Post by 1969swan on Dec 25, 2016 9:46:22 GMT
DAILY MAIL 20 December 2016
'Elton John axed me but I still got a holiday in California and a Jag!'... Dave Bassett on working with a superstar and what he thinks of today's game
'
As a manager, Bassett went considerably further.
From the fourth tier to the first with Wimbledon and into the Premier League
Dave Bassett takes a quick sip from his glass of wine and searches for the right words to describe himself as a footballer.
He comes up with a couple but the second cannot be printed without half-a-dozen asterisks.
'I'd have loved to have been a great player,' said Bassett. 'Like Steven Gerrard or David Beckham.
'I'd have preferred that to being a manager. I loved being a manager but to be Ronaldo or Messi, play in a Champions League final, I would have loved that.'
Bassett collected 10 caps for England Amateurs, won the Amateur Cup with Walton and Hersham (right) at Wembley and helped Wimbledon dump top-flight Burnley out of the FA Cup and take champions Leeds to a replay in 1975.
The modern game might label him a holding midfielder. 'Aggressive,' he expanded. 'I didn't mind a challenge. If I got near the penalty box my eyes watered.
As a manager, Bassett went considerably further.
From the fourth tier to the first with Wimbledon and into the Premier League with Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest. He won seven promotions and managed more than 1,000 games.
Still, at 72, his mind is quick and memories are crisp. His passion for football remains fierce, like his opinions. Cue more asterisks.
'I watch a bit of football,' said Bassett. 'The best game I've seen this season was Real Madrid against Borussia Dortmund. The standard was different class. Miles better. I like Dortmund's tempo.
'It's played at a far faster pace than the Premier League. They keep telling me they do more running. Half the time they're standing around. Dennis Wise and Vinnie Jones ran more.
There's a lot of games I don't enjoy, so I turn over to Sky Arts and watch something else and then come back and they're still passing about at the back.
'Why do they f*** about at the back? If you keep losing the ball in your defensive third, you'll suffer.
'Liverpool lost the title playing square in midfield. We never played a square ball. I said they could if they were 100 per cent right and if not they'd be in for 12 shuttle runs the next day. They never played a square ball.'
Bassett's managerial style, especially at Wimbledon and Sheffield United, was unique and the brand of football often criticised. Yet the fans loved him, and chairmen pursued him.
'Watford was a mistake but it was bloody Elton John wasn't it? I was mesmerised. I came home from the FA Cup final where I'd been doing BBC and my wife answered the door looking stressed out.
'Then all of a sudden Elton came prancing out of the lounge. I thought, 'Christ, what's he doing here?' '
The Pinball Wizard worked his magic and Bassett succeeded Graham Taylor in May 1987. Eight months later he was sacked — with a Jag and a family holiday in California by way of an apology from Elton.
He moved to South Yorkshire, where he settled for nearly eight years at Sheffield United and led them from the third tier to the first and into the FA Cup semi-finals
If you want to survive as a manager, you've got to play the right way, and the right way is to win,' said Bassett. 'At Sheffield United I got voted their best manager ever.
'There was plenty of action and goals. They weren't moaning that it wasn't silky enough when we knocked Manchester United out of the Cup. They loved it.
'Teams hated coming to Sheffield United and Wimbledon. They knew it would be full-on combat. We were going to put the ball in their box and test whether they could defend.
'Some of the coaches annoy me now with all this talk about the right way to play. If you're successful, you've played the right way. All this England DNA, what are we trying to be? It's wrong.
'There's more than one way to play. I didn't play the Wimbledon way at Forest where we won the Championship or Barnsley where we lost the play-off final. We didn't have the players.
'Pep Guardiola took over at Barcelona with the best players in the world and did it brilliantly. Manchester City are nowhere near as good. They're good players but they haven't got strikers like Messi, Neymar and Suarez.'
Almost nine years have passed since Bassett left his last role, as assistant to Dennis Wise at Leeds. He returned to Sheffield United briefly in 2011 in a consultancy role, to help Micky Adams.
He admits now he felt the urge for a second spell at Bramall Lane and almost raised the idea with chairman Kevin McCabe when Adams departed. He let it pass, only to be told by McCabe months later the board had wanted him for the job but did not like to ask.
One last tinge of regret at the end of a wonderful career.
A few job offers came his way but Bassett has settled into the gentler rhythms of his post-managerial career. He is heavily involved with the League Managers' Association and regularly attends games.
He is thrilled by the rise of AFC Wimbledon under Neal Ardley and confident Sheffield United are going in the right direction under Chris Wilder, one of his former players.
Guardiola's devotion to flair and dereliction of defending rankles with a man who forged his success on attention to detail at set-pieces. 'At Wimbledon we had targets,' said Bassett. 'We wanted 30 crosses a game. We reckoned we'd score a goal every 12 corners. At the other end, it took 30 corners against us to score.
'It's a great advantage if you're scoring every 12 and they're scoring every 30. Our target was to score 50 per cent of goals from set-plays — and we were always close.'
