life in ‘Believe’.

The fictional tale is based on the former Manchester United manager’s time coaching young football players in the early 1980’s.

No longer a spring chicken himself, Busby comes out of retirement for one last coaching challenge to transform a group of young scallywags into champions.

“He was a completely major figure, because he rewrote everything, particularly in football, particularly in talent, and particularly about youth, you know. He was a visionary and it was tough for him, you know, it wasn’t easy. I don’t think it was an easy road. I think when he arrived at Old Trafford, you know, after the war and the state that it was in and having to rebuild it – it was a huge job, you know,” said Cox.

English actress Natascha McElhone plays the mother of one of the young footballers. She says it was time a movie like this was made: “In the age of consumption that we live in now, where football is so much about money, and buying players, and selling players and… It’s just all become so muddied with that crap, that I think for kids to just see it stripped back into sort of a melon and dribbling that on a road in bare feet, it’s brilliant,” she says. “It’s absolutely what needs to happen.”

The film has opened to critical acclaim on the festival circuit with one reviewer calling it “a solidly told, skillfully acted and engagingly shot tale” and another describing its “old-school aesthetic and simple plot line…” as “refreshingly comforting”.

‘Believe’ by David Scheinmann is out next month in the UK.