Bassett

[Revolution]

I've had him on ignore for two years. I don't know why people waste their time with him. He's a boring troll.

 

[Nicolaus_Copernicus]

2000 13,700
1999 16,258
1998 17,936
1997 16,639
1996 12,904
1994/95 14,408
1993/94 19,562
1992/93 18,799
1991/92 22,096
1990/91 21,609
1989/90 16,989
1988/89 12,222
1988 10,207
1987 9,944
1986 10,798
1985 12,049
1984 12,881
1983 11,763
1982 14,892
1981 12,772

It took us until 2006 to better the average attendance figures for 1991/92, and for the record, the last time we had an average attendance lower than 1986/87 was 1898/99.

 

[Silent Blade]

Goal of the month, maybe not Luton then. There was so many great goals with great build ups under Bassett I forget.

Yes, it was the goal of the month and I love the goal. I loved some of the players Bassett signed but not Vinny Jones. When we first appointed Bassett I wasnt sure if he was the man to improve us as I was concerned about his long ball tactics which was something I was not used to see us play. Bassett said on the day he became our manager that he wouldnt make the team play long ball. We got relegated but Derek Dooley rejecting Bassett's offer to resign was a very good decision.

During the 1988 summer Bassett were showing the squad videos on how long ball tactics can be effective. I remember Paul Stancliffe saying that he hadnt realised that under Dalglish's management that Liverpool did play the long ball at times. I was amazed at the effectiveness of the long ball tactics which brought us a lot of goals during the 1988-89 season and watching the Blades became more enjoyable again because we were winning matches and the 1989-90 season we stormed up the table as our opponents except for L**ds and West Ham found it hard to play against us. The incredible escape in 1990-91 was memorable too.

I do not recall us outpassing a team that many under Bassett's management except for the first half against Liverpool in Boxing Day 1993. Under Bassett, I dont remember us playing 20 passes which led us to scoring.We did score quite a few good breakaway goals.

I was sad to see Bassett struggling during the 1995/96 season and in December he resigned. That evening (the day he resigned) I was on the way to a chess match at Doncaster and decided to see what it looked like at the Cherry Street car park. There were hardly anyone there and I spotted that the light was still on in the manager's office so I decided to have a peep through the window and I was surprised to see that Bassett was still there (he was talking to Brian Eastick- who was one of the backroom staff) so I came back to my car and decided to wait for a few more minutes to see if Bassett would leave the ground. Not long after, the light in the manager's office switched off and I saw Bassett going out of the players entrance. I really felt sorry for him as he was let down by the board many times over the years. So I got out of my car and walked to him saying "Thank you very much for what you have given us in the last 8 years and Good Luck wherever you go". He thanked me.

 

[Pinchy]

And how old would you have to be to remember watching his teams play?

No-one follows this club to be a glory hunter, and as much as we all love SUFC, let's not kid ourselves that the last 50 years as a whole haven't been pretty pathetic for a club of our stature.

5 top flight seasons in about 42, no cup final since 1936, no qualifying for Europe....

If that doesn't explain the respect for Bassett then nothing will.

You make my point very well. We live amongst the Bassett generation. Sadly, they know no better. At what point does respect become obsession and delusion?

 

[Pinchy]

I've had him on ignore for two years. I don't know why people waste their time with him. He's a boring troll.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind...

 

[Davalon]

You make my point very well. We live amongst the Bassett generation. Sadly, they know no better. At what point does respect become obsession and delusion?

You would need to be at least approaching 60 to have any meaningful memory of John Harris.

You would need to be at least 40 for the same with Bassett.

Notwithstanding our mediocre last half century anyway, which manager should a significant chunk of our fan base look to as providing the best memories if not Bassett?

 

[BushBlade]

You make my point very well. We live amongst the Bassett generation. Sadly, they know no better. At what point does respect become obsession and delusion?

When balanced analysis and debate is replaced by exaggeration and hyperbole, that’s when.

