Kenneth Branagh is to swap Elizabethan frills for a sweaty tracksuit to play legendary Leeds United manger Don Revie.

The Belfast thesp will star in a new movie made by the people behind Oscar success The Queen. Branagh will don the trademark manager's sheepskin coat to play the controversial Leeds and England boss.

Director Stephen Frears will base his film on David Peace's book The Damned United, an account of the clashes between Revie and his nemesis Brian Clough, his successor at the club.

Cocky Clough will be played by Michael Sheen who starred as Tony Blair in The Queen and as Kenneth Williams in Fantabulosa.

Clough, who managed rivals Derby County and appeared as a pundit on Sunday afternoon highlights show The Big Match, regularly slagged off Revie's side for being dirty and prone to gamesmanship.

After Revie quit to manage England in 1974, the board shocked fans and players by appointing the Leeds-baiting Cloughie as boss.

Clough's turbulent spell lasted just 44 days. After getting the boot he went on to steer Nottingham Forest to two European Cup triumphs.

Work on the movie begins this autumn. A source said Spurs fan Branagh is itching to play Revie. Said the source: " The idea of Ken came quite by chance. He can't wait to come off the bench and get stuck in!"

Branagh, who also starts filming the Nazi-themed Valkyrie with Tom Cruise in Berlin later this year, is football crazy.

He once admitted that meeting George Best was "one of the greatest events of my life" and he's a regular at White Hart Lane.

Busy Branagh is hoping to get his opera film The Magic Flute a full UK release this Christmas. Another two movies he has directed - a film adaptation of Shakespeare's As You Like It and a remake of Sleuth - will be in cinemas this year.