Mike Bassett: England Manager

With the film narrated by Martin Bashir in a documentary form, we are told that Norwich City manager Mike Bassett (Ricky Tomlinson) is victorious as his side win the Mr Clutch Cup at Wembley Stadium. The team later take part in an open-top bus parade but the driver accidentally takes them the wrong way and they end up going down a motorway leaving the entire team windswept before returning to the city centre to finish the parade. Away from Norwich, it is reported in the papers that England manager Phil Cope has suffered a heart attack during qualification for the World Cup, which started out well but has since gone badly wrong.

The heads of the Football Association meet to decide who should be the new England manager. After phoning around Italy, France and Spain they conclude that nobody wants the job and are forced to look for a new coach in England but cannot decide on who should take the role. The most successful Premier League manager is Scottish (based on Sir Alex Ferguson), while the second-most successful is a former England captain who is interested in the job, but the FA decide that he is too much of a "loudmouth" and refuse to consider him (a reference to the numerous times Brian Clough was passed over for the England job). None of the other English managers in the Premier League are interested, forcing the FA to look to Division One for a new manager, with the press speculating that Mike Bassett may be the new man for the job. Mike lives at home with his wife Karine and son, Jason. He is described as a former professional footballer who played for Doncaster Rovers, Darlington, Hull City and Grimsby Town.

When the press turn up at Mike's house to question him about the job he initially denies the speculation until his son Jason appears with a phone to tell him he's got the job. Bassett takes over the England team and moves to appoint his coaching staff, namely assistant manager turned car salesman Lonnie Urquart (Philip Jackson) who is not interested unless Mike buys a car from him, and coach Dave Dodds (Bradley Walsh) who is a sycophantic yes man who once managed with Mike at Colchester United (a reference to Phil Neal under the Graham Taylor era). The team need one win from three World Cup qualifiers to get to the World Cup finals in Brazil. Bassett travels north to meet Kevin Tonkinson (Dean Lennox Kelly), who he believes will win England the World Cup, but on arrival at the pub he finds Tonkinson laying drunk on a pool table with people pouring beer into his mouth. Once calmed down, Bassett tells him to clean up his act and if he can promise to do it then he will recall him to the squad.

Bassett takes his first training session at Bisham Abbey ahead of his first game at Wembley Stadium against Poland. He selects an old-fashioned 4–4–2 formation and writes his team sheets on the back of an old cigarette packet. During the game, Tonkinson opens the scoring with a dink shot over the keeper, but Poland soon begin to put pressure on and eventually equalise before going on to win the game 2–1. Bassett is criticised by the media for the formation he played and the tactics used. Meanwhile, some of his players anonymously state to an interviewer that they have doubts about Bassett's credibility to lead the team. Bassett sits his coaching staff down to review the game but Doddsy's wife has taped Ground Force over the recording. In an attempt to improve the team's mental and psychological wellbeing, they visit a sports science institute but half the team are injured in the process, leaving Bassett with selection issues over his next game against Belgium. In a mix-up, his secretary accidentally calls up to the squad two players called Benson and Hedges, aging players who are playing in the Third Division. When querying who they are, Mike realises she has mistaken the brand of cigarettes Benson and Hedges as the names of players. Bassett is mocked in a press conference but claims he called them up intentionally. England lose the game 3–0, leading to pressure being placed on his family by angry supporters.

For the last qualification game, England need to beat Slovenia in order to qualify and with Tonkinson missing due to a drunken car crash, they struggle to a 0–0 draw in which captain Gary Wackett (Geoff Bell) is sent off and Rufus Smalls (Robbie Gee) misses a penalty. After the game, they learn that Luxembourg have beaten Turkey 2–0 which sees them go through on goal difference. The team head off to record the official England World Cup song with girl group Atomic Kitten and "hellraiser" Keith Allen.