Bassett might spend up to two hours working on set-pieces on the morning of a game. In a car park in Runcorn his Wimbledon team fine-tuned a corner routine which earned them three points at Anfield.
'We'd watched Liverpool,' said Bassett. 'We knew if we got a corner they'd think we were taking it short and send two players out.
'So Wisey ran out to the corner taker and they sent two with him. Glyn Hodges delivered into the space, Mark Morris flicked it on and Alan Cork headed it past Bruce Grobbelaar.'
Wimbledon's football may have split opinion but they got results and had a laugh.
Beasant's motorcycle helmet was routinely filled with talcum powder and the players leaped, screaming from trees, to ambush Bassett on his three-mile run around Wimbledon Common.
'They'd take the p*** out of my gear,' said Bassett. 'We'd have a wrestle. It could be confrontational. We'd have a few cans on the way home from games.'
No one took themselves too seriously but they knew Bassett was in charge and it was soon clear he was on to something.
Don Howe crossed London from Arsenal to learn more about his video technology ideas.
Wimbledon were filming their home games and chairman Sam Hammam was persuaded to buy £11,000 of computer equipment for the editing.
The outlay was almost as much as the manager's salary. In his final season of 1986-87 Bassett was on £18,000 plus a bonus for finishing sixth.
'I earned more in six months at Watford than I did in six-and-a-half years as manager of Wimbledon,' he said. 'We had an annual budget of £300,000 for the whole staff and I did it for £285,000. I thought Sam might give it to me but he kept it.'
Back then Charles Hughes was the Football Association's director of coaching — often derided for his long-ball tactics — and author of the FA coaching manual. He also coached England Amateurs.
Bassett said: 'People hated Hughes but he played the pressing game Liverpool are playing. He called it pressurising. If the ball went into a certain area, the front players went and we'd all go. People think this wasn't done in 1970, but it was, believe me.
'Charlie was a good coach. He'd sussed out how to win and we had a good record as amateurs considering we played Germany in Dortmund and they had Uli Hoeness and three of the World Cup squad.
'Charlie could be brutal. Once he came in at half-time and said to me, 'You have got 10 minutes to make contact, you're meant to be a hard man and you ain't made a tackle'. I said, 'I can't get near anybody'. He said, 'I suggest you go and get near somebody or you're off'. So I ironed a couple out straight away.'
Dirty b******. That's what he was. In his own words.
DAILY MAIL link
Harry Bassett Walton & Hersham's Bobby Moore in his day, not to many football managers have taken a club from the 4th to 1st top tier of the football league?One of the Football Leagues greatest achievements, all done without a Money United type budget.
'Elton John axed me but I still got a holiday in California and a Jag!'... Dave Bassett on working with a superstar and what he thinks of today's game
'
As a manager, Bassett went considerably further.
From the fourth tier to the first with Wimbledon and into the Premier League
Dave Bassett takes a quick sip from his glass of wine and searches for the right words to describe himself as a footballer.
He comes up with a couple but the second cannot be printed without half-a-dozen asterisks.
'I'd have loved to have been a great player,' said Bassett. 'Like Steven Gerrard or David Beckham.
'I'd have preferred that to being a manager. I loved being a manager but to be Ronaldo or Messi, play in a Champions League final, I would have loved that.'
Bassett collected 10 caps for England Amateurs, won the Amateur Cup with Walton and Hersham (right) at Wembley and helped Wimbledon dump top-flight Burnley out of the FA Cup and take champions Leeds to a replay in 1975.
The modern game might label him a holding midfielder. 'Aggressive,' he expanded. 'I didn't mind a challenge. If I got near the penalty box my eyes watered.
As a manager, Bassett went considerably further.
From the fourth tier to the first with Wimbledon and into the Premier League with Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest. He won seven promotions and managed more than 1,000 games.
Still, at 72, his mind is quick and memories are crisp. His passion for football remains fierce, like his opinions. Cue more asterisks.
'I watch a bit of football,' said Bassett. 'The best game I've seen this season was Real Madrid against Borussia Dortmund. The standard was different class. Miles better. I like Dortmund's tempo.
'It's played at a far faster pace than the Premier League. They keep telling me they do more running. Half the time they're standing around. Dennis Wise and Vinnie Jones ran more.
There's a lot of games I don't enjoy, so I turn over to Sky Arts and watch something else and then come back and they're still passing about at the back.
'Why do they f*** about at the back? If you keep losing the ball in your defensive third, you'll suffer.
'Liverpool lost the title playing square in midfield. We never played a square ball. I said they could if they were 100 per cent right and if not they'd be in for 12 shuttle runs the next day. They never played a square ball.'
Bassett's managerial style, especially at Wimbledon and Sheffield United, was unique and the brand of football often criticised. Yet the fans loved him, and chairmen pursued him.
'Watford was a mistake but it was bloody Elton John wasn't it? I was mesmerised. I came home from the FA Cup final where I'd been doing BBC and my wife answered the door looking stressed out.
