Media Portrayals and Successful Legal Action
Giles was portrayed by actor Peter McDonald in the 2009 film The Damned United, that centred on Brian Clough's ill fated 44-day spell as Leeds United manager in 1974. Giles successfully sued the author of the book, David Peace, who printed the work in 2006, from which the film was made. His reasons for pursuing legal action for libel were as Giles said of Peace's The Damned Utd: "His book was outrageous. I'm portrayed as the scheming leprechaun. He had me in conversations with Clough that never happened. It made Clough out to be a wild man whereas he wasn't drinking then. I didn't get on with him but I found him highly intelligent. Peace said the novel was fiction based on fact, trouble is, people assume it's the official version. The movie was a misinterpretation of the misinterpretation that was the book!"
In another interview in relation to his taking court action, Giles said: "I took my stand because I was the only one alive who could do anything about it. The Clough family had no comeback. They couldn't do anything as Brian was dead, that was a huge influence (on taking the legal action)."
As part of the settling in the 2008 High Court dispute, the publisher of the book, Faber and Faber, were ordered to remove from any future editions the references perceived by Giles as damaging and untrue.
Read more about this topic: Johnny Giles
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