2026-01-17 10:30:59
Dave Bassett has admitted modern football “bores the life” out of him.
The 81-year-old former manager – who famously took Wimbledon from being a non-league side to sixth in the old First Division when he was manager between 1981 and 1987 – is particularly unimpressed by top flight games and if he does want to catch a match, he visits lower-league sides.
He told Telegraph Sport: “It bores the life out of me. A lot of the game is passing it around the back, switching play, moving it around and I don’t find that interesting. Mainly when I go now I watch teams lower down.
“The ball’s in play a lot more, there’s more passion and the referees let a few tackles go. There’s no VAR either.”
The former midfielder was offered managerial jobs with the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City, Blackburn and Aston Villa but was “apprehensive” about the challenges he’d face at higher profile clubs.
He said: “I was apprehensive to go. I felt I might have had problems with player power, more than I did with Wimbledon and my other clubs.
“When I spoke to Francis Lee at City or Ken Bates at Chelsea I felt they were going to be wanting more of my time than I had with the players, and I wanted to spend it with them.”
Dave believes his Wimbledon side and their achievements are in danger of being overlooked.
He said: “It never gets commented on but it was an amazing team with low wages and low crowds. What we did doesn’t get the credit it deserves.”
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