'Then all of a sudden Elton came prancing out of the lounge. I thought, 'Christ, what's he doing here?' '
The Pinball Wizard worked his magic and Bassett succeeded Graham Taylor in May 1987. Eight months later he was sacked — with a Jag and a family holiday in California by way of an apology from Elton.
He moved to South Yorkshire, where he settled for nearly eight years at Sheffield United and led them from the third tier to the first and into the FA Cup semi-finals
If you want to survive as a manager, you've got to play the right way, and the right way is to win,' said Bassett. 'At Sheffield United I got voted their best manager ever.
'There was plenty of action and goals. They weren't moaning that it wasn't silky enough when we knocked Manchester United out of the Cup. They loved it.
'Teams hated coming to Sheffield United and Wimbledon. They knew it would be full-on combat. We were going to put the ball in their box and test whether they could defend.
'Some of the coaches annoy me now with all this talk about the right way to play. If you're successful, you've played the right way. All this England DNA, what are we trying to be? It's wrong.
'There's more than one way to play. I didn't play the Wimbledon way at Forest where we won the Championship or Barnsley where we lost the play-off final. We didn't have the players.
'Pep Guardiola took over at Barcelona with the best players in the world and did it brilliantly. Manchester City are nowhere near as good. They're good players but they haven't got strikers like Messi, Neymar and Suarez.'
Almost nine years have passed since Bassett left his last role, as assistant to Dennis Wise at Leeds. He returned to Sheffield United briefly in 2011 in a consultancy role, to help Micky Adams.
He admits now he felt the urge for a second spell at Bramall Lane and almost raised the idea with chairman Kevin McCabe when Adams departed. He let it pass, only to be told by McCabe months later the board had wanted him for the job but did not like to ask.
One last tinge of regret at the end of a wonderful career.
A few job offers came his way but Bassett has settled into the gentler rhythms of his post-managerial career. He is heavily involved with the League Managers' Association and regularly attends games.
He is thrilled by the rise of AFC Wimbledon under Neal Ardley and confident Sheffield United are going in the right direction under Chris Wilder, one of his former players.
Guardiola's devotion to flair and dereliction of defending rankles with a man who forged his success on attention to detail at set-pieces. 'At Wimbledon we had targets,' said Bassett. 'We wanted 30 crosses a game. We reckoned we'd score a goal every 12 corners. At the other end, it took 30 corners against us to score.
'It's a great advantage if you're scoring every 12 and they're scoring every 30. Our target was to score 50 per cent of goals from set-plays — and we were always close.'
Bassett might spend up to two hours working on set-pieces on the morning of a game. In a car park in Runcorn his Wimbledon team fine-tuned a corner routine which earned them three points at Anfield.
'We'd watched Liverpool,' said Bassett. 'We knew if we got a corner they'd think we were taking it short and send two players out.
'So Wisey ran out to the corner taker and they sent two with him. Glyn Hodges delivered into the space, Mark Morris flicked it on and Alan Cork headed it past Bruce Grobbelaar.'
Wimbledon's football may have split opinion but they got results and had a laugh.
Beasant's motorcycle helmet was routinely filled with talcum powder and the players leaped, screaming from trees, to ambush Bassett on his three-mile run around Wimbledon Common.
'They'd take the p*** out of my gear,' said Bassett. 'We'd have a wrestle. It could be confrontational. We'd have a few cans on the way home from games.'
No one took themselves too seriously but they knew Bassett was in charge and it was soon clear he was on to something.
Don Howe crossed London from Arsenal to learn more about his video technology ideas.
Wimbledon were filming their home games and chairman Sam Hammam was persuaded to buy £11,000 of computer equipment for the editing.
The outlay was almost as much as the manager's salary. In his final season of 1986-87 Bassett was on £18,000 plus a bonus for finishing sixth.
'I earned more in six months at Watford than I did in six-and-a-half years as manager of Wimbledon,' he said. 'We had an annual budget of £300,000 for the whole staff and I did it for £285,000. I thought Sam might give it to me but he kept it.'
Back then Charles Hughes was the Football Association's director of coaching — often derided for his long-ball tactics — and author of the FA coaching manual. He also coached England Amateurs.
Bassett said: 'People hated Hughes but he played the pressing game Liverpool are playing. He called it pressurising. If the ball went into a certain area, the front players went and we'd all go. People think this wasn't done in 1970, but it was, believe me.
'Charlie was a good coach. He'd sussed out how to win and we had a good record as amateurs considering we played Germany in Dortmund and they had Uli Hoeness and three of the World Cup squad.
'Charlie could be brutal. Once he came in at half-time and said to me, 'You have got 10 minutes to make contact, you're meant to be a hard man and you ain't made a tackle'. I said, 'I can't get near anybody'. He said, 'I suggest you go and get near somebody or you're off'. So I ironed a couple out straight away.'
Dirty b******. That's what he was. In his own words.
DAILY MAIL link
Harry Bassett Walton & Hersham's Bobby Moore in his day, not to many football managers have taken a club from the 4th to 1st top tier of the football league?One of the Football Leagues greatest achievements, all done without a Money United type budget.
