Dave Bassett opens up on Leicester City period

[davieG]

 

Dave Bassett opens up on Leicester City period and issues frank verdict on duo

ByLeigh CurtisDerby County Writer
12:29, 22 NOV 2023

 

 

Dave Bassett said he enjoyed his time at Leicester City but felt some of Peter Taylor's player recruitment "wasn't very good".

The former Sheffield United manager was appointed Foxes boss in 2001 with the task of trying to keep them in the Premier League. But Leicester were ultimately relegated before Bassett stepped aside to move into a director of football role handing the reins to his assistant Micky Adams.

Speaking on the Undr the Cosh podcast, Bassett said the club had felt the effects of having sold Emile Heskey to Liverpool a year before his arrival.

 

"When I went there, there had been some crap recruitment," he said. "Emile Heskey had been sold. They had brought in Ade Akinbiyi. He was a good lad, worked hard, but didn't have it. Trevor Benjamin was the same. They spent about £8m on those two. I like Peter Taylor a lot but his recruitment during that period wasn't very good."

Bassett also claimed how Adams felt the heat from the fans that he felt led to the latter's departure.

"It was a good club, Leicester. I enjoyed it. Then I stepped aside to let Micky Adams in. They wanted a young manager really. Harry Redknapp had recommended me for the job and I'd got it. They liked the idea of me bringing Micky but the idea was to let him do it a year or so later. He got them promoted the following season but relegated the season after that.

"Mick left Leicester and he didn't have to. The board weren't after him. They were mid-table but he got upset because he'd put Dave Connolly on as a sub then pulled him off right near the end. The fans started singing you don't know what you're doing. Mick's skin wasn't as thick as you thought it was."

 

[davieG]

Just now, davieG said:

Dave Bassett said he enjoyed his time at Leicester City but felt some of Peter Taylor's player recruitment "wasn't very good".

"When I went there, there had been some crap recruitment,"

Nah you're just making excuses, Taylor was an England Manager and gave Beckham his international start.

[Fox92]

26 minutes ago, davieG said:

 

"Mick left Leicester and he didn't have to. The board weren't after him. They were mid-table but he got upset because he'd put Dave Connolly on as a sub then pulled him off right near the end. The fans started singing you don't know what you're doing. Mick's skin wasn't as thick as you thought it was."

 

Sad reading that. Adams did an unbelivable job in a terrible period and then had to work in the PL with basically nothing. And then we only just went down really, when you consider how many leads we threw away we should have stayed up.

 

I remember the start of 04/05 and the Brighton result being poor at that time but looking back, as I can't recall all the results aside from West Ham and Derby ( ) it's a fairly steady start. West Ham, Derby, Wolves, Sheffield United all within the first 8 games was tough then. That period was terrible of course all coupled with terrible recruitment, though of course Adams didn't have much to play with. I remember not liking Chris Makin at all. Blake was awful too, and Keown. 500k on Connolly was probably the best transfer we did in years (I did like Thatcher the year before but we made a loss on him).

[Stevosevic]

I listened to the podcast and he said something bad about Micky that implied they didn’t get on. 
 

Not quoted in that article. 

[Simonb]

7 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

Sad reading that. Adams did an unbelivable job in a terrible period and then had to work in the PL with basically nothing. And then we only just went down really, when you consider how many leads we threw away we should have stayed up.

 

I remember the start of 04/05 and the Brighton result being poor at that time but looking back, as I can't recall all the results aside from West Ham and Derby ( ) it's a fairly steady start. West Ham, Derby, Wolves, Sheffield United all within the first 8 games was tough then. That period was terrible of course all coupled with terrible recruitment, though of course Adams didn't have much to play with. I remember not liking Chris Makin at all. Blake was awful too, and Keown. 500k on Connolly was probably the best transfer we did in years (I did like Thatcher the year before but we made a loss on him).

