Dave Bassett - The Crazy Gang

Contents

When Wimbledon shocked the football world by winning the FA Cup in 1988, triumphing against the mighty Liverpool in the final, the moment was crowned with John Motsons immortal commentary: The Crazy Gang have beaten the Culture Club! Yet as captain Dave Beasant climbed the Wembley steps to lift the famous trophy, the fans could reflect on what had already been the most astonishing story. One year before, little Wimbledon with the smallest gates, the worst-paid players, the most run-down stadium had risen from the non-league ranks to the top of the First Division, in just ten years.

The architects of that success were manager Dave Harry Bassett, and his eyes and ears on the field Mr Versatile, Wally Downes. The two men were also the chief mischief-makers off the pitch, as the Wimbledon players and staff indulged in a series of pranks never seen before or since in polite football society. In The Crazy Gang, Harry and Wally tell the tale of those hi-jinks and pitch battles, but also get their retaliation in against the critics who said that the Dons long-ball game was anti-football, that they shouldnt be allowed in the league, that they were violent thugs.

Harry and Wally have also assembled an amazing cast of former Wimbledon characters, both those like Lawrie Sanchez and Vinnie Jones who went on to find fame and fortune, as well as unsung and oft-forgotten heroes, to tell their version of events. The Crazy Gang was not about just pissing around. It was about the creation of a tactical phenomenon, an unstoppable fighting unit, a team spirit and bond between players that way went beyond the norm.

Dave Harry Bassett was manager of Wimbledon FC from 1981 to 1987, overseeing their rise from the Fourth Division to the top of the First Division in just five seasons. Formerly a player at Wimbledon, then assistant manager at the club, he was an integral part of the team when they were elected to the Football League under Allen Batsford in 1977, and took over as manager from Dario Gradi in January 1981. He went on to manage more than 1,000 games for Wimbledon, Watford, Sheffield United, Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest, Barnsley, Leicester City and Southampton, with a record seven automatic promotions, including back-to-back promotions twice, also never done before.

Wally Downes was the first Wimbledon apprentice to make it into the first-team following their election to the Football League in 1977. He made his debut on 11 May 1979, scoring his first goal just three days later, and went on to make over two hundred appearances for the Dons in an injury-blighted career, captaining the club, before joining his mentor Dave Bassett in the dugout. He has since managed Brentford and been on the coaching staff of Crystal Palace, Reading, Southampton, West Ham United and QPR, helping them win promotion to the Premier League.

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First published in Great Britain in 2015 by Bantam Press
an imprint of Transworld Publishers
Copyright Dave Bassett and Wally Downes 2015

Dave Bassett and Wally Downes have asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

All images have been supplied courtesy of the authors with the exception of the following, all Press Association Images as follows: Batsford, Everton, Spurs, Elton John PA Archive/PA Images; Gradi, Bryant, snowy Plough Lane, top of the league, luxury training ground S & G and Barratts/EMPICS Sport.

Every effort has been made to obtain the necessary permissions with reference to copyright material, both illustrative and quoted. We apologize for any omissions in this respect and will be pleased to make the appropriate acknowledgements in any future edition.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9781473526907
ISBN 9780593076262

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This book would not have been possible without everyone associated with Wimbledon Football Club down the years the players, the staff, the fans. Thank you to everyone who has supported the Dons in whatever way they have done. Thanks too to everyone at AFC Wimbledon, particularly Ivor Heller, and to Tony Stenson, Mick Pugh, Steve Elson and Giles Elliott for helping to put the book together.

The Crazy Gang story would simply not exist without all those ex-players and staff who gave their time to contribute to the book. Its been a pleasure to meet up again with so many of you. So heres a special thank-you to, in the order that their reminiscences appear in this book: John Leslie, Steve Ketteridge, Steve Galliers, Dave Beasant, Glyn Hodges, Francis Joseph, Geoff Taylor, Gary Peters, Steve Hatter, Nigel Winterburn, Mark Morris, Mick Smith, Paul Fishenden, Alan Gillett, John Fashanu, John Gannon, Kevin Gage, Andy Sayer, Derek French, Vinnie Jones, Andy Thorn, Andy Clement, Vaughan Ryan and Lawrie Sanchez.

Dave Bassett and Wally Downes,

London, September 2015

WE WERE IN a bar in Spain a week before Wimbledon played Spurs in the FA Cup quarter-final at Plough Lane. It was March 1986 and it didnt seem life could get much better for a club that had fought its way through the footballing jungle from Fourth Division to First in just four seasons. Not surprisingly, the boys were in a playful mood. On one side of the bar were Tony Stenson and myself, the two tabloid journalists who probably knew Wimbledon best. On the other, the squad and manager Harry Bassett. It couldnt have been much after seven in the evening, but they already had a glint in the eye.

Harry let out a shout of, Right, lets have a bundle, or some other such key phrase and the entire squad took part in the sort of loose maul normally associated with heavy men on a rugby field. Everybody and everything went flying. Elbows were in ears, someones finger was in someones nose. The noise was stupendous. I think they called it bonding.

We ordered another San Miguel and left them to it.

Later, on the way back to the hotel we were sharing with the team, I said, I wonder what theyve done to my room?

It didnt take long to find out. As the lift arrived on the ground floor and the doors opened, there it was. My room. Well, quite a bit of it. All my clothes, shoes, the entire contents of the bathroom, a couple of chairs, a light-stand and, yes, even the bed. Sort that out.

Yes, the Crazy Gang were in town.