Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
*This film contains strong language*
Man Alive follows the fortunes of two football managers, at opposite ends of the football league - Bertie Mee of First Division title challengers Arsenal, and Laurie Brown at rock bottom Fourth Division side, Bradford Park Avenue.
Half a million people go to Football League matches every Saturday, and for every one who goes ten watch a game on television. Association Football is more than a game, an industry, or a way of life. It is an institution. Players become heroes, winning teams become symbols of national pride. But a football team is only as successful as its manager, and in football only the successful survive. If the team wins, the players get the credit; if it loses, too often the manager gets the sack. Already this season nearly half of the ninety-two Football League managers have lost their jobs. Since the war more than 700 have been fired or have resigned.
Two years ago, when Arsenal were an indifferent mid-table first division side, the club physiotherapist, Bertie Mee, was appointed manager. Now they are in the final of the League Cup, and are challengers for the League Championship.
For the last two years, Bradford Park Avenue have been at the bottom of the fourth division and this season have to seek re-election for the third successive year. Their hopes rest on the new appointment of player-manager Laurie Brown, formerly an English amateur international centre-half with Arsenal, Tottenham, and Norwich.
What does it mean to be a football manager, to have one of the most precarious jobs in show business where success is measured in goals and failure means almost certain dismissal?
Clip taken from Man Alive: Football Manager, originally broadcast on BBC Two, 5 March, 1969.
You have now entered the BBC Archive, a time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of TV to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic clips from the BBC vaults.
Make sure you subscribe so that you never miss a single stop on our amazing journey through the BBC Archive - youtube.com/c/BBCArchive?sub_confirmation=1
You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archive
*This film contains strong language*
Man Alive follows the fortunes of two football managers, at opposite ends of the football league - Bertie Mee of First Division title challengers Arsenal, and Laurie Brown at rock bottom Fourth Division side, Bradford Park Avenue.
Half a million people go to Football League matches every Saturday, and for every one who goes ten watch a game on television. Association Football is more than a game, an industry, or a way of life. It is an institution. Players become heroes, winning teams become symbols of national pride. But a football team is only as successful as its manager, and in football only the successful survive. If the team wins, the players get the credit; if it loses, too often the manager gets the sack. Already this season nearly half of the ninety-two Football League managers have lost their jobs. Since the war more than 700 have been fired or have resigned.
Two years ago, when Arsenal were an indifferent mid-table first division side, the club physiotherapist, Bertie Mee, was appointed manager. Now they are in the final of the League Cup, and are challengers for the League Championship.
For the last two years, Bradford Park Avenue have been at the bottom of the fourth division and this season have to seek re-election for the third successive year. Their hopes rest on the new appointment of player-manager Laurie Brown, formerly an English amateur international centre-half with Arsenal, Tottenham, and Norwich.
What does it mean to be a football manager, to have one of the most precarious jobs in show business where success is measured in goals and failure means almost certain dismissal?
Clip taken from Man Alive: Football Manager, originally broadcast on BBC Two, 5 March, 1969.
You have now entered the BBC Archive, a time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of TV to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic clips from the BBC vaults.
Make sure you subscribe so that you never miss a single stop on our amazing journey through the BBC Archive - youtube.com/c/BBCArchive?sub_confirmation=1
You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archive