Weren't we the highest scoring team to be relegated from the Premier league at the time? Agree, I felt we should've stayed up that year but we just couldn't hold a lead.. we could've scored 10 In some games and still lost

Edited 22 November 2023 by Simonb

[bovril]

2 hours ago, Fox92 said:

Sad reading that. Adams did an unbelivable job in a terrible period and then had to work in the PL with basically nothing. And then we only just went down really, when you consider how many leads we threw away we should have stayed up.

 

I remember the start of 04/05 and the Brighton result being poor at that time but looking back, as I can't recall all the results aside from West Ham and Derby ( ) it's a fairly steady start. West Ham, Derby, Wolves, Sheffield United all within the first 8 games was tough then. That period was terrible of course all coupled with terrible recruitment, though of course Adams didn't have much to play with. I remember not liking Chris Makin at all. Blake was awful too, and Keown. 500k on Connolly was probably the best transfer we did in years (I did like Thatcher the year before but we made a loss on him).

Adams had a good quad and we should've done better that season. I like the guy but tactically he was poor at that level.

[Guest Electric Yetis]

2 hours ago, Stevosevic said:

I listened to the podcast and he said something bad about Micky that implied they didn’t get on. 
 

Not quoted in that article. 

Seems a few that didn't get on with Adams, sure I've read a few things. Frank Sinclair in particular.

 

Always liked him myself, seemed a decent bloke although out of his depth at PL level.

 

[Fox92]

3 minutes ago, bovril said:

Adams had a good quad and we should've done better that season. I like the guy but tactically he was poor at that level.

I can't remember back then our squad in comparison to other teams but losing Izzet was obviously the big blow.

[Mike the Metal Ed]

Micky looks better in hindsight compared to the dross that followed leading to our inevitable relegation in 2008, but it had been a squad assembled with the promise of a return to the Premier League and at least looking competitive. In hindsight I do think the fans turned on him too quickly.

[David Hankey]

Why did he have to remind us about Akinbadbuy? That is a part of our history I prefer to forget.

[bovril]

27 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

I can't remember back then our squad in comparison to other teams but losing Izzet was obviously the big blow.

I was referring to 03/04. He definitely did not have to work in the PL with nothing. We had more than enough to stay up.

 

Adams I think is overrated by our fans because he was a nice guy in a difficult situation. 

[Fox92]

12 minutes ago, bovril said:

I was referring to 03/04. He definitely did not have to work in the PL with nothing. We had more than enough to stay up.

 

Adams I think is overrated by our fans because he was a nice guy in a difficult situation. 

02/03 was incredible tbf. He put up with administraton, not being able to stay in hotels, players taking pay cuts and having to sell the more valued assets. I will always admire Adams for winning promotion with all that against him. Though, that season coincidences when I started going to games regular too so deep down I know there's part of me that nostalgic about that season.

[bovril]

16 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

02/03 was incredible tbf. He put up with administraton, not being able to stay in hotels, players taking pay cuts and having to sell the more valued assets. I will always admire Adams for winning promotion with all that against him. Though, that season coincidences when I started going to games regular too so deep down I know there's part of me that nostalgic about that season.

He was a steady hand and clearly a good motivator in 02/03. Our squad that season though was definitely top two in the league. Perhaps I'm being harsh on the guy but I think he was quite tactically inept which wasn't found out in early 2000s div 1 like it would be now. And then in 03/04 we basically threw away what should've been a mid table finish. 

 

I wish him nothing but the best though. 

[Corky]

38 minutes ago, bovril said:

I was referring to 03/04. He definitely did not have to work in the PL with nothing. We had more than enough to stay up.

 

Adams I think is overrated by our fans because he was a nice guy in a difficult situation. 

I agree. A genuinely awful side doesn't throw away that many points. He had enough in the squad to survive.

[bovril]

2 minutes ago, Corky said:

I agree. A genuinely awful side doesn't throw away that many points. He had enough in the squad to survive.

Vaguely remember Adams saying in an interview he always told his squad "2 up is a dangerous score" although he neglected to add "with 90 seconds of injury time to play". 

