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Boxing Day 1962: Sunderland star striker Brian Clough suffers a career-threatening knee injury. After a futile battle for fitness, he retires early and sinks into deep despair. He's then thrown a lifeline, and persuades ex-teammate Peter Taylor to join him in managing the Cinderella club of north-east football. Penniless Hartlepools United are next to bottom of the Fourth Division, with a meddling chairman, a ramshackle ground, and want-away players. Yet the pair's intuitive chemistry steadily transforms the threadbare team and improves results. Shrewd assistant manager Taylor talent-spots bargain players, while his brash but charismatic partner man-manages them. Clough also spearheads a 'Save the Club' fundraising campaign, in a town where coal trade is dwindling and the last shipyard has closed. Together, the pair develop a blueprint that later wins them league championships and European Cup glory at unfashionable Derby County and Nottingham Forest. Exploiting a wealth of archive newspapers and interviews with surviving players, Alchemy reveals the humble origins of Clough & Taylor's meteoric rise to the top of the football tree.