"Director: Bob Potter"

• Manchester United - Beyond The Promised Land | DVD | (31/03/2008) from £3.49   |  Saving you £1.50 (30.10%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Manchester United: Beyond The Promised Land produces a look into the inner-workings of the world's biggest sports franchise Manchester United and the effect this sports phenomenon has on people's lives. Beginning with a look back at the improbable almost impossible comeback against Bayern Munich the film follows the team into the new season as they carry on where they left off. Tokyo brings Beatles-like mob scenes as the club reigns in the World Club title. We continue with the REDS as they set out to retain their domestic and European titles and go on an unusual winter journey to the home of South American football Rio de Janeiro. Off the field we see inside the corporate giant that has just become the first billion pound football club - M.U. plc! Inside the boardroom we meet Chairman Martin Edwards and watch business as usual as Man-U closes in on megabuck sponsorship deals (Vodaphone's historic 30 million pound kit deal) and builds awareness across the world by organizing football tours to Australia China Hong Kong and Brazil. Fans of the club and sports enthusiasts alike will have the chance to go behind- the-scenes with the world's biggest club -- in the locker room in the boardroom on the golf course and on the road. Fans will also be introduced to fans whose passion for M.U. is just a little bit different. We'll also meet some fans who don't like Man-U a certain crew from rival Leeds is introduced to offer a dose on how the other half lives.

• Manchester United - Beyond the Promised Land | DVD | (27/11/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  It may be stating the obvious, but if you are a fan or in any way interested in Manchester United the football team or global brand then you will love this video and any critical appraisal is largely an irrelevance. If, however, you share the antipathy of most other football fans and see them only through a red mist, it is unlikely to bring much joy. After an opening celebration of the last-minute treble-winning triumph in the Champions League and a brief tribute to the victims of the Munich air crash, the film settles into a fairly sedate account of the 1999/2000 championship season. Scenes from the United backroom are interspersed with various supporters providing a more passionate perspective on following the team for whom success has become almost a given in recent years. These include the bartenders who travel all the way from New York to attend the game in which Real Madrid ended United's hopes of successive European titles (which is not in the least bit hilarious).Among the more corporate elements of the club's set-up on display are a forum encouraging sponsors to develop traditional and new markets (China will be huge) and various meetings with Vodafone to explore their newly agreed partnership (look out for ringing tones based on your favourite terrace chants). Given the inherent excitement usually generated by what happens on the pitch, the overall tone of the film is surprisingly flat with what little action that remains being reduced to very brief goal highlights and largely divested of its significance. Such episodes as Beckham's supposed fracas with the manager, the mysterious disappearance of Mark Bosnich, and the press conference fiasco that marked the non-arrival of Ruud Van Nistelroy are touched upon, but potential controversy is subsumed into the general glorification of the club's march for glory. One memorable scene where successive players' teams fail to answer any questions correctly at a pub-style quiz and are trounced by the management, will not do anything to reverse the common perception of footballers' acumen off the pitch. Bitter and twisted? Not this reviewer: altogether now "1-0 to the Arsenal, 1-0 to the Arsenal". --Steve Napleton