[Clever Fox]

Taylor was possibly the worst thing to ever happen our Club. At the time I thought  he was a good appointment .

While he started ok, he signed so many poor players that once things started going wrong he was lost.

The millions he wasted we never recovered from leading to the Takeover by KP. 

[foxile5]

On 22/11/2023 at 16:29, Rain King said:

Seems a few that didn't get on with Adams, sure I've read a few things. Frank Sinclair in particular.

 

Always liked him myself, seemed a decent bloke although out of his depth at PL level.

 

Adams fell out with Dean Sturridge and drummed him out of the club. 

 

That season we were relegated and Dean Sturridge would have scored the goals to keep us up. Adams is remembered fondly - and with some good reasons - but he definitely made some very bad decision.

[LVFox]

Adams had close to bugger all to work with when we get promoted under him and we gave it a real go with some over-the-hill players.

 

Deserved to go when he did though, we were dross the season after when we had a side decent enough to be play offs at least

[Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot]

21 hours ago, Clever Fox said:

Taylor was possibly the worst thing to ever happen our Club. At the time I thought  he was a good appointment .

While he started ok, he signed so many poor players that once things started going wrong he was lost.

The millions he wasted we never recovered from leading to the Takeover by KP. 

Leading to the takeover by the kp being the salient point imo. We only achieved what we achieved due to everything that happened in the decade or two beforehand. Without all the mistakes the dream wouldn’t have happened. I remember levien and the likes so even though he wasn’t the messiah Adam’s was a steady hand when we needed it. And we’ve had far worse in only recent memory.

[Paninistickers]

3 hours ago, foxile5 said:

Adams fell out with Dean Sturridge and drummed him out of the club. 

 

That season we were relegated and Dean Sturridge would have scored the goals to keep us up. Adams is remembered fondly - and with some good reasons - but he definitely made some very bad decision.

You mean when he was assistant? When Basset was in charge? No way Sturridge would've displaced Deane, Dickov, Ferdinand and Bent. That was a very decent front line to call upon and all way ahead if Sturridge. 

[Clever Fox]

Thankfully, I think we have the bad times behind us again.

 

What's crazy about this business is, You're always only a Bad Manager away from another Disaster.

 

Which is why I've said many times A good Manager is worth his weight in gold to the Club The Players and the Fans.

[deep blue]

15 hours ago, bovril said:

Vaguely remember Adams saying in an interview he always told his squad "2 up is a dangerous score" although he neglected to add "with 90 seconds of injury time to play". 

As I recall we were 3 up at HT at Wolves and still managed to lose.

[Aus Fox]

12 hours ago, Paninistickers said:

You mean when he was assistant? When Basset was in charge? No way Sturridge would've displaced Deane, Dickov, Ferdinand and Bent. That was a very decent front line to call upon and all way ahead if Sturridge. 

I don’t think we had Ferdinand and Bent then did we? 
I could be wrong here, but wasn’t the season we got rid of sturridge the season we were playing Benjamin and Akinbiyi, up front and scoecroft on the wing? Then Dean and Dickov came in around Christmas time? 
Or am I getting the two relegation seasons mixed up?

[bovril]

38 minutes ago, deep blue said:

As I recall we were 3 up at HT at Wolves and still managed to lose.

He referenced it at half time of the Fulham match last season. Still can't watch the highlights of that game.

[Paninistickers]

1 hour ago, Aus Fox said:

I don’t think we had Ferdinand and Bent then did we? 
I could be wrong here, but wasn’t the season we got rid of sturridge the season we were playing Benjamin and Akinbiyi, up front and scoecroft on the wing? Then Dean and Dickov came in around Christmas time? 
Or am I getting the two relegation seasons mixed up?

Yes, that's it. I was trying to say the same to the previous poster....Sturridge went down when Adams was assistant ...he wasn't with us when Adams went down as boss, who played with Bent, Ferdinand, Deane and Dickov. 

 

I think, Bent and Sir Les got 15+ goals apiece that season ...and we went down!