After an eight-month spell at Watford that did little for either party, Bassett joined Sheffield United in February , an unlikely- looking move north for a manager whose garrulous Cockneyisms seemed to place him within the bounds of the M Althoughhe could not prevent a struggling United from being relegated to the old Third Division at the end of his first season in charge, he then turned things round in spectacular style. With Brian Deane and Agana in harness up front, United ran away with the Third Division in , and went straight on up to the First Division the following season.
By now Sheffield and Bassett had fallen for each other in a big way, and it has remained like that ever since. With his wife and two daughters, aged 13 and 15, Bassett says he feels settled in Sheffield, a city which shares his passion for the game.
But he's been marvellous. He's really involved himself in the city. They finished the season in 13th place. After United had made almost as bad a start to the following season but again managed to survive, Bassett staged what is probably his biggest stunt. The team obviously couldn't win before Christmas, so let's bring it forward. In August , Bassett threw a Christmas party for his players. The trick seemed to work; United did respectably in the League and reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup when they lost to Sheffield Wednesday.
Asked what he looks for in a player, Bassett says: "I look for talent, whether he's got something about him. It's a gut feeling. Is he athletic? Is he brave? Not registered? Register here. Announced his decision to leave Wimbledon to become Crystal Palace manager but changed his mind within a week and decided to stay at Plough Lane. Unable to stop the Blades sliding into Division Three that season.
They returned to the top flight after a year absence. Conceded two late goals at Chelsea in their last match of the campaign and other results going against them sealed their fate.
A tremendous campaign resulted in Forest winning the First Division title with 94 points, three ahead of Middlesbrough. Disputes with players were said to have played a part as Forest started the season terribly and remained rooted to the bottom of the table pretty much all season.
Striker Pierre van Hooijdonk went on strike at one point in the season, and with morale at an all-time low, Bassett was sacked in January Next stop was Oakwell and a spell as Barnsley manager. Despite going ahead in the game, Barnsley eventually succumbed by a scoreline and Bassett left the club the following December. One year was then spent firefighting as the manager at Leicester City trying and failing to keep the side in the Premier League before handing over the reins to Mickey Adams and becoming Director of Football.
There was a lot more to his tactics and man-management skills than that as his record of seven promotions would attest. In , Brighton and Hove Albion repeated which party trick first performed by Leicester City in ? This particular A more unadventurous Sports stars appearing in the movie business is a crossover that has had decidedly mixed results.
Think Ally McCoist in Home Features Historic Managers. August 20, Share on Facebook Share on Twitter. Beginnings and Playing Career Born in Stanmore in the London Borough of Harrow, Bassett spent almost the entirety of his playing career in the non-league ranks.
Moving On: Watford In the summer of , however, things finally came to an end for Bassett and Wimbledon. To Selhurst Park at Last Once again, Dave Bassett did not stay unemployed for long and in January he finally made the trip to Selhurst Park to complete the journey he had aborted a dozen years earlier. Into the Forest The future was looking bright for Bassett and Palace together and so it came as a shock when he left the club the following March with the club once more heading for the play-offs.
Final Stops Next stop was Oakwell and a spell as Barnsley manager. Share 38 Tweet 24 Share Related Posts.
Historic Managers. I think the whole episode upset Sam. He never forgave me for going to Palace, albeit for three days. Ron ran a youth team in Harrow. We had a relationship, a friendship. I put Ron in touch with Bernie Coleman the chairman at Wimbledon.
I had put Wimbledon behind me. But there was a problem I realised early. They hammered me in the press. Then there was the Watford Observer. Years before, 20 years before, I ran a team called Hills in the Watford Sunday League and we got a bit of a stick because we had a reputation.
We had quite a few players from Middlesex. We did have some Watford lads but I got a few more to come and play. We had great battles with Riverside. Oli dragged that up. A lot of local reporters would get stories and then ring up the nationals and do a bit on the side. It never happened to any other club I worked with.
I dealt with the Sheffield Star and then with the nationals myself. I was happy doing it. I was going to deal with them direct. Yeah, I get that. People had made up their minds before I even started. I could sense they were miffed, because Elton had decided he wanted me without consulting them. Elton was the top man and he gave me the job. I could have gone on holiday, which was booked. Elton could have let a bit slip.
Then people could have got used to the idea. There was a bit of an anti-Bassett undercurrent from day one. I remember what Anne French said to me. She was married to Derek French, the Wimbledon physio, and they lived in Watford. Later on, after it was over, Elton and I spoke about it and agreed we did it badly. But I think the board shit on him really. Not quite the same but direct. I played for the England amateur side with Charles Hughes [ who went on to be head of coaching at the FA and supposedly a proponent of long ball football ].
I had seen Watford play. When I was at Wimbledon, in the Fourth Division, we had played with a sweeper for fun and I changed it to and direct. I had to sell it to the players and I did and we won the championship. It was a style of play that worked. They were the facts.
Same with free kicks, same with long throws. Most goals come when you regain the ball from the opposition in the final third. We designed our own play where we had to get the ball forward, get it into the corners, get a certain amount of crosses in during the game. We had a good pitch at Wimbledon. It takes high technique to kick the ball into the corners, keep it away from the opposition and keep it in play. Yeah but that was the press. We were a boisterous group of players, we backed each other up, stuck together.
Think of that Wimbledon team. How fucking good it was? I had a guy called Neil Lanham who analysed the game. How many shots we had, shots on target, off target, shots outside the back, how many breakdowns in our own half, crosses. I had a guy called Vince Craven cutting up videos for me.
It used to take him hours to cut these videos together. He had all this machinery in his house. Video was pretty new then but we knew that if you could show a player what you were talking about it was more effective. We were a professional club, not a bunch of wild animals. The players drunk more than they do now but they drank at Arsenal, Liverpool, Man United. I was always on to the players about looking after themselves. In I was making sure the players were taking vitamins and eating the right food.
Where Oli had a go was that we played the offside more than Watford. When we beat Watford both times [ in ] we caught them offside a stack of times. We won at Vicarage Road, late goal from Glyn Hodges, and we went top of the table [ in September ]. What a day that was. But I had a lot of affection for Watford. I was at Watford as a player for a spell under Ken Furphy.
Never played for the first team but I was on the books. I wanted to do well at Watford. Quite tight. Both sides were poor and one goal decided it. We beat them at Plough Lane and we beat them a lot more easily than I thought we would.
Oli thought we were more violent than Watford. In fairness at that stage we were younger and Vinny [ Jones ] and Wisey could be a bit silly on one or two occasions. Defenders were frightened of him. I was going to do the best I could do with the players I had. I knew Barnes was going, so that would hurt us. Elton just wanted me to come in and be the manager of his club and do the job the way I thought was best.
It could have been handled better. It was all a rush. I should have asked some questions behind the scenes and found out a lot more. There was a bit of money available but not a lot. Tony had come out of non-league football. I wanted to bring certain of my own staff. John Ward suffered. With hindsight I should have kept Ward because he was a good fella and a very good coach. Steve Harrison was going anyway [ to Villa ]. But yes, I accept we changed things around too quick.
0コメント