Mike Bassett: England Manager (DVD)

Graham Taylor was one of the worst appointments of all time as England manager. After making his name as a bright young manager who relied on route one football with Lincoln City and Watford, he secured the job as Aston Villa boss and made them a decent first division outfit. He did enough in that job to convince the powers at be at the Football Association that he was the man to take charge of the England international team when Bobby Robson decided to return to club football after a hugely successful World Cup tournament in 1990 when Gazza inspired the team to the semi finals, before a heart breaking penalty defeat to Germany. Taylor was unsuccessful in his ...  Read the complete review

"I know what is round the corner, I just don't know where the corner is" - Kevin Keegan, England Manager. The job of manager of the England football team has always been one of the most eternally thankless tasks in the world - you may be in the biggest job there is in your profession in your home nation, but you are the most derided, hated and pitied individual in the country, ceaselessly pilloried on television and in the papers, hounded and hunted by the running dogs of the media. Sven Goran Eriksson is currently going through the sort of experience previously reserved for Kevin Keegan, Glenn Hoddle, Terry Venables, Graham Turnip Taylor, ...  Read the complete review

Films about sport are rubbish. Or rather, films focused on the sporting achievement itself instead of using it as a background for something more meaningful (á la 'Field of Dreams') are rubbish because the whole reason why we enjoy sport - it has no preordained outcome and therefore anything amazing that happens is down purely to skill or chance - is taken out of the equation. 'Mike Bassett: England Manager', although definitely a film about football, just about manages to pull it off, though. The manager of England's football team has had a near-fatal heart-attack and the Football Association needs a replacement. However, all the top ...  Read the complete review

Mike Bassett : England Manager, has to be the worst film I have seen this year... to put it in one word it was boring! I went to see this film for 2 main reasons - the first is that all the trailers I saw for the film made it look like it was going to be funny, and secondly it starred Ricky Tomlinson (of Royle Family Fame as Jim Royle) which I thought would make it even funnier, but I was unfortunately wrong. The general story starts with Mike Bassett currently managing Norwich football club in the first division... With 3 matches left to play to qualify for the World Cup, the England Team have just lost their manager as he suffered a heart attack - ...  Read the complete review

To borrow a quote from the bard Wiliam Shakespeare - “Some are born Great. Some achieve Greatness and some have Greatness thrust upon them”. Well it’s the latter for Mike Bassett, humble Manager of First Division Norwich City who answers his country’s call to take over as England Manager. Because the current Boss has been rushed to hospital with a heart attack, the FA are forced to rush to appoint a successor. With just three English managers in the Premier League – none of whom are interested, they plump for Mr Bassett. And the scene is set for a glorious reign as National Team Boss – NOT !! This all British film ...  Read the complete review