The widow of Brian Clough, the football manager, has condemned a forthcoming film about him based on a novel about her late husband that she says misrepresents him as a foul-mouthed, selfish man.

Barbara Clough said that she was dismayed to hear that Ealing Studios was adapting The Damned United, David Peace’s controversial novel, for the big screen. She told The Times: “I am dreading the film. If it’s close to the character portrayed in the book, then I’m very apprehensive. It’s going to be pretty dire.” Her son, Nigel Clough, the Burton Albion manager, said that although he had not read the book he supported his mother’s concerns. “The people who knew my father and worked with him will recognise if there is any truth in this piece of fiction,” he said.

Clough, who died three years ago at the age of 69, has gone down in footballing history for his early goalscoring feats as a player, his unorthodox motivational techniques as a club manager – instilling confidence in promising young players and remotivating ageing underachievers – and for taking two football teams, Derby County and Nottingham Forest, to the pinnacle of the League championship.

The Damned United, which begins filming in the spring, tells the story of Clough’s tempestous 44 days in 1974 as manager of Leeds United. Michael Sheen, whose portrayal of Tony Blair and his particular mannerisms in The Queen was hailed by critics as “beautifully lugubrious”, has been signed to star as “Cloughie”.

But the film-makers have failed to calm the fears of Clough’s family and close friends. Don Shaw, the TV and film writer, said that the novel was a gross exaggeration of what Clough was actually like. “He certainly didn’t swear, certainly not in the company of most people. He didn’t smoke either. The book has him chain-smoking. He comes across as a very aggressive, dominating character. He was certainly dominating – but that was through his charisma,” he said.

However, Andy Harries, the film’s producer, said: “Our goal is to tell a wonderful and extraordinary story with universal themes of success, jealousy and betrayal.” He said of the book: “It’s billed as a novel, and one should read it as a novel.”

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