Dave Bassett

Despite winning four of their last five games of the season, they were still relegated back to the Fourth Division on goal difference, in 21st place.

David Thomas Bassett (born 4 September 1944 in Stanmore) is an English football manager and a former player.

Bassett won a total of seven promotions and is one of a select number of managers who took charge of over 1,000 matches.

As a player Bassett was a defensive midfielder at semi-professional level, playing for Hayes between 1961 and 1963, returning to the club on two occasions from 1964 to 1966 and 1968 to 1969.

He also played for Wycombe Wanderers in 1963–64, for St Albans City, where he made 11 appearances in the 1967–68 season and for Walton & Hersham between 1969 and 1974, where he was captain of the side that won the FA Amateur Cup in 1973.

He was capped by England at amateur level.

He joined Wimbledon in 1974 and was part of the Wimbledon team who, in the 1975 FA Cup, famously beat First Division Burnley away in the 3rd round and then forced a draw in the 4th round at reigning League Champions Leeds United, before losing narrowly 1–0 (the goal being a wide shot that deflected in off Bassett's knee) in the replay.

Bassett made a total of 141 appearances for Wimbledon whilst in the Southern League, 99 league and 42 cup: 53 appearances in 1974–75 scoring two goals, 43 in 1975–76 scoring two goals and 45 in 1976–77.

In the Football League, Bassett made 39 appearances for Wimbledon: 35 league, one FA Cup and three League Cup, scoring once.

Bassett also made 10 amateur international appearances whilst playing for Walton & Hersham.

He retired from playing and became assistant manager soon after Wimbledon won election to the Football League in 1977 under the management of Dario Gradi.

After a playing career at semi-professional level, Bassett took charge of Fourth Division Wimbledon in 1981, and led them to the First Division within five years; he resigned in 1987 after leading the Dons to 6th place in the top flight.

Bassett was promoted to first team manager following the departure of Dario Gradi to Crystal Palace in January 1981, when Wimbledon were ninth in the Fourth Division.

Wimbledon's form improved substantially following Bassett's appointment, and a 4–1 home win over Rochdale on 28 April 1981 (the penultimate game of the season) secured promotion to the Third Division.

Wimbledon initially struggled at the higher level during 1981–82, Bassett's first full season in charge, and they spent most of the season in a relegation battle.

An excellent campaign in 1982–83 saw Bassett guide Wimbledon to promotion as the Fourth Division championship title winners with 98 points – the highest in any Football League division that year.

Although Wimbledon lost their first two games back in the Third Division, they crushed Newport County (who had narrowly missed out on promotion to the Second Division the previous season) 6–0 at home in the third game of the league campaign, and by Christmas they were genuine promotion contenders.

Promotion was sealed on the penultimate day of the season with Bolton Wanderers beating Sheffield United 3–1.

In June 1984, Bassett accepted an offer to become manager of Second Division club Crystal Palace, but changed his mind within 72 hours, refused to sign the contract at Selhurst Park, and returned to Wimbledon, stating that "I gave it some serious thought, but in the end it just did not feel right. We have unfinished business, and I didn't really want to leave here."

Wimbledon's life as a Second Division club began with a notable 2–2 home draw against promotion favourites Manchester City on the opening day of the 1984–85 season.

The 1985–86 season began well at Plough Lane, with a comfortable 3-0 home win over a financially troubled Middlesbrough.

By the end of October 1985, Wimbledon were third in the league and were contenders for a third promotion in four seasons – a feat previously achieved only by Swansea City.

On the final day of the season, a 1–1 draw at Bradford City saw Wimbledon seal the third and final promotion place to reach the First Division, only a mere nine years after joining the Football League.

In the 1986–87 season, Wimbledon got off to a dream start in the First Division and a 1–0 win at Charlton Athletic on 2 September 1986 put them top of the league.

They stayed top the following week, until they were overtaken by Nottingham Forest eleven days later.

Whilst still hugely popular with both the club's fans and his own players, Bassett resigned from the club in June 1987, after chairman Sam Hammam attempted to insert a clause into Bassett's contract that would allow Hammam to veto Bassett's team selections.

Taking the vacant job at Watford, Bassett handed the reins at Wimbledon to Bobby Gould.

Following a brief stint at Watford, he took over at Sheffield United, leading United to two consecutive promotions from 1988–90.

United remained in the top-flight until 1994, when they were relegated on the final day of the season.

Bassett was sacked after a poor start to the 1994-95 season.

Bassett next managed Crystal Palace, losing in the First Division play-off final in 1996.

In 1997, Bassett was appointed general manager and assistant to Stuart Pearce at Nottingham Forest.

When Forest were relegated, Bassett took over as manager, leading the club back to the Premier League as Division One champions in 1998.

Bassett was sacked in December 1998 with Forest in the relegation zone.

Bassett became manager of Barnsley in May 1999, and led them to the play-off final, which they lost to Ipswich Town.

His last role as permanent manager was at Leicester City F.C., which ended in the Foxes' relegation in 2002.

Subsequently, Bassett had roles as caretaker manager at Leicester City and Southampton and served as assistant manager to Dennis Wise at Leeds United.

Wimbledon finally managed a secure 12th-place finish, in a season when they were never in any danger of being relegated or having any prospect of promotion.

Wimbledon's form for the remainder of the autumn was less impressive, as they finished October in 14th place, but they steadily recovered as the season went on and achieved a highly impressive sixth place in the league with 66 points – ahead of Manchester United.

Bassett also guided his team to a shock 3–1 over eventual league champions Everton in the FA Cup fifth round, though their hopes of cup glory were put on hold for a year when they lost 2–0 at home to Tottenham Hotspur in the quarter-final.