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England manager Jorgen Mannstein raised eyebrows when he brought former boss Mike Bassett back into the Three Lions set-up.
More than a decade since his great World Cup success, where Bassett lead the Three Lions to a glorious semi-final exit at the hands of eventual winners Brazil, Bassett has had a nomadic career, but is back with England as an intermediary between the entirely German back-room staff and the players.
Sacked from Newcastle, Norwich and Colchester in record time, Bassett helped non-League Wirral County avoid relegation on the final day of the season (despite losing) before retiring to Spain; or so his wife Karine thought.
Years later he would return to the Iranian Women's football team... but more on that later.
When The Independent meets Bassett, he is in jovial mood, excited as England prepare for another World Cup campaign.
While it may have been a surprise to some when Mannstein gave Bassett a shot at redemption, the man himself points to his past relationship with the German boss.
"Jorgen and I developed what you might call a 'symbiotic' relationship when working together at Bundesliga side FC Smoothboys of Baden Baden," says Bassett.
"He did a lot of the thinking and the writing - while I did a lot of the shouting and the pointing. Now we're with England - he's specifically asked me to tone down the shouting, so I imagine I'll be focusing a lot more on the pointing.
"[We're getting along] famously. He's now made me responsible for the bibs after training.
"They're delicates so I'm trying to keep things on a 30 degree wash or less. I'm also mainly doing the singing when it comes to the National Anthem."
Bassett may have led England to the World Cup semi-finals, along with Sir Alf Ramsey and Sir Bobby Charlton the only man to do so, but unlike those Knights of the Realm, Bassett's reputation holds rather less stock on these shores.
Back-to-back relegations at Newcastle and poor spells at Norwich and Colchester didn't help, but the Wirral-born boss says he has learnt his lessons.
"They taught me to steer clear of clubs that are near the coast. I seem to perform best inland. Luckily the new England training set up at St George's Park is in the East Midlands - so it works well for me."
Bassett, of course, is just back from a controversial spell in Tehran managing the Iranian women's national team.
One newspaper reported on the end of his reign that Basset 'unwittingly offended the locals and found himself doing an Argo-style runner to Ayatollah Khomeini Airport, with a bottle of Chivas Regal in his hand and a fatwa on Harry Redknapp’s head.'
He is rather more diplomatic about the incident - skirting it completely.
"The good folk of Iran are a passionate peoples. Like me, they enjoy loosing off a volley of submachine gun bullets in the air, when celebrating a victory.
"As you may recall, I tried this once after avoiding relegation at Wirral County, with disastrous consequences."
The main differences between the Three Lions and the Iranian women's team is "in a word: burqas", according to Bassett. We swiftly return to talking about the England team.
Famously, Bassett struggled through the qualification campaign he was in charge of back in the early 2000s, losing 3-0 to Belgium and drawing 0-0 to Slovakia. The 'Christmas pudding' formation never worked and England needed a shock win by Luxembourg against Turkey to even qualify.
During the tournament Bassett reverted to the '4-4-f******-2', but says he is working on something new, with football a different game now to what it was then.
"I've recently been working on a less structured version of the diamond system - I call it the 'Diamond Light.' It's very similar to what Glen Hoddle and Chris Waddle were doing at Tottenham in the mid-80s."
Finally, how does he think England will do in the upcoming World Cup?
"I've no doubt we are going to win it. I refer to the England women's team of course. As for the men: I'd just like to see us get out of the group stage - but that's not going to be easy.
"Burkina Faso are no mugs."
--
In case you haven't noticed, this interview is entirely fictional. Mike Bassett: Interim Manager is due to start filming next year, with an anticipated release of February 2016.
The public are invited to help fund the film through a Kickstarter campaign. Those who donate could be given a range of rewards, from tickets to the premiere to being an extra in the film or even having a speaking part.
For more information and to help fund the project CLICK HERE.
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