England travel to Brazil for the finals but on arriving at the airport they start brawling with the Scottish and Irish teams. A difficult group stage sees them on the verge of heading home after they can only manage a goalless draw with unfancied Egypt before losing 4–0 to Mexico. To make matters worse, Bassett receives a phone call from Karine at home in England, informing him that Jason was bullied at school for the Egypt draw, resulting in his eyebrows being shaved off. One of England's training sessions is ruined after Urquart locks the footballs in his Opel and goes shopping. Wackett is then sent home for taking part in hooliganism and Tonkinson accidentally gets involved in a drunken tryst with a transsexual and is also booted from the team. During a team meeting the next morning, Urquart begins to praise the Mexicans by getting the English players to cheer "three cheers for Ramirez"; this angers Mike, who proclaims "We're England", saying that the country hates him and that his wife is about to leave him. Urquart, unhappy with Mike's tone, asks him to get more off his chest, which leads to Mike calling him a small-minded bigot and criticising the car he bought from him. Urquart reacts by punching him in the nose and is effectively sacked from the team instantly. Later that night, Tonkinson is reconciled with Bassett and the two share a drink, which leads to them dancing drunkenly on a bar top. When Lightfoot gets on the bar to coerce Mike down, the pair both fall off in full view of the local press.

The morning after his drunken incident, Bassett is involved in a press conference at which he is expected to step down from the managerial position. When he announces that he is carrying on, the press begin to get hostile and Bassett responds by reciting of "If—" by Rudyard Kipling, which he finishes by saying that "England will be playing 4–4–fucking–2" and storms out. Following this, England need to beat Argentina to get through to the second round. Reporter Tommo (Phill Jupitus) proclaims that if England win he will quit his job and become a bin man. In a close game in which England are the better team, they eventually succeed when Tonkinson dribbles past the Argentinian defence and blasts a shot that deflects off the crossbar. Tonkinson then punches the ball into the net – a reference to the "hand of God" goal from Argentina's Diego Maradona which helped to knock England out of the 1986 World Cup. As the full-time whistle sounds and the England team celebrate, Bassett heads down the tunnel telling Doddsy he's going to call his wife.

It is later seen in a series of newspaper articles that England advanced to the knock-out stages, where they beat Romania and France, with Rufus Smalls breaking his goal drought and scoring a hat-trick against Romania to become England's top goalscorer, with 52 international goals. They eventually lost to host nation Brazil in the semi-finals. Tommo Thompson is also seen briefly working as a binman following his statement during the final press conference. On their plane journey back to Britain, Bashir says to Bassett that England had equalled their best performance since they won in 1966 (in 1990, England finished fourth). Bassett replies that he is ready to move aside and let somebody else take the job. As the plane doors open at the airport, the team depart to a cheering crowd, where a surprised but happy Bassett confirms to the waiting press that he will remain as manager.

• Ricky Tomlinson as Mike Bassett, a former player turned manager from the lower leagues who leads Norwich City to the Mr. Clutch Cup. He then becomes manager of England but is derided by the fans and English media for not being good enough for the role.
• Amanda Redman as Karine Bassett, Mike's wife whose patience and loyalty is put to the test when her husband's popularity plummets during England's poor run of form.
• Bradley Walsh as Dave 'Doddsy' Dodds, Bassett's first team coach, he is a sycophantic yes man, who agrees with everyone else's opinions echoing instructions and very rarely offering any of his own thoughts.
• Philip Jackson as Lonnie Urquart, Bassett's assistant manager and used car salesman (a reference to Lawrie McMenemy under the Graham Taylor era) who is very old-fashioned in his beliefs and often compares the England players' performances to cars. He is opinionated but is more concerned with getting the players to buy cars from him.
• Martin Bashir as Interviewer (Narrator), Bashir narrates the entire film, also appearing in scenes as the interviewer who is given complete access to the England setup as part of the documentary. He offers an impartial view of the events that unfold.
• Geoffrey Hutchings as Geoffrey Lightfoot, the head of the Football Association, he pays very little interest in Mike or his role.
• Phill Jupitus as Tommo Thompson, a news reporter who is very sceptical about Mike but after making a bet with him later is seen to quit his job and become a bin man when England beat Argentina.
• Danny Tennant as Jason Bassett, Mike's son who is a youth team player at Norwich City, he is later targeted by bullies when pressure mounts on his father.