 

[Bill Johnson]

You would need to be at least approaching 60 to have any meaningful memory of John Harris.

You would need to be at least 40 for the same with Bassett.

Notwithstanding our mediocre last half century anyway, which manager should a significant chunk of our fan base look to as providing the best memories if not Bassett?

Good post.

I started watching/ following United in 1970. My first football match ever at The Lane was our 3-2 victory over the pig's. I was fortunate enough to witness our promotion to Division1; our electric start in 1971 and everything that followed under John Harris and his successors until we were relegated in1976 after selling TC.

I have countless wonderfully memories of great football;numerous characters and hair raising experiences both home and away.

Glossing over the utter car crash that was 1976 to 1990 and hello Dave Bassett. The rest is history up until yet again we sold a player too many.

Two absolute managerial legends. Both deserving of adulation. Both couldn't have been more different as men or managers.
They both brought untold pleasure to Blades fans. I find the need to maintain a constant vile and mean tirade against one offensive in the extreme.

Still waiting for a view on the Messiahs decision to sign Madine and how that fits with TikkaTakka Tuftyball.

 

[Snowman]

Is that you Pinchers?

 

[United Aren't Back.]

Anyone that can't see what Bassett did, not only for United but also for football by shaking things up with Wimbledon really doesn't know football. He reminded people that there was not only just one way to play the game.

Bassett was absolutely instrumental in turning the club around for Limited funds, as Warnock did to a lesser extent several years later, but more than that, Bassett gave us an identity (or at the very least, reinforced the one we had) which we still hold today.

Wilder has most certainly put his stamp on the club and i think he has shaped the evolution of the club. But we can still see Bassetts legacy - hard work, fitness, honesty, togetherness... We were and are United. Its what i love about the club and Wilder has built on this because he came from that background.

I'll only say this though, that when he was working alongside Micky Adams Bassett did himself no favours and it was a shame he came back in really as i don't think that it was ever likely to work. The way we played in that short period was terrible and lacked so much, tactically the direct approach didn't work, but perhaps the club was rotten at that time. It merely tainted some great memories.

Bassett should have a statue in the car park for certain. He's played a big part in the history of our fantastic club

Good points.
Deane and Agana were real talents, as was Glyn Hodges.
Simon Tracey and Alan Kelly.

 

[United Aren't Back.]

I was one of them. Anyone telling the truth will acknowledge he got plenty of stick for the constant long ball shite from people who preferred football but still supported their club. What do you say about the thousands who stayed away because they simply couldn’t stand it?

Those who listen, and usually you are one of them, will know that I’ve always said he was the right man at the right time. The difference is I’ve come to realise the legacy and reputation we now have is too big a price to pay for two or three seasons.

Bassett would play today the same outdated, discredited, grotesque crap he produced, certainly once he lost Deane and Agana, decades ago. Football has moved on immeasurably; he’s stuck in the crazy gang era. To that extent he’s a numpty and most certainly a dinosaur. His return under Quickfix Mickey was a complete and utter embarrassment. He’s a relic of the past and it’s time he was left there.

This place is full of the Bassett generation. They know no better. For that I pity them. They have no wish to know any better. For that I mock them.

I have a photograph of the greatest player of all time alongside Tony Currie. Can you imagine him posing next to Vinnie Jones or Wally Fucking Downes?

The Bassett Legacy:

View attachment 48697

Currie posed alongside Terry Garnett, Steve Faulkner, and Steve Goulding.
Team pics.
Why not?

 

[Breakingblade]

4 passes not 20 passes.

See 54 mins 57 secs

Did anyone manage to watch the 4 pass goal then stop? Nice way to spend an hour on a Sunday morning

 

[Gavlar]

Loved Bassett, loved Hodges, Deane, Agana, Whitehouse, tracey etc! Beat the wendies home and away in the premier league and England keeper CHris Woods was shell shocked.

Loved those days.

 

[Fanny magnet]

 

[Scooter_mcgavin]

You would need to be at least approaching 60 to have any meaningful memory of John Harris.

