Football, eh? As that other fictional management great, Alan Latchley, had it: “She's a cruel mistress. She's more than a mistress: she's a wife, she's a mother, she's a daughter, she's an errant child.” In the case Mike Bassett, now back in the dugout for a second cinematic outing, she’s also a bit of a punchbag for a volatile lower-league gaffer turned international manager.
No longer in the England hot seat, Ricky Tomlinson's big-screen boss will be back in his tracksuit for Mike Bassett: Interim Manager when the movie gets underway later this year. The footballing world he returns to has moved on since his belt-and-braces days in the lower reaches of the league. There’s even a German coach in charge of England now – the horror! – and it’s as his assistant that Bassett finds himself back in the spotlight.
Returning producer / director Steve Barron picks up the story: “Bassett was the last England manager to take the national team to Brazil. We reached the semis then, who knows what we could achieve this time? I’m very excited to be back with the team including football legend Andy Ansah who cut his teeth on the first film. As the years have gone by Bassett seems to have dug deeper into football folklore. There is hardly a manager in the game that hasn’t been compared to him. Usually at a low point. Sometimes a very low point.”
2001's Mike Bassett: England Manager was a hit to the tune of £3.5m, but can the old warhorse strike a chord in this era of prozone-wielding upstarts and fancy dans from overseas? Time will tell, although it's a surprise that the sequel isn't timed with this summer's World Cup.
Riley Productions, the BFI and Goldfinch Pictures are all aboard, with Mike Bassett: England Manager writers Rob Sprackling and John R. Smith back in "the squad" for this unexpected sequel.
For more news on the project, accompanied by equally terrible wordplay, check back soon.