• Dean Lennox Kelly as Kevin 'Tonka' Tonkinson, a Geordie playmaking midfielder. He is an alcoholic, often in trouble but is the most gifted player on the team. He is based on Paul Gascoigne.
• Robbie Gee as Rufus 'Smallsy' Smalls, a Trinidad-born Newcastle United centre forward who is enduring an international goal drought since missing his penalty against Portugal two years prior. He struggles with self-confidence, he is based on Andy Cole.
• Geoff Bell as Gary 'Wacko' Wackett, team captain and a hard tackling, intimidating Leicester City central defender who is often sent off. He is later arrested for joining in with rioting English football hooligans. He is based on Steve Walsh and Terry Butcher.
• Terry Kiely as Steve 'Harpsey' Harper, a 26-year-old flash right-sided midfielder playing for Manchester United, he claims he is not about the lifestyle but owns sports cars and constantly talks on the phone to his model girlfriend even during team talks. He is based on David Beckham.
• Chris McQuarry as Alan Massey, a softly spoken timid striker who is a very talented player, he later becomes the captain in Wackett's absence. He was based on Gary Neville and Phil Neville.
• Dean Holness as Danny, a positive speaking energetic player who is part of a double act with Deano.
• John Alford as Deano, a positive speaking energetic player who is part of a double act with Danny.

Other England players on the team are Scott Mean as Parkesy, Julian Ballantine as Robbo, Thomas Kenyon as Macca, Robert Campion as Smudger, Andy Ansah as Super, Alex Lawler as Sexy, Declan Perkins as Perks, Danny Husbands as Normal, Phil Gridelet as Grids, Dion Osbourne as Ossie, Kim Durham as Benson and Robert Hudson as Hedges. Des Hamilton and Paul Rattray appears as Scotland footballers, with Glenn Mulhern as the Ireland player.

• Malcolm Terris as preceding England manager Phil Cope
• Ulrich Thomsen as Dr Hans Shoegaarten
• Lloyd McGuire as Midlands Representative
• Stephen Walters as England Supporter
• Sean Gilder as Independent Journalist
• Iain Rogerson as Ticket Collector

• Pelé as himself, he arrives in to a hotel whilst doing a television interview and is confronted by a drunk Mike who is dancing on the bar.
• Ronaldo as himself, he is asked by a Brazilian television presenter for what he thinks about Mike Bassett.
• Atomic Kitten as themselves, they sing the England World Cup song with Keith Allen and the team.
• Keith Allen as himself, he produces and sings the World Cup song with the team.
• Sue Barker as herself, presenter of BBC's A Question of Sport, to which Rufus is a team captain.
• Gabby Logan as herself, a television presenter who presents the World Cup TV show.
• Barry Venison as himself, an ex-footballer and football pundit who appears on the World Cup TV show and interviews Mike over a poor satellite video link.
• Alan Green, Brian Moore, Clive Tyldesley and Martin Tyler are commentators on England games.
• Natasha Kaplinsky as herself, a Sky News reporter.
• Dickie Bird as himself, a guest on BBC's A Question of Sport.
• Richard Guest as himself, a guest on BBC's A Question of Sport.
• Vincent Marzello as himself, a US Newsreader.
• Kevin Piper as himself, the Norwich newsreader.