You would need to be at least 40 for the same with Bassett.

Notwithstanding our mediocre last half century anyway, which manager should a significant chunk of our fan base look to as providing the best memories if not Bassett?

Not quite, I'm 38 and remember the basset era well. My first season ticket was his first full season. 100 years, 100 goals.

 

[Russ]

Blades v Spurs at the end, my first game at BDTBL as a 6 year old.

Lucky get. Mine was against Charlton (won 3-2) 1981 but my second was vs Walsall! (0-1)...

 

[Russ]

It’s currently on loan to the Natural History Museum, whilst we clear a space in the car park.

View attachment 48695

Wrong again pal. As they have loaned it out. It’s on its U.K. tour.

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2018/february/dippy-the-diplodocus-begins-uk-tour.html

 

[United Aren't Back.]

Good post.

I started watching/ following United in 1970. My first football match ever at The Lane was our 3-2 victory over the pig's. I was fortunate enough to witness our promotion to Division1; our electric start in 1971 and everything that followed under John Harris and his successors until we were relegated in1976 after selling TC.

I have countless wonderfully memories of great football;numerous characters and hair raising experiences both home and away.

Glossing over the utter car crash that was 1976 to 1990 and hello Dave Bassett. The rest is history up until yet again we sold a player too many.

Two absolute managerial legends. Both deserving of adulation. Both couldn't have been more different as men or managers.
They both brought untold pleasure to Blades fans. I find the need to maintain a constant vile and mean tirade against one offensive in the extreme.

Still waiting for a view on the Messiahs decision to sign Madine and how that fits with TikkaTakka Tuftyball.

Currie was relegated with us in 1976 Bill.

 

[Houston_Blade]

Lucky get. Mine was against Charlton (won 3-2) 1981 but my second was vs Walsall! (0-1)...

I had a mate at the time who was a Spurs fan, his dad was a ST holder but had moved up North in the 80’s and he was desperate for me to go to WHL with him after that game as he came with us. Glad I stuck to my guns and stayed a Blade. I do prefer Spurs out of any other team though and strangely my son had got the same affiliation but mainly just because of Kane, Alli and Son!

 

[SwissBlade]

I was one of them. Anyone telling the truth will acknowledge he got plenty of stick for the constant long ball shite from people who preferred football but still supported their club. What do you say about the thousands who stayed away because they simply couldn’t stand it?

Those who listen, and usually you are one of them, will know that I’ve always said he was the right man at the right time. The difference is I’ve come to realise the legacy and reputation we now have is too big a price to pay for two or three seasons.

Bassett would play today the same outdated, discredited, grotesque crap he produced, certainly once he lost Deane and Agana, decades ago. Football has moved on immeasurably; he’s stuck in the crazy gang era. To that extent he’s a numpty and most certainly a dinosaur. His return under Quickfix Mickey was a complete and utter embarrassment. He’s a relic of the past and it’s time he was left there.

This place is full of the Bassett generation. They know no better. For that I pity them. They have no wish to know any better. For that I mock them.

I have a photograph of the greatest player of all time alongside Tony Currie. Can you imagine him posing next to Vinnie Jones or Wally Fucking Downes?

Your post is Football snobbery at its finest, completely disrespectful to what Bassett achieved and also the football played, it was not always pretty, but it was pretty effective, often the football was decent. There were good technical players during this time.

When you've achieved anything in football, come back and mock people. I grew up in the Bassett generation and those were good times. But i've also watched and played a great variety of styles of football.

 

[Scooter_mcgavin]

Your post is Football snobbery at its finest, completely disrespectful to what Bassett achieved and also the football played, it was not always pretty, but it was pretty effective, often the football was decent. There were good technical players during this time.

When you've achieved anything in football, come back and mock people. I grew up in the Bassett generation and those were good times. But i've also watched and played a great variety of styles of football.

What people these days also fail to recognise that 80% of the games back then were played on paddy fields. Nothing like the billiard tables you seem them playing on these days.

 

[Bill Johnson]

Currie was relegated with us in 1976 Bill.

Fair point. He left in June 76.

 

[SwissBlade]

What people these days also fail to recognise that 80% of the games back then were played on paddy fields. Nothing like the billiard tables you seem them playing on these days.

Yeah thats very true. I played for several teams in the Hope Valley League back in the day and mostly the sides i played for had decent pitches. At Calver we had a really poor pitch, which often worked to our advantage. Similarly at the sides where we had good pitches, we played decent football and only ever got turned over by some really good, technical sides that moved the ball quickly on our pitches.

Playing in Holland when i was working over there the pitches were all excellent, all teams were technically excellent, like the side that i played for in Den Haag, however, we were able to mix it up with the physical and direct style when we needed to.

 

[BushBlade]

What people these days also fail to recognise that 80% of the games back then were played on paddy fields. Nothing like the billiard tables you seem them playing on these days.

It was almost impossible to coach a side to play good football successfully in those days if you didn’t have the wealth of a Liverpool, Spurs, Man U. I can only think of two managers who achieved it; Clough and Robson.

 

[georgebernardshaw]

I met Dave Bassett at Hunter’s Bar a few years ago, and mentioned that I needed to thank him for a bit of a financial windfall - on the night of the 6-0 thrashing of Spurs, I was in the bar at Abbeydale Sports Club talking to a few guys. The television was on teletext with the United match score the only feature.

When the score went to 2-0, one bloke suggested a sweep on the final score, £5 per man, and I put my fiver on 6-0 to hoots of derision - I walked out of the bar with £50 more than I’d gone in with, this after buying a big round!

 

[Chali 2na]

2000 13,700
1999 16,258
1998 17,936
1997 16,639
1996 12,904
1994/95 14,408
1993/94 19,562
1992/93 18,799
1991/92 22,096
1990/91 21,609
1989/90 16,989
1988/89 12,222
1988 10,207
1987 9,944
1986 10,798
1985 12,049
1984 12,881
1983 11,763
1982 14,892
1981 12,772

It took us until 2006 to better the average attendance figures for 1991/92, and for the record, the last time we had an average attendance lower than 1986/87 was 1898/99.

When balanced analysis and debate is replaced by exaggeration and hyperbole, that’s when.

 

[Sean Thornton]

It was almost impossible to coach a side to play good football successfully in those days if you didn’t have the wealth of a Liverpool, Spurs, Man U. I can only think of two managers who achieved it; Clough and Robson.

Hopefully you mean Brian and Bobby.....

 

[Silent Blade]

It was almost impossible to coach a side to play good football successfully in those days if you didn’t have the wealth of a Liverpool, Spurs, Man U. I can only think of two managers who achieved it; Clough and Robson.

Alf Ramsey too, took over Ipswich in 1955 when they were a struggling 3rd division (South) club, League Champions in 1962

The below is a brilliant book

 

[Tynemouth Blade]

'Harry' Bassett for me, brought the Blades back to the days of Woodward and Currie et al with a period of some success but more importantly, it gave us a team and Club to be proud to support again, a team which made you proud to say "I'm a Blade".
He was a top class motivator and, like Wilder, got the best out of his 'band of misfits' by using tactics not really seen before, although often seen as being 'agricultural'..... but effective.

Chris Wilder is in my mind a better manager, albeit using better players and more modern methods and tactics, but at the moment we are inconsistent and, despite having a goal machine in Billy Sharp (Paul Merson's words, not mine!) we still don't have that potent goal threat we had under Bassett.
And that is the big difference for me between the two era's: Under Bassett and with Deane, Agana, Bryson et al, like a Woodward corner kick, I always expected us to score, whereas today's team don't fill me with the same confidence.
But one thing's for sure, I wouldn't change it for the world as I'm enjoying the ride!

 

[BushBlade]

Great goal. Reminiscent of Man U in Fergie’s early days, classic counterattacking.