Sheffield United legend Dave Bassett reveals his big Brian Deane regret as he speaks of Steel City affection

He is also one of the greatest managers in Sheffield United’s history and, judging by the outpouring of support that greeted his revelation that he is battling prostate cancer earlier this week, still one of their most loved.

Almost 30 years after he left Bramall Lane, David Thomas Bassett -known better to most as Harry, after his father – remains one of Bramall Lane’s favourite sons.

Two promotions, and two relegations, does not tell the whole story of a remarkable spell in South Yorkshire. Bassett’s Blades, a full-length book in the pipeline, would only probably scratch the surface on Bassett’s colourful Lane career, which started with relegation in his first season, peaked with promotions in his second and third and then took in the advent of the Premier League, remarkable boardroom upheaval and eventual relegation from the top-flight after the sale of his star striker, Brian Deane.

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To this day, Bassett rates striker Deane as United’s greatest ever players and although that claim will invariably be disputed and debated, what is surely beyond doubt is that the £25,000 paid to Doncaster Rovers for Deane’s services ranks as one of the club’s biggest bargains.

When he left United, a hatful of goals and a handful of England caps later, he brought in £2.9million. But his sale, to United’s Yorkshire rivals and Deane’s boyhood club Leeds United, effectively sealed United’s fate as a Premier League club. Bassett knew it, telling chairman Reg Brearley at the time that his casting vote in the summer to sell Deane had relegated United. Ten months later, they were down.

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“I think Brian is the greatest player in Sheffield United’s history, for what he did in the five years here,” Bassett said. “I love Tony Currie, he was a great player.

“But Brian, 30 goals in his first season and 24 in his second for promotion, and he was up near 20 goals every season in the top division.

“The worst thing that happened was Reg deciding to sell him. He’d have stayed and had the hump with me, but we drew 17 games that season and don’t tell me Brian wouldn’t have scored 10 goals that season.

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“Us, Swindon and Oldham were a million miles behind everyone else on wages. We should have offered Brian double what he was earning to stay. I still think he would have thought: ‘I have to go to Leeds,’ but with hindsight, I think he possibly looks back and thinks: ‘I should have perhaps stayed’.

“But Reg didn’t have the nerve to say to me the Christmas before that Brian was going, no matter what. I’d have had to accept that, because the club is bigger than me, but it would have given us time to find a new striker.

“It was bad business. I was bitter after that. I thought, after all the work that we had done, that Reg and his brother sold us down the river.”

A Blades legend

A year later United were back in Division One after a cruel final-day defeat at Chelsea consigned them to relegation, and Bassett left in 1995. He later managed Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest, Barnsley and Leicester City before returning to United in a consultancy role when Micky Adams took over in 2011.

Fondly remembered for leading United into the top flight via a memorable 5-2 win away at Leicester City – captured so beautifully in the United! documentary which gave BBC cameras complete access to film the 1989/90 season - Bassett was also in charge of United during their famous ‘great escape’ season, when they somehow recovered from winning none of their first 16 games to finish 13th and 12 points clear of the relegation zone.

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Speaking on United’s official podcast, ‘One of our own’, Bassett also remembered the 1993 FA Cup semi-final against city rivals Wednesday at Wembley, with the former boss admitting that lobbying to move the game to the national stadium rather than Elland Road was a mistake that played into the hands of the Owls’ most experienced players.

Bassett was at Bramall Lane for the first leg of the Blades’ play-off clash with Nottingham Forest, receiving a warm reception from Unitedites when he was introduced before kick-off, and admits the Steel City still holds a special place in his heart.

Steel City is special

“I love Sheffield,” Bassett said.

“The weather's rubbish, but I had a great time here. It's a good place, I enjoyed the people.

“My wife was used to the south when we first came up. We'd go to different places and talk to people and she'd ask who they are. I said I didn't know, that they were supporters, and she asked why I was talking to them, saying they're nosy.

“But she got used to it, the lady in Waitrose or wherever saying: ‘How are you, love?’ and when we went back to the south, she said: ‘God, I didn’t realise how snotty people were in the south!’

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“They don’t even talk to you. Sheffield is a good place. I loved it.

“But my wife’s father had a stroke and we were too far away. I was working at Leicester, I was travelling 70 miles there, and she said it was time to return. But whenever I come back, I love it.”

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