 

Mike Bassett: England Manager is based on the career of Graham Taylor, and documentary An Impossible Job.^[10][11] Shot in high definition, the film is made to look like it had been shot on 35mm.^[3]

The film was shot entirely in the United Kingdom and Brazil. English football locations prominently used in the movie were Wembley Stadium, the Football Association headquarters at Lancaster Gate and the Bisham Abbey training complex. The São Januário Stadium was used for the game against Egypt and Mexico. The Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro was used for the game against Argentina.^[12][13]

In the follow-up television series, Mike Bassett: Manager, it is revealed that Bassett was sacked by England after failing to qualify for the 2004 European Championships, including a defeat to Liechtenstein. Bassett subsequently guided Newcastle United to two consecutive relegations, before unsuccessful returns to Norwich and Colchester lead to him taking over at his father's former club, Wirral County.

An alternative ending was shot for the film, in which Mike rejects a four-year extension to stay on as manager with England choosing to appoint a foreign manager as his replacement. Gary Wackett has now retired and is now on television as a Gladiator, whilst Rufus Smalls is given his captaincy back on BBC's A Question of Sport. Kevin Tonkinson has also retired and now is the manager of his local pub whereas Mike is seen coaching players on a sandy field and is now the new manager of Bolivia. The film ends with Mike jumping on board a red jeep and driving off with Karine and Jason.^[14]

Following the success of the film, numerous talks over the years about a possible sequel. In late 2004 it announced that Mike Bassett 2 was in the works, with the story being continued on from the first movie which sees this time Bassett leading his country to the European Championships in Portugal in 2004. This project was later abandoned and instead the producers reverted to the idea of a television series for ITV Mike Bassett: Manager.

In 2016 a Kick Starter campaign was started, which saw both Ricky Tomlinson and Bradley Walsh reprise their roles for a promotional trailer, asking fans to fund to a sequel called Mike Bassett: Interim Manager. The movie needed to hit a certain financial target by a specific date in order for it to be made. The campaign did not hit its target and the project was shelved. It was understood the script centred round Bassett coming out of retirement in order to help assist the current England manager, who is German and struggling to engage his players. Before too long Bassett finds himself back in the hotseat and possibly leading his country to another World Cup.

The movie received a mixed reception from critics.^{[15][16][17][2][3]} When the film was released in the United Kingdom, it originally opened at number 3, behind Artificial Intelligence: AI and Moulin Rouge! in the top two spots.^[18]

Since its release, Mike Bassett: England Manager has gained popularity as a cult film among English football fans.^[6] Rugby coach Brendan Venter gave a press interview in 2010 that parodied one given by "Doddsie" in the film, in which he simply agrees with everything the questioner says, even if that contradicts previous answers.^[19]

Sprackling observed in 2018 that "when the film actually came out in 2001, Sven-Göran Eriksson was in charge and he was at the height of his pomp. Everyone had become convinced that it had all changed now, that we were going to be successful and continental about it all. This bungling uselessness was all in the past. Everything felt like it was going to be all modern and new and professional. The wheels weren't going to come off and we weren't going to have disasters. But that wasn't the case. That's why people come back to [the film] so often, because the same disasters continue to happen."^[20]

Stephen Glynn's 2018 book The British Football Film discusses the film at length, noting that it "does not always undercut a nostalgic and populist imperialism."^[21]

Some of the events in the actual 2002 FIFA World Cup hold similarities to the film. Although the tournament was hosted by Japan and South Korea and not Brazil, England like in the movie drew their opening game with a drab performance but this time with Sweden,^[22] they then went on to beat Argentina 1–0. Although there was no revenge or similarity for the 1986 "hand of God" incident, the penalty scored by David Beckham was seen as redemption following his criticised sending off four years earlier at the 1998 World Cup following a clash with Argentine midfielder Diego Simeone.^[23] Just like in the film, England were knocked out by the eventual champions, Brazil.^[24]

It was also recalled in 2019, when, in an echo of Bassett's disastrous open-top bus parade at the beginning of the film, Norwich's open-top bus broke down as they celebrated winning the EFL Championship.^{[25][failed verification]}

• List of association football films

• Mike Bassett: England Manager